Top 10 Reasons the Byzantine Empire Was Among the Most Successful in History
10.
Location, Location, Location
When talking about an empire, its location kind of becomes redundant after a while because
you’re pretty much everywhere and you have your hands in all the cookie jars.
Nevertheless, knowing where to put your capital city is essential no matter how big you are.
For the Byzantines it all started in 330 AD, when the Roman Emperor Constantine I moved
the state’s capital from Rome to the newly founded city of, you guessed it, New Rome,
later to be named Constantinople and what is now present day
Istanbul.
Its location was excellent!
It’s right on top of the strait of Bosphorus, which connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean
and separates Europe from Asia.
From here you can literally keep an eye on what goes in and out of the empire, what others
transport to and from their kingdoms through your backyard, and how much you can tax them
for doing so.
Besides its economic advantages, having the capital in the east was a major plus because
the east was where all the good fighting was going on.
With the Bulgarians to the north and the Persians and later all the Islamic Caliphates to the
east, keeping these wealthier provinces safe was essential and by no means easy.
Having the capital so close to danger would seem counter-intuitive, but back then sending
messages back and forth between the capital and the frontline would take weeks or even
months and shortening that time was strategically crucial.
Information is power!
9.
Safety, Security and Self-defense
Defending your capital from would-be invaders is a great example of forward thinking.
And what better way to do so than by building the largest wall Europe had ever seen?
The west end of Constantinople had no natural protection from invasion, so Emperor Constantine
the Great started building one in 324 AD.
Not even a hundred years later, Constantinople outgrew its boundaries and Emperor Theodosius
II started construction on a second wall one mile west of the old one, which spans from
the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn.
But disaster struck on November 6, 447, when a powerful earthquake destroyed large parts
of the wall and none other than Attila the Hun was looking for some easy pickings.
Luckily, the urban prefect Kyros of Floras managed to not only rebuild but also add a
second outer wall and a moat, and all within 60 days.
It was just in time to properly greet poor old Attila, who had to go back to pillaging
the rest of Europe.
These walls stand to this day as a testament to Byzantine engineering and are known as
the Theodosian Walls.
Constantinople also had sea walls that completely surrounded the city.
These weren’t as big or as fortified as the main walls, but access to the Golden Horn
was restricted by a heavy chain and strong currents on the Marmara coast made an effective
attack by a fleet next to impossible.
Constantinople also suffered from a lack of fresh water.
The Valens Aqueduct, which was built by Emperor Valens in the late 4th century and still stands
today, was 1061 yards long and the main source of water for the capital.
The entire system of aqueducts and canals spanned a total distance of over 155 miles,
making it the longest ever built in Antiquity.
Together with over one hundred underground cisterns, which could house over one million
cubic meters of water, Constantinople was an almost impenetrable bastion that could
hold out against a siege indefinitely.
8.
Super-Powers and Super-Weapons
Like most great powers past and present, the Byzantine Empire made use of advanced weapons.
Being a dominant force in the region has the advantage of producing the brightest minds
around, and what better way to profit from those minds than by consolidating your power
even further?
One such example was Kallinikos from Heliopolis, who in 673 AD discovered Greek Fire.
A weapon of terrible power which could set ablaze entire ships and armies and continue
to burn even on water, it was so terrifying and demoralizing to the enemy one could compare
it to the appearance of nuclear weapons on the 20th century stage.
It was introduced not a moment too soon — in only one generation the Empire lost Egypt,
Palestine and Syria to the Arabs, and they were setting their sights on Constantinople.
With the help of their new weapon, the Byzantines managed to repel two Arab sieges of the city.
The fire was also used in a number of wars against the Bulgarians, the Rus and in some
internal revolts, all ending in success.
Another super-weapon was the counterweight trebuchet.
An earlier design, the traction trebuchet, was invented by the Chinese, but the Byzantines
improved upon it by making use of gravitational energy instead of muscle power.
Emperor Alexios I Komnenos first introduced it at the Siege of Nicaea in 1097 when helping
the Western crusaders attack the city.
Unlike its predecessor, the counterweight trebuchet fires larger projectiles at a greater
distance without the need of 30 or 40 men pulling ropes, making it easier to operate
and much more accurate.
Last but not least was the Theodosian Wall itself.
With towers guarding it every 165 feet, together with the outer wall and the moat, it made
Constantinople an almost impenetrable fortress.
Only in 1453 with the appearance of another super-weapon, the bombard used by Sultan Mehmed
II of the Ottoman Empire, did the walls fall and become obsolete, taking the Byzantine
Empire with it.
7.
“Perfect Servants”
Nothing brings an empire down faster than internal strife.
This was a problem many European kingdoms had to deal with at one point or another.
As feudal lords within a realm gained more and more influence through title inheritance
and nepotism, so did their desire to seize control grow with each generation.
The Byzantine Empire had seen such disputes, but it managed to avoid implosion.
This was, in large part, thanks to the empire’s use of eunuchs in key administrative and religious
positions.
Since they were unable to produce heirs and monopolize power within their own family,
they were the preferred choice for many posts.
They weren’t allowed to be emperors, but many other important seats were up for grabs.
The famous general Narses was a eunuch, and so was Basil Lekapenos, the chief administrator
of the empire for 40 years and the bastard son of Emperor Romanos I. Another eunuch son
of his, Theophilact of Constantinople, was the patriarch for 23 years.
Middle class castrations weren’t as common as upper class, but a eunuch doctor, for example,
could broaden his clientele by practicing medicine in a woman’s hospital or near a
nunnery.
In any case, being a eunuch in those days had no stigma attached to it.
Quite the contrary — they were considered by the church to “transcend the real world
and operate in realms denied to whole men.”
But even so… ouch!
6.
“The essence of the beautiful is unity in variety”
Since the beginning of time, man has loved to hate his fellow man.
There’s no place on Earth today where you can find a diverse community of people without
some of them despising the others simply because they’re different.
But the Byzantines, despite their incredible diversity, were able to overcome this problem.
Modern day historians can’t agree on what kind of people lived in the Byzantine Empire.
Some say they were Greek, some Roman and others say they were a mix of many cultures.
But what truly matters here is what that society thought of itself.
After the Empire’s demise in the 15th century, the western Catholic powers didn’t want
Rome’s former glory to be inherited by the east and began distancing the “Roman idea”
from Constantinople.
The label “Byzantine” is a modern term dating from the 17th century.
Its actual name used by its citizens was “Basileia ton Romaion” (Empire of the Romans) and
they identified themselves as “romaioi” (Romans).
Genetically speaking, the empire was made up of many diverse nationalities such as Illyrians,
Thracians, Macedonians, Slavs, Romans, Carcians, Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Persians,1 Cilicians,
etc.
The emperors weren’t all Greek or Roman either.
The Amorian dynasty was Armenian, the Makedons were Macedonian and, thanks to them, the empire
was brought out of its own “Dark Ages.”
Even the official language eventually changed from Latin to Greek, but the people still
considered themselves descendants of ancient Rome.
Being Roman in the Byzantine Empire was a way of life.
It had nothing to do with nationality, ethnicity or place of birth.
It was a matter of personal pride and essential to every “True Roman.”
5.
God
Religion, like only a few other forces on Earth, has the power to both unite and divide
entire nations.
True faith in the divine and an afterlife can make some people do what most of us can
only imagine.
Spiritual belief has the potential to transform an ordinary man into a martyr, a saint or
a tyrant.
Make an Empire believe in the same God and you can rule the world through faith alone!
Emperor Constantine had seen the potential of what Christianity could bring.
With the help of “divine power” and his advisor Lactantius he managed to defeat Maxentius,
his rival to the throne.
Then, in 325 AD, the first council of Nicaea was summoned and a standardized Christian
religion was created.
The Emperor was seen as God’s representation on Earth and sometimes played an active role
in the affairs of the church.
However, both the priesthood and the imperial power had their own autonomy, with no one
completely ruling over the other.
They were seen as a single organism, working in perfect harmony for the greater good.
In 537 AD Emperor Justinian I finished the most grandiose church in the world, the Hagia
Sophia.
Christians and pagans alike would stand in awe, marveling at this imposing monument.
The inside was no less striking either!
The walls were all covered in golden mosaics and the dome towered 183 feet from the ground
as if it was hovering in mid-air.
It would take almost a thousand years for another church, Il Duomo di Firenze, to even
come close to this one!
4.
Foreign Affairs
Many say that Christianity is the greatest legacy that the Byzantine Empire has left
us, while others think that it was their diplomacy.
What’s certain is that the art of making friends with the neighbors was the one of
the reasons why they managed to last for 1123 years.
They made use of different techniques gathered from all across the empire.
From Greece came rhetoric as a tool for public diplomacy.
Rome contributed with divide and conquer tactics which were used to assist other states with
civil engineering projects, and from Egypt the Empire adopted dynastic marriages and
sophisticated ceremonies to impress foreign officials.
The Byzantines were particularly good at the last one.
The Emperor received dignitaries in the throne room, surrounded by mechanical golden lions
that roared and golden birds that tweeted.
Together with the marvelous and extremely wealthy Constantinople itself, and the exchange
of excessively generous gifts, it made for a pleasurable and lucrative visit for foreign
representatives.
The Byzantine Empire was the first to create a “Bureau of Barbarians” and use it to
great effect.
It gathered information from all neighboring states (ruler’s personality, power struggles,
local customs, etc.), it analyzed reports arriving from envoys, it organized visits
for foreign diplomats to Constantinople, and did almost everything else that a modern Ministry
of Foreign Affairs does today.
Many of these diplomatic strategies were passed onto the modern era through Venice and later
France.
Another key factor for their diplomatic success was the close relation between state and church.
Through missionary priests sent north, the Empire was able to transform foe to friend
by converting the Slavs to Christianity.
Saints Cyril and Methodius began the development of the Cyrillic alphabet and introduced church
liturgies in Slavic languages.
They are regarded today as the Apostles of the Slavs.
Thanks to its longevity and skilled diplomacy, the Empire acted as a buffer between Europe
and the Muslim world, giving the continent time to develop into a world dominating force.
3.
Use the Vikings!
Known for their seafaring ways, the Norsemen traveled all across Europe on their small,
slender vessels.
They navigated around the coasts and upstream rivers, pillaging towns and villages along
the way.
Establishing trade routes on the riverbanks of present day Belarus, Ukraine and Western
Russia, these marauders subdued the local Slavs and founded the Rus state.
The term “Rus” (origin of Russia) means “Swedes” in the Finnish language, or “The
men who row.”
Its center of power was in Kiev and from here, down the Dnieper River and across the Black
Sea, the Vikings encountered the Byzantines in the 9th century.
They came through the Bosphorus with 200 ships, besieged the city of Constantinople, pillaged
its outskirts and slaughtered the locals, but were unable to breach the walls.
Following the Norse’s “if you can’t beat them, barter with them” policy and
the unwillingness of the Byzantines to go to war, the Vikings exchanged raid for trade.
As a Norseman seeing Constantinople for the first time, its magnitude and immense riches
inspired many to give their swords and axes for hire.
These mercenaries were very appreciated for their loyalty, courage and, above all, height.
They were regarded as a type of super-soldier and soon became the Emperor’s personal guard,
known as The Varangian Guard.
The Guard took care of the Emperor and his interests.
Halvdan, a member of the Guard, even engraved his words in the marble railings of the Hagia
Sophia.
Another famous member was Harald Sigurdsson, who later came to be known as Harald Hardrada
or The King of Norway from 1046-1066.
The Varangians proved their worth time and time again, winning many battles for the Empire.
They were the ones who crushed the Lombards and the Normans in Southern Italy in 1018
AD, and they defeated the Pechenegs in 1122 at the Battle of Beroia.
The Greek princess Anna Comnena, an important source of Byzantine history, talked about
Norse loyalty, saying that they passed it down from generation to generation like a
sacred legacy.
2.
It’s Not What You Do, But How You Do It
The Byzantine Empire was notably different from other Medieval states at the time, particularly
in matters of administration.
It was the first to implement a centralized form of government and remained the only state
to have one up until the 13th century.
At the very top of the pyramid was the Emperor.
Regarded as the emissary of God on Earth, he had absolute power over everything.
He controlled the state, the justice system, the financial system, the army, the church,
and all objects and people everywhere.
He personally appointed each minister, bishop and the patriarch, titles that couldn’t
be passed down from one generation to the next.
Not even the position of Emperor was exempt from the rule of non-inheritance.
Theoretically, any one could become an Emperor if they had the support of the people and
the army.
Justinian I, for example, started his life as a simple Macedonian peasant and so did
Basil I.
The Makedon dynasty however, was the first to introduce the idea of a legitimate heir
“in order to provide imperial authority.”
Under the Emperor were the Logothetes, who functioned as modern day ministers.
There was the Logothete of the Dromos, who later became Minister of Home Affairs and
the Police, Chief of the Bureau of Barbarians and also High Chancellor of the Empire.
After the 10th century he became the Grand Logothete, a sort of Prime Minister.
There was also a Logothete of the Treasury, another for the Military and the Logthete
in charge of the Empire’s Flocks.
Underneath them was an entire legion of public servants and advisors, all living in Constantinople
and working at the Great Palace.
The rest of the Empire was structured in Themes.
These forms of organization revolved around the army garrisons stationed in each province.
They took over all administrative issues in the area, and were also responsible for safeguarding
the region and recruiting new soldiers.
The army itself was never large enough to protect the entire Empire from attacks, but
it was highly organized and very well trained.
In the case of major attacks the Emperor could always make use of mercenary bands, which
he often did.
The whole elaborate web of Byzantine bureaucracy, together with the army, were a tremendous
drain on the Empire’s resources, but they were also essential for the state’s survival.
1.
Going to School
Education in Medieval times wasn’t seen as an obligation like it is by most students
today, but rather as a great privilege.
Only a handful of people knew how to read and write, and most of them were monks living
in secluded monasteries.
When most of Europe was living in squalor and had to deal like plagues, plunderers and
famine, the Byzantine Empire was at its cultural height.
Around 30% of its population was literate, a rate the rest of Europe was only able to
reach around the 18th century.
Antioch, Gaza, Nisibis, Caesarea, Syracuse and Rome were all renowned for their schools.
The University of Alexandria was acclaimed for its studies in philosophy, medicine, law,
geometry and astronomy.
Beirut and Athens were known for their law schools, but none surpassed the University
of Constantinople in fame and knowledge, which was founded in 425 AD by Emperor Theodosius
II.
Learning was open to everyone, but it wasn’t free so the majority of the students were
upper or middle class.
Even women could study in the late centuries of the Empire.
Because of the state’s centralized form of government learned people were in high
demand, especially in the fields of law and administration.
All state jobs across the Empire came with an exam and only the best would get them.
Nothing we’ve talked about up to this point could have happened if the Byzantine state
hadn’t considered the education of its citizens a top priority.