Byzantine History Dbq

Words: 790
Pages: 4

An empire that lasted for over one thousand years is definitely an empire worth studying. In 323 CE, a prosperous military leader named Constantine defeated not only one but three generals and became the Emperor of Rome. During his reign, he made two great decisions that completely changed European history. These groundbreaking decisions were to move the capital from Rome to Byzantium and to give Christianity a legal standing. By making this wise decision, Byzantium was the imperial capital for a dominating one thousand one hundred and twenty-three years. Although Byzantines history expanded and decreased over the years, like an accordion, it was still a successful and powerful empire, and there is much to learn about their history. What are …show more content…
To start, the walls of Constantinople were built to protect the people. To be successful with this, there were three walls that were twenty-five feet thick. First, there was a moat about sixty feet wide and twenty feet deep. Behind that, there was a low wall and then, a wall that consists of twenty-seven feet and finally, a third wall that was some seventy feet high. Within a one thousand one hundred year period, there were twenty-four attacks and only two were successful (Document B). Based on this document B, it is clear that it is necessary to study the Byzantines due to their advances in architect and their defense …show more content…
To start, the people of The United States Of America follow the Declaration Of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776. Jefferson wrote, “ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Before Thomas Jefferson submitted this to the public, in 1690, John Locke, an influential English political philosopher, wrote, “The state of nature … teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.” Furthermore, in 531 CE Justinian wrote a code that said, “Justice is the constant and perpetual [continuous] wish to render everyone his due….The maxims [main guidelines] of law are these: To live honestly, to hurt no one, to everyone his due. In all three of statements; Life, Liberty, and that all men are created equal are mentioned. This shows that the language written all the way in 531 CE is passed down year after year and is integrated into our language today. (Document D) Besides language arts, the byzantine empire made many discoveries in Science and Mathematics that were preserved by Byzantine Scribes. These were their most valuable works. In science, there were several