Chapter Thirty-Five/Executing Babylon the Great

 Rome's Eastern Empire, centered at Constantinople, endured in a somewhat uneasy relationship with the Western Empire. In the sixth century, Eastern emperor Justinian I was able to reconquer much of North Africa, and he also intervened in Spain and Italy. In the seventh century, Justinian II recovered for the Empire areas of Macedonia that had been conquered by Slavic tribesmen. By the eighth century, however, much of the former territory of ancient Rome in North Africa, Spain, and Syria had come under the new empire of Islam and thus passed from the control of Constantinople and Rome.

The city of Constantinople itself endured somewhat longer. It survived frequent attacks from Persians, Arabs, Bulgars, and Russians until in 1203 It finally fell-not to Muslims or Crusaders from the West. In 1453, though, it came under the power of the Muslim Ottoman ruler Mechmed II and soon became capital of the Ottoman or Turkish Empire. Thus. although the city of Rome fell in 410 C.E., it took many more centuries for all traces of the Roman Empire to pass from the world scene. And even then, its influence was still discernible in religious empires based on the papacy of Rome and Eastern Orthodox churches.

Next time: Chapter Thirty-Five/Executing Babylon the Great 

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