Six Things You Probably Did Not Know About the Byzantine Empire

Here are six interesting facts about the Byzantine Empire:

1. The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire that survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 410 AD (sacking by Alaric II) and 476 AD (German king Odoacer deposed the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire in Italy, Romulus Augustulus) and lasted until 1453 AD, when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks.

2. The Byzantines did not call themselves “Byzantines,” they referred to themselves as “Romans.” The name “Byzantine,” comes from the city of “Byzantium,” which was the name of the city prior to Constantine renaming it Constantinople after himself. Byzantium was originally a Greek colony found in the seventh century BC. It was located on the strategic “Golden Horn,” surrounded by water on three sides, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, with the European mainland and Asia separated by only a few kilometers. Constantinople was a major center of trade and commerce, with famous features such as the Theodosian Walls and Hagia Sophia. It was a very difficult city to lay siege to and many Roman usurpers made their last stand there. The city was able to withstand attacks by Bulgarians, Huns, Russians, Arabs, and Ottomans because of its well-defended position. The Byzantines had a secret weapon called Greek fire, which was probably a petroleum projection system mounted on ships that caught fire very easily.

3. The Byzantine Empire was known for its wealth, opulence, and cut-throat culture. Byzantine rulers and usurpers were brutal with each other, often blinding, maiming, castrating, or tonsuring opponents. Among the most successful emperors were Constantine the Great, Justinian I, Heraclius, Basil II, and Alexios Komnenos.

4. The Byzantine Empire was the center of Orthodox Christianity. It was, however, the Byzantines who were gradually conquered by Islamic armies beginning in the seventh century when they lost territory to Arab armies. The Byzantines and Sassanid empires had been exhausted by wars, civil wars, and plague, which allowed the Arabs to move across the relatively porous borders of Persia, Syria, and Egypt in their conquests. Theologian John of Damascus is often considered the last of the church fathers and one of the first of the medieval scholastics and he wrote the first serious Christian theological response to Islam. In addition, the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius is an apocalyptic narrative about a Roman ruler who defeats the Muslim armies of the east.

5. The Byzantine Empire played a crucial role in preserving classical knowledge and learning during the Middle Ages. Many important works of literature, philosophy, theology, and science were translated into Greek and preserved by Byzantine scholars. The western rediscovery of Aristotle was largely due to Byzantine and Arabic works being disseminated into the west and translated into Latin.

6. The relationship between the Christian Latin West and the Christian Greek East was complex and often hostile. The Byzantines gradually lost their holdings in Italy due to the Lombards and their territory in the Balkans was frequently attacked by the Normans. The Byzantines were always suspicious of Latin Crusaders, justifiably given the sacking of Constantinople in the fourth crusade in 1204. There was also the Great Schism of 1054 between east and west over the filioque clause in the Nicene Creed.