The only thing to note was stated at the beginning of the video: There was NEVER a "Byzantine Empire." So the "renaming" is meaningless. We STILL speak of something that never actually existed. Period. And the rise of the GERMAN Empire did not challenge the claims of the Eastern Roman Empire. The ancient enemies of Rome did not beomce the new "Romans." Long Live the Eastern Roman Empire. 🍻
I've always tried to support the use of "Medieval Roman" instead. But "Byzantine" seems so very deeply wound into common consciousness, it's rather difficult to undo that.
It was the Roman Empire. It was Greek in Language, Christian in Religion and Roman in Culture. Roman Identity in the East only died with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of Greek Nationalism which found its roots in the ancients.
The term "Byzantine" is a misnomer. You don't change the name of something, just because you usurped it for yourself, or because it feels more convenient for you, especially now that no one is no longer there to defend your irrational claim. There is no such thing as a " Holy Roman Empire"; Constantinople never recognized such a thing, or Emperor of Barbaric ancestry. Of course, you could as well claim that you're the Caliph of Baghdad, but this is another story. Suit yourself. Let's talk about the myth of 476. A huge chunk of the West was recovered by Justinian I; the West did NOT fall. It fell when the last Roman soldier had to abandon Italy in 1071, under the pressure of the Normans. As for why the Eastern Roman state was speaking Greek, I don't see the problem with this; perhaps the scholars of the Renaissance or the Enlightement who glorified everything Greek, had, but the Romans surely hadn't, as they were speaking Greek themselves. The culture of the Roman Empire was always Greco-Roman; Greece and Rome (culture) was the one side of the coin, Christianity was the other. " Byzantion was never born, Rome fell on 1453" J.B. Bury
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it
The only thing to note was stated at the beginning of the video: There was NEVER a "Byzantine Empire." So the "renaming" is meaningless. We STILL speak of something that never actually existed. Period.
And the rise of the GERMAN Empire did not challenge the claims of the Eastern Roman Empire. The ancient enemies of Rome did not beomce the new "Romans."
Long Live the Eastern Roman Empire. 🍻
I've always tried to support the use of "Medieval Roman" instead. But "Byzantine" seems so very deeply wound into common consciousness, it's rather difficult to undo that.
It was the Roman Empire. It was Greek in Language, Christian in Religion and Roman in Culture. Roman Identity in the East only died with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of Greek Nationalism which found its roots in the ancients.
The term "Byzantine" is a misnomer. You don't change the name of something, just because you usurped it for yourself, or because it feels more convenient for you, especially now that no one is no longer there to defend your irrational claim.
There is no such thing as a " Holy Roman Empire"; Constantinople never recognized such a thing, or Emperor of Barbaric ancestry. Of course, you could as well claim that you're the Caliph of Baghdad, but this is another story. Suit yourself.
Let's talk about the myth of 476. A huge chunk of the West was recovered by Justinian I; the West did NOT fall. It fell when the last Roman soldier had to abandon Italy in 1071, under the pressure of the Normans.
As for why the Eastern Roman state was speaking Greek, I don't see the problem with this; perhaps the scholars of the Renaissance or the Enlightement who glorified everything Greek, had, but the Romans surely hadn't, as they were speaking Greek themselves. The culture of the Roman Empire was always Greco-Roman; Greece and Rome (culture) was the one side of the coin, Christianity was the other.
" Byzantion was never born, Rome fell on 1453"
J.B. Bury