Byzantine Greeks or Byzantines, is a conventional term used by modern historians to refer to the medieval Greek or Hellenized citizens of the Byzantine Empire, centered mainly in Constantinople, southern Balkans, the Greek islands, the coasts of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and the large urban centres of Near East and Northern Egypt. In historiography such as Arnold Toynbee's, where Byzantium is defined as a civilisation rather than a state, the term "Byzantine Greek" is reserved to the inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire, while "Byzantine" can refer to any medieval state of the Orthodox faith (such as Moscovite Russia). The Byzantine Empire (Greek name: - Basileia tōn Romaiōn) is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered around its capital of Constantinople. ... Map of Constantinople. ... Balkan peninsula with northwest border Isonzo-Krka-Sava The Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe a region of southeastern Europe. ... This is a list of some of the 3000 islands of Greece: Chrysi Crete Dia Euboea Gavdos Koufonisi Ydra The Cyclades Amorgos Anafi Andros Antiparos Anydro Delos Donoussa Folegandros Gyaros Ios Irakleia Kea Keros Kimolos Kithnos Makronisos Milos Mykonos (Mikonos) Naxos Paros Pholegandros Santorini (also called Thira) Serifos Sifnos Sikinos... Anatolia (Greek: ανατολη anatole, rising of the sun or East; compare Orient and Levant, by popular etymology Turkish Anadolu to ana mother and dolu filled), also called by the Latin name of Asia Minor, is a region of Southwest Asia which corresponds today to... The Near East is a term commonly used by archaeologists, geographers and historians, less commonly by journalists and commentators, to refer to the region encompassing the Levant (modern Israel, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon), Turkey, Mesopotamia (Iraq and eastern Syria). ... Historiography is the study of the practice of history. ... This page is about the economic historian Arnold Toynbee; for the universal historian Arnold Joseph Toynbee see this article. ... ... Muscovy (Moscow principality (княжество Московское) to Grand Duchy of Moscow (Великое Княжество Московское) to Russian Tsardom (Царство Русское)) is a traditional Western name for the Russian state that existed from the 14th century to the late 17th century. ...

Byzantine Greek language

See also: Medieval Greek

Since as early as Hellenistic times, Greek had been the lingua franca of the Eastern Mediterranean, spoken natively in southern Balkans, the Greek islands, the ancient and Hellenistic Greek colonies of Western Asia and Northern Africa. This continued after Roman expansion in the region. Latin was also introduced by Roman administration but all significant literary work was performed in Greek. After the reforms of Constantine the Great the ancient Greek city of Byzantium became Constantinople and the "Greek East" gradually evolved as a separate political and cultural entity, having Greek as it main language, along with Latin in official use in the administration. However Latin had never been a spoken language in the East, and it was gradually being displaced by Greek in all sectors. The evolution from Eastern Roman to Byzantine Empire, properly speaking, starts with the reign of Heraclius, where Greek displaces Latin completely from law and administration. At the same time the Empire lost most of its non-Greek speaking territories in the near East and Africa, along with its second largest city, Alexandria. The main vernacular language of the Eastern or Byzantine Empire had been Medieval Greek, spoken natively in Constantinople and the largest part of the empire. Spoken Medieval Greek was an evolution of Koine Greek, the popular language of the Hellenistic world, and a transitional stage between ancient and Modern Greek. Written Greek could vary considerable between an archaising "high" style imitating classical Attic, and moderate "middle" styles continuing the tradition of written Koine. With very few exceptions, the spoken "low" variety of the vernacular language itself was not used in writing. The resulting diglossia of the Greek-speaking world (which had already started in ancient Greece) continued under Ottoman occupation and survived in the modern Greek state until 1976 - though Atticist Greek remains the official language of the Greek Orthodox Church. As shown in the poems of Ptochoprodromos, Modern Greek had already been shaped by the 11th century AD and possibly earlier. Vernacular Greek continued to be known as "Romaic" up until the 20th century. Medieval Greek (Μεσαιωνική Ελληνική) is a linguistic term that describes the third period in the history of the Greek language. ... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... Lingua franca, literally Frankish language in Italian, was originally a mixed language consisting largely of Italian plus a vocabulary drawn from Turkish, Persian, French, Greek and Arabic and used for communication throughout the Middle East. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... The Roman Empire is the name given to both the imperial domain developed by the city-state of Rome and also the corresponding phase of that civilization, characterized by an autocratic form of government. ... Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Constantine. ... Byzantium, present day Istanbul, was an ancient Greek city-state, which according to legend was founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas (Βύζας or Βύζαντας in Greek). ... Map of Constantinople. ... The Byzantine Empire (Greek name: - Basileia tōn Romaiōn) is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered around its capital of Constantinople. ... Heraclius and his sons Heraclius Constantine and Heraclonas. ... Alexandria Modern Alexandria. ... Medieval Greek (Μεσαιωνική Ελληνική) is a linguistic term that describes the third period in the history of the Greek language. ... Koine redirects here. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Main article: Greek language Modern Greek (Νέα Ελληνικά or Νεοελληνική, lit. ... Attic Greek is the ancient dialect of the Greek language that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. ... Greek Orthodox Church can refer to any of several hierarchical churches within the larger group of mutually recognizing Eastern Orthodox churches. ...

A Greco-Roman heritage

Byzantine Culture
Art
Aristocracy & Bureaucacy
Army
Architecture
Coinage
Cuisine
Dance
Dress
Economy
Gardens
Law
Literature
Music
Medicine
Navy

See also: Names of the Greeks

Byzantium may be defined as a multi-ethnic empire that emerged as a Christian empire, soon comprised the Hellenized empire of the East and ended its thousand-year history, in 1453, as a Greek Orthodox state: An empire that became a nation, almost by the modern meaning of the word.^[1] Image File history File links Window_St_Nicholas. ... The most famous of the surviving Byzantine mosaics of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople - the image of Christ Pantocrator on the walls of the upper southern gallery. ... Painting of Emperor Basil II, exemplifying the Imperial Crown handed down by Angels. ... The Byzantine Army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine Navy. ... Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. ... Anastasius 40 nummi (M) and 5 nummi (E) Byzantine currency, money used in the Eastern Roman Empire after the fall of the West, consisted of mainly two types of coins: the gold solidus and a variety of clearly valued bronze coins. ... During the Byzantine period there is a merger between the gastronomy of Greece and Rome. ... // History Greek Dance in Antiquity was originally held to have some kind of educational value, as evidenced in Platos dialogues on this point in The Laws. ... // Overview Byzantine Dress changed vastly over the centuries. ... Byzantium undoubtedly occupies an important place in the history of garden design. ... Justinian I depicted on a mosaic in the church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy The Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law) is a fundamental work in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Byzantine Emperor. ... Byzantine literature refers to literature written in the Greek language during the Middle Ages, although certain works written in Latin, like the Corpus Juris Civilis may also be included. ... Byzantine music is the music of the Byzantine Empire and by extension the music of its culture(s) as they continued in the Orthodox Christian parts of the population after the fall of the empire to the rule of the Ottoman Empire. ... A gallery of birds from the Vienna Dioscurides Byzantine manuscript. ... The Byzantine Dromon, the heaviest ship in the Byzantine fleet, capable of carrying up to 50 Marines. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Byzantium, present day Istanbul, was an ancient Greek city-state, which according to legend was founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas or Byzantas (Βύζας or Βύζαντας in Greek). ... This article is becoming very long. ... Greek Orthodox Church can refer to: the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, headed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, who is also the first among equals of the Eastern Orthodox Communion. ... One of the most influential doctrines in history is that all humans are divided into groups called nations. ...

Byzantines ruled a multi-ethnic empire where the Hellenic element was predominant, especially in the later period.^[2] Like many other Imperial rulers of the time, Byzantines claimed heritage to the mighty Roman Empire and indirectly laid their land claims to all Christian lands. The Latin west, for the most part, ignored such Byzantine claims and viewed the "Empire of the Greeks" decidedly as a schismatic Christian state. Some Byzantine Greek intellectuals responded by claiming for themselves the glories of ancient Hellas. Nonetheless ethnicity as such is, of course, a modern concept, which medieval peoples would not have recognized, and the inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire were not a 'people' in any ethnic sense.^[3] The real issue for which the cultures were split, was that of religion: obedience to the Pope, procession of the Holy Ghost, purgatory, clerical celibacy, etc. Such questions separated Greeks from Latins, and if they could be resolved, they would be reunited in a new "Romanity" under the Pope. Hellenic may refer to: the Hellenic Republic (the modern Greek state) the Hellenes, itself a term for either ancient or modern Greeks anything related to Greece in general or Ancient Greece in particular. ... This article or section should be merged with ethnic group Ethnicity is the cultural characteristics that connect a particular group or groups of people to each other. ...

Yet the pretence of Romanity began to wear thin in age of the Crusades. The inheritance of the battle of Manzikert was to create a largely Greek monarchy of what had been an ecumenical Empire. After that battle the non-Greek speaking regions of central Anatolia were permanently lost to the Seljuk Turks, and the map of the Byzantine Empire coincided to a very large extent with the areas of Greek colonisation in the ancient world, and also with those areas where speakers of the modern language were to be found up until the population exchanges of the early 20th century. In other words, the identity of spoken language and state that was to become a fundamental tenet of nineteenth-century nationalism throughout Europe became - by accident - a reality during a formative period of medieval Greek history.^[4] Combatants Byzantine Empire Seljuk Turks Commanders Romanus IV Nikephoros Bryennios Theodore Alyates Andronikos Doukas Alp Arslan Strength ~ 30,000 ~ 70,000 Casualties About 10,000[citation needed] Unknown The Battle of Manzikert, or The Battle of Malazgirt, was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuk forces led by Alp Arslan... The Seljuk coat of arms was a double headed eagle The Seljuk Turks (also Seldjuk, Seldjuq, Seljuq; in modern Turkish Selçuklular; in Persian سلجوقيان SaljÅ«qiyān; in Arabic سلجوق SaljÅ«q, or السلاجقة al-Salājiqa) were a major branch of the Oghuz Turks and a dynasty that ruled parts of...

In other words the Byzantines of the 12th century had something very like a national identity, in the modern sense, foisted on them; an identity, moreover, which Greek-speakers in later centuries never quite lost sight of, and which in the long run proved more enduring than the older Byzantine model of universal empire that was maintained at an official level until 1453.^[4]

Common Byzantine self-perception

Within Byzantium, a Greek or Hellenized citizen of the Byzantine empire was generally called a Ῥωμαῖος (Rhōmaios), which was first of all defined in opposition to a foreigner, ἐθνικός (ethnikos). "Romanity" was perceived by Byzantine Greeks in a different way than their contemporaries. "Romaic" had been the name of the vulgar Greek language, as opposed to "Hellenic", its literary form. "Greek" (Γραικός) had been merged with "Romaic" (Ρωμηός), to mean a Greek-speaking Orthodox Christian. There was always a question of indifference or neglect of everything not Greek, therefore "barbarian". At the same time, the popular definition of "Hellene" (Έλλην - which is today a synonym to 'Greek'), was that of a pagan. Yet most Byzantine Emperors would not list neither Augustus nor Pericles among their ancestors, but Constantine the Great and Justinian, and the Christian emperors of Constantinople.^[5] Pagan may refer to: A believer in Paganism or Neopaganism Bagan, a city in Myanmar also known as Pagan Pagan (album), the 6th album by Celtic metal band Cruachan Pagan Island, of the Northern Mariana Islands Pagan Lorn, a metal band from Luxembourg, Europe (1994-1998) Pagans Mind, is... Augustus (Latin: IMP•CAESAR•DIVI•F•AVGVSTVS;[1] September 23, 63 BC–August 19, AD 14), known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (English Octavian; Latin: C•IVLIVS•C•F•CAESAR•OCTAVIANVS) for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, was the first and among the most important of... Pericles or Perikles (c. ... Constantine. ... Justinian I depicted on one of the famous mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale. ...

In official discourse, "all inhabitants of the empire were subjects of the emperor, and therefore Romans." Thus the primary definition of Rhōmaios was "political or statist."^[2] In order to succeed in being a full-blown and unquestioned "Roman" - it was best to be a Greek Orthodox Christian and a Greek-speaker, at least in one's public persona. Yet the cultural uniformity which the Byzantine church and the state pursued through Orthodoxy and the Greek language was not sufficient to erase distinct identities - nor did it aim to.^[2] Byzantines had no tradition of actively propagating their own culture or of actively combatting foreign people or foreign elements in their society. The highest complement that could be paid to a foreigner was to call him ἀνδρεῖος Ῥωμαιόφρων (andreios Rhōmaiophrōn: roughly, "a Roman-minded fellow").^[2] Greek Orthodox Church can refer to any of several hierarchical churches within the larger group of mutually recognizing Eastern Orthodox churches. ...

Often one's local (geographic) identity could often outweigh one's identity as a Rhōmaios. The terms ξένος (xenos) and ἐξωτικός (exōtikos) denoted "people foreign to the local population," regardless of whether they were from abroad or from elsewhere within the empire.^[2] "When a person was away from home he was a stranger and was often treated with suspicion. A monk from western Asia Minor who joined a monastery in Pontus was 'disparaged and mistreated by everyone as a stranger'. The corollary to regional solidarity was regional hostility."^[6] Traditional rural Pontic house A man in traditional clothes from Trabzon, illustration Pontus is the name which was applied, in ancient times, to extensive tracts of country in the northeast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) bordering on the Euxine (Black Sea), which was often called simply Pontos (the main), by...

Revival of ethnicity

Beginning in the twelfth century certain Byzantine Greek intellectuals began to use the ancient Greek ethnonym Ἕλλην (Hellēn-Hellenic: in popular use a "pagan") in order to describe the Byzantine civilisation. The use of the term was accelerated following the Greco-Latin clashes of the 12th century, such as the massacre of all foreigners in Constantinople in 1182, and especially the occupation of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204.^[7][8] Hellenic may refer to: the Hellenic Republic (the modern Greek state) the Hellenes, itself a term for either ancient or modern Greeks anything related to Greece in general or Ancient Greece in particular. ... The Fourth Crusade (1201–1204), originally designed to conquer Jerusalem through an invasion of Egypt, instead, in 1204, invaded and conquered the Eastern Orthodox city of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. ... // Events February - Byzantine emperor Alexius IV is overthrown in a revolution, and Alexius V is proclaimed emperor. ...

During that period Theodore Lascaris tried to revive Hellenic tradition by fostering the study of philosophy, for in his opinion there was a danger that 'Philosophy' might abandon the Greeks and seek refuge among the Latins. Philosophy and Classical Greek studies had always been popular in Byzantium but never in such a patriotic context. In a letter to Pope Gregory IX, the Byzantine Emperor John Vatatzes claimed to have received the gift of royatly from Constantine the Great, and put emphasis on his 'Hellenic' descent, exalting the wisdom of the Greek people. He was presenting 'Hellenic' culture as an integral part of the Byzantine polity in defiance of Latin claims. Byzantine Greeks had always felt superior for being the inheritors of a more ancient civilisation, but such ethnic identifications had not been popular up until then.^[9] Hence in the context of increasing Venetian and Genoese power in the eastern Mediterranean, Hellēnic patriotism was rooted deeper in Byzantine elite, as a desire to distinguish themselves from the Latin West, and to lay legitimate claims on Greek-speaking lands.^[10] The Latin Empire, Empire of Nicaea, Empire of Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus. ... John III Doukas Vatatzes or Ducas Vatatzes (Greek: Ιωάννης Γ΄ Δούκας Βατάτζης, IōannÄ“s III Doukas BatatzÄ“s) (c. ... Map of the Venetian Republic, circa 1000 CE. The republic is in dark red, borders in light red. ... The Republic of Genoa, in full the Most Serene Republic of Genoa (known as the Ligurian Republic from 1798 to 1805) was an independent state in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast from ca. ...

However Hellenic patriotism went even further, attempting to set boundaries between Greek royalties who contested over the throne of Constantinople (then under Latin rule). The theory that Constantine the Great had moved the Imperial capital to a Greek city because of "racial" reasons (allegedly wishing to pass Roman rule to the Greeks), gave birth to a new question at hand: which of the Byzantine states was the "most Greek", and therefore worthy of ruling the "Roman Empire". With that in mind, George Acropolites, Byzantine historian of the Nicaean Empire, fixed the Pindos mountain chain as the boundary between Epirus and what Nicaean Greeks called 'our Hellenic land', excluding thus the Greeks of the Despotate of Epirus as potential Roman rulers.^[9] The Pindus (Greek: Πίνδος, Albanian: Pino) mountains are a range located in central Greece, roughly 160 km (100 miles) long, with a maximum elevation of 2636 m (8650 ft), along the border of Thessaly and Epirus. ... Epirus (Greek Ήπειρος, Ípeiros; see also List of traditional Greek place names), is a province or periphery in northwestern Greece, bounded by West Macedonia and Thessaly to the east, by the province of Sterea Ellada (Central Greece) to the south, the Ionian Sea and the Ionian Islands to the west and... The Despotate of Epirus was one of the medieval Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire, founded in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. ...

The claims of a 'Hellenic' ethnicity continued throughout the Palaiologan dynasty. For instance, the scholar, teacher and translator, John Argyropoulos addressed John VII as ‘Sun King of Hellas’ and urged the last Emperor, Constantine XI, to proclaim himself ‘King of the Hellenes’. ^[11] The Double-headed eagle, emblem of the Paleologus dynasty and the Byzantine Empire. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

See also

• Byzantine Empire
• Byzantine Art
• Byzantine music

The Byzantine Empire (Greek name: - Basileia tōn Romaiōn) is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered around its capital of Constantinople. ... The most famous of the surviving Byzantine mosaics of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople - the image of Christ Pantocrator on the walls of the upper southern gallery. ... Byzantine music is the music of the Byzantine Empire and by extension the music of its culture(s) as they continued in the Orthodox Christian parts of the population after the fall of the empire to the rule of the Ottoman Empire. ...

References

1. ^ Helene Ahrweiler, Les Europeens, pp.150, Herman (Paris), 2000.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} H. Ahrweiler and A.E. Laiou, eds., Studies on the internal diaspora of the Byzantine Empire (Washington, 1998), vii.
3. ^ A. Cameron, The Byzantines (Oxford, 2006), 8.
4. ^ ^{a b} Roderick Beaton - The Medieval Greek Romance p. 9
5. ^ Krijnie Ciggaar - Western Travellers to Constantinople, p. 14
6. ^ C. Mango, Byzantium: the empire of new Rome (New York, 1980), Ch. 1.
7. ^ C. Mango, "Byzantinism and romantic hellenism," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 28 (1965), 33.
8. ^ Donald Nicol - The last centuries of Byzantium
9. ^ ^{a b} Michael Angold - "Church and society in Byzantium under the Comeni", p. 528
10. ^ P. Speck, "Badly-ordered thoughts on Philhellenism," in S. Takács, ed., Understanding Byzantium: studies in Byzantine historical sources (Aldershot, 2003), 280-81.
11. ^ Woodhouse 1986, 109; Sp. Lambros, "Argyropouleia", Athens 1910, 7,29