10 Facts You Should Know about Byzantine Empire

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.