Unit Reflection

Thousands of years ago, a mighty empire ruled the Meditterean Sea. A bustling trade center, briming with culture, Constantinople was the capitol city of the Byzantine Empire. While most of Europe lived in improvished farms, the Byzantine Empire was a becon of civilization. Even though it fell over 500 years ago, we are continually affected by the great achivements of the Byzantiums.

The Eastern Orthodox church was founded in Constantinople. Today, it has roughly 228 million followers.  Eastern Orthodox churches are famous for their intricately beautiful mosaics rather than paintings. The tradition of mosaics on the walls, cealings, and floors of mosaics was started in Constantinnople (modern Istanbul). Haigh Sophia, one of the most famous chruches of all time, is adorned with lavish mosaics.  Emperor Justinian ordered the construction of the Haiga Sophia to be a monument to god. The architecture (domes, arches, etc.) was copied in the Vatican and countless other chruches. Even after it was converted to a Mosc then a muesem tourists still marvel at the beauty. St. Petka's, an Eastern Orthodox chruch in Serbia may be modern but the mosaics are done in the classic style dating thousands of years ago to Constantinople.

Laws are the fundamentle tools for ruling a country. Without them, our world would be in chaos. Justininan and Teadora, empeor and empress of Constantinople devised the Justinian Law Code which Western countries continue to follow today. Divided into six parts, the law code outlined Justinina's own laws, laws of the past, and judicial ruling. Judicial ruling meant judges can create new laws on a case by case system. Laws of the past were created before the Byzantine Empire; they could not be changed. The Justinian Law Codes made laws easy access. There were no longer debates over forgotten laws or changed ones.

The Byzantine Empire continually affects today, though we may not notice it. Laws and religion are two examples of the influences.