The Byzantine Empire (which the Byzantines themselves would
have called the Roman Empire) is fundamentally the history of a city. It begins
in 330, with the founding of Constantinople and lasts until 1453, when it
finally falls to the Ottoman Turks. While it is generally compared to the Roman
Empire (truthfully) as a sort of lesser version and a rump state, you’ve still
gotta consider it to be one of the most successful empires of all time just for
that duration. Also, remember that any empire compared to Rome isn’t gonna look
that good.
From the
point when Eastern Rome and Western Rome permanently split in 395 upon the
death of Theodosius I, there will never be a state as big as the Roman Empire
in the Mediterranean. However, Byzantium will, under Justinian I, achieve some
serious gains, conquering parts of Italy, Africa, and Spain while maintaining the
Greek peninsula, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and Egypt. Byzantium is so
impressive because of the pressure it withstood for over a thousand years. Rome
was lucky enough to not have massive pressure at its borders for centuries, yet
Byzantium faced pressure constantly from Sassanid Persia, Viking Russia, barbarian
Bulgaria, insanely powerful Muslim Arabs, and the Turks from Central Asia that
would end it all and settle Asia Minor, which now just so happens to be called
Turkey.
Constantinople the City
In 381, Theodosius I invited the
Gothic leader Athanaric to Constantinople. Having been from a barbarian society
and lived in huts his whole life, Athanaric is said to have exclaimed that the
emperor must be a god on earth and that if anyone laid a hand against him he
would be asking for death. He would not be the last. The Byzantines used the
power of Constantinople as one of their most powerful diplomatic tools for the
entire 1,000+ years of their existence, using the awe-inspiring city to win
over Bulgars, Russians, and others to join them in alliances and also in the
Orthodox Church. Especially in the 900’s onwards, as Byzantine power waned,
they spoke of their emperor as the head of a family of princes, with favored nations
and friends finding a place in the hierarchy. The author argues that one aspect
of this, the conversion of Russia to Eastern Orthodoxy to be the Empire’s greatest
achievement. They took a group of settled Vikings who severely threatened their
empire and turned them into allies through the force of their culture- a
different type of conquest.
The walls of Constantinople were a
fearsome site that saved the city and the empire on what looked to me like
several dozen occasions. The main inner wall was 12 meters high with 96 towers.
In front of that was a lower outer wall with only a five-meter corridor between
them to trap any would-be invaders. In front of that was a 15-meter-wide and 5-7-meter-deep
ditch. Constantinople was literally impossible to capture for a thousand years
until the Ottoman Turks attacked it with the biggest army and navy (at the same
time) that it ever faced, as well as with a new invention called the cannon,
which tore holes in the Theodosian walls that enabled their conquest in 1453.
They didn’t finish the job though and parts of the walls can still be seen
today. One of the Byzantines’ best strategies throughout the end of the empire
was to retreat behind the walls and wait out their enemies.
In the Great Palace of
Constantinople there was a room overlooking the Bosporus Straits (I kind of
imagine the palace looked like the Red Keep from Game of Thrones) that was made
of the extremely rare purple stone named porphyry. It was said during the Macedonian
Dynasty that only someone porphyrogenitos, or born-in-the-purple, could rule.
Even when rulers weren’t “born in the purple,” legitimacy was always given to
he who controlled Constantinople.
Why did it end?
The main
point of the book is that we shouldn’t ask why the Byzantine empire fell so
much as why it lasted as long as it did. In short, the empire survived because
it had the greatest city in the world both in terms of architectural beauty and
strategic location, because it used its culture and religion to forge powerful
alliances, and because it was able to successfully incorporate disparate
peoples into itself and adapt to a world that changed drastically in the 1,000
years of its existence.
One
problem the Byzantine Empire faced for its last several hundred years was the
relationship between the strategos of
the themes (states/provinces) in Asia Minor and the Emperor. They were always
at odds and would eventually break away in the 1000s to become independent
warlords before being conquered by Seljuk Turks.
The end
was hastened by the Crusaders, who took over Constantinople in 1204 and ruled
for a half century over the empire. They were “Latins” or Catholics who
conquered the city from the inside due to some issues over payment and
Byzantine instability. The Empire, because of sheer momentum continued on for nearly
another 200 years, eventually being reduced in scope to the walls of
Constantinople as a vassal of the Ottoman Turks. In 1453, it was taken and
Byzantium was no more.
Christianity in Byzantium (just to throw this in here)
- Early on, the church had trouble differentiating itself from Judaism and many Christians attended synagogues as well as churches.
- In 533, legislation forbade sexual relations between men
- It was Christian missionaries who created the Slavic alphabet to translate the bible, a great example of the influence Byzantium maintains today. Russians, Bulgarians, Serbs, and others are all inheritors of the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman culture just as the French, Italians, Spanish, and others are the inheritors of the Latin-speaking Western Roman culture.
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