Important Dates & Events
This emperor founded Constantinople in 330 AD.
Who was Constantine?
After the Fall of Rome, these Roman structures fell into disrepair, making travel and trade difficult.
What are roads and aqueducts?
St. Benedict rejected the moral corruption of this city while studying there.
What is Rome?
Monks copied books by hand in these rooms.
What are scriptoriums?
The Byzantines referred to themselves by this name.
Who were Romans?
This event in 476 AD marked the end of the Western Roman Empire.
What was the removal of Romulus Augustulus? OR What was Odoacer's takeover (first Germanic king of Italy)?
Hermits who lived alone were called these.
What are anchorites?
Because of his strict discipline as an abbot, monks once tried to do this to Benedict.
What is poison him?
Name one type of text monks preserved.
What is the Bible or classical works like Aristotle, Cicero, or Virgil?
This massive church was rebuilt by Justinian in 537 AD.
What is Hagia Sophia?
This violent uprising in 532 AD nearly destroyed Constantinople.
What was the Nika Revolt?
Syrian hermits who lived atop pillars were known by this name.
What are stylites?
Explain how Benedictine monasticism compared to Irish monasticism (this also has to do with why Benedict's Rule was so successful).
What is that it was moderate, not encouraging extreme forms of asceticism? What was its balance of prayer, work, and rest?
Explain what spread so quickly due to the constant communication between monasteries.
What is technological innovations?
Religious images used as “windows to heaven” are called these.
What are icons?
This year marks the birth of St. Benedict, father of Western monasticism.
What is 480 AD?
Monks who lived together in community were called these.
What are cenobites?
Name one of the three core values of the Rule of St. Benedict.
What is stability, obedience, or fidelity?
Explain how monasteries changed attitudes toward manual labor in Europe.
What is that monks showed work was honorable, glorifying to God, and beneficial to society?
Explain stylistically how Byzantine art directs the viewers focus to that of experiencing God rather than the physical appearance of the characters.
What is the symbolic rather than realistic style?
This event in 1453 ended the Byzantine Empire and transformed Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
What was the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople?
This monastery, founded in 529 AD, became the center of Benedictine monasticism.
What is Monte Cassino?
Benedict lived as a hermit for three years in this place.
What is Subiaco?
Explain what was PREVENTED by the monks' work in the scriptoriums.
What is a literacy dark age after the fall of Rome (like the Greek Dark Age)?
Give one reason why Justinian should be considered either a hero or a villain.
Hero: What is that he created lasting laws and strengthened the empire?
Villain: What is that Procopius describes him as cruel, greedy, and abusive of power?