Byzantium Reading Questions

I. Answer the following questions thoroughly (2-4 complete sentences)

1.) How did Arab culture borrow from the Greek/Persian cultures?

2.) Do you believe that the Persian wars were popular with the common people
during the reign of Heraclius?

3.) What groups did the Byzantines have constant conflicts with in the 6th-7th
centuries?

4.) What effect did continuous warfare have on the Byzantine Empire?
(Consider the Arab invaders during this question)

5.) What conditions did Chrsitians/Jew have to meet to practice under Arab
rule?

6.) Who makes up the upper elite class after the slow decline of major cities in
the Byzantine Empire?

7.) Why were icons so important to the Byzantine people prior to Leo III’s
iconoclasm decree?

8.) Why were icons a threat to the ruling clergy of the Byzantine Empire?