Brief history of Byzantium

[Prokomenos]

• Byzantium was an ancient Greek city-state, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas. The name "Byzantium" is a Latinization of the original Greek name Byzantion (Βυζάντιον;. Legend has it that the colonists were told by an oracle, when leaving Megara, that they should build their city across from the "city of the blind". When King Byzas approached the Bosphorus, he wondered why earlier colonists had built Chalkedon on the Asiatic side when the European side seemed much better suited. "Are they blind?" he asked aloud, immediately remembering the prophecy.
  
  After siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus, the city was besieged by Rome and suffered extensive damage in AD 196. Byzantium was rebuilt by the now Roman Emperor Septimius Severus and quickly regained its previous prosperity. The location of Byzantium attracted Constantine the Great who, in AD 330, refounded it as New Rome or Constantinoupolis (Constantinople, Greek Κωνσταντινούπολις) after a prophetic dream was said to have identified the location of the city. The East Roman Empire which had its capital in Constantinople from then until 1453, has often been called the Byzantine Empire or Byzantium by modern scholars. By extension, the name Byzantium is often used to refer to the Byzantine Empire, its territory, and its customs.
  
  Of course it did not take a prophet to see that this combination of imperialism and location would play an important role as the crossing point between two continents (Europe and Asia), and later a magnet for Africa and others as well, in terms of commerce, culture, diplomacy and strategy. At a strategic position, Constantinoupolis was able to control the route between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euxinos Pontus (Black Sea).
  
  On May 29, 1453, the city fell to the Ottoman Turks and was part of the Ottoman Empire until its official dissolution on November 1, 1922. Since then it has remained a part of the Republic of Turkey (first declared on January 20, 1921, generally recognized on October 29, 1923).

[Leonidas]

wow , so the Bizantium Empire were Greeks ?? not Romans?? Did u know that The Pontians are the Closest ancestor to the Bizantines??

[ΠΕΡΙΚΛΗΣ]

Originally Posted by Leonidas
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

wow , so the Bizantium Empire were Greeks ?? not Romans?? Did u know that The Pontians are the Closest ancestor to the Bizantines??

"Byzantium" was Roman. If we think like that then the Ottoman Empire was greek too because its capital was in our ancient city place.

The Pontian Greeks are pure Greeks,the Byzantines aren't a nation. They were citizens of the empire with different backgrounds.

[Nikoz78]

Byzantium was the Greek half the the Roman Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).

They spoke Greek (the original language the New Testament was written in) and only used Latin in the early centuries and then only on a formal government-level. Latin was soon replaced with Greek completely. When the Western Roman Empire fell it was the Greek half of the Empire that endured.

Their religion was Greek Orthodox. Constantinople was/is a Holy City to many Greeks.

It was commonly known during the era as the "Empire of the Greeks" but the Greek Emperors simply thought of them selves as Romans - the legitimate continuation of the ancient world.

You can trace our people from the War of Independence in 1821 back through almost 400 years of Ottoman and Venetian rule, directly to the Greek Eastern Roman Empire - Byzantium, which fell in 1453 (completely in 1461).

[Prokomenos]

Originally Posted by Nikoz78
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Byzantium was the Greek half the the Roman Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).

They spoke Greek (the original language the New Testament was written in) and only used Latin in the early centuries and then only on a formal government-level. Latin was soon replaced with Greek completely. When the Western Roman Empire fell it was the Greek half of the Empire that endured.

Their religion was Greek Orthodox. Constantinople was/is a Holy City to many Greeks.

It was commonly known during the era as the "Empire of the Greeks" but the Greek Emperors simply thought of them selves as Romans - the legitimate continuation of the ancient world.

You can trace our people from the War of Independence in 1821 back through almost 400 years of Ottoman and Venetian rule, directly to the Greek Eastern Roman Empire - Byzantium, which fell in 1453 (completely in 1461).

I definately agree with you on this. Byzantium was pretty much the Greek half of the Roman Empire.

[Ellinas]

Originally Posted by ΠΕΡΙΚΛΗΣ
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

"Byzantium" was Roman. If we think like that then the Ottoman Empire was greek too because its capital was in our ancient city place.

The Pontian Greeks are pure Greeks,the Byzantines aren't a nation. They were citizens of the empire with different backgrounds.

From what I see the article is referring to the city of Byzantium (later Constantinople and Istanbul), not to the Byzantine Empire. The name Byzantium (Βυζάντιον) is a Greek word coming from the name of Byzas and it was originally the name of the city, not of any Empire.

Now if we talk about the Byzantine Empire, which was later named like this, none said that it was a nation. Like all Empires, it was a big area inhabited by people of many ethnicities, under a common administration. Therefore obviously there is no "Byzantine" nation as the inhabitants of the Empire belonged to many ethnicities. However at some time, after various territories in Italy, North Balkans and Middle East were lost, the majority of the Empire's population became Greek. The adoption of the Greek language and similar things followed, having as a result a Hellenization of the Empire. Most of the Byzantine Emperors were of Greek ethnic backround.

[Epikourios37x]

Originally Posted by Prokomenos
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I definately agree with you on this. Byzantium was pretty much the Greek half of the Roman Empire.

You're right on all of these. Byzantium was the longest running state in history...1000 years. The Komnenoi, Palaeologoi, Porphyrogenetoi, etc. were one of the few great family names which made the Byzantine Empire strong in times of crisis. Ironically, the Hellenes never called themselves Byzantines but "Romioi"...in reference to themselves as Roman citizens of the Eastern Empire and as Greek Orthodox Christians later in the years after the Great Schism. The term Romioi was used even by the great "agwnistes tou '21", just like Athanasios Diakos, who before he was burned alive by the Ottomans, on a pike impaled through him (a la Vlad the Impaler style), he said: "Romios gennh8hka kai Romios 8a pe8anw".

[Prokomenos]

Originally Posted by Epikourios37x
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

You're right on all of these. Byzantium was the longest running state in history...1000 years. The Komnenoi, Palaeologoi, Porphyrogenetoi, etc. were one of the few great family names which made the Byzantine Empire strong in times of crisis. Ironically, the Hellenes never called themselves Byzantines but "Romioi"...in reference to themselves as Roman citizens of the Eastern Empire and as Greek Orthodox Christians later in the years after the Great Schism. The term Romioi was used even by the great "agwnistes tou '21", just like Athanasios Diakos, who before he was burned alive by the Ottomans, on a pike impaled through him (a la Vlad the Impaler style), he said: "Romios gennh8hka kai Romios 8a pe8anw".

The Byzantine era is probably one of the most difficult eras of Hellenic history to understand.

[Ellinas]

After the catalysis of the West (Latin) Empire, the Byzantine Empire was actually called "Romania".

I can guess the name Byzantium which was the former name of Constantinople city was given by the historians to avoid confusion with the country of Romania which was set in and named later.

[Nikoz78]

The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium (which was the site of an ancient Greek city state) and renamed the city Constantinople in the year 330 AD.

There eventually became two Roman Empires - the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire (and, eventually two Churches - the Latin West and Greek East, aka Catholic/Orthodox). The Eastern Empire was the one with legitimate linage. When the Western Empire fell to barbarians, the Eastern Empire was the remaining (and genuinely legitimate) Roman Empire. To this day the Arabs refer to Greeks as simply Romans.

From Wikipedia (the online Encyclopedia):

"The Byzantine Empire (a historiographical term used since at least the 18th century) and Eastern Roman Empire are expressions used to describe the Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople, referred to by its inhabitants simply as the Roman Empire (in Greek Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων), its emperors continuing the unbroken succession of Roman emperors, preserving Greco-Roman legal and cultural traditions; to the Islamic world it was known primarily as روم‎ (Rûm, "land of the Romans"). Due to the dominance of Medieval Greek language, culture and population, it was known to many of its western European contemporaries as Empire of the Greeks."

[un-quote]
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


Note: if you went back in time the Greeks would not know what you were talking about if you called them Byzantines - they thought of themselves as Romans (and they were; Greek Romans, and the legitimate heirs of the Empire).

This medieval Greek Empire (indeed the Roman Empire) stood for over a 1,000 years, the second longest lasting empire in the history of the world (the Egyptian empire was the longest). It was however the most successful and longest standing European empire in history.

Remember that even before Constantine officially moved the Roman capital from Rome To Constantinople, the Roman Empire was Pagan. The reason we call Constantine the "Great" is because he made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire after moving the capital. He deliberately moved the capital to Greek lands. Also, this was the first time in history that Christianity was legal (not only legal, but now an official state religion for the first time ever). That is the legacy of Greek Orthodox Christianity. Indeed, the Byzantine Empire (as it's now called) was literally God's Kingdom on earth. The Empire of Heaven.

The Romans may have conquered the ancient Greeks hundreds of years before the time of Christ, but just as Greece was conquered by Rome so in turn was Rome conquered by Greek culture.

Anyway, so there are three distinct eras of Greek history - Ancient, Medieval and Modern.

This topic used to confuse the hell out of me. But once grasped it all falls into place.

I would encourage any Greeks who are unfamiliar with this glorious chapter of our history to read the article I linked above and start a journey of discovery of our heritage during late antiquity and medieval times. I am reading a book called Modern Greece by C.M. Woodhouse. It's not too surprising that this history of Modern Greece starts with the founding of Constantinople in the year 330 AD and covers this history up to the year 1990 AD. I had at first wondered why he started the story of modern Greece so far back in time but it makes sense. Greece is still "Byzantium." We are still the defenders of the True Church. Our language has an unbroken line directly back to our ancient ancestors. According to the encyclopedia, Greece is 98% Greek Orthodox (one of the most homogeneous nations in the world).

When the Greek capital Constantinople was conquered by the Turks (80,000 Turks vs. 8,000 Greeks and 2,000 Italians) in the year 1453 AD the medieval (or 'dark ages') ended as an historical era (according to the encyclopedia). When the last Roman/Greek Emperor Palaiologos died heroically defending the city, so with his death died the last legitimate heir of the ancient world. And therefore with his death so too died the ancient world. The surviving Byzantine Greek scholars fled to Italy and sparked the Renaissance.

From Wikipedia: (the online encyclopedia)

"Constantinople finally fell to the Ottomans after a two-month siege on May 29, 1453. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, was last seen casting off his imperial regalia and throwing himself into hand-to-hand combat after the walls of the city were taken."

[un-quote]

May we never forget May 29!