Dbq On Byzantines

532 Words3 Pages

Byzantine DBQ Essay

Many people think of "devious" or "sneaky" when they hear the word Byzantine. Therefore, most tend to think it is not important to study the Byzantines. The Byzantines actually had a great impact on our lives today from the law system that we have in place to the architecture. There is more behind this loaded word than what meets the eye. The purpose of this essay is to explain why it is imperative to study the Byzantines.

The Byzantines had a major impact on Christianity. "The Byzantines withstood years of siege by the Arabs hitherto considered irresistible, and in doing so … saved Western Civilization." (A Short History of Byzantium, Document A). There were early attacks on Constantinople that the Byzantines were able to hold off. In holding off the various attacks, the Byzantines kept Western Civilization Christian instead of it being converted to Muslim. The Christian Church of Constantinople and the Christian Church of Rome also split due to an argument over some spiritual interpretations of the Bible. If it was not for the Byzantines most of Western Civilization would be Muslim and not Christian. …show more content…

Justinian 's Code was a set of laws set up in order to unify the empire, which was very disorganized. "Justice is the constant and perpetual wish to render every one his due ...The maxims of law are these: to live honestly, to hurt no one, to everyone his due" (The Institutes of Justinian 's Code, Document D). Justinian 's Code created the idea of laws and influenced many people such as John Locke and Thomas Jefferson. In the Declaration of Independence you can see how Justinian 's Code influenced some of the writing such as the pursuit of happiness and the idea of unalienable rights. Imagine where we would be without Justinian 's set of laws that shaped our basic idea of how laws and justice would be

Open Document