For a whole millennium, Byzantium, or the Eastern Roman Empire, existed as the successor to Ancient Rome in civilization. The state with its capital in Constantinople was not without problems, but it coped with the raids of the barbarians, which quickly destroyed the Western Roman Empire. In the Empire, sciences, art and law developed, and Byzantine medicine was carefully studied even by Arab healers. At the end of its existence, the Empire was the only bright spot on the map of Europe, which fell into the dark times of the early Middle Ages. Byzantium is also of great importance in terms of the preservation of the ancient Greek and Roman heritage. Let's try to get to know the history of the Eastern Roman Empire with the help of a few interesting facts.
1. Formally, there was no division of the Roman Empire. Even in the days of unity, the state was rapidly losing coherence due to its enormous size. Therefore, the emperors of the western and eastern parts of the state were formally co-rulers.
2. Byzantium existed from 395 (death of the Roman emperor Theodosius I) to 1453 (capture of Constantinople by the Turks).
3. Actually, the name "Byzantium" or "Byzantine Empire" received from the Roman historians. The inhabitants of the Eastern Empire themselves called the country the Roman Empire, themselves the Romans (“Romans”), to Constantinople the New Rome.
The dynamics of the development of the Byzantine Empire
4. The territory controlled by Constantinople was constantly pulsating, expanding under strong emperors and shrinking under weak ones. At the same time, the area of the state changed at times. The dynamics of the development of the Byzantine Empire
5. Byzantium had its own analogue of color revolutions. In 532, the people began to express extreme dissatisfaction with the harsh policies of Emperor Justinian. The emperor invited the mob to negotiate at the Hippodrome, where the troops simply exterminated the disaffected. Historians write about tens of thousands of deaths, although this figure is most likely overstated.
6. Christianity was one of the major factors in the rise of the Eastern Roman Empire. However, it also played a negative role at the end of the Empire: too many currents of the Christian faith were professed in the country, which did not contribute to internal unity.
7. In the 7th century, the Arabs who fought with Constantinople showed such tolerance towards other religions that the tribes subject to Byzantium preferred to remain under their rule.
8. For 22 years in the 8th - 9th centuries a woman ruled Byzantium - first a regent with her son, whom she blinded, and then a full-fledged empress. Despite the blatant cruelty to her own offspring, Irina was canonized for actively returning icons to churches.
9. Contacts of Byzantium with the Russ began in the 9th century. The empire repelled the blows of its neighbors from all directions, covering itself with the Black Sea from the north. For the Slavs, it was not an obstacle, so the Byzantines had to send diplomatic missions to the north.
10. The 10th century was marked by an almost continuous series of military clashes and negotiations between Russia and Byzantium. The campaigns to Constantinople (as the Slavs called Constantinople) ended with varying degrees of success. In 988, Prince Vladimir was baptized, who received the Byzantine princess Anna as his wife, and Russia and Byzantium made peace.
11. The split of the Christian Church into Orthodox with the center in Constantinople and Catholic with the center in Italy took place in 1054 during the period of significant weakening of the Byzantine Empire. In fact, it was the beginning of the decline of New Rome.
The storming of Constantinople by the crusaders
12. In 1204, Constantinople was captured by the crusaders. After massacres, looting and fires, the city's population fell from 250 to 50,000. Many cultural masterpieces and historical monuments were destroyed. The storming of Constantinople by the crusaders
13. As participants in the Fourth Crusade, Constantinople was conquered by a coalition of 22 participants.
Ottomans take over Constantinople
14. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the main enemies of Byzantium were the Ottomans. They methodically bit off empire territory by territory, province by province, until in 1453 Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople, ending the once mighty empire. Ottomans take over Constantinople
15. The administrative elite of the Byzantine Empire was characterized by serious social mobility. From time to time, mercenaries, peasants, and even one money changer made their way into the emperors. This also applied to the highest government positions.
16. The degradation of the Empire is well characterized by the degradation of the army. The heirs of the most powerful army and navy that seized Italy and North Africa almost to Ceuta were only 5,000 soldiers who defended Constantinople from the Ottomans in 1453.
Monument to Cyril and Methodius
17. Cyril and Methodius, who created the Slavic alphabet, were Byzantines.
18. The Byzantine families were very numerous. Often, several generations of relatives lived in the same family, from great-grandfathers to great-grandchildren. Paired families more familiar to us were common among the nobility. They got married and got married at the age of 14-15.
19. The role of a woman in the family also depended on what circles she belonged to. Ordinary women were in charge of the house, covered their faces with blankets and did not leave their half of the house. Representatives of the upper strata of society could influence the politics of the entire state.
20. With all the closeness of the bulk of women from the outside world, much attention was paid to their beauty. Cosmetics, aromatic oils and perfumes were popular. Often they were brought from very distant countries.
21. The main holiday in the Eastern Roman Empire was the capital's birthday - May 11. Festivities and feasts covered the entire population of the country, and the center of the holiday was the Hippodrome in Constantinople.
22. The Byzantines were very reckless. The priests, due to the consequences of the competition, were forced from time to time to prohibit such harmless entertainment as dice, checkers or chess, let alone cycling - a team equestrian ball game with special clubs.
23. With the development of science in general, the Byzantines practically did not pay attention to scientific theories, being content only with the applied aspects of scientific knowledge. For example, they invented medieval napalm - "Greek fire" - but the origin and composition of the oil was a mystery to them.
24. The Byzantine Empire had a well-developed legal system that combined ancient Roman law and new codes. The Byzantine legal heritage was actively used by Russian princes.
25. At first, the written language of Byzantium was Latin, and the Byzantines spoke Greek, and this Greek differed from both Ancient Greek and Modern Greek. Writing in Byzantine Greek began to appear only in the 7th century.
