how did the location contribute to the strength of the byzantine empire?
114673
its location as a port connecting the black sea and the Mediterrianian. It could control trade from east to west.
28017
the guy above me dosent know crap. One affect was that the christians had a desire for a higher standard of life when they saw how sophiticated the muslims were such as nice cities. It also lead to the fall of constantinople when the crusaders sacked the city on the way. The fall of constantinople lead to the collapse of the eastern roman empire. This gave the muslims an even stronger hold on Juresalem because the europeans lost so many men
886929
1. Better sea access (located in the Dardanelles between Black Sea and Mediterranean)\n2. Closer land access to Middle East, Eurasia, Africa\n3. Located along trade routes to other great civilizations in these areas.\n4. Farther from the pope, thus less pressure/influence of Catholic Church
1134502
Your observation is correct and you have a point of logic there. However, the Ottoman Empire was, as you point out correctly, on the rise and not yet as powerful as it was two centuries later.\nSo it lacked the necessary logistics structure to support another Islamic state at the opposite end of the Mediterranean (which was controlled by the fllets of Christian countries). \nIt is also questionable if the Ottoman Turks had much sympathy for the Moros in Spain. Islam might look today like a unified and strong religion, but it is split into numerous groups and factions who don't like each other and see each other as rivals. (Much the same as it is within Judaism and Christianity.)
873868
First of all you need to remember that the Byzantine Empire was once part of the Roman Empire.  The BE was considered eastern or Oriental, with its capital in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) whereas the RE is almost the epitome of Western (since it influenced all of Western Europe).  The BE empire was also much later, since it ended in 1453 whereas Rome was sacked in 476.  There are a whole host of other differences, it really depends if you're talking about the period of both  Western & Eastern (Byzantine) empires, of if you're looking at the full historical sweep of each empire
563161
The ancient Greeks loved to compile lists of the marvelous structures in their world. Though we think of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as a single list today, there were actually a number of lists compiled by different Greek writers. Antipater of Sidon, and Philon of Byzantium, drew up two of the most well-known lists. \n\nMany of the lists agreed on six of the seven items. The final place on some lists was awarded to the Walls of the City of Babylon. On others, the Palace of Cyrus, king of Persia took the seventh position. Finally, toward the 6th century A.D., the final item became the Lighthouse at Alexandria. \n\nSince the it was Greeks who made the lists it is not unusal that many of the items on them were examples of Greek culture. The writers might have listed the Great Wall of China if then had known about it, or Stonehenge if they'd seen it, but these places were beyond the limits of their world. \n\nIt is a surprise to most people to learn that not all the Seven Wonders existed at the same time. Even if you lived in ancient times you would have still needed a time machine to see all seven. While the Great Pyramid of Egypt was built centuries before the rest and is still around today (it is the only "wonder" still intact) most of the others only survived a few hundred years or less. The Colossus of Rhodes stood only a little more than half a century before an earthquake toppled it. \n\nSo pack your bags and start this impossible tour through time and space. Some of the pages have 3D images, so if you're not familiar with how to view them, click here to visit our 3D page before you start. As you work your way down the list, each item you visit will turn purple to remind you that you've already been there
176705
More details would help.  But historically, geography has been important in war.  Hannibal taking his troops over the Alps to invade Rome, for example.  The WWII rescue at Dunkirk.  Decisions of where, how and when to attack are based upon geography.
50637
Short answer: The Roman Empire was destroyed by rebellious barbarian peoples living WITHIN the empire, especially the Goths and Vandals.\n\nOver all, the Empire was a huge success story and went from strength to strength in civilizing the Western world. Many historians believe that there was no social and moral decline leading to a fall. The idea of decline and fall, they say, is a straw man (fake argument) based on later writer's sense of social standards. Like "Dude, those Romans were like so unrighteous that it was totally karma that they just like had to SO fall to pieces".\n\nWestern barbarians were forced into alliance with the empire because of pressure from the Huns. The empire's structure allowed for self-governance as long as you paid your taxes and sent recruits to the army. Tax revolt time!\n\nThe Goths rose up and crushed the Romans in the massive battle of Adrianople in 378. And then burglarized Rome in 410.\n\nThen the Vandals (sort of the old Carthaginian empire Part Deux) under old King Gaiseric built up ginormous naval power  and politely arranged to visit Rome in 455 and steal it blind (as agreed, no killing, no torture, no knocking down buildings). \n\nIn 468 the eastern empororer Leo suddenly realizd, "Hey those guys knocked down the whole west side of the empire, so go git em boys" and sent an armada (1,000 ships and 100,000 men) down south. Where the Vandals promptly destroyed the fleet and captured the army. So in 474 the empire said "okay you win" and signed a treaty of just one word: "Uncle!".\n\nPlague and back-and-forth battles with the Vandals, Goths, Franks and Lombards, plus civil wars and internal treachery pretty much made the empire give up the Western part of the  empire and stick to their knitting back in Constantinople where they lasted another 1,000 years.
176267
To the extent that coastal and short distance mercantile vessels had access to all the Mediterrainian, the Adriatic, part of  the Black Sea, the Ottoman did have great involvement with regards to seapower, but not as a deep seafaring culture,  Galleys made up most of the Ottoman Navy, with square rigged frigates coming into use later towoards the end of the 18th C. \nThat said their focus was inward, primarly on holding onto their territory around the Mediterrainian, and on towards the Middle East\nand parts of Asia.\nThe economy being mostly based on military conquest;  They already had sufficient control over trade routes and profitiable trade through their ports - not having a need to create new trade routes there would be no motivation to look toward the Americas.\nAnd again, while the Ottomans were skilled at galley warfare and coastal trade, they would never have seen a reason to double Cape Hope or Cape Horn for long sea passages.   All they requried was already in their possession.  Also after Lepanto, and well into the 17th C. they were in a decline which progressed all the way to the 20th C.
272864
Saint Zacharias (or Zachary), pope (741-752), from a Greek family of Calabria, appears to have been on intimate terms with Gregory III, whom he succeeded (November 741).\n\nZacharias was a wise and subtle diplomat. Finding that his predecessor's alliance with the Lombard Duke of Spoleto was not protecting Papal cities against the Lombard king, Zacharias turned to Liutprand directly. Contemporary history (Liber pontificalis) dwells chiefly on Zacharias' great personal influence with Liutprand, and with his successor Ratchis; it was largely through his tact in dealing with these princes in a variety of emergencies that the exarchate of Ravenna was rescued from becoming a Lombard duchy.\n\nA correspondence, of considerable extent, and great interest, between Zacharias and Saint Boniface, the apostle of Germany, survives, and shows how great was the influence of this pope on events then passing in France and Germany; he encouraged the deposition of the last Merovingian king of the Franks, Childeric III, and it was with his sanction that Boniface crowned Pepin the Short as king of the Franks at Soissons in 752. Zacharias is stated to have remonstrated with the Byzantine emperor Constantine V Copronymus on the part he had taken in the iconoclastic controversy. He died March 14, 752, and buried in St. Peter's Basilica. His successor was Stephen who died soon after, before consecration and is not considered a valid pope. He was then succeded by another Stephen who became Stephen II.\n\nIn the effort to Christianize Rome, Zacharias built the original church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva over an ancient temple to Minerva near Pantheon. He also restored the Lateran Palace, moving the relic of the head of Saint George to the church of San Giorgio al Velabro.
130258
Rhodes or Crete as they're further south.
46811
Constantinople is in Turkey(actually Istambul).The origin of tihs name was of the name of the Roman emperor,Constantine.It was the capital of Oriental Roman Empire after Constantines´s death.\n\nMilan is a city in Italy.It is presumed Milan was originally founded by the Celts of Northern Italy around 600 BCE and was conquered around 222 BCE by the Romans, who gave it the name of Mediolanum. In the 4th century CE, at the time of the bishop Saint Ambrose and emperor Theodosius I, the city was briefly the capital of the Western Roman Empire. At that time Milan was the second largest city in Europe, with more than 300,000 inhabitants.
39982
West of Greece, east of Italy :)  More in the link, it has quite a history.
1224
Wikipedia is awesome.\n\n"In the 1st century, Zealots conducted a fierce and unrelenting terror campaign against the Roman occupiers of the eastern Mediterranean. The Zealots enlisted sicarii to strike down rich Jewish collaborators and others who were friendly to the Romans."
322186
Google the Silk Road - it was one of the most important commerical highway of ancient times.  The crusades, while devastating in certain economic terms (loss of life, property abandoned/neglected while crusaders off, property destroyed by over-zealous crusaders who couldn't wait to get to the Holy Land to start raping an pilaging...), opened up Europe to the Silk Road and gave rise to the prosperity of Venice, Amsterdam, Lisbon, and other medieval trade centers.\n\nNow do some real research.
913514
He partied in Constantinople. The water to wine trick made him a huge hit with the youth there and several of his many children survived  and thrived there until the great plague of 1192.
638576
There were a couple of reasons. Greece and the Mediterranean Sea are very much connected. Greece besides being part of the continent of Europe is also many islands, which in effect were stepping stones across the sea. The Med. is a relatively calm body of water with good sailing and one is never too far from land. \n\nAlso Greece is not know as a fertile cornucopia as was the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates. It was a lot easier to depend on the sea.