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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.

Palaiologos

 

 

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.

iconoclasm

 

 

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.

classical Greek literature

 

 

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.

Emblem of Byzantine Empire

 

 

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.

Georgius Gemistus

 

 

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.

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.

Greek Fire

 

 

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.

Patriarch and Pope

 


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