Byzantine Empire: The Middle Period Timeline

Byzantine Empire: The Middle Period 21

610 – 1025 Byzantine Empire: The Middle Period (610–1025) The Middle Byzantine period spans 415 years from Heraclius's accession (610) to the death of Basil II (1025). It is the most dramatic period in Byzantine history: the catastrophic loss of Syria, Palestine and Egypt to the Arab conquests; the Umayyad sieges of Constantinople (674-678, 717-718); the century-long iconoclasm controversy that divides the empire; the Macedonian dynasty's military and cultural renaissance; the conversion of the Slavic and Bulgarian peoples to Orthodox Christianity; and the reign of Basil II (976-1025), who blinds 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners and dies at the apogee of Byzantine power. The period defines Orthodox civilisation and the Byzantine cultural sphere that endures in Russia, Serbia and Bulgaria to the present day.
610 – 641 Heraclius -- the emperor who saved and doomed the empire Heraclius (610-641) is the most paradoxical emperor in Byzantine history: the man who saves the empire from Persian destruction and then presides over its loss of half its territory to the Arabs. He inherits an empire in catastrophic collapse -- Persian armies stand at the Bosphorus -- and launches the most brilliant military campaign of late antiquity (622-628), personally leading his army deep into Persia and destroying the Sassanid Empire. He recovers Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Then, within a decade, the Arab conquests begin and he loses them all again. He dies in 641, watching from Constantinople as Egypt falls.
614 – 628 The Persian Wars -- catastrophe and recovery Khosrow II's Persian forces conquer Syria and Palestine (614), sacking Jerusalem and carrying off the True Cross. Egypt falls in 619. The Avars simultaneously devastate the Balkans. Heraclius considers abandoning Constantinople. Instead, in 622, he launches a strategic counter-offensive through Anatolia into the Persian heartland -- the first offensive strategy by a Byzantine emperor in decades. In six campaigns (622-628) he defeats Persian armies in multiple battles, devastates the Persian homeland and forces Khosrow's overthrow. The True Cross is recovered (628). The victory is celebrated as a miracle -- but the army is exhausted and the treasury empty.
622 Muhammads Hijra -- a new force emerges In 622 -- the same year Heraclius launches his Persian counter-offensive -- Muhammad makes the Hijra (migration) from Mecca to Medina, marking the beginning of the Islamic calendar. Within ten years he unifies the Arabian Peninsula under Islam. Within twenty years of his death (632), Arab armies have destroyed the Persian Empire and stripped Byzantium of its richest provinces. The coincidence is remarkable: Heraclius and Muhammad are exact contemporaries; the Persian-Byzantine wars that exhaust both empires in 602-628 create precisely the vacuum into which the Arab expansion rushes.
636 Battle of Yarmouk -- Syria lost The Battle of the Yarmouk (August 636) is the most consequential military defeat in Byzantine history. A Byzantine army of perhaps 15,000-20,000 under the Emperor's brother Theodore is destroyed by an Arab force of similar size under Khalid ibn al-Walid in a six-day battle on the plateau above the Yarmouk River. The defeat is total: most of the Byzantine army is killed or captured. The road to Syria, Palestine and ultimately Egypt is open. Damascus falls in 635; Jerusalem surrenders to Caliph Umar in 638; Caesarea (the provincial capital) in 640; Alexandria in 642. Heraclius reportedly says as he sails away: 'Farewell Syria, what an excellent country this is for the enemy.'
641 – 668 Constans II -- the emperor who left Constantinople Constans II (641-668) is the only Byzantine emperor to permanently leave Constantinople -- he moves his court to Syracuse in Sicily (663), attempting to hold Italy against the Lombards and position the empire closer to the western front. The move reflects the changed strategic geography of the empire after the Arab conquests: the centre of gravity has shifted west. Constans is assassinated in his bath in Syracuse (668) -- the only emperor killed in a bath. His son Constantine IV returns to Constantinople and faces the first Arab siege of the city.
672 – 678 First Arab siege of Constantinople -- Greek fire saves the city The Umayyad Caliphate besieges Constantinople by sea from 674 to 678 -- the most serious threat to the city since its foundation. The Arab fleet establishes a base on the Cyzicus peninsula and attacks each summer. Constantinople is saved by Greek fire -- an incendiary liquid (possibly naphtha-based) projected from siphons mounted on Byzantine warships that burns even on water and cannot be extinguished. The Arab fleet is devastated; the survivors are destroyed by storms returning home. The treaty that follows gives Byzantium a period of relative security. Greek fire remains one of the great secrets of Byzantine military technology.
680 – 681 Third Council of Constantinople -- Monothelitism condemned The Third Council of Constantinople (680-681) is the sixth ecumenical council, convened by Constantine IV to resolve the Monothelite controversy -- whether Christ has one will or two. The council condemns Monothelitism (one will) and affirms that Christ has two wills (human and divine). It also posthumously condemns Pope Honorius I for his Monothelite sympathies -- the only pope ever condemned by an ecumenical council. The settlement of this theological controversy allows Constantine IV to normalise relations with Rome and focus on the Arab and Bulgarian threats.
681 First Bulgarian Empire founded Khan Asparuh leads the Bulgars across the Danube in 679-680 and defeats Constantine IV, forcing a treaty (681) that recognises the First Bulgarian Empire as an independent state south of the Danube. It is a humiliating Byzantine admission that they cannot control their own Balkan hinterland. The Bulgarian Empire becomes Byzantium's most persistent enemy for the next 340 years -- until Basil II's final destruction of Bulgarian power in 1018. The Bulgarian threat forces the empire to fight on two fronts: Arabs to the east, Bulgars to the north.
717 – 718 Second Arab siege -- the greatest victory The second Arab siege of Constantinople (717-718) is the most dangerous moment in the city's history before 1453. Caliph Suleiman sends a force of reportedly 80,000 troops by land and 1,800 ships by sea. Emperor Leo III deploys Greek fire against the Arab fleet (destroying it twice), engineers a Bulgarian attack on the Arab land army from the rear, and survives a winter of such severity that the besieging army suffers terribly. The siege is abandoned in August 718 -- a decisive defeat for the Umayyad Caliphate. The victory secures Byzantine survival for another 700 years and prevents the Arab conquest of Europe through the Balkans.
726 – 787 First Iconoclasm -- Leo III bans icons Leo III orders the removal of the icon of Christ above the Chalke Gate (the main entrance to the imperial palace) in 726, triggering riots in which the soldiers sent to remove it are lynched by the crowd. He follows this with an imperial edict banning the veneration of religious images entirely (730). The decision reflects Leo's belief that icon veneration is idolatry that has displeased God -- causing the Arab conquests and the plague as divine punishment. Pope Gregory III condemns the edict; Leo responds by confiscating papal estates in Italy. The First Iconoclasm divides the empire for 57 years until the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) restores icon veneration.
787 Seventh Council -- icons restored by Empress Irene The Seventh Ecumenical Council, convened at Nicaea in 787 by Empress Irene (ruling as regent for her son Constantine VI), restores the veneration of icons and condemns iconoclasm. The theological formula developed -- distinguishing between veneration (proskynesis) given to icons and worship (latreia) due only to God -- resolves the theological controversy. Irene's council is rejected by Charlemagne and the Frankish church, who misunderstand the Greek distinction between veneration and worship. A Second Iconoclasm follows under Leo V (815-843) before icon veneration is permanently restored.
797 – 802 Empress Irene -- the first female sole ruler Irene of Athens (ruled 797-802) is the first woman to rule the Byzantine Empire as sole emperor -- not regent, but basileus in her own right. She achieves this by having her son Constantine VI blinded and imprisoned (797). Charlemagne's coronation as 'Emperor of the Romans' (800) is facilitated partly by the argument that a woman cannot hold the imperial office -- creating the precedent for a second Roman emperor in the West. Irene is overthrown in 802 by a palace coup and exiled. Her brief reign is historically significant as both a precedent for female rule and a catalyst for the definitive split between Eastern and Western Christendom.
800 Charlemagne crowned -- the challenge to Byzantine universalism Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne as 'Emperor of the Romans' on Christmas Day 800 in St Peter's Basilica in Rome. The coronation is a direct challenge to Byzantine claims of universal Roman sovereignty -- there is, in Byzantine eyes, already a Roman emperor in Constantinople. The Byzantines refuse to recognise Charlemagne's title for over a decade; eventually a compromise formula (Charlemagne as 'Emperor' without the 'of the Romans') is accepted. The coronation begins the process by which Western Europe defines itself as a separate civilisation from Byzantium -- a process completed by the Great Schism of 1054.
815 – 843 Second Iconoclasm -- Triumph of Orthodoxy The Second Iconoclasm (815-843) begins under Leo V, who revives the iconoclast policy believing that the military successes of the iconoclast emperors Leo III and Constantine V prove God's approval of icon removal. The Second Iconoclasm ends with the Triumph of Orthodoxy on 11 March 843, when Empress Theodora (regent for her son Michael III) restores icon veneration -- celebrated annually in the Orthodox Church to this day as the first Sunday of Lent. The Patriarch who condemned the previous Patriarch for restoring icons is himself condemned; icons return to the churches.
860 – 869 The Rus attack Constantinople -- and are converted In 860, a fleet of 200 Rus ships (Norse-Slavic raiders from the Kiev region) attacks Constantinople -- the first Rus attack on the city, arriving when the emperor and the army are away fighting the Bulgars. The city is saved, according to Byzantine tradition, by a procession of the robe of the Virgin through the city walls. Patriarch Photius interprets the raid as a warning and a mission opportunity: Byzantine missionaries reach the Rus within years. The baptism of Rus Princess Olga (957) and Prince Vladimir of Kiev (988) eventually brings Russia into the Orthodox cultural sphere -- one of the most consequential cultural transmissions in history.
863 – 885 Cyril and Methodius -- the Slavic alphabet created Emperor Michael III sends the brothers Cyril and Methodius as missionaries to Moravia in 863. Before leaving, Cyril creates the Glagolitic alphabet -- the first alphabet designed to write the Slavic languages, later simplified into Cyrillic. They translate the Gospels, the Psalms and the liturgy into Church Slavonic. The mission introduces literacy, Orthodox Christianity and Byzantine culture to the Slavic world. Bulgaria, Serbia, Moravia and eventually Russia receive the Cyrillic alphabet and the Orthodox faith through this Byzantine missionary enterprise. The cultural consequences endure: the Cyrillic alphabet is still used by over 250 million people.
867 – 1056 The Macedonian dynasty -- the golden age The Macedonian dynasty (867-1056) is the golden age of Byzantine civilisation. Founded by Basil I (867-886) -- a Macedonian peasant who murders his way to the throne -- the dynasty produces a series of exceptional emperors: Leo VI the Wise (886-912), Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (913-959), Nikephoros Phokas (963-969), John Tzimiskes (969-976) and Basil II (976-1025). Under the Macedonians the empire reconquers Cilicia, Syria, parts of Mesopotamia and Bulgaria; Byzantine art and scholarship flourish; the Corpus Juris Civilis is expanded; and the empire reaches its maximum medieval extent.
907 – 988 The Byzantine-Rus relationship -- trade and conversion The relationship between Byzantium and the Rus of Kiev is one of the most important in medieval history. The Rus attack Constantinople repeatedly (860, 907, 941, 971) but also trade extensively -- the Dnieper river route from Kiev to Constantinople is one of the great medieval trade arteries. The Rus Varangian guard becomes the Byzantine emperor's elite bodyguard. The conversion of Princess Olga (957) and Prince Vladimir (988) -- who receives Byzantine princess Anna Porphyrogenita as his bride, the greatest diplomatic concession in Byzantine history -- brings Russia permanently into the Orthodox world.
976 – 1025 Basil II -- the Bulgar-Slayer Basil II (976-1025) is the greatest military emperor of the middle period and arguably in all of Byzantine history. He suppresses two major aristocratic rebellions, destroys the First Bulgarian Empire in a 40-year campaign, annexes Georgia and Armenia, and reconquers parts of Syria. His most notorious act: after the Battle of Kleidion (1014) he blinds approximately 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners, leaving one eye to every hundredth man to lead the others home. When the Bulgarian tsar Samuel sees his blinded army returning, he dies of shock (or so the story goes). At Basil's death in 1025 the empire is at its greatest extent since Justinian.
1025 Death of Basil II -- the beginning of the end Basil II dies on 15 December 1025, aged approximately 67, having reigned for 49 years -- the longest reign in Byzantine history. He never marries, has no heirs, and dies planning a campaign to reconquer Sicily from the Arabs. He leaves a treasury of 200,000 pounds of gold. His successors squander both the treasury and the military system in a generation of palace intrigues, civilian government and neglect of the army. The decade after Basil's death begins the decline that leads to Manzikert (1071). The contrast between Basil's military autocracy and his successors' civilian rule is the sharpest in Byzantine history.