Introduction: The Debate over Byzantium & the Curse of Gibbon, Crisis & Revival

Introduction/Byzantines in General

• They centered around Constantinople

• Their empire eventually fell

• Led to a lot of history / things we have in the present

• Important to consider all views and complexity

Religion in General

• Christianity

• Not always doing what they said

Term “Byzantine”

• Called themselves “Romans” → identity

• Sometimes spoke greek or were culturally broader than Romans

• Constantinople was originally a small greek fishing port called “Byzantium”

Byzantium/Constantinople

• On bridge between Greece and Asia minor

• Constantine then founded new capital there → “Constantinople”

Term “Byzantine:” Constantinople

• Became a trade center

• Diverse, global influence and people

Term “Byzantine:” Hieronymus Wolf

• Wanted to separate Christianity

• Published Corpus (body) of Byzantium

• Led to the name

• Took awhile to catch on, people still called it Eastern Roman

Term “Byzantine:” More on Term

• Old historians rarely called them “Byzantines”

• Greek view of them due to language

• Byzantine = Roman ideas and Greek philosophy

Term “Byzantine:” Other Areas

• Asia minor

• Middle East

• Egypt

• Italy

• Africa

People in these areas influenced the Byzantines. As a result, they are a diverse mix of cultures. There are many arguments over how to put them in a box, though … are they Romans"? But pigeonholing does not allow to show their uniqueness and blend.

Triple Fusion

• Greek intellect

• Roman body

• Culture of Asia and Middle East

Leadership

• 1st emperor: Constantine

• 1st empress: His mother Helena

• Last emperor: Constantine 11

• Last empress: Helena

Constantine and Constantinople

• Show fusion and diversity

• Constantinople is a beacon

• “Safe,” peaceful area

Constantine and Constantinople: Fall

• 1453

• Leader wants to restore for Ottomans

• 1923: Becomes Istanbul

• “Istanbulan:” “The City” in Greek, what Byzantines would say

Byzantine Civilization Experiences

• 1st place to experience Islam

• Asks for western aid → related to first crusade

• Constantinople library has a ton of religious/language writing

  • Greek, Roman, Christian, Jewish

Byzantine Civilization Experiences: Library Issues

• 4th crusade: burning library

• Ottoman takeover

• 1204

Byzantine Civilization Experiences: Christianity

• Decisions about figures’ roles, images

• Important meeting

Why isn’t it talked about?

• Based on which historians are writing about it

• There was lots of interest in France before enlightenment

Why isn’t it talked about: Enlightenment

• Edward Gibbon’s history of Roman empire → Roman fascination pre-christ

• Leads to categorizing periods (medieval, middle ages, etc)

• Historians wanted order and reasoning

• Gibbon is against Byzantines and thinks they are less impressive than Romans

Why isn’t it talked about: Foreign Policy

• Byzantines liked buying people off instead of fighting

• Logic of bribes … ex: Persians

Reasoning:

• Bribes/cash are cheaper than war

• Less cost of human lives

  • Gibbon didn’t think of this, glorified Roman wars instead

Why isn’t it talked about: Gap of Study and Change from It

• “Not worth it”

• ~100 years, through 1800s

• Major transformation in Europe in 1800s … enlightenment

• Diel in France wanted more info on the gap after Romans

• He wrote a text on Byzantine empresses, started rejuvenation of ideas

  • Unique that women had power and influence

• Basilla and Ostrogorsky started writing (Russian and German influenced)

  • Wrote about male dominance instead of women’s unique roles

  • Byzantines themselves emphasized female power more

• Historians come from their biases and contexts, so their views are based on that

• INCLUDING Proctor!

• Primary source = secondary source?

Why isn’t it talked about: “Secret History”

• About Justinian (emperor) and wife

• Byzantines loved lists and documenting

• This text doesn’t reference any Byzantine documents

• “A bit suspect” —Proctor, no one else backed up

• Said wife "(Theodora) was actually a sex worker, but no one actually cared at the point she was alive

• Also said the leaders were actually demons

• A lot of historical writing uses it and doesn’t even qualify it

  • Shows issues of Byzantine scholars … who to listen to?

Why isn’t it talked about: The Brother and Sister

• Emperor signed everything

• Empress did the leadership

• Important time in Christianity

• Scholars often ignore primary sources about her power

Why isn’t it talked about: Byzantine Flaws

• Made a lot of mistakes

• Still valuable and important in history

  • Their political system barely changed for 1100 years

  • People and church always had a voice

Byzantine Power Structures

1. Military

2. People

3. Church

4. Senate #2 sort of

Need at least 2 to agree for emperors/empresses to enact leadership about something

Judith Herrin

• Making Byzantines more approachable

• 1980s, alive now

John Julius Norwich

• Great productive writer

• Not that academic

• Excerpts

• Taking old ideas and blending

• Trying to right earlier wrongs

• Still not as much about women as Byzantines actually were

Christianity Before: When did Byzantium Even Start?

• Opening of Constantinople?

• Greek becoming formal language of empire?

• Last “Roman” emperor?

• When Constantine won a battle in 312?

• Us: Start in 300s

Christianity Before: Foundations

• 1st century AD

• Romans didn’t think a monotheistic community was any more than a small cult

  • Similar thoughts about Asia minor cults

• Saw it as offshoot of Judaism

• Romans had problems with Jews, but tolerated

• More worry as it spread and grew

• Didn’t like that following was mostly poor … fearful of them and how large of a group they were

• Feared ideologies

  • Egalitarianism

  • New testament

  • Idea that all Christians were one = equal

• Romans didn’t like equality because of their social stratification

• Early Christian communities practiced equality (ex: women)

• Romans started restricting and persecuting

• Christians got more secretive, causing more surrounding suspicion

Christianity Before: Nero

• Ruled Romans

• Complexity

• Story is that in 64, he mass persecutes Christians

• Wanted them to give up their religion

• Public executions for those who didn’t

  • Wanted to show how bad being Christian was

• Christians surprisingly are chill about death

• Similar to Roman Republic soldiers

• → Curiosity about Christians

Succession in Ruling

• Senior emperors (2) and junior emperors (2)

  • Tetrarchy: Augusti and ceasars

• 4 equals would be too hard

• Trying to give succession order

Historical Thought about the Byzantines: Tension/Lack

• With westerners

• There’s actually a lot we can learn from them → about us now

Historical Thought about the Byzantines: Romans’ Institutions

• Emperors like monarchs, also senate

• Military

• Not much local government interaction

• Emperors’ private and public life/wealth was all the same

• No middle class, slaves

Historical Thought about the Byzantines: Christian Church

• Bishop leadership in each area

• Deciding theology: bible, father, son, holy spirit

Historical Thought about the Byzantines: Geographical Background

• Mild mediterranean climate

• Nile valley and other inland areas for agriculture

• Asia minor for grazing in the center of the empire

Historical Thought about the Byzantines: Sources

• Similar to ancient in the beginning

• Lists

• Malalas: Christianity, emphasized them as central, not about women

• Written sources from within and outside

• Other sources: Artifacts like coins and seals

• Churches

• Art: painting (often religious), jewelry

Crisis of the 3rd Century: Roman Collapse

• “Military anarchy”

• Possibly due to succession issues

• Possibly due to lack of provincial/city government

Crisis of the 3rd Century: Emperor Issues

• End of Severan Dynasty

• Decius: persecuted Christians

• Valerian

• Civil wars

Crisis of the 3rd Century: Trying to Recover

• Gallienus tolerated Christians, led to recovery

• Claudius: died early

• Aurelian: getting back Roman power, but then still a lot of turnover and instability after

Crisis of the 3rd Century: SPICES Issues

• Civil war

• Who’s the emperor?

• Fiscal issues

• Inflation

• Christian persecution

• Neoplatonism: imperial world

• Gnosticism: magic, astrology, Hermes

Crisis of the 3rd Century: Diocletian’s Reforms

• Military rule

• Idea of junior and senior emperors

• Emperor was sacred

• Administrative reforms like separation of church and civil issues in government

• Increasing civil bureaucracy

• Military: reform with militias and field armies

• Taxes and collection to solve economic issues

• Trying to reduce inflation

• Coin values and metals

• Uniformity in how emperors were supposed to be

• Great Persecution of Christians

Byzantine Art: General

• Often religious figures

• Timeless icons that inspire response

• SPICES in relation to it

• Hard to distinguish from neighboring areas

• Some secular as well

Byzantine Art: Constantinople Design

• City became superior, but slowly

• Walls around it, still like that

• Aqueduct system

• Statue of Constantine

• Faced fire damage

• Christian foundation / origins are disputed

• Roman design/tech, gets more Christian over time

• Church building developed the city into the emperor’s central

Christian Art

• Hardly any before the 240s

• Use of marble

• Also outside of Constantinople and variety of materials

Byzantine Art: Categorizing

• Is it western? How distinctly not?

• When did antiquity end?

• Chronology is complicated

Byzantine Art: Mosaics

• In rotunda, Christian and Saint symbolism

• Hard to date…late 300s? 400s or 500s?

• Comparing art can show continuity and change

• Christian calendar year is shown