Hellenic Culture Through the Ages: Byzantine Empire

[Zorba]

The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centred at its capital in Constantinople. In certain specific contexts, usually referring to the time before the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it is also often referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire.

There is no consensus on the starting date of the Byzantine period. Some place it during the reign of Diocletian (284-305) due to the administrative reforms he introduced, dividing the empire into a pars Orientis and a pars Occidentis. Others place it during the reign of Theodosius I (379-395) and Christendom's victory over paganism, or, following his death in 395, with the division of the empire into Western and Eastern halves.

Others place it yet further in 476, when the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus, was forced to abdicate, thus leaving to the emperor in the Greek East sole imperial authority. In any case, the changeover was gradual and by 330, when Constantine I inaugurated his new capital, the process of Hellenization and Christianization was well underway.

"Byzantium may be defined as a multi-ethnic empire that emerged as a Christian empire, soon comprised the Hellenized empire of the East and ended its thousand year history, in 1453, as a Greek Orthodox state: An empire that became a nation, almost by the modern meaning of the word".1

In the centuries following the Arab and Lombard conquests in the 7th century, its multi-ethnic (albeit not multi-national) nature remained even though its constituent parts in the Balkans and Asia Minor contained an overwhelmingly Greek population. Ethnic minorities and sizeable communities of religious heretics often lived on or near the borderlands, the Armenians being the only sizeable one.Byzantines identified themselves as Romaioi (Ρωμαίοι - Romans) which had already become a synonym for a Hellene (Έλλην - Greek)

The official dissolution of the Byzantine state in the 15th century did not immediately undo Byzantine society. During the Ottoman occupation Greeks continued to identify themselves as both Ρωμαίοι (Romans) and Έλληνες (Hellenes), a trait that survived into the early 20th century and still persists today in modern Greece, albeit the former has now retreated to a secondary folkish name rather than a national synonym as in the past.

Byzantine Flag:


Major Emperors:

Constantine I


Heraclius I


Basil II(The Bulgar Slayer)


Manuel I Comnenus


Constantine XI(The Final Emperor)


Great Cities:

Constantinople




Hagia Sophia:







Icons:





Buildings of the Byzantine Empire in Greece:

Athens




Thessaloniki






Meteora

[KONSTANTINOUPOLIS]

Άντε πάλι:

Originally Posted by KONSTANTINOUPOLIS

A ) Οι γυμνές φωτογραφίες και οι κάθε είδους σεξουαλικές διαστροφές ( η μη ) δεν έχουν θέση στην Ε.Α

Β ) Απρεπής συμπεριφορές και υβριστικοί χαρακτηρισμοί δεν έχουν θέση στην Ε.Α.

Γ ) Θέματα τα οποία δεν έχουν σχέση με την αρχιτεκτονική και εξαιτίας αυτών δημιουργούνται αντιπαραθέσεις μίσους θα κλειδώνονται χωρίς προειδοποίηση.

Περίμενε αργά η γρήγορα κλείδωμα.

[Kuvvaci]

Nice thread but this picture is rediculous...

Because, it doesn't show a historical view. There is Beşiktaş neigbourhood at the backround on the left. and modern plazas...And right after Ayasofya you can see Topkapı Palace very clearly...

And in fornt of Ayasofya, the tombs with domes are Ottoman Sultans tomb.

[Zorba]

I got that painting to show what Agia Sophia probably looked like back in Byzantine times.

@Konstantinoupolis: This thread does have to do with architecture. I gave photos and examples of Greek architecture throughout the thread. Look at the churches, or the walls of Thessaloniki or the icons, and Greek architecture at Agia Sophia. This has a lot to do with architecture. I just thought it would be a good idea to give some background on the Byzantine Empire and their rulers as well.

[GrigorisSokratis]

Zorba I want to remind you that process of Hellenization never happened since it allways been greek all throughout the Roman times, since Rome unlike to the other provinces gave to the inhabitants of Greece the right to retain their culture, language and lifestyle, moreover it's well known that while the Romans conquered Greece with the weapons Greece did them with its upper civilization.

So while in other parts of the Empire Latinization happened in two places it didn't one was Britannia due to the distance and late conquest and the other one Greece due to its stronger civilization, despite its proximity to Rome and its relative early conquest (146BC) it remained Greek all thoughout the Roman times.

Therefore we can talk about Christianization process but never about Hellenization.

[Tekir]

Originally Posted by GrigorisSokratis

since Rome unlike to the other provinces gave to the inhabitants of Greece the right to retain their culture

Really, read about the fate of Alexandria after the Roman conquest.

do you remember the approach of Sulla while he was chasing Mithridiates in Greece?

Romans are the very people who carved your scientific movements. They ended the Hellenic Science days.

Originally Posted by Grigoris

Therefore we can talk about Christianization process but never about Hellenization.

No Hellenization or Christian Greek domination started with Heraclius I in the beginning of 7th century.

Lucius Cornelius Scipio Africanus and other Cornelians liked and adored Greek civilization. But hawks like Cato (the elder not the stoic) hated Greek philosophy. Romans concentrated more on engineering, architecture, applied sciences. They hated theory.

The greatest disaster came to this world was Roman Empire itself... For me, it is the death Hellenic civilzation.

This summarizes all:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846

Ah Alexander ah, you should have appointed someone as your successor.

I am , I confess a Phil Hellenic, and an Anti-Roman...

[Tekir]

There was never a Byzantine Empire, it was the Roman Empire. Some French dudes started that ridiculous claim in 1800s.

BTW, Heraclius I, Basil I-II, Romanos IV, Alexius Comnenus and Last Paleogoli are my favorites in the Greek domination.

In the latin dominated Christian Empire, off course Constantinus Magnus and Iustinianus rocks...

Some mod should better change the topic to Roman Empire or Christian Roman Empire.

After 614 A.D. I guess, Empire became a Greek empire with Heraclius. Before him, it was a Latin Empire, to be credited as Italian...

[JohnnyB_UK]

Originally Posted by Tekir

There was never a Byzantine Empire, it was the Roman Empire. Some French dudes started that ridiculous claim in 1800s.

Yeah right! Man did you learn history from your grandmother or something??? lol

[Zorba]

Originally Posted by Tekir

There was never a Byzantine Empire, it was the Roman Empire. Some French dudes started that ridiculous claim in 1800s.

BTW, Heraclius I, Basil I-II, Romanos IV, Alexius Comnenus and Last Paleogoli are my favorites in the Greek domination.

In the latin dominated Christian Empire, off course Constantinus Magnus and Iustinianus rocks...

Some mod should better change the topic to Roman Empire or Christian Roman Empire.

After 614 A.D. I guess, Empire became a Greek empire with Heraclius. Before him, it was a Latin Empire, to be credited as Italian...

Are you serious? Ofcourse there was a Byzantine Empire. It is ridiculous to say that there wasn't. The Byzantines and the Holy Roman Empire were enemies due to their different religions.

Not to mention the cultural differences. The Byzantines were a Hellenic culture, and the vast majority of the citizens of the Empire were Greek. Greek was also the main language of the Empire.

It underwent Hellenization after it broke off from Rome in the great schism of 1054, but even before then it was pretty much a Hellenic Empire.

[Tekir]

Pagan Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic, Roman Empire belongs to the Italians.

Christian Roman Empire belongs to Italians before Heraclius I.

After HEraclius, until the Palaegoli end, Christian Roman Empire is Greek.

After 1453, Islamic Roman Empire is Turkic.

This is just a brief summary...

THere was a toy empire occured between 395-476 from Honorius to Romulus Augustulus. That was just a toy who tore apart from the main body...

Never consider as the west...

West was already Visigothic and Frankish realms. It was Western Germans who defeated Attila' s Germanic contigents in chalons, in 451 AD.

Before Constantinus Magnus, there were practically 4 parts. Roman Empire disintegrated into more than one parts on many occasions. in the second Triumvirate era, they were 3 parts for instance. Octavianus united all of them by defeating them one by one.

395 is the latest time, where some part tore apart from the main body.

actually Roman empire was never divided. Only rebels or impudants tore apart like Lepidus, Marcus Antonius (these two are the members of second trimuvirate with Octavianus), the Gallics, Maxentius, and Honorius at last...

[gm2263]

Somebody please post pictures of the St Demetrius Church and the Rorunda in Thessaloniki, before this gets locked.

[tzinos]

Tekir, before ot gets locked I would like to remind you that it was Justinianus time not Heraclius time that the Hellenic influence became greater in the State. It was when in Codex Justinianus, some of the laws called "Neares" were written in Greek, and that was the first official document of the empire writen in greek. Nevertheless, people spoke and wrote greek, and only a minority of the wealthy state people used Latin as a sign of their dominance and power. Gradually this also faded out. So there was a "hellenisation" of the State (as a beurocratic entity), but not a hellenisation of the country that spoke greek anyway. In contrast there was a christianisation (sometimes even by force) in the hellenic territories and elsewhere.

[Zorba]

St. Demetrius Church




BTW this topic shouldnt be locked. I don't see why it would be.

[Arpels]

in scool we learn that Eastern Roman Empire (Bizantyne Empire) is the continuation of the old SACRVM Roman Empire after the fall of the West Roman Empire in the hands of the barbarian invadors, unfortunately the conversion of the Byzantine Emperor Constantin and Helena to Christianism its the end of ligth (Paganism) age and the start of the dark age in West Europe until the Renascence, Bizantyn art its the moust positive aspect of thys Empire and is a beautiful and diferent point of view of Christian art.

[gm2263]

@ Zorbas: Thanks, a million thanks

Αυτός είναι Βυζαντινός ρυθμός εκκλησίας κύριοι.

[GrigorisSokratis]

As Tzinos pointed out in his post clearly, Latin was the language in which laws were written and Roman administration used during roman times, but the language the people used was Greek, and that's the real thing the people accordingly the majority.

Unlike other countries like Gaul (France-Switzerland-Belgium) Hispania (Spain-Portugal) Dacia (Rommania) in Britannia and Greece people never been latinized. That's why in Justinian times they translated the codex in Greek so as people as well as administration could understand it. The Heraclian Hellenization refers to the change in imperial names (ie from Eastern Roman to Greek Empire, or the administration system change from provinces to themata) but the people remained Greek from ancient times.

As a comparison I'll put it this way, as what happened in Gaul when the Frankish conquered the country it's known that around the 600 AD while the Roman-Gauls were millions there were just 100,000 to 200,000 Frankish in Gaul. But what they did is adapt to the spoken language because when administration was ruled by a few who spoke Frankish (the relative case of Romans speaking Latin in Greece) but the Gaul population spoke the gaulish Latin (the relative case of Greek people speaking Greek). That's why today the French language is a branch of the tree of Romantic languages and not of the Germanic ones. Of course the Franks added a few words to the French as it happens always when some people impose they rule to other, but when the conquered ones retain their culture and roots its difficult to beat their essence. Nevertheless I have to point out that after Charlomagne times the frankish fusioned with Gaulish and that's why many terms of Frankish origin are found today in the french language.

[JohnnyB_UK]

Hey Tekir! Do u tell these kind of jokes to your friends as well or we only get the priviledge of learning history from a smart-ass 'dude' like you?

[Tekir]

No, its name was not Byzantine Empire. Its real name is Roman Empire. (Not even Eastern). Catholics called it Eastern but Constantinople never recognized the Western Empire so that there was only one Roman Empire.

It is your Greek Empire sure but learn its name correct . Gocaps, you never and ever recognized the German Empire to be the Holy Roman Empire. Was that Voltaire who said, Neither Roman, nor holy, nor an empire? Holy Roman Empire was military giant but its system was a joke, that is why after Charlesmagne it melted... One Anti-Iconoclast queen of yours, her name was Irene as far as I remember, was to be married with Charlesmagne. but the barbarian was not accepted by your deep state.

Your Empire is Roman Empire, to be specific Christian Roman Empire. First it was Latin but day by day became Greekified. Alteration finished with Heraclius (my favorite).

No Emperor between Constantinus Great to Constantinus XI Palaegolus called them selves Byzantines. They were named to be Caesar of Rome... Turks call it Kayser-i Rumi.

Show me a real source that its official name was Byzantine Empire, I will take the picture of my ass and display it here. But do not try, its official name was Roman Empire. Latin one is Imperium Romanum but do not know the Greek word...

[Tekir]

Let me confess, My Christian Roman Empire knowledge is far better than my Ottoman Empire knowledge, hahahahahahah.

Donno why, the second Rome is more fascinating...

[Tekir]

We have that same kinda name mistakes too. Like you call your Roman Empire as Byzantines, we call Rum Seljuk Sultanate as Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate (Nationalist guys can not bear the fact that a Turk-Islam guy using a Greek word in his country ).

There are many and many. For example Solomons nickname, Lawgiver. It is a very very late nickname given to him. He was Solomon just Solomon. But look at many Turkish high school boks, they say, Solomon the Lawgiver.

Same mistake occured in the city name of Istanbul. Ottomans never officially used this world. You can find zillions of Ottoman Maps saying Constantinople (People of the city called Konstantiniyye, an Islamic form of the name ).

Now it is a peeing contest between dumb nationalists:

"No Istanbul since 1453, no Constantinople ."

Poor Ataturk, he just changed the name of the city 1) to erase the Imperial effects. 2) to Turkify the city, completely, to save it from British and Russian hands. But main aim is the first one...

This world is a weird world. One day I will realize the way to provocate people sith wrong information.