The Byzantine Empire, a name that many of us have heard a lot but we
know very less about it or some people don’t even have heard the name
but the Empire is known as one of the greatest empires of its time.
Byzantine Empire existed for almost 1,125 years. Byzantine means
excessively complicated, and involving a great deal of administrative
detail.
Get to know about the Byzantine Empire Closely
mix vidmate always tried to give you something out of the box, this time we come up
with the true information about Byzantine Empire. The history Belongs
to the part of Istanbul of today which was Byzantine earlier and the
city of Constantinople, Eastern part of the Roman Empire even earlier
from Byzantine. It is said that it was Byzantine Empire who saved Europe
from the tide of invasions by Islam. This article would be about the facts based on true information about the Byzantine Empire that are most of the times not explained properly or openly.
1. Origin of the Name ‘Byzantine
the origins of Bzyantium or you can say the Byzantine Empire are much of a
mystery and has different point of views but we will agree with the
most generally accepted concept how it was evolved. It was around 660 BC
when Byzaz a native of the town of Magara and a Greek consulted oracle
of Apollo about where he should be forming a new colony due to the
overpopulation in central Greece. The oracle simply told ‘opposite the
blind’. Byzas couldn’t get the message properly and went on to sail
towards northeast through Aegean Sea.
When he saw the Greek city of Chalcedon he came to a conclusion that
its founders must be blind enough to ignore such a beautiful site that
was just half mile away from the strait. So Byzas settled here and named
it after his own name Byzantine.
2. Geopolitics Favored Byzantium
As far as geopolitics was concerned
Byzantium was filled with many docks and fishing spots near its
locality. Its location was very strategic between the Black Sea and the
Mediterranean Sea which soon helped it becoming a trade Centre and a
leading port. It gained its importance by becoming the linking between
European countries and Asians. In 590 BC Byzantine was destroyed by the
Persians and was rebuilt by the Spartans. It was then later fought over
by the Athens and the Spartans, Byzantines history involves many of the
famous names as from 336 to 323 B.C Byzantine was under the world famous
Greek General Alexander the Great.
After the death of Alexander the great
the city got its Independence back as Independent Byzantine. Byzantine
became the capital of one of the most powerful and great empires and
after that it was attacked by several parties including Scythians, the
Celts, and of course the Romans.
3. Birth of the Byzantine Empire
It was in 324 AD when Constantine I, the
emperor of the West defeated the emperors of the East Maxentius and
Licinius, in the civil wars of the Tetrarchy. Constantine also became
the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire and it is also true that
during his reign Christianity became very dominant religion in the
empire. During his time as the emperor his biggest regret was that he
could never set up a unified church for Christians.
His accomplishments includes the
formation of Constantinople city while many other Roman and Greek
emperors also built their cities but Constantinople was the most
magnificent of them all. It soon became the capital of the Byzantine
Empire and the marked dawn of a new stretch.
4. The Empire Split
The opinion of most of the historians
varies when talking about the fall of the Roman Empire. The most common
conclusions made about it are the ones saying that when the Empire was
split into two. There is another debate about the religious affairs of
that time as well which is considered to be the main reason behind the
split.
Last rule on the Roman Empire was of
Theodosius I who was mainly the reason behind the split of Roman Empire.
He divided the Empire into two halves and gave to the two of his sons,
giving Rome (West) to his son Honorius and Constantinople (East) to his
other son Arcadius. This was the reason that Roman Empire came to its
end as the empire couldn’t remain as powerful as it was before the
split.
5. The Golden Era of Byzantine
It was during the reign of Justinian I when byzantine developed its law system which was named as The Justinian Code. Under
these laws byzantine flourished a lot or you can say the most in the
Roman era. Not just that Justinian also gained fame due to the
architectural developments during his time. The most famous building
during his time was Hagia Sophia which later became the Greek Orthodox
Church. The church is still present in Istanbul and is known as one of
the largest Churches in the current times.
Justinian was a ruler that encouraged
arts and music as well with all the other developments. He was also a
masterful builder so he during his times focused on the infrastructural
developments. He is also known as a saint Eastern Orthodox Church but
many of the Christians also disagree.
6. The Greek Takes Over Byzantine
Most of the historians agree that the
Byzantine Empire became Greek after in culture after it was added in the
Byzantine throne of Heculius in 610 A.D. the Byzantine Empire was made
Greek completely. Greek was made the official language of the Empire and
became widely spoken language of Byzantine population.
Byzantine Empire being originally
eastern Roman Empire had to change herself to a new dimension. By 650 AD
only few Roman elements remained under Greek influence. From 650AD
onwards Byzantine population was having Greek cultural background.
7. Use of Greek Fire by Byzantine Navy
The byzantine Navy used a flammable chemical which was pumped on to
enemy ships it could not be extinguished easily.As per historians the
chemical contain naphtha pitch, sulfur, lithium, potassium, metallic
sodium, and calcium phosphate and petroleum base. The other nations also
tried to adopt the technique but abandoned it as the chemical was
dangerous for their own troops.
8. Byzantine Food
Byzantine cuisine was a combination of Greek practices and Roman
traditions. Cheese, figs, eggs olive oil, walnuts, almonds, apples and
pears, were naturally occurring in the empire’s land. Honey was used as a
sweetener in byzantine since sugar was not available. Bakeries produced
over 80,000 loafs per day, bread was essential staple of byzantine.Much
of cheese meat fish were preserved in salt and olive but just like
Greece vegetables were added to this diet which were grown in small
garden.
9. Power of Byzantine Economy in Europe
Byzantine Empire consisted of small towns and seaports associated by
developed infrastructure. Their people were Christian’s women were
committed in raising their children. Their men were hardworking and were
given the facilities of having places where they could spend their
leisure time. Their productions were amazing and they were increasing
their land ownership. A.D. 500 to A.D. 1200 was the best time of
Byzantium, they became the wealthiest nations in Europe. Their standard
of living s better than the rest of the world and they were on top of
the world with respect to arts and music. It is believed that Byzantine
was “American Dream” of its time.
10. The Great Schism
Most students of history of Byzantium
concur that the Empire’s most prominent and most enduring legacy was the
conception of Greek Orthodox Christianity. Eastern Orthodoxy emerged as
an unmistakable branch of Christianity after the “Incomparable Schism”
of the eleventh century in the middle of Eastern and Western
Christendom. The detachment was not sudden. For a considerable length of
time, there had been noteworthy religious, social, and political
contrasts between the Eastern and Western holy places.
Numerous students of history guarantee
us today that religion was the principle motivation behind why Roman
society lost all its impact on the Byzantine Empire. There were major
religious contrasts between Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox
Christians, on subjects, for example, the utilization of pictures, the
nature of the Holy Spirit, and the part (and personality) of the Pope.
Culturally, the Greek East has constantly had a tendency to be more
philosophical, conceptual, and supernatural in its reasoning, while the
Latin West tended towards a more down to business and lawful minded
methodology. Every one of these variables at long last reached a crucial
stage in 1054 A.D., when Pope Leo IX banned the Patriarch of Constantinople, who was the pioneer of the Greek Orthodox Church.
