• Byzantine Empire was an important civilization, had the capital of Constantinople
    • Constantinople was located in Instanbul, Turkey
    • Cultural significance, has lots of important art pieces and architecture (Church of Hagia Sophia for example)
    • Educated, wrote books on medicine and documented important herbs/plants
    • Religiously significant as well; held councils to discuss and debate Christianity and its stories
    • Technically and militarily advanced, created multilayered walls and multitiered cities that were unbreakable
      • Created aqueducts for fresh water for its citizenry
      • Also had flamethrower-like weapons
    • Provides context for the Middle Ages; not a place of degeneracy, but of flourishing success and knowledge
  • Relics are important in the Middle Ages for religion, such as the femur of a saint or a piece of fabric from Christ’s robe
    • An important relic is a painting depicting Christ which was an important subject of the iconoplasty debate
      • Textile with imprint of Christ’s face on it and painted on
    • This relic is rarely shown (only once a year) and almost never written about; can be thought of as a “secret”
    • Commissioned objects/paintings had enscriptions on them that described what they were and had hidden containers that stored relics from Jesus Christ
  • In the Byzantine Empire, relics were extremely important
    • Brought to war for blessings
    • A common relic used was vials of oil that could be used for many things
    • Relics were also a subject of mockery; there were so many relics that most of them had to have been fake
  • Some monks led transgender lives, mainly women who were born into male monasteries and lived their lives out as a man