Beware of the Last Romans Who Hold Gifts Bearing Greeks
(A not so short story of the Roman Empire & The Greek Revolution of 1821)
By Theo Mak Drummer, Singer, Songwriter and History geek
I am starting this article with a story back from the times of the 1st Balkan War in 1912. It was the 8th of October 1912 when the Greek navy took over Lemnos from the Turks and the island became part of Greece. A year later in 1913, The Battle of Lemnos was a naval battle in which the Greeks defeated the Ottoman Empire's final effort to smash the Greek fleet and regain control of the Aegean Sea.
When the island of Lemnos was occupied by the Greek navy in 1912, Greek soldiers were sent to the villages and stationed themselves in the public squares. Some of us children ran to see what these Greek soldiers, these Hellenes looked like. ‘‘What are you looking at?’’ one of them asked. ‘‘At Hellenes,’’ we replied. ‘‘Are you not Hellenes yourselves?’’ he retorted. ‘‘No, we are Romans." - Hellenism in Byzantium - Anthony Kalldelis
If you could go back in time, walk in the streets of Constantinople around 800-900 A.D and ask the inhabitants who they were, the answer would not be ‘’the Byzantines’’ nor would it be ‘’the Greeks’’ or ‘’the Hellenes’’. They would have simply answered we are ‘’the Romans’’ but the answer would have been given in Greek. So what’s the catch?
The Roman Empire at its greatest extent pic by Tatarin
Leading Roman poet Horace said, Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit (Captive Greece captured her rude conqueror).
When the Romans invaded and conquered Greece, they did not extinguish Greek culture; instead, they embraced it, fully adopting Greek philosophy and arts and spreading them across the Empire.
It is very hard to attempt writing an overview of more than two thousand years of history so the following article is a collection of crucial points in Greek and Roman history in an effort to explain who were the ‘’Last Romans’’ the ‘’Romioi’’, who were the forefathers of the modern nation of the Greeks. The term ‘’Romios’’ is less used nowadays referring to either the Christian population of the Ottoman Empire, the Greek revolutionaries of 1821 (exactly 200 years ago) or the small Greek community that still lives in what is now called Istanbul.
The Romans Invade
The Battle of Corinth in 146 BC between the Roman Republic and the city-state of Corinth with its allies in the Achaean League marked the beginning of Roman domination in Greek history. After an initial period of revolts and turmoil, life in Greece continued much the same as it had previously. The slaves that were brought to Rome from Greece during this period were usually highly educated and they were used as highly skilled craftsmen, builders, accountants, tutors giving them a very special status within the Roman society.
The last day on Corinth, Tony Robert-Fleury By Sailko
Rome invested heavily on the restoration of the Greek cities that were devastated during the war period, established Corinth as the capital of the region and Athens became again a hub of learning. The fact is that Greek culture in due time, dominated together with the Roman institutions, state organisation and military might.
The Roman Elite was, apart from Latin also Greek speaking even if some members of the Roman aristocracy were considering the Greeks to be ‘’backwards and frivolous’’.
According to the 1st century C.E. Roman historian Suetonius, Julius Caesar spoke mainly Greek and not Latin. This was the case with the majority of the Roman Elite.
In his history about the life of Julius Caesar, Suetonius writes that as the assassins plunged their daggers into the dictator, Caesar saw Brutus and spoke the Greek phrase kai su, teknon, meaning "you too, my child."
Death Of Caesar - Smithsonian Magazine
Greek teachers, philosophers, mathematicians were dominating the Roman world by introducing the Greek Paideia.
Roman peace in Greece was the longest period of peace in its already long history (Greeks loved and love fighting between them; it’s a cultural trait I guess) and Greece became one of the major intersections of trade and ideas between Rome and the Greek speaking half of the empire which coincided to a great extent with the Hellenistic World after Great Alexander’s conquests.
The Diadokhoi as you can see on the map below means in Greek the ‘’Successors’’ of Alexander’s Empire which, after Alexander’s death, was split into separate kingdoms who fought each other over dominion up until the emergence of Rome.
The Hellenistic World: Hellenistic Kingdoms After Great Alexander’s Death - map by By IAN MLADJOV
The Greek language was the lingua franca in Magna Graecia which means ‘’Big Greece’’ and it was the name given by the Romans to the coastal areas of South Italy and Sicily. These regions were extensively populated by Greek settlers (since the Archaic period). In the East, much of the aristocracy was of Greek origin.
Greek city-states and colonies before Alexander’s conquests and the Hellenistic Period map by World History US
What we now call the Greco-Roman Civilisation was finally ‘’officially’’ fused during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117-138). who was heavily influenced by Greek culture and philosophy. Hadrian's nickname because of his adoration for anything Greek was Graeculus ("Greekling"). A tourist who visits Athens today can clearly see all the ruins of the magnificent buildings of Hadrian’s era in the city. Buildings such as The Arch of Hadrian, The Library of Hadrian, The Hadrianic Bathhouse, The Temple of The Olympian Zeus and much more.
Mock-up of the Library of Hadrian, Museo della Civilita Romana YouGoCulture
A perfect example of a ‘’Greco-Roman’ is Herodus Atticus. He was born in Marathon and was a Greek of an Athenian aristocratic line. With his father, Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes, a Greek aristocrat, being already a Roman senator and a respected member of the Roman Elite, Emperor Hadrian Graeculus appointed Herodus Atticus, who was educated by both Roman and Greek teachers, Prefect in the Roman cities of Asia. Later on he relocated to Athens where he was elected as an Archon. Coming after, Antoninus Pius invited him to Rome to educate his two sons, the future Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. Marcus Aurelius the famous Emperor/Philosopher wrote his 12 books of the Meditations in Greek not Latin.
A lot of people that are not very familiar with history tend to think that Greek history ended with the occupation of the Greek territories by Rome but this is far away from the truth.
The term "Greco-Roman world" as understood by modern scholars and writers, refers to geographical regions and countries that culturally - and so historically - were directly and intimately influenced by the language, culture, government and religion of the ancient Greeks and Romans. A better-known term is classical civilisation. - Greco-Roman world
Roman Citizenship - Evolution Of Citizenship
In Roman times the meaning of citizenship started gradually expanding and evolving from small communities within Rome to the whole Empire. In 212 A.D. with the edict of Emperor Caracalla all free inhabitants in the Empire were given full Roman Citizenship. It was a way to homogenize highly diverse populations within the borders. The languages of communication were Latin and Greek but the population within the Empire of course included many other ethnic groups. ‘
’The Romans did not see their common identity as one necessarily based on shared language or inherited ethnicity. Instead, the important factors of being Roman were being part of the same larger religious or political community and sharing common customs, values, morals and ways of life.’’ The Roman People
The Division Of The Roman Empire Into Smaller Manageable Sections
After the Crisis of the Third Century which was a period of turmoil where the Roman Empire almost collapsed by a combination of threats such as barbarian invasions, migrations, civil wars, rebellions and political instability, the view was that it was impossible for such a big Empire to be managed only from the city of Rome so efforts were made to split the empire into smaller sections with separate governing courts.
The Tetrarchy pic by By Nino Barbieri
In 286 Diocletian in an effort to gain control and better manage the problems that had occurred introduced the system of the Tetrarchy (Rule of four in Greek, Tetrarchia/Τετραρχια).
The Empire was split into west and east with lower-ranking divisions; Two Emperors and two Caesars based in cities closer to the borders Nicomedia, Sirmium, Mediolanum and Augusta Treverorum with Rome having a ceremonial role as the capital of the Empire.
This system was short lived as it created a different kind of political upheaval than before; It officially ended in 306 when Constantine was hailed as Augustus and Caesar by Constantius’ army who was his father and a Ceasar of the Tetrarchy.
In 311, the emperor Galerius issued the Edict of Serdica, which formally ended the Diocletianic persecution of Christianity in the east. And later on with the issuance of the Edict of Milan in 313 AD, the Roman state's persecution of Christians finally came to an end.
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 was a turning point that ended the civil wars of the Tetrarchy and Constantine emerged as the sole emperor of the Roman Empire. He is also regarded as one of its greatest therefore he is also known as Constantine The Great. He was the first Emperor to give religious freedom to Christianity and other religions and also the first Emperor to convert to the new religion.
Constantine's army had arrived on the field with strange symbols on their shields and their flags. According to Lactantius:
"Constantine was directed in a dream to cause the heavenly sign to be delineated on the shields of his soldiers, and so to proceed to battle. He did as he had been commanded, and he marked on their shields the letter Χ, with a perpendicular line drawn through it and turned round thus at the top, being the cipher of Christ.’’
Constantine’s Greek letters Chi Rho for Christ's initials
Constantine possibly saw Christianity as a means to get the empire back together after two decades of horrible religious division between the old and the new religion. However, he discovered that Christianity was not a unified faith. As a solution, in 325, he summoned the Council of Nicea, which gathered together 1,800 bishops from across the Empire to hammer out an official doctrine and set the groundwork for a single Church.
The Hellenes ‘’Disappear’’ From Planet Earth
From 313 to 391, both paganism and Christianity were legitimate practises in the Roman Empire, with their respective followers competing for influence.
The word Hellene came to have a theological connotation representing paganism. Some Greco-Roman pagans who continued to maintain ancient Greek and Roman religious and cultural identity adopted and maintained this meaning, the most famous of whom was Emperor Julian (361-363), who enthusiastically asserted the term.
Julian gave the word ‘’Hellenism’’ to his conservative Graeco-Roman faith and coined the term Hellene to describe a follower of that religion.
Flavius Claudius Julianus was a Hellenistic philosopher, military leader, Roman emperor, and satirist, often referred to as Julian the Apostate because of his rejection of formal Christian doctrines - Julian the Apostate
Finally, in the year 391 Valentinian II issued a law banning sacrifices and forbidding anybody from entering the temples. Pagan (Hellenic/Greco-Roman) temples had to be closed under a later rule of Valentinian, which was regarded as effectively outlawing paganism.
One of the two upside-down Medusa heads in the Cistern of Constantinople probably symbolising the victory of Christianity over ‘’Hellenism’’ Smithsonian Magazine
Over the next centuries, the word "Hellene" appears in literature with four different meanings:
As a synonym of pagan, geographical (the Hellenic region), relating to the Ancient Greeks and the Greek language and, most notably, as a synonym of knowledge and virtue during the Macedonian Renaissance (more on this era later).
This slow transition from a negative to a positive connotation for the term was crucial in the subsequent creation of a Hellenic identity and the European Enlightenment.
Constantinople
Nova Roma Second Rome Eastern Rome and Roma Constantinopolitana.
Diocletian had chosen the city of Nikomedia as the capital of the east but In 324 the ancient Greek city of Byzantion was called New Rome (Nova Roma Constantinopolitana) by Constantine The Great and Constantinoupolis (in Greek) became the largest and wealthiest new capital of the Roman Empire.
Constantine chose the city of Byzantion because of its great strategic location between the east and the west, it’s harbor and its very defendable geography, while recognising that the richest areas and cities of the Roman Empire in the east were under threat by the invasions coming from the north of Danube and under the constant threat of the Persian Empire to the east.
From the mid 5th century up until the beginning of the 13th century, Constantinople was the largest, wealthiest and most important Christian city of Europe and the centre of the Roman world where the treasures and knowledge of the Greco-Romans was kept safe behind the massive walls and defence structures that kept the city intact during an incredible number of sieges (34 times!!!) by foreign invaders.
Reconstruction of Constantinopolitan Architecture
With periods of ‘’ups and downs’’ to use a colloquial expression by the internal or external dangers that threatened the empire throughout its existence, classical studies, ecclesiastical studies, music, physics, mathematics and engineering, literature and rhetoric, medicine and the establishment of hospitals (nosokomeion), military inventions, astronomy, philosophy, and humanism flourished.
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in the beginning of the 10th century gathered all the Greek text books from the monasteries and elsewhere and created the first encyclopedia.
‘’Constantine's great contribution was in the realm of learning and preservation of antiquity. Once he became the sole ruler with the treasury at his disposal, he ransacked his dominions for manuscripts, gathered a group of scholars, and published his encyclopedias, collections of excerpts from older works of history; agriculture; medicine; horse doctoring, including an epitome (indirect) of Aristotle's "Animals" with additions; and the lives of saints.’’ Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus
Emperor Justinian (527-565) reformed the judicial system by creating the Justinian Code, a set of books on civil law which was the foundation of the legal system of the Empire and still is the foundation system for many European countries and the world in total. The Justinian Code & Its Influence.
The Gradual Disintegration in the West
The eastern territories, being richer and more populous had greater resources and Constantinople with its epic walls was literally impregnable. The east was politically and institutionally more stable and had a standing army of Roman citizens, the ability to hire mercenaries when needed and had developed a very effective diplomacy (which was essentially war by other means) and there was in fact an active O.B.A. (Office of Barbarian Affairs - LOL) the Bureau of Barbarians (Skrinion Ton Barbaron).
‘’Today, the word ‘byzantine’ is used to describe devious actions: intrigue, plotting, and bribing...The problem with the dominant negative stereotypes of the Byzantine era is that it hides the rich contribution of the Byzantine Empire to the evolution of humanity...Diplomacy was a necessity for Byzantium because it had enemies on all of its borders and possessed only limited military might...The Byzantine period was probably the most important in the history of diplomacy. It created the bridge between diplomacy of the ancient era and modern diplomacy...Access to information was central to Byzantine diplomacy. In order to obtain the right information, Byzantium created the first intelligence service, consisting of a network of official and unofficial agents (including merchants and priests) sent abroad. In order to ensure secure communication, they further enhanced the Roman cipher protection...’’ - Diplo What Can We Learn From Byzantine Diplomacy
The Roman Empire in the west had less resources, a very unstable political structure, corruption and a great reliance on mercenary armies many times conscripting soldiers from the same tribes that they were fighting against. Of course these differences that led to the demise of the west and the successful survival of the east did not happen in one day; it was a very long process that lasted for centuries and many events determined the fate of the Roman Empire.
Note that the split of the Roman Empire was not abandoned as a means of state management after Constantine became the sole Emperor and the Romans did not see it as a split themselves; They did not call themselves Western Romans or Eastern Romans they called themselves Romans.
Over the next centuries there were occasions where there was one Emperor but the two separate courts with their imperial succession would endure with the capital of the west being Mediolanum and later on Ravenna. Rome had lost its importance economically and strategically and the emphasis had been shifted on managing the empire as a whole through separate administration.
By 476, many barbarian Germanic kingdoms had established themselves in the territories of the western side of the Roman Empire which had totally lost control over its realm. As it was mentioned before it was a slow decline that lasted for centuries. Goths, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Saxons and other tribes were curving up the territories in the west with the only remaining respected authority being religion and the Pope.
Disintegration in the west - Unknown source
The Germanic warrior Odoacer overthrew Romulus Augustulus, the last Emperor of the Roman Empire in the west and sent the Imperial Regalia to Flavius Zeno the Emperor in Constantinople with a message ‘’there’s only one Emperor’’ marking the end of the Roman administration in the west. He was one of these mercenaries, an officer in what had survived in the Roman Army.
Odoacer was replaced by the Ostrogoths who killed him and the Papacy in Rome was now inside the new Ostrogothic kingdom and was heavily controlled by them.
Linguistically, Latin never ceased to exist but soon few people were educated enough to read or write and Greek had been forgotten.
Where did the phrase in English ‘’it's all Greek to me’’ come from?
This phrase was increasingly used by monk scribes in the Middle Ages, as knowledge of the Greek alphabet and language was dwindling among those who were copying manuscripts in monastic libraries. - Graecum est; non legitur ("it is Greek, [therefore] it cannot be read")
Latin transformed differently in different areas slowly evolving into the modern Romance languages we have today. Local people, speaking vulgar Latin stopped communicating with people coming from other areas like before and mixed with the various ‘’new kids in the hood’’.
In Roman times it didn’t matter if you were coming from Britain or Egypt; There was a sense of unity and it was pretty much a very globalised world where people could easily travel anywhere within the boundaries of the Empire by using the Roman roads.
There was no ‘’Roman ethnicity’’ within the empire as we now perceive the concept of ethnicity the Greco-Roman identity was a culture.
In the new status quo, constant warfare was the norm with various new warlords raising their own small armies to fend off various other invaders and give local protection to the peasants who provided food and labor for them. This was the beginning of the development of Feudalism. With the west collapsing, Greek in the predominantly Greek speaking population to the east gradually became the language of administration. Latin remained in use in the 6th century; it was the native language of Justinian, and probably he was the last eastern Roman emperor to speak Latin as his first language.
Europe 476 AD map by MapsOnTheWeb
The Empire Strikes Back - Justinian
(not in a Galaxy far far away but much closer here in Europe)
Justinian after securing his eastern frontiers by signing the ‘’Eternal Peace’’ peace with the... eternal rival of the Roman Empire the Persians, focused on regaining the territories lost in the west.
With his great general Belisarius first stormed the Vandal kingdom of North Africa and defeated them. Then Belisarius attacked Sicely, advanced into Italy and captured Rome on the 9th of December 536.
The ‘’Eternal Peace’’ with the eternal rival of the Romans, the Persians, did not last for too long and the attention once again shifted to the East in the spring of 540 until a second truce was signed in 562. This time the treaty was not an ‘’eternal’’ one but a mere ‘’Fifty Years Peace’’.
Meanwhile, the war in Italy escalated, with the Ostrogoths advancing once again, but the Romans were able to fend them off, as well as gaining victory over the Franks who were also threatening Italy at the time.
Mosaic in Ravenna - Justinian and members of his court
By the end of the Justinian Wars Italy, Dalmatia, Africa and Southern Hispania were reconquered but this was a pyrrhic victory; it had drained the empire from resources and had devastated the population and economy of the regained territories.
The 542 Bubonic plague outbreak which is remembered as the Justinian Plague, killed millions of people and lasted for 200 years, significantly contributed to the Empire's failing to protect itself effectively.
According to historians, plague-infested fleas carried by rats on grain ships introduced the disease to Constantinople from Egypt. The reunification was short-lived..
Justinian’s Restoration Map by brewminate
Justinian was not only successful militarily but he is also famous for his building projects in Constantinople and all-over the Empire. In Constantinople alone he improved the walls, built new schools, hospitals, law courts, the Basilica Cistern and churches with the most famous of them all being the cathedral of Hagia Sophia. - The Buildings of the Emperor Justinian
Hagia Sophia as it was originally before the Ottomans
Justinian also developed the system of church organisation called the Pentarchy (Greek Pentarchia) where the church was governed by five headmen (Patriarchs).
Each Patriarch is based in one of the following important geographically, politically and leading Christian cities within the Empire: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem with the administrative and organizational ties being regulated by the Emperor in Constantinople.
The Patriarch of Rome is regarded within this system as the ‘’Primus inter pares’’. The first among equals.
The Patriarchs (Popes) of Rome were always unsympathetic to the concept of the Pentarchy; they were seeing themselves as the leading ecclesiastical centre of Christianity, The Papal Supremacy, and it must be argued that this was the initial root of the problem that caused the final separation of the two main branches of Christendom, the Catholics and the Orthodox. Political interests came first and religious matters came second.
A few centuries later, the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages presented itself as God's kingdom on Earth, with the Pope as the supreme authority.
Frankish Papacy, Arab Expansion, the Slav Invasion
The arrival of the Germanic tribe of the Lombards and the establishment of the Lombard Kingdom (568-774) in the Italian peninsula brought the gradual loss of control of the territories gained by Justinian. As the Lombards had taken Ravenna and were shifting their focus once again towards Rome the Pope asked for assistance but Constantinople was unable to help as they had many other open frontiers.
Pope Stephen the II then asked Pepin the Short of the Franks for help who reluctantly accepted and by 774 the Lombard kingdom was conquered. The Franks became the dominant force of the Christian kingdoms.
Pepin had accepted in writing that he would give to the Pope cities that he had conquered. It is known in history as the ‘’Donation of Pepin’’. This was the beginning for the Papal States, effectively a country ruled by the Pope. The monarchs of the Franks had, from that point onwards, also the obligation to give military assistance to the Pope whenever it was needed. The Emperor in Constantinople, pleased with his assistance, gave Pepin the Short the title of Patricius. Stephen the II crowned Pepin as King of the Franks but during the same period a document titled ‘’The Donation of Constantine’’ started appearing in Western Europe:
‘’...We’re not certain who faked the Donation, but it seems to have been written circa 750-800 CE in Latin. It might be connected to the coronation of Pepin the Short in 754 CE, or the grand imperial coronation of Charlemagne in 800 CE, but could easily have been to aid Papal attempts to challenge Byzantium’s spiritual and secular interests in Italy. One of the more popular views has the Donation being created in the mid-eighth century at the behest of Pope Stephen II, in order to aid his negotiations with Pepin. The idea was that the Pope approved the transfer of the great central European crown from the Merovingian dynasty to the Carolingians, and in return, Pepin would not just give the Papacy the rights to Italian lands, but would actually ‘restore’ what had been given long before by Constantine. It appears that the rumor of a Donation or something similar had been traveling around the relevant parts of Europe since the sixth century and that whoever created it was producing something people expected to exist...’’
Wilde, Robert. "The Donation of Constantine." ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020
The Muslim Expansion & The Slavs
Meanwhile, starting from 629 up to 1050 a new power had arrived in the scene, the Muslims. The Muslim expansion from Arabia in the 630s brought the quick and surprising disintegration of the ‘’eternal rival’’ the Persian Empire and the loss of the southern provinces of the Roman Empire including the following 3 major centres of Christianity and cities of the pentarchy: Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem fell to the political and cultural influence of Islam.
Only Rome and Constantinople had remained in Christian hands. By 700, the Slavs, coming from the North had also arrived in Central and Southeastern Europe. The Romans were in crisis. The caliphate had besieged Constantinople two times, and in the north the Slavs, Bulgars and Avars were wreaking havoc.
The Empire found the solution in re-organising the army into themes. Each theme had the responsibility to recruit locally, equip and pay the soldiers and the navy. It was a system that helped the armed forces to become much more flexible, region-focused, and it had reduced the costs for the state that now did not have the resources it once had. In regards to the threat coming from the Balkans among the tools of Imperial politics and diplomacy (coming back to the Bureau Of Barbarians) a well tried instrument was the conversion to Christianity.
Cyril and Methodius
Two brothers from Thessaloniki Cyril and Methodius known now as the ‘’Apostles to the Slavs’’ took on the challenge of the so-called ‘’Slavic Matter’’ and managed to make Christianity popular among the Slavic tribes. The Imperial influence took Christian preaching well beyond the borders of the Roman Empire up until what is now called Finland.
Cyril and Methodius also invented the first Slavic alphabet by appropriating the Slavic language sounds to a written version of the language.
Between the mid-seventh and late-eighth centuries, the Empire suffered a massive decline in power, land, and intellectual works. This period is also known as ‘’The Dark Ages’’ of the Roman Empire. It was not really the Dark Ages but it was literally a fight for survival. This was due to the Arab invasions, which not only seized the wealthiest provinces, but also raided the imperial territories on a regular basis. At this phase, Mediterranean commerce virtually ceased, plague was common, cities had shrunk in size, manufacturing quality had declined, culture had become more militarized, literacy had declined, and the empire's provinces had broken into disorder on several occasions.
Adapting to Survive: How Byzantium Survived the Arab Invasions
The Arab–Byzantine wars that lasted from the seventh century to the early 11th century provide the context for Byzantine heroic poetry written in Medieval Greek. The Akritai of the Byzantine Empire of this period were a military class responsible for safeguarding the frontier regions of the imperial territory from external enemies and freebooting adventurers who operated on the fringes of the empire. - Akritai
The Empire was generally on the defensive throughout the first centuries of the Arab Wars, choosing to withdraw to their fortified cities rather than engaging the Arabs in open field battles. The imperial army took the offensive and reclaimed the lands they had lost only after 740, however the Arabs were still able to retaliate with major and devastating invasions of Asia Minor. The tide gradually changed with the collapse and fragmentation of the Abbasid state after 861, and the concurrent strengthening of the Roman Empire under the Macedonian dynasty. They eventually broke through Muslim defenses and regained possession of northern Syria and Greater Armenia between 920 to 976. Raids and counter-raids persisted on both sides, and the possibility of the Caliphate conquering the Empire outright vanished.
Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor Vs Roman Empress Irene of Athens & The Schism
The Pope had already begun asserting independence over Constantinople by 726 AD when Emperor Leo III ordered the removal of religious icons known as the period of the Iconoclasm. Pope Gregory II defies the Emperor's calls for Iconoclasm and this is the very first instance of the Pope speaking out against the Emperor. It marked the beginning of a power struggle that escalated in 800 AD when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, a title with no legitimacy whatsoever based a) on the forged document of the Donation of Constantine and b) on the claim that a woman (Empress Irene) could not hold the title so the imperial throne was up for grabs.
Giving the title of ‘’Father of Europe’’ to Charlemagne and his coronation as ‘’Holy Roman Emperor’’ being regarded as the moment of ‘’The Restoration of Rome’’ is a fallacy. Germanic tribes that a few centuries ago had basically destroyed the Roman civilisation in the west were now calling themselves ‘’Roman’’ claiming a continuity by forged letters and because a woman was on the throne?
The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.
‘’...The Roman Empire was governed by Roman Law, this particular legal system didn’t prohibit a woman from assuming emperorship, those restrictions only applied to the Frankish Kingdom which was under the influence of the close-minded Salic Law. The eastern Romans had no connection with this rather tribal law system that was perceived at Romaniae as “barbaric” to some extent...’’
Eugene Dalianis, ‘’Τhe Roman Empress Irene & Charlemagne of Francia’’
At least Charlemagne was quick to understand that Irene's rule would one day end and that he would in time be confronting a ‘’legitimate’’ emperor so Charlemagne considered marrying her. Irene was fond of this idea as it would unify Europe and consolidate her power but she met unyielding opposition in the palace. It was just not possible for a Roman Empress to marry an nonliterate barbarian. (This possibility offers some ground for some interesting alternate history scenarios though. What would have happened?)
Since then, the Western Europeans stopped calling the Roman Empire as Roman Empire denied its Romanness and referred to the state as ‘’The Empire of the Greeks’’ (in the best scenario) and began a deliberate or not deliberate propaganda of degrading its importance in history.
Emperor Nikephoros Phokas received a letter from the Pope addressing him as Emperor of the Greeks, he shouted in fury:
“Doesn’t that idiot of a pope know that Constantine the Great transferred the imperial capital and senate here, to Constantinople, and left behind in Rome only slaves, plebeians, and common people?” - A story about kourabiedes and identity theft
The first step toward Schism was taken in 1053, when the Orthodox churches in southern Italy were forced to adhere to Catholic rites, with those who did not being forced to close. In retaliation, Constantinople's Ecumenical Patriarch Michael I Cerularius ordered the closing of all Catholic churches in the city.
In 1054, Leo IX dispatched a papal legate to Constantinople with the intention of denying Cerularius the title of "Ecumenical Patriarch'' and pressuring him to accept the Pope's claim to be the head of all churches. Also, the papal legate's main intention was to seek assistance from the Emperor in the aftermath of the Norman invasion of southern Italy and deal with Leo of Ohrid's (a leading 11th-century Orthodox churchman) latest assaults on the use of unleavened bread and other Western customs, which were backed by the Patriarch.
Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida, excommunicated Cerularius for refusing to recognize the demand, and Cerularius in reprisal excommunicated Humbert. Since Pope Leo had died and Cerularius' excommunication only referred to the legates directly the legality of the Schism has been questioned. But relationships nevertheless had deteriorated to a great extent.
Macedonian Dynasty (867–1056) and the Macedonian Renaissance
The Macedonian Renaissance refers to the period when the Macedonian Dynasty ruled. The realm ushered in a time when art and literature flourished once again.
The Empire's classical Greek legacy was paramount to the period's authors and artists where scholars revisit the scientific and philosophical works of the ancient Greeks and expand upon them.
Artists fused ancient Greek and Roman themes with Christian themes in their work and the word ‘’Hellenes’’ started shifting from defining a pagan. The art that was created during this period would have a major influence on the Italian Renaissance later on.
The Roman Empire on the death of Emperor Basil II in (1025) map by Cplakidas
The Empire had not only recovered from the previous turmoil but it had managed to become the most powerful state in the medieval world. Also, another aftermath was that the loss of territories to the Arabs transformed the Empire from a Christian multinational Greek-speaking empire with Roman imperial tradition to an empire where it’s borders were coinciding with the ‘’natural habitat’’ of the Greeks. Namely, South Italy, Greece and the islands, Minor Asia and the Black Sea and it is the first period in world history where you can see the starting point of what we now call ‘’nation-state’’. The state of the Greek-speaking Christian Romans with an unbroken imperial tradition since the beginning of Rome.
The Turkic Peoples
Attila's Hun hordes, who ravaged Europe in the 5th century, may have been Turkic, at least in part. Some scholars regard the Huns as one of the earlier Turkic tribes.
Turkic nomad tribes began to migrate into much of Central Asia in the second millennium, from their initial homeland in the Altai mountains of western Mongolia. The first waves of Turkic migration into the Middle East brought together Arab and Turkic cultures. Many waves of Turkic tribes and related groups moved westwards and as they began entering the Iranian plateau, began converting to Islam.
Head of male Seljuq royal figure, 12-13th century, from Iran. Carved and drilled stone with Iranian craftsmanship. Photo by Zereshk
After arriving in Persia, the Seljuks, a Turkic dynasty soon started to emerge on the Empire’s borders in Asia Minor and in many ways, the Christian-Muslim wars resumed from were the Arab Muslims had left it. The Turks had converted to Islam and posed a completely horrifying and threatening new cultural blend.
The name of this people is taken from their traditional ancestor, Seljuk, who was a chief of the Qinik, a branch of the Oghuz Turks
The dramatic battle of Manzikert in 1071, a crucial point in history is widely considered as the point where the empire started losing control over the Anatolian plateau with the Turks establishing a permanent foothold in the area.
‘’But when do the Byzantines acquire the consciousness of Greek continuity? I have an indisputable proof. So this happens when the Byzantines start saying that the Turks are Persian Achaemenids. And I ask what the Turkomans, Aidin, Medese, Karamans, Ottomans, etc. have to do with the Persians. They have nothing to do with them. They are trying to say that, just as the ancient Greeks in Marathon and Salamis managed to repel the Persians, so they will manage to do the same. They somehow recognized their continuity.When Manuel Palaiologos, (later on, beginning of the 15th century) wants to ask for some help from the West, Gemistos Plithon tells him: "do not hesitate to ask what you want, because this will be a recompensation for what we have given (referring to their cultural contribution)".
- Helene Glykatzi-Ahrweiler - Greek academic Byzantinologist
Holy Wars - The Crusades & The Fall Of Constantinople
The First Crusade began in 1095, when Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, asked for military assistance from the Council of Piacenza in the Empire's confrontation with the Seljuk Turks. When Urban became Pope in 1088, the excommunication had been lifted, and relations between the east and the west were to the least friendly.
Later that year, the Council of Clermont took place, at which the Pope endorsed the Emperor’s appeal for military support, perhaps in the hopes of overcoming the Great Schism of forty years ago and encouraged the faithful towards an armed pilgrimage.
To the surprise of the Emperor, who in reality had only asked for a small force of knights in the numbers of 1000 to 2000, the Pope had waged Holy War. The Roman Empire’s concept of warfare was that the destruction of God's noblest creation (humanity) is something he could not possibly desire or encourage; a just cause for war was the essential need for defense i.e. to secure the sovereignty of Roman territory and the protection of its inhabitants against foreign attack. Both concepts of Holy War and Jihad were incomprehensible and total non-sense for Constantinople.
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos refers to the Muslim concept of absolution through participation in warfare in two passages of his political treatise “De Administrando Imperio” and denounces it. In the first passage, he characterizes Mohammed as madman and deluded because of his teachings that killing the enemy or being killed by the enemy will bring his followers to Heaven. - The negative Eastern Roman attitude towards a conception of warfare as a divinely ordained means of religion. NovoScriptorium.
Some 100,000 people embarked on the First Crusade. But this was indirectly also the beginning of a new era for the development of Western Europe.
‘’Holy Land Crusades were among the most significant forms of military mobilization to occur during the medieval period. Crusader mobilization had important implications for European state formation. We find that areas with large numbers of Holy Land crusaders witnessed increased political stability and institutional development as well as greater urbanization associated with rising trade and capital accumulation, even after taking into account underlying levels of religiosity and economic development.’’
Blaydes, Lisa, and Christopher Paik. “The Impact of Holy Land Crusades on State Formation: War Mobilization, Trade Integration, and Political Development in Medieval Europe.”
Early Crusades map by KhanAcademy
Taking a short break from the Crusades with the opportunity that the above map gives to address the following. Check on the map above the Sultanate of Rum. In modern Turkish, the word Rûm is still used to refer to what we call in the West now the Byzantine Empire and its inhabitants.
It comes from the Arabic word for Rome, ar-Rūm, which means Romans. The area occupied after the battle of Mazikert was basically named ‘’The Sultanate of the Land of the Romans’’. All other civilisations apart from Western Europe and - only - since Charlemagne’s coronation used to call the ‘’Byzantines’’ ‘’Romans’’.
The name Byzantine was never used by the inhabitants of the Roman Empire in the east. Not even the term Eastern Roman Empire was ever used. There was no Byzantine Empire in history, there was only a Roman Empire. no Emperor ever called himself "Byzantine."
Hieronymus Wolf in 1557 a German Bavarian historian, came up (with ulterior motives or not) with the word "Byzantine" to refer to the Eastern Roman Empire to differentiate it from Rome (and possibly the... Holy Roman Empire which... as we already mentioned; was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire)
Hieronymus Wolf
Since then, this coined term has grown in popularity and is now commonly used even by the people who are the descendants of this Eastern Roman Empire i.e. the modern Greeks. In any case, there is thankfully a trend now to examine the era of the Roman Empire of the Middle Ages under a different perspective especially in the US where they tend to be a bit more objective to the matter.
There is an amazing amount of ‘’Byzantine’’ scripts that are not even translated yet, contemptuously forgotten in the shelves of various libraries around the world. There is still lots to be discovered.
This is an excellent conversation between Anthony Kaldellis (Ohio University Department of Classics) and Leonora Neville from his own podcast series which is absolutely fantastic and highly recommended to follow if interested:
A conversation with Leonora Neville (University of Wisconsin) on whether the scholarly rubric "Byzantium" does more harm than good. How did it come into being? What biases and ideologies, especially in the domain of gender, does it encode? What blind-spots and distortions does it create? We discuss whether "Byzantium" enables a Eurocentric western-oriented narrative about Greece, Rome, Europe, and the Renaissance that does not want to recognize classically educated, Greek-speaking, Orthodox Romans in the east:
Apologies for this much needed parenthesis, back to the Crusades now. There were (depending on how someone interprets the events) eight or seven Crusades but the one that really determined the fate of Constantinople was the fourth.
The fourth Crusade was called by Pope Innocent III and the main aim of the expedition was to capture the city of Jerusalem. The Sack of Constantinople that followed in 1204 lasted three days, but its aftershocks can still be felt today.
For one thing, the great library of Constantinople was totally destroyed when the crusaders entered the city. It is just terrifying just to imagine the amount of ancient texts and literature that was lost during this catastrophe by the ‘’fellow Christians’’ in this very dark moment of European history. This library once held the complete works of ancient writers whose writings survive now only in tattered fragments or were completely lost. Even worse, this event marked the beginning of the end of the Greco-Roman civilisation.
In the years 1203 and 1204, the Fourth Crusade was diverted from its intended destination of Egypt, first to the Christian city of Zara and then to the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. At both stops, the Crusaders killed fellow Christians and looted the cities. For centuries, this episode has been considered one of history’s greatest blunders, the sacking and takeover of one of the largest Christian cities on Earth by an army supposedly dedicated to stamping out the enemies of Christianity. - “Culpability and Concealed Motives: An Analysis of the Parties Involved in the Diversion of the Fourth Crusade” By: Chris Breyer
Entry of the Crusaders in Constantinople, Eugène Delacroix
The men of the Fourth Crusade on their way to Jerusalem had decided to divert and take two joyful excursions to ransack two Christian cities, first the Catholic city of Zara in Croatia and then Constantinople:
‘’...Constantinople had never been occupied by a foreign invader, not in it’s 874 years since Constantine founded his new city of Rome in 330. The city treasure went back to the great Roman Emperors. It was the greatest treasure of the known world. The Crusader army had never seen such wealth before and they went insane with lust of wealth. Churches were destroyed and pillaged for gold, silver, icons and relics. Byzantine Priests were slaughtered, nuns were raped. Tapestries were torn from the walls.
The Great Library of Constantinople was destroyed. Jewels were pocketed by high ranking Knights, gold, silver and bronze were melted down and divided amongst the Crusaders. It took 4 oxen just to cart away the giant bronze head of Hera that ultimately ended up in a furnace and melted down into coins.
Dandolo gave the Crusaders three days to loot the city but the pillage lasted a week. It was the worst Christian on Christian attack in history...’’ - Venice and the treasures of the 4th Crusade
The Imperial Library of Constantinople had its own team of crack librarians who would translate and copy any manuscript they could get hold of - History Collection
After the sack of the city the period of Frankokratia (Latin occupation 1204-1261) where mainly French and Italian states and colonies are established in the territories of the Empire but even for example the Catalans, yes, the Catalans ladies and gentlemen (una cerveza por favor) occupied Athens. The Catalan Grand Company in the Eastern Roman (‘Byzantine’) lands – Novo Scriptorium
This period was extremely volatile as the Empire’s successor states were fighting to regain their independence and by 1261, the Empire of Nicaea managed to re-capture Constantinople and re-established the Roman Empire. But the name ‘’Hellenic’’ had started becoming more popular among them.
The revival of the Classics that had started during the Macedonian Renaissance era and had given a new virtue to the word ‘’Hellenism’’ appeared to be giving a new sense of cultural self-consciousness.
The situation was almost hopeless in terms of recovery, but socially and intellectually, there was an incredible vitality that encouraged art, philosophy, and education. This is also the time of the Greek Diaspora where Greek scholars started migrating to Italy and the West.
The Restored Byzantine Empire map by Britannica
The Eastern Romans of the 13th century also drew parallels between the situation of the empire after 1204 and that of Classical Greeks. This evidence has helped to strengthen the view of some scholars, such as A. E. Vacalopoulos, who see these references, combined with a re-evaluation of Byzantium's classical past, to be the genesis of Greek nationalism. With the loss of Constantinople, this comparison played on the idea of "Hellenes" surrounded by barbarians - Empire of Nicaea
In 1453, the Turks with Mehmet the Conqueror surrounded and eventually took the city after 55 days, putting an end to the 1000 year Imperial city for good. Thus, the Christian crusaders' siege of Constantinople ironically paved the way for the Muslim subsequent occupation 249 years later. Constantinople since then has been an Islamic city.
Istanbul (Not Constantinople) Lyrics 1st verse:
Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night
Mehmed the Conqueror
The last speech of Emperor Constantine Palaiologos XI is awe-inspiring. In his speech he mentions two things that make up the definition of being a Greco-Roman. A centuries-old fusion that had evolved to a single identity. One is the Carthagenian elephants and the second is that he refers to his compatriots as ‘’the descendants of the Greeks and the Romans’’.
“Most noble leader, illustrious tribunes, generals, most courageous fellow soldiers and all loyal honest citizens! You know well that the hour has come: the enemy of our faith wishes to oppress us even more closely by sea and land with all his engines and skill to attack us with the entire strength of this siege force, as a snake about to spew its venom; he is in a hurry to devour us, like a savage lion. For this reason I am imploring you to fight like men with brave souls, as you have done from the beginning up to this day, against the enemy of our faith. I hand over to you my glorious, famous, respected, noble city, the shining Queen of cities, our homeland. You know well, my brothers, that we have four obligations in common, which force us to prefer death over survival: first our faith and piety; second our homeland; third, the emperor anointed by the Lord and fourth; our relatives and friends.
Emperor Constantine Palaologus XI statue in Athens photo by ΔΗΜΗΤΡΗΣ ΠΙΠΕΡΤΖΗΣ
“Well, my brothers, if we must fight for one of these obligations, we will be even more liable under the command strength of all four; as you can clearly understand. If God grants victory to the impious because of my own sins, we will endanger our lives for our holy faith, which Christ gave us with his own blood. This is most important of all. Even if one gains the entire world but loses his soul in the process, what will it benefit! Second, we will be deprived of such a famous homeland and of our liberty. Third, our empire, renowned in the past but presently humbled, low and exhausted, will be ruled by a tyrant and an impious man. Fourth, we will be separated from our dearest children, wives and relatives.
“This wretch of a Sultan has besieged our city up to now for fifty seven days with all his engines and strength; he has relaxed the blockade neither day nor night, but, by the grace of Christ, our Lord, who sees all things, the enemy has often been repelled, up to now, from our walls with shame and dishonor. Yet now too, my brothers, feel no cowardice, even if small parts of our fortifications have collapsed from the explosions and engine missiles, as you can see, we made all possible, necessary repairs. We are placing all hope in the irresistible glory of God. Some have faith in armament, others in cavalry, might and numbers but we believe in the name of our Lord, our God and Savior, and second, in our arms and strength granted to us by divine power.
“I know the countless hordes of the impious will advance against us, according to their custom, violently, confidently and with great courage and force in order to overwhelm and wear out our few defenders with hardship. They attempt to frighten us with loud yells and innumerable battle cries. But you are all familiar with their chattering and I need say no more about it. For a long time they will continue so and will also release over us countless rocks, all sorts of arrows and missiles, like the sand of the sea. But I hope that such things will not harm us; I see, greatly rejoice, and nourish with hopes in my mind that even if we are few, you are all experienced and seasoned warriors- courageous, brave, and well prepared. Protect your heads with shields in combat and battle. Keep your right hand, armed with the sword, extended in front of you at all times. Your helmets, breastplates and suits of armor are fully sufficient together with your other weapons and will prove very effective in battle. Our enemies have no and use no such weapons. You are protected inside the walls, while they will advance without cover and with toil.
“For these reasons, my fellow soldiers, prepare yourselves, be firm, and remain valiant, for the pity of God, Take your example from the few elephants of the Carthaginians and how they dispersed the numerous cavalry of the Romans with their noise and appearance. If one dumb beast put another to flight, we, the masters of horses and animals, can surely even do better against our advancing enemies, since they are dumb animals, worse even than pigs. Present your shield, swords, arrows, and spears to them, imagining that you are a hunting party after wild boars, so that the impious may learn that they are dealing not with dumb animals but with their lords and masters, the descendants of the Greeks and the Romans.
“You are well aware that this irreligious Sultan, the enemy of our holy faith, violated for no good reason the peace treaty we had with him and disregarded his numerous oaths without a second thought. Suddenly, he appeared and built his castle in the straights of Asomatosso he might be able to inflict daily harm on us. Then he put our farms, gardens, parks, and houses to the torch, while he killed and enslaved as many of our Christian brothers as he found; he broke the treaty of friendship. He befriended the inhabitants of Galata, the wretches rejoice over this, as they are unaware of the parable of the Farmer’s son who was roasting snails and said, “Oh stupid creature,” etc. Well my brothers, since he started the siege and the blockade, every day he opens his fathomless mouth and is seeking an opportunity to devour us and this city, which thrice-blessed Constantine the Great founded and dedicated to the all holy most chaste Mother of God, our lady, Mary the eternal virgin. She became the Queen of Cities, the shield and aid of our homeland, the shelter of Christians, the hope and joy of all wishes to destroy this city, which was once proud and blooming like a rose of the field.
“I can tell you that this city mastered the entire universe; She placed beneath her feet Pontus, Armenia, Paphlagonia, The Amazonian lands, Cappadocia, Galatia, Media, Georgian Colchis, Bosphoros, Albania, Syria, Cilicia, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Palestine, Arabia, Judea, Bactria, Scythia, Macedonia, Thessaly, Hellas, Boeotia, Locris, Aetolia, Arcarnania, Achaea, the Peloponnese, Epirus, Illyria, Lykhnites, the Adriatic, Italy, Tuscany, the Celts, and Galatian Celts, Spain up to Cadiz, Libya, Mauritania, Ethiopia, Beledes, Scude, Numidia, Africa and Egypt.
Now he wants to enslave her and throw the yoke upon the Mistress of Cities, our holy churches, where the Holy Trinity was worshipped, where the Holy Ghost was glorified in hymns, where angels were heard praising in chant the deity of and the incarnation of God’s word, he wants to turn into shrines of his blasphemy, shrines of the mad and false Prophet, Mohammed, as well as into stables for his horses and camels.
“Consider then, my brothers and comrades in arms, how the commemoration of our death, our memory, fame and freedom can be rendered eternal.”
Some help had arrived from the west; it was a very small force but they also fought heroically.
He next turned and addressed the Venetians, who were standing at his right side: “Noble Venetians, my dearest brothers in Christ, courageous men, experienced and seasoned fighters! Often have you dealt death to the multitude of the sons of Hagar with your shining swords and grace; their blood has flown in streams at your hands. I implore you today to become, with all your souls, the defenders of this City caught in the misfortunes of such a war; for you have come to know her as your second homeland and mother forever. Once more, I ask and beg you to act in this hour as loyal allies, fellow Christians, and brothers.”
Turning to his left, he addressed the Genoese: “Most honored brothers from Genoa, courageous and illustrious warriors! You are aware and know that this City was not only mine but yours too for many reasons. You have often assisted her willingly in hours of need and have delivered her from her enemies, the sons of Hagar. Once again, it is time to demonstrate your love in Christ, your bravery, and your excellence in her cause.”
Then he spoke to the combined assembly: “There is no time for longer speeches. I only entrust my humbled scepter to your hands; guard it with good will. I implore and beg you to exhibit, if you have any affection for me, the proper honor and obedience to your commanders, tribunes, and centurions, each according to his rank, regiment, and duty. Know this, too: If you keep my orders in your heart, I hope to God that we will be delivered from His present, righteous threat. Second, the diamond crown awaits you in heaven; there will be an eternal worthy memory in the world for you.”
Constantine died fighting heroically. Doukas a historian who witnessed the last decades and the eventual fall of Constantinople gives after 1462 the following account:
«...The Emperor in despair stood, sword and shield in hand, and cried οut: "Is there nο Christian here to take my head from me?" For he was abandoned and οn his οwn. Then one of the Turks struck him in the face and wounded him. He in turn struck back. But another gave him a mortal blοw from behind and he fell to the ground. They left him for dead as a common soldier, for they did nοt know that he was the Emperor...’’ - Doukas
From 1261, the year the Romioi recaptured Constantinople from the Franks and expelled the last Latin Emperor Baldwin II and up until the year the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople, the dominant foreign affairs issues discussed in the palace was if the reunification of the Churches should happen and how to secure military support from the West. The spiritual rulers of the West, namely the Pope and his cardinals, were happy to go ahead in the condition of the total subjugation of Constantinople to Rome.
The Emperor wanted union with the Latins for purely political reasons but most of the populace remained committed to their Orthodox beliefs and sought support, not for submission. For them, the Pope's primacy contradicted the principle of pentarchy, which recognized the rule of the five patriarchs.
But there was something else that Romioi could not overcome, could not forget, and could not forgive. Memories of the Crusaders' looting in 1204 were still fresh. The people felt deeply offended and humiliated when the Pope's ‘’chosen ones’’ had looted, defiled their churches and monasteries, desecrated the jewel city of all Christianity, had thrown the bones of Saints into the sewers, had broken the Holy Relics and icons, plundered and raped.
The Council of Ferrara-Florence, held between 1438 and 1445, was the most notable historic attempt at reconciliation. The Catholic Church wrote to their Orthodox counterparts and a meeting between the Catholic and the Orthodox was arranged with the aim of reaching a consensus and putting an end to the schism. The meeting was a success but when news of the union between east and west reached Constantinople, the reaction was negative. At least for the majority of the lower and middle class.
The famous phrase of Luca Notara, Duke and Counselor of the emperor is indicative of the public sentiment:
"I would rather see a Turkish turban in the midst of the City than the Latin mitre"
The Greek Diaspora Around the World & the Millet-i Rum
The decades before 1453 and since 1204 in reality, a large wave of refugees and Greek scholars moved to the West. During the 400 years of Turkish occupation, the migratory flows from the traditional Greek geographical area to other countries never actually stopped. The reason was obvious: the search for better living conditions. Byzantines in Renaissance Italy
The Greek scholars transferred there the manuscripts of ancient and ‘’Byzantine’’ writers and the knowledge of classical education spread like a hurricane to the west contributing to the Renaissance. And it is not true that the Arabs and islamic scholars saved the ancient knowledge. This is actually the exact period where the knowledge of the ‘’Byzantines’’ spread to the West.
Cardinal Bessarion (1395–1472) was a Greek scholar, statesman, and cardinal and one of the leading figures in the rise of the intellectual Renaissance
‘’...The Arabs rescued the ancient texts is a lie. If this is the case, I have a question for you.
What happened to the Arabic Homer? Where is Thucydides in Arabic? Where are the Arabic texts of Sophocles, Euripides, and other writers?
So what did the Arabs do? What the Arabs did, and by that I mean the Christians of the Arab countries, but that does not matter, they translated the Organon of Aristotle, Ptolemy, the geographers and so on. And this was done for administrative reasons. As they had a vast empire, mainly with the caliphate of Baghdad, they needed to have an administrative manual and so they did.
But Aristotle in Arabic is in fragments; is not the complete Aristotle in the form we know him today. And all this was saved through the scriptoria, that is, the copying laboratories of the monasteries of Constantinople. This is the truth, but it is not true that the Church saved them. The one who saved them was the Empire and this is something very different...’’ - Eleni Glykatzi Arveler
The refugees who ranged from exiled royalty to carpenters and tailors, merchants, mercenaries etc, started creating Greek communities in Italy where the Greek element pre-existed but also in Russia, Crimea, Odessa and Moldova, England, France, Poland, The Netherlands etc. Greeks reached even India and America with the first report dating back to 1528 during the Spanish expeditions.
Tombstone of Ferdinand Paleologus in Barbados, photo by Asia
Extremely prosperous and also important communities developed in Austria-Hungary due to the relatively favorable privileges granted, which gave a creative impetus to Hellenism abroad. Various famous Greek schools were founded. Thus, spiritual centers are created that keep Hellenism alive with all that entails, giving Greeks the great opportunity to be part of an era of great developments for the world.
Back in the old Ottoman Empire the Romaioi living there belonged to the Millet-i Rum meaning the Roman Nation. The Archbishop of Constantinople was recognized as the top religious and political leader of all Orthodox Christians (regardless ethnicity) who had restricted freedoms and they were regarded as second-class citizens. The Muslims did not view Christians and Jews as equals but as "People of the Scripture" and were afforded some degree of tolerance. While disputes between Christians were usually resolved in courts under the jurisdiction of their own millet, a Muslim's word was often recognized over a Christian's in a court of law.
Two Christian Priests & a Muslim Mullah - AKG Images
The system of government varied depending on whether a region was subjugated by resistance, its geographical position and its special economic importance. (If a region or a city resisted or revolted the economic situation and liberties of the inhabitants deteriorated to a great extent and there were even occasions where forceful mass Islamizations took place or even people sold as slaves in the slave markets).
Generally speaking, in the lowlands and the cities, the "infidels" lived next to Muslims and had to be careful of their behavior. Christians were living in separate neighborhoods. They were not free to mingle with Muslim society or have any significant involvement in the spiritual life of Muslims. A Muslim could take a Christian wife and she could keep their faith but their children would grow up as Muslims. For a Christian it was impossible to have a Muslim wife; The punishment was death.
Because of this ‘’uncomfortable relationship’’ another form of migration, totally different to the one where the Greeks were leaving abroad was an internal migration of Greeks, within the Ottoman Empire, who left the plains of the Greek peninsula and relocated to mountainous areas; the wild landscape made administrative and military presence difficult for the Ottomans. There were no Muslim inhabitants in the high mountains and, thus, the Christians were semi-independent. That is, they paid a tax once a year and nothing else. The same was true fοr the small islands, with the difference that the islanders had to send sailors for a few months each year to the Ottoman fleet, as a kind of labor tax.
A painting of the bazaar in Athens by Edward Dodwell.
As Christians were not allowed to carry weapons a system was developed where young Christian boys, from all Christian ethnicities within the Ottoman Empire, Croats, Greeks, Serbs, Armenians, Albanians, Bosnians, Bulgarians were taken from their families enslaved and converted to Islam, and then incorporated into the Ottoman army. Janissaries became the elite troops of the Sultan. This system was called the Devşirme system of child slavery.
The Ottoman expansion was based on its strong military successes and its economic structure was largely based on the exploitation of the conquered territories. Once enlargement was halted the fragility of its political institutions started becoming apparent. With its gradual decline (after the death of Süleyman I in 1566) caused by internal weaknesses and an inability to adapt to external developments, life for its citizens was becoming increasingly difficult and for the Christian population even more hostile.
The Beginning Of What Became the Modern Greek Shipping Empire
By the 1700s the situation had changed. The Greeks had managed to seize the opportunity thanks to the political conditions of the period where the Great Powers (Russia, Great Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy and Germany) imposed a series of trade treaties upon the Ottoman Empire. Being seafaring people, the Greek Ottoman nationals started conducting the trade, shipping goods from the Eastern Mediterranean to the West. Of course, as part of the Christian citizens of the Ottoman Empire they faced a series of difficulties that acted as a brake on trade, such as lack of security, burdened taxation, and unequal treatment. One way to overcome these barriers was by securing the protection of another state.
The Greeks with their naval skills and entrepreneurial spirit had created for the Ottomans a very competitive Ottoman merchant fleet and expanded their trade all over Europe not only with the fleet but even by land routes creating a huge trade grid.
Greek shipping dominates the modern world - Lloyd’s List
They created a network of commercial family businesses and unlike the Christian peasants and artisans, who were limited to the outdated Ottoman system of production and lived in poverty, the merchants became a force to be reckoned with.
The Ottomans, until the middle of the 19th century, were not interested in engaging with the education of their subjects either by promoting or hindering it. During the Turkish occupation, in the villages the priests taught Greek to the children using the Gospel. At the same time, however, in towns and cities there were, from the 16th and 17th centuries, organized Greek schools that, in the 18th century, multiplied and flourished.
The riches of this large Greek merchant class that had been growing within the Ottoman Empire and abroad in time backed financially Greek libraries and schools of Greek learning or/and funded the studies of young Greeks to European Universities hence provided the basis for an amazing intellectual revival which is called the Modern Greek Enlightenment.
Phanari Roman Orthodox Lyceum, known in Greek as the Great School of the Nation, is the oldest surviving and most prestigious Greek Orthodox school in Istanbul, Turkey
The descendants of the Greeks that had left their country during the times of the Fall of Constantinople and had transferred all this knowledge to the West could now again have direct contact and exchange ideas with the Greeks that were living in the Ottoman Empire. It was the era of the printing press and the Printing Revolution.
All Greeks, inside or outside the Ottoman Empire start recognising that they are the heirs of a magnificent civilisation like no other on the planet. Aristotel, Pericles, Homer. All Europe had fallen in love with the Greeks and the intellectual movement of Philhellenism "the love of Greek culture" was becoming popular. Finally, help had arrived 400 years later than what Constantine the last emperor was hoping but better late than never.
Soon, in 1821, inspired by the American and French revolutions they boarded their merchant ships, loaded them with cannons and turned them pointing east...
This was revolt attempt no. 124 in the span of the 400 years of Ottoman occupation but this new endeavour was the only one that was coming with a full support of a Greek fleet.
By overcoming extreme difficulties and with the Philhellenic movement helping by pressuring their respective governments and even entering the war themselves in Greece as volunteers, in October 1827 at a very crucial moment of the war the fleets of England, France and Russia intervened in the Battle of Navarino by defeating the Ottomans and allowed the creation of the first official nation-state of Europe. Other ethnicities followed.
But hold on a second... They had already been the first nation-state of Europe. But back in the day they were not calling themselves Greeks. They were called... Romans.
‘’we used this reality of ours, that is, that we relate to the ancient Greeks, to strengthen our self-confidence when we were preparing our Revolution. And this did not happen by chance. It was based on the fact that Western Europe - the most powerful part of the world politically, militarily, scientifically, economically, culturally, diplomatically - considered ancient Greece as the basis of its culture. Therefore, we believed that if we emphasized our ancient past, then we would gain the support of the most powerful people on earth who, in fact, had a duty to help us to reciprocate the benefit given to them by ancient Greece through its achievements.’’ - Maria Euthymiou Greek historian
The West appropriated Roman history to fit it in their own narrative, and they "missed" the period of their first, intense and direct contact with the body of Hellenism, the Roman Empire. I have noticed that many times in YouTube videos or blog posts about the Crusades what is often ‘’missed’’ is the Fall of Constantinople in 1204. It is a shameful event for sure. I use the word ‘’appropriated’’ because Hellenistic culture was never discriminating by race as many Western Europeans did during the period of colonisation that brought a large portion of the world’s population under its knees through exploitation. This misinterpretation of Hellenism brought upon us the marvels of the WW2 and the Nazi regime.
Western colonialism, a political-economic phenomenon whereby various European nations explored, conquered, settled, and exploited large areas of the world - Britannica
The Upper Class, Middle Class, and Lower Class were the three general divisions used by the Empire to divide social classes. The framework was flexible rather than static. In other words, social mobility existed. And let’s not forget that we are talking about a multiethnic society;
In order to become an Emperor in Constantinople one did not need to be necessarily of Royal descent or by being ‘’blue-blooded’’ and people could overthrow an Emperor if they were not happy.
Its most influential emperor came from humble origins. Byzantium’s rise corresponded with the unlikely reign of Justinian I. Born around 482 in the Balkans, he spent his youth as a peasant’s son before being taken under the wing of his uncle Justin I, a former swineherd and soldier who later became the Byzantine Emperor. Justinian succeeded Justin in 527, and while he always spoke Greek with a bad accent—a sign of his provincial origins—he proved to be a natural ruler. - History.com
The Hellenistic expression "Whoever is not Greek is a Barbarian" has no racial connotations. The meaning behind the phrase is that whoever does not have the Greek Paideia (we mentioned the meaning of Paideia in the very beginning of the article) is not at an advanced stage of social and cultural development.
There is a book by Anthony Kaldellis that I personally have not read yet but its title is intriguing;
‘’The Byzantine Republic: People and Power in New Rome’’ and its synopsis:
Although Byzantium is known to history as the Eastern Roman Empire, scholars have long claimed that this Greek Christian theocracy bore little resemblance to Rome. Here, in a revolutionary model of Byzantine politics and society, Anthony Kaldellis reconnects Byzantium to its Roman roots, arguing that from the fifth to the twelfth centuries CE the Eastern Roman Empire was essentially a republic, with power exercised on behalf of the people and sometimes by them too. The Byzantine Republic recovers for the historical record a less autocratic, more populist Byzantium whose Greek-speaking citizens considered themselves as fully Roman as their Latin-speaking “ancestors.”
The article that is sited under the photo of the upside-down Medusa further up in this article, written by Michelle Lent Hirsch of the Smithsonian Magazine mentions :
The Guardian writes that the upside-down head is “proof that Byzantine builders saw Roman relics as little more than reusable rubble”
There was a promoted post on Facebook the other day promoting the ‘’European Charlemagne Youth Prize’’ But what about Justinian?
A Step Forward
In 2001, Pope John Paul II 2001: Pope John Paul II visited Athens and apologized for the sins of the Crusader attack on Constantinople in 1204.
Pope John Paul II in Athens
Pope John Paul II, in a sweeping statement of regret aimed at healing Christianity’s east-west divide, begged God’s forgiveness Friday for sins committed by Roman Catholics “against their Orthodox brothers and sisters,” including the plunder of the Byzantine capital by 13th century Crusaders... His powerful and unexpected gesture came during the first visit by a pope to Greece, an Eastern Orthodox stronghold, since the schism of 1054. It drew warm applause from Orthodox clerics who until two months ago had demonized the pope and refused to welcome him.... For the occasions past and present, when sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant us the forgiveness we beg of him... John Paul singled out the plunder of Constantinople, now Istanbul, as an example of Catholic sin. In an animated voice, he called it “disastrous” and “tragic” that the assailants, who had set out to secure free access for Christians to the Holy Land, “turned against their own brothers in the faith...’ John Paul spoke repeatedly of the “great debt” Catholics owe Greece for the contribution of its ancient culture in shaping Christian humanism...’’ - Los Angeles Times
An understanding and recognition of the importance of medieval Hellenism in the European multi-cultural mix which was in any way the prime European state not only embracing but actually defining the definition of a European state before any other such state had appeared, would truly lead to the emergence of a true European and not "Frankish" Europe.
The term Romios today for the modern Greek maybe sounds a little bit old-fashioned. Possibly even having a slight defeatist meaning reminiscent of the final difficult period of Constantinople that ended with the Latin occupation and the Ottoman times that the Greeks of 1821 could not draw inspiration from because the Romioi had become the dark, complicated and corrupt ‘’Byzantines’’; Stereotypes that had been created in Western Europe. But on the other end of the spectrum The "Great Idea", which dominated the modern Greek state until 1922, stemmed from the desire to reconstitute the "Romania" of the late Roman Empire with Constantinople as the capital so the Romans are still there alive in the Greek psyche. The Greeks did not manage in the end to regain the city that was their capital for 1000 years and established Athens as the capital of the modern nation honouring their ancient legacy.
Maybe modern Europeans and us Greeks more than anyone else being a) the heirs of this - not too distant - cultural inheritance of ours and b) now that we are celebrating the 200 years anniversary of the creation of the modern Greek state, need to revisit the Roman Empire of the Middle Ages under a different perspective. We have a lot to learn from them. Especially now, in the era of Globalization and multiculturalism.
In the Folklore
Many modern Greek expressions, habits and gestures come from the Roman Empire. The famous Greek gesture of insult mountza for example:
People giving (well deserved) moutzas to the Greek parliament photo By Ggia
The origin of the gesture can be traced back to the ancient years, when it was used as a curse. It is said that even during the Eleusinian Mysteries it complemented verbal curses against evil forces.
It was then called φασκέλωμα (faskéloma) which survives today, along with its variant φάσκελo (fáskelo), still survive as synonyms of mountza.In later years, the name changed to mountza. In the penal code of the Byzantine Empire one punishment entailed criminals paraded around town sitting backwards on a donkey with their face smeared with cinder (μούντζος, moútzos) to enhance their ridicule.Because cinder was wiped on the person's face first by collecting it in the palm and then by extending open the fingers, the gesture itself became insulting, to be known as mountza, after the name of the material applied. The modern Greek word mountzoura or moutzoura for a smudge, scribble or dark stain has the same origin. - Mountza
A very classic Greek surname analysis as an end note:
The suffix -poulos comes from the Latin pullus; the consolidation of the suffix took place before the 7th century, when Latin was still the official language of the Imperium Romanum.
The meaning was originally declaring the newborn in the names of animals for example a baby eagle or a baby wolf etc. Later on it took a patronymic meaning to declare the origin ‘’son of…’’ Giannopoulos, Fotopoulos, Papadopoulos etc, as well as declaring the profession of the father. shepherd, sailor, etc. It’s all Romeika!
My wife who is Austrian brought me this bottle of Ouzo named "Romios" from a Greek Deli in Salzburg just before I started writing this article! We pride ourselves to be true Europeans; We live and work in both Greece and Austria. Can’t get more European than that!
Cheers!
