So, let me tell you something you really need to know, history is lying to you!
For over 1,000 years, the Byzantine Empire thrived, and spread throughout the eastern
Mediterranean, until succumbing to Ottoman attacks in 1453.
Except, the Byzantine Empire never existed.
Now, all of that was actually true, there was an empire from the 4th to 15th centuries
AD in the eastern Mediterranean area, that eventually got conquered by the Ottoman Empire,
and it was as real as it is interesting, which is very much so.
Now, in 395 AD, the Roman Empire was split for the final time, and the west fell to invasions
from various Germanic tribes in 476, while the Eastern half continued until 1453.
So, many historians today would say that Rome fell in the 5th century AD.
Except, most people and history books don’t call it the Roman Empire, they call it the
Byzantine Empire, when in fact, they actually weren’t necessarily separate empires.
People living in this eastern Roman Empire likely would have agreed, Really, they weren’t
so much the successors of the Roman Empire, or some half-decent sequel, but a continuation
of the old empire.
They used Roman law, wore Roman-style clothes, enjoyed Roman-style entertainment, etc.
They really were Romans, just with a few small changes, that would inevitably happen with
time.
I mean, they lived mostly the same lifestyles, but 1,000 years is a long time to hold onto
everything.
One such difference was that they started to speak Greek more often than Latin, starting
around the 6th and 7th centuries, and rarely ever controlled Rome itself.
However, one important thing to know about the use of Greek in the Roman Empire is that
this wasn’t a new thing; once Rome conquered Greece in 146 BC, the Greek language continued
to be used, and was even used by the Roman elite, in much the same way the Romanovs of
Russia liked to use French.
So, where did this term, “Byzantine” come from?
Well, certainly not from those Greek-speaking, Christian Romans we just talked about, but
actually from historians during the Renaissance.
See, the thing to know about the Eastern Roman Empire was that it was based in, well, the
east, and after the fighting was settled, and they reconquered Rome, and lost Rome again,
Rome became the seat of power for a new western society.
Further complicating things, Rome became the seat of the Catholic Church, and Constantinople
became the seat of the Eastern/Greek Orthodox Church, and they did not get along much.
In 800 AD, the Pope gave the King of France a special Christmas present, deciding that
he was now the first emperor of Rome in over 300 years, even though there had already been
plenty of Roman emperors, just not in the city of Rome, itself.
You might remember from my History of Rome video how I never talked about the Eastern
Roman Empire much, and that’s because I decided to focus on Italy, and this highlights
how, for the next 1,500 years, people really thought the Roman Empire was, like, awesome.
Constantinople called itself the second Rome, but many empires, including Russia and the
Ottomans, insistently called themselves the third Rome (I actually might make a video
on this someday).
So, why did they wait until the Renaissance to give East Rome a new name?
Because of the Enlightenment, and not just the Enlightenment, but the idea that Europe
was being re-enlightened after 1,000 years of dark ages.
The Renaissance (literally, “rebirth”) was all about the idea that Europe was awesome
during the age of the Greeks and Romans, and then became all crappy, and then became awesome
again, when people remembered how awesome the Greeks and Romans were, and you largely
see that when you see buildings built around that time, squint a little, and forget that
you’re in a place the Greeks and Romans probably never set foot much.
And of course, the idea that the Roman Empire was a thing that whole time kind of watered
down the whole idea of Europe rediscovering itself.
So, where John Green would argue that the Renaissance wasn’t a thing, I’ll actually
go a step further and argue that the “Byzantine” Empire wasn’t a thing apart from a fancy
title given to separate Rome from classical Rome.
The empires were different, but not that different.
Thanks again for watching this video, and if you enjoyed it, please be sure to give
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