FACTS ABOUT THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
Added on: 5th Mar 2016
THE LONGEST BYZANTINE DYNASTY,
ALMOST TWO HUNDRED YEARS, WAS ALSO
ITS LAST. THE PALAEOLOGUS DYNASTY BEGAN
WITH MICHAEL VIII, WHO IN 1259 BLINDED AND
IMPRISONED HIS TEN-YEAR-OLD PREDECESSOR
(JOHN IV LASKARIS), AND ENDED WITH CONSTANTINE XI,
WHO DIED BRAVELY IN BATTLE WHEN THE
OTTOMANS TOOK CONSTANTINOPLE.
DURING THE EIGHTH AND EARLY NINTH CENTURIES,
BYZANTINE EMPERORS (BEGINNING WITH LEO III IN 730)
SPEARHEADED A MOVEMENT THAT DENIED THE
HOLINESS OF ICONS, OR RELIGIOUS IMAGES, AND
PROHIBITED THEIR WORSHIP. KNOWN AS ICONOCLASM.
“THE SMASHING OF IMAGES”—THE MOVEMENT
WAXED AND WANED UNDER VARIOUS RULERS,
BUT DID NOT END UNTIL 843, WHEN A CHURCH COUNCIL
UNDER EMPEROR MICHAEL III RULED IN FAVOUR
OF DISPLAYING RELIGIOUS IMAGES.
WHAT MANY PEOPLE IGNORE OR DON’T REALIZE IS
THAT MOST OF THE CLASSICAL LITERATURE THAT
SURVIVES TODAY WAS PRESERVED THANKS TO
THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. THE MAJORITY OF THE
WORKS OF PHILOSOPHERS SUCH AS ARISTOTLE
AND PLATO, AND THE HISTORICAL TEXTS OF GREECE
AND ROME, WERE SAVED BY BYZANTINE SCHOLARS
WHO MAINTAINED THE ANCIENT TRADITIONS OF
LITERATURE AND LEARNING. WORKS THAT WERE
LOST FOR CENTURIES IN THE WEST WERE
REINTRODUCED BY THE BYZANTINES.
ACCORDING TO MANY MODERN HISTORIANS,
BYZANTINE CIVILIZATION IS VERY IMPORTANT
BECAUSE WITHOUT IT THE MODERN WESTERN WORLD
WOULD NOT EXIST. BYZANTIUM PRESERVED AND
PROTECTED THE VERY FOUNDATIONS OF WESTERN
CIVILIZATION FROM THE INVASION OF ISLAM IN MANY
CASES. THIS IS WHY MANY SCHOLARS OFTEN REFER
TO IT AS THE SHIELD OF THE WEST.
GEORGIUS GEMISTUS, A GREEK SCHOLAR OF
NEOPLATONISM, WAS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT
THINKERS THE EMPIRE EVER PRODUCED AND IS
CONSIDERED ONE OF THE EARLY PIONEERS OF
THE RENAISSANCE IN WESTERN EUROPE. IN THE
LAST YEARS OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE, HE
ADVOCATED A RETURN TO THE OLYMPIAN GODS
SINCE HE OPENLY PREACHED THAT CHRISTIANITY
HAD SEVERELY DAMAGED THE ANCIENT GREEK SPIRIT.
HE WAS ALSO THE ONE WHO REINTRODUCED
PLATONIC THOUGHT TO WESTERN EUROPE DURING
THE 1438–39 COUNCIL OF FLORENCE.
THE CIVILIZATION OF CONSTANTINOPLE IS SOMETIMES
MISUNDERSTOOD AS A POOR IMITATION OF
CLASSICAL GREECE AND ROME. FROM THE
PERSPECTIVE OF MEDIEVAL WESTERN EUROPE,
HOWEVER, CONSTANTINOPLE WAS A CITY OF
MAGIC AND MYSTERY. EARLY FRENCH EPICS AND
ROMANCES TELL OF THE WONDROUS FOODS, SPICES,
DRUGS, AND PRECIOUS STONES THAT COULD BE
FOUND IN THE PALACES OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
THE BYZANTINE NAVY WAS THE FIRST TO EMPLOY
A TERRIFYING LIQUID IN NAVAL BATTLES THAT
THEY CALLED “GREEK FIRE.” THE LIQUID WAS PUMPED
ONTO ENEMY SHIPS AND TROOPS VIA LARGE
SYPHONS MOUNTED ON THE BYZANTINE SHIPS’
PROWS. IT WOULD IGNITE UPON CONTACT WITH
SEAWATER, AND COULD ONLY BE EXTINGUISHED
WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY.
IN 1054 THE MOST DEFINING MOMENT IN THE
HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE OCCURRED: THE
GREAT SCHISM. THE LATIN ROMAN CHURCH AND
THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH BROKE FROM
EACH OTHER. THE LATINS BEGAN REFERRING TO
THE BYZANTINES AS “GREEKS” AND USED THIS
TERM MORE AND MORE, UNTIL THE FALL OF THE
EMPIRE IN 1453. THIS DEFINED THE BYZANTINE
EMPIRE’S LEGACY IN THAT MODERN HISTORIANS
DISTINGUISH IT AS BEING CLEARLY ORIENTED TOWARD
GREEK RATHER THAN LATIN CULTURE, AND
CHARACTERIZED BY ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY
RATHER THAN THE LATIN ROMAN CHURCH.
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