Byzantium biography

What was the form of government in Byzantium? From the Roman Empire, Byzantium inherited the monarchical form of government with the emperor at the head. From the VII century. When did Byzantium form? Scientists have no consensus regarding the date of the formation of Byzantium as a separate state: that is, the date that, in fact, should be accepted for the starting point of reference of the existence of Byzantium and not just the eastern part of the Roman Empire.

Many believe that it was formed in the city of another common date - what was the officially called Byzantium? For most Byzantine history, Western sources called it the "Empire of the Greeks", in ancient Rus' Byzantium was usually called the "Greek kingdom", and its capital - Constantinople. Why is Byzantium called Byzantium today? This name is first found in the Western European tradition: the first use of this term was recorded in the essays of the Prisk.

After the fall of Rome in the city, the word returned to scientific use after the fall of Byzantium, thanks to the work of the German humanist and historian Jerome Wolf in the 16th century. It is since then that this concept has become a circulation in Western Europe, and then all over the world. In what language did the inhabitants of Byzantium speak? The chronologically the average Greek stage covers almost the entire Middle Ages from the final separation of the Roman Empire to the fall of Constantinople in the city of Latin in the Western provinces of Byzantium and in the Balkans, in addition, before the VI century.

Is it true that in the conditions of the monarchy in Byzantium, a person from "ordinary mortals" could break into power? The ruling class of Byzantium was characterized by mobility. Indeed, at all times, a person from the lower classes could make his way to power. In some cases, it was even easier for him: for example, there was an opportunity to make a career in the army and earn military glory.

For example, Vasily I was a peasant, and then a guide to horses in the service of a noble nobleman. Roman I Lakapin was also a native of the peasants, Mikhail IV, before becoming an emperor, was a channel. When did Byzantium reach the greatest greatness? Byzantium controlled the largest territory under the emperor Justinian I - GG. Subsequently, under the onslaught of numerous enemies, the empire gradually lost land.

After the Slavic, Bulgarian, Langobard, Westgot and Arab conquests, the empire occupied only the territory of Greece and Asia Minor. Some strengthening in the 9th - 11th centuries. Can life be called in a thousand -year -old Byzantine Empire relatively calm? Among the believers, indeed, there is often the opinion that life in Byzantium was calm and safe: the Byzantine monarchs were examples of piety and wisdom, studio monks prayed in cozy cells with views of the sea, the holy fathers wrote their fundamental works in a quiet environment, and, of course, in such conditions, subjects of the Great Orthodox Empire felt for the way Stone wall.

Alas, all these ideas have nothing to do with historical reality. So, for example, the empire was devastated by the pandemic - the so -called Justinian Plague - years. It began in Egypt by his Byzantine period lasted about millions of people to the city, Byzantium lost about half of its population. At different times, the state was ruined by the Visigoths, Huns, Persians, Rus, Bulgarians, Avars, Arabs, Seljuki, Crusaders, Ottomans.

As a result of the ongoing wars, the Empire’s economy was in a state of severe crisis for centuries, the Office was affected by corruption, the population strangled by taxes was impoverished, the empire was shaken by uprisings and riots. In addition, emperors were forced to constantly fight the conspiracies of internal opponents. The church was subjected to attacks of false doctrines, faced with diverse heretical trends: arianism, non -atorism, monophysitism, monofelism, iconocracy, etc.

In life in the Byzantine empire, it was in no way similar to a fairy tale, but this positive myth survived to the present day, and some modern conspiracy therapists and political scientists associated with Eurasianism sometimes declare that any person who criticizes Byzantium is an accomplice of the West, that Byzantium for us is the embodiment of absolute good and one of the weapons in the fight against the hostile Anglo -Saxon world.

In the West, there is often an idea that Byzantium was an ignorant country. How to explain this? Negative ideas came along with the tradition of a new European culture, for which Byzantium was an example of a totalitarian state, where intrigues rule, where a treacherous policy dominates all levels. So, Voltaire called Byzantium a “terrible and disgusting” country.

What is a "Greek project"? What did he have to do with Byzantium? In the Russian Empire under Catherine the Great, there was a project for the revival of Byzantium - the Greek Project. The Russian Empire then waged wars with the Ottoman Empire, and the plan provided, in the event of an unconditional victory over the Turks and the capture of Constantinople, the creation of a new “Byzantine Empire”.The emperor of this revived Byzantium was to be Konstantin Pavlovich, the Grand Duke, the son of the heir to Pavel Petrovich, the future Paul I and the grandson of Catherine.

Voltaire called on Catherine to go in the war with the Turks to Istanbul, to turn him into Constantinople again, destroy Turkey, and save the Balkan Christians. And he even gave a practical advice: for more similarity with the exploits of antiquity, use in the steppe battles against the Turks of the chariot. However, the capture of Constantinople did not happen, and subsequently forgot about the plan.

What is the meaning of the Byzantine Empire? Orthodoxy, as well as faith and culture born on the basis of this faith, came to us from Byzantium. The formation of Rus'-Russia, as a state, from the barbaric Slavic tribes is due to the fact that ancient Rus' adopted Christianity from Byzantium from representatives of the Constantinople Church and absorbed the most complex, sophisticated, deep culture of that time in a very short time.

A culture that has accepted all the most significant that was created in antiquity. According to the French historian, Byzantologist Charles Dilya, “Byzantium created a brilliant culture, perhaps the most brilliant, which the Middle Ages knew, undoubtedly the only one, which until the XI century. For many centuries, Constantinople remained the only great city of Christian Europe, who did not know equal in splendor.

By its literature and art, Byzantium had a significant impact on the peoples surrounding it. The remaining monuments and majestic works of art show us all the brilliance of Byzantine culture. Therefore, Byzantium occupied a significant and, I must say, a well -deserved place in the history of the Middle Ages. ” Quotes about Byzantium “for Byzantium is characterized by a constant desire to consolidate both faith and life in final forms, to reduce everything to an unchanged, eternal ideal.

We can say that it is in Byzantium, in the Byzantine era, the church life of the East casts in the form that is already unchanged. The, the preserved ancient tradition, which Orthodoxy is rightfully proud of, and which the Christian West so much appreciates, with surprise and reverence for it, in essence, is, in essence, it is, in essence, it is the Byzantine tradition, although, of course, organically and associated with early Christianity, but completed only in the imperial era.

Whatever side of church life we ​​take, we will almost always have to admit that it takes its final form in Byzantium, and since that time it is already preserved without any significant changes. So, for example, the development of Orthodox worship, which has survived a very complex evolution, should be considered complete - mainly, of course, by the X century, and in liturgical science, the Orthodox ceremony is technically determined how the “Byzantine”.

Byzantine canonists are determined by the composition and volume of eastern canonic tradition. The Orthodox icon is written according to the Byzantine model, and, finally, it was in Byzantium that the “corpus” of the patrician theology that remains forever remaining the foundation and criterion of all theology. ”