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A History of Byzantium
Blackwell History of the Ancient World
This series provides a new narrative history of the ancient world, from the
beginnings of civilization in the ancient Near East and Egypt to the fall of
Constantinople. Written by experts in their fields, the books in the series offer
authoritative accessible surveys for students and general readers alike.
Published
A History of Byzantium
Timothy E. Gregory
A History of the Ancient Near East
Marc Van De Mieroop
In Preparation
A History of Ancient Egypt
David O’Connor
A History of the Persian Empire
Christopher Tuplin
A History of the Archaic Greek World
Jonathan Hall
A History of the Classical Greek World
P. J. Rhodes
A History of the Hellenistic World
Malcolm Errington
A History of the Roman Republic
John Rich
A History of the Roman Empire
Michael Peachin
A History of the Later Roman Empire,
Stephen Mitchell
AD
284–622
A History of Byzantium
Timothy E. Gregory
© 2005 by Timothy E. Gregory
BLACKWELL PUBLISHING
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First published 2005 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gregory, Timothy E.
A history of Byzantium / Timothy E. Gregory.
p. cm. — (Blackwell history of the ancient world)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-631-23512-4 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-631-23513-2
(pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Byzantine Empire—History. I. Title. II. Series.
DF552.G68 2005
949.5′02—dc22
2004012925
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Contents
List of Figures
vii
List of Maps
ix
List of Boxes
x
Preface
Introduction
xii
1
1
The Crisis of the Third Century
21
2
The Revival under Diocletian
33
3
The Age of Constantine the Great
45
4
The Fourth Century: Constantius II to Theodosios I
66
5
The Fifth Century
95
6
The Age of Justinian
119
7
The Byzantine “Dark Ages”: Late Sixth and Seventh
Centuries
148
8
The Isaurian Dynasty and Iconoclasm
183
9
Continued Struggle over Ikons
202
10
The Beginnings of the Macedonian Dynasty
217
11
The Apogee of Byzantine Power
237
12
The Komnenoi
257
13
The Aftermath of the Fourth Crusade
282
vi
CONTENTS
14
The Beginnings of Decline
298
15
The End of the Empire
325
16
Byzantium after the Fall of the City
340
Glossary
359
General Bibliography
366
A Selection of Primary Sources in English Translation
371
List of Byzantine Emperors
373
Index
378
Figures
2.1
The Tetrarchs
35
2.2
Arch of Galerius
42
3.1
Solidus of Constantine I
51
3.2
Column of Constantine, Constantinople
59
3.3
Isometric view, church of St. John Lateran, Rome
63
4.1
Missorium of Theodosios I
83
5.1
Coin of Theodosios II
100
5.2
Northeast gate, Byzantine fortress at Isthmia (reconstruction)
101
5.3
Coin of Anastasios I
109
5.4
Funeral stele of an abbot
114
5.5
Qu’lat Se’man
118
6.1
The Empress Theodora, San Vitale, Ravenna
124
6.2
Hagia Sophia, plan
130
6.3
Hagia Sophia, interior
131
6.4
Bust of an aristocratic woman, probably Anicia Juliana
133
6.5
Anicia Juliana from the Vienna Dioscorides
134
6.6
Mosaic pavement with a representation of “Apolausis”
144
7.1
Byzantine fortress on the island of Dokos
158
7.2
Gold coin of Justinian II, first reign (692–5)
176
viii
FIGURES
7.3
Gold coin of Justinian II, second reign (705–11)
178
8.1
Iconoclasts at work
191
8.2
Gold coin of Constantine V and Leo IV
195
10.1 Plan of the monastery of Osios Meletios
224
10.2 Gold coin of Leo VI
226
10.3 The Mandylion
231
10.4 Ivory of Constantine VII
233
11.1 Megiste Lavra
239
11.2 Plan of the church of the Holy Apostles in Athens
252
11.3 Several cross-in-square churches
253
11.4 Coin of Romanos IV (1068–71)
255
12.1 Graffito of a ship from Korinth
265
12.2 Plan of medieval Korinth
276
12.3 Plan of the “Bema Church” in Korinth
277
12.4 “Little Metropolitan,” Athens
278
13.1 A glazed bowl
286
13.2 Cistercian monastery of Zaraka
287
14.1 Gracanica
302
14.2 St. Merkourios
309
14.3 Presentation of the Virgin
310
14.4 Meteora, the skete of Doupiani
312
14.5 Meteora, church of the Metamorphosis (Transfiguration)
in the Great Meteoron
313
14.6 Meteora, the monastery of Rousanou
314
14.7 St. Anastasia the Medicine-healer
317
15.1 Sultan Mehmed II
331
15.2 Siege of Constantinople
335
16.1 Panagia Lactans
347
16.2 Last Judgment from Vatopedi Monastery, Mt. Athos
348
16.3 Detail from the Last Judgment
349
16.4 Modern “Byzantine” fresco
356
Maps
The Eastern Mediterranean, showing geographical divisions,
ca. 300 
4
0.2
The restored Roman Empire, ca. 300 
8
3.1
Constantinople in the fourth-fifth century
56
6.1
The Byzantine Empire in the time of Justinian
(sixth century )
122
7.1
Islamic conquests
163
7.2
Themes in the seventh century
179
8.1
Themes in Asia Minor after the seventh century
184
0.1
10.1 Byzantium in the ninth century
221
12.1 The Byzantine Empire of the Komnenoi
259
13.1 The situation after the Fourth Crusade, ca. 1214
283
14.1 Monasteries of Mount Athos
301
Boxes
2.1
Diocletian’s Attempt to Control Prices
41
2.2
The Great Persecution
43
3.1
The Founding of Constantinople
57
3.2
Eusebios of Caesarea’s Opposition to Christian Images
61
3.3
Arrangements for a Church
64
4.1
Constantius II Visits Rome ( 357)
69
4.2
Heretics in Early Byzantium
71
4.3
Destruction of the Serapeum in Alexandria
86
5.1
Women of the House of Theodosios
98
5.2
The Murder of the Philosopher Hypatia
117
6.1
Anthemios of Tralles and Isidore of Miletos
129
6.2
Anicia Juliana
132
6.3
Transvestite Nuns
141
7.1
The Marriage of Maurice and Constantina,  582
152
7.2
Circus Faction Violence under Phokas
155
7.3
The Persistence of Pagan Practice: Canons of the Council in
Trullo (691/2)
162
7.4
Theophanes on Muhammad and the Origins of Islam
165
7.5
The Fall of Jerusalem to the Arabs: The Nobility of Umar
and the Patriarch Sophronios
167
BOXES
xi
7.6
The Miracles of St. Artemios
174
8.1
The Theory of Ikons
186
8.2
The Ekloga and Byzantine Society of the Eighth Century
193
8.3
The Decree of the Second Council of Nicaea (787)
198
9.1
The Poet Kassia (fl. 840)
208
9.2
Digenes Akritas
210
10.1 Byzantine Gold
218
10.2 Decoration of the Kainourgion Palace
220
10.3 The Mandylion
230
10.4 Liudprand of Cremona in Constantinople
234
11.1 Byzantine Houses
241
11.2 The Historian Michael Psellos
244
12.1 The Arrival of the First Crusade in the Byzantine Empire:
Anna Komnena, Alexiad
260
12.2 Western-style Tournaments in Byzantium
275
13.1 Destruction of Ancient Art in the Latin Sack of Constantinople
284
13.2 Leon Sgouros, Tyrant of Nauplion
290
13.3 William Villehardouin and the Parliament of Ladies
292
13.4 St. Sava of Serbia
294
14.1 The Condition of Asia Minor at the End of the Fourteenth
Century
303
14.2 The Monasteries of Meteora
311
14.3 St. Anastasia the Poison-curer
316
15.1 The Fearful Cannon
333
15.2 Byzantium and the Italian Renaissance
337
16.1 The Emperor Turned to Marble
341
16.2 Kornaros and Erotokritos
352
16.3 Byzantium and The Brothers Karamazov
353
Preface
This is a book on the history of the Byzantine Empire, one of the longest-lived
and most important cultures in Western civilization, but also one of the least
understood. The book is meant to be both concise and comprehensive, and as
such it has been necessary to make a variety of decisions and sacrifices. The
history of Byzantium is well over a thousand years in duration and any reasonable book on the subject must prepare the ground with consideration of the
institutions and the issues of what came before; it must also consider the
aftermath of the empire and the ways in which its culture has continued to
affect our lives over the past 500 years. Given all that, serious thought had to
be devoted to organization and to questions of inclusion and focus.
In recent years it has become fashionable to write introductory histories that
focus primarily on social, economic, and cultural topics, with heavy doses of
everyday life and the mentalité of the societies being studied. While I appreciate
such an approach and most of my own research and writing has been concerned with such issues, I feel that this is not appropriate for a book that seeks
to provide an introduction to a civilization such as that of Byzantium. Rather,
I believe that a “traditional” political narrative is essential, especially for the
vast majority of readers who will know little or nothing about Byzantium at the
outset. This chronological frame is designed to portray the enormous geographical, chronological, and topical sweep of Byzantine history and to allow
readers to see the vast cultural changes that occurred within this same civilization over time. Some readers may criticize such an approach or feel that it is
“old-fashioned,” and I can certainly understand such a view. Nonetheless, this
is the basis of the organization of the book, and I hope that some readers will
find it satisfactory and be encouraged to go on to more specialized texts that
treat the art, society, and culture of Byzantium in greater detail.
This organization is not meant to imply that imperial policy and the personalities of the individual emperors were necessarily the driving forces in the
PREFACE
xiii
Byzantine period, although the centralized nature of the Byzantine state certainly gave them an importance we might not find in all other states. Rather, as
an approach to understanding Byzantine history, these individual reigns form
convenient blocks of time against which to view broader developments.
This is not to say, then, that this book is essentially about politics and the
military: important as these are in their own right, I hope that the reader will
see these primarily as a means to “situate” Byzantine history and to allow us to
experience something of what life was like for Byzantines of all classes and of
both genders. The narrative will, by necessity, focus more on emperors and on
men in general, since our written sources tell us more about them. But we
shall try throughout to connect the events of war and politics with the lives of
all people, and to invite the reader to a personal encounter with the inhabitants
of the Byzantine Empire.
Weaving a narrative that includes culture, daily life, and religion around a
basically chronological frame poses serious challenges, not least of which is the
reality that not all phenomena change and develop at the same rate. Thus,
although the present book uses the reigns of individual emperors as a means of
organization, religious issues, philosophical movements, architectural change,
and economic trends do not always move in time with changes on the imperial
throne. I have, however, tried to discuss these broader issues within the frame
of the chronologically based chapters, rather than providing chapters on each
of these that would stand alone, essentially outside of time. The result, therefore, may at times seem a little choppy, as we move from the politics of
succession to military policy, to religion, society, and the economy. And at
times, we have to stand back and look at certain developments that stretch
across a broader time frame and thus escape, temporarily at least, from the
rigid confines of the chronological organization. I hope the reader will be able
to bear with me in these cases, and maintain the basic flow of the book and the
broader themes it seeks to address.
On many occasions it seemed to me that specific examples – of persons and/
or issues – might be useful to illustrate individual issues, but these examples do
not easily fit into the chronological frame. For this reason we have made use of
what we here call “boxes.” These sometimes focus on the life and/or work of
an individual person or event or they are devoted to the insight provided by
specific primary sources. I hope that they will be useful in bringing a little
more “life” to the sometimes dry facts of historical narrative. In any case, they
are meant to be a kind of “snapshot” into historical questions and aspects of
Byzantine life that certainly deserve greater depth of treatment but which the
confines of space do not easily allow.
Every book on Byzantium must say a word about systems of transliteration,
since such a book must constantly refer to names of individuals, places, and
institutions that were not originally written in the Latin alphabet. No single
system of transliteration is universally acceptable, but for Greek I have generally
followed a system that renders the Greek literally, as it would be pronounced
today, without Latinization: thus vestiarios and Palaiologos, rather than bestiarius
xiv
PREFACE
and Palaeologus. Exceptions are cases in which names are reasonably enough
known in English to make substitution awkward: one thinks of Constantinople
(not Konstantinoupolis), Athens (not Athenai or Athena), and (normally) Basil
(not Vasileios or Vasili). For Arabic, Slavic, and other non-Greek or non-Latin
words, the transliterations of the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium have been
preferred. Some inconsistencies inevitably remain, such as ‘Cappadocian
Falzers” and “John the Kappadokian.”
I would like to take this opportunity to thank various individuals and institutions who have assisted me with this book. The Alexander Onassis Foundation provided me with a fellowship in 2001–2, and much of the first phase of
writing was accomplished during that time. The Department of History at
Ohio State University has been a good place to work on the book and a
succession of Chairs has allowed me considerable flexibility in arranging my
teaching schedule. Many years of teaching Byzantine history at Ohio State
gave me the incentive to write this book, and the students who have passed
through my classes asked the questions I have sought to answer here. Various
people kindly helped me locate suitable illustrations for the book; Natalia
Teteriatnikov and Brooke Schilling of Dumbarton Oaks deserve special thanks.
Angela Cohen and Sandra Raphael patiently provided invaluable editorial help
and saved me from many errors. Finally, my wife Lita and our sons Yianni and
Panayioti have been understanding and supportive in every way, and they have
provided me, probably unbeknownst to themselves, with significant insight
into the Byzantine tradition as it continues to live today.
Ancient Korinth,
24 May 2004.
1
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
250
500
750
1000
306
Constantine I emperor
330
Foundation of Constantinople
1204
Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople
1250
1500
Medieval and Modern Attitudes toward Byzantium
Byzantium was a place of paradox. The inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire
called themselves “Romans” and they would not have known themselves as
“Byzantines,” a term used by modern historians to distinguish them from the
earlier Romans. The Byzantine Empire was a crucial link between the ancient
and the modern worlds, but it is far less studied than most other cultures of
the Middle Ages and there is very little understanding of Byzantium among
the general public. The Byzantine Empire flourished at a time when Western
Europe had sunk to a level of barbarism, but the very term “Byzantine” is used
in English to denote a system of bizarre and sinister complexity. Byzantium
is regarded as a place of mystery, yet its people were Christians and the
Byzantine theologians and bishops created the teachings and organizational
structure that characterize Christianity today. In a religious context the designation “Byzantine Catholics” is used to describe Christians who acknowledge the supremacy of the pope, while the Orthodox Christians loyal to the
Byzantine tradition have generally been regarded in the West as schismatics
or even heretics.
2
INTRODUCTION
The Byzantine Empire was, in fact, the Roman Empire as it continued to
exist for a thousand years after the old Rome had fallen to the barbarians.
Even more, it was regarded by its people as an eternal empire, established by
God to rule mankind from the coming of Christ until the end of time. It was
multi-ethnic and multicultural, although Greek culture and the Greek language
were seen as normative; Christianity was the dominant, the “official” religion
of the state, although Judaism and Islam were generally tolerated (Christian
heretics were not!). The Byzantine Empire was centered on the “new” capital
of Constantinople, the city known as Byzantium in antiquity (and hence the
term “Byzantine”) and as Istanbul today.
Overall, it is fair to say that there is “prejudice” against Byzantium in the
West (Western Europe, North America, Australia, etc.), and especially in the
English-speaking world. While the culture and history of the western Middle
Ages are taken seriously and regarded positively (one thinks of King Arthur,
“knights in shining armor,” Robin Hood, and Magna Carta), Byzantium is
considered negatively – if at all. Orthodox Christians (mainly Greeks, Slavs,
and other Eastern European peoples, in Europe and throughout the world)
generally know the names of Byzantine emperors and many saints, but others
would hardly recognize a person or an event from Byzantine history, even
though these (in fact) played important roles in making the world the way it is
today. This attitude toward Byzantium is not something new, but is, rather,
derived from ways that westerners viewed Byzantines and the Byzantine Empire
in the Middle Ages. These, as we shall see, were characterized by suspicion,
distrust, and a tendency to regard the Byzantines as haughty, dishonest, and
not exactly “proper” Christians. Western Europeans could not understand why
the Byzantines were so different from themselves, since they were Christians
and their own culture was also derived from Greek and Roman antiquity. It is
certainly a truism that individuals and cultures generally dislike and go out of
their way to distinguish themselves from those whom they most resemble, and
this is probably the case with the relations between Byzantium and the West.
Although the West has generally admired the cultures of China, India, and places
more remote and “exotic,” it has rarely had the same interest in Byzantium,
which has commonly been viewed as a “decadent poor relative” to the West.
In part this attitude derived from the undeniable tendency of the Byzantines
to regard themselves as superior to others – since they saw their culture as
more advanced, and they looked upon themselves as the true chosen people of
God. In addition, both the Byzantines and medieval westerners regarded their
version of Christianity as “correct” and that of their opponents as flawed; both
thought that the other’s bishops, priests, and lay people looked and acted
strangely and their means of conducting the liturgy seemed foreign and inappropriate. Such attitudes are probably encouraged by an exclusive religion
such as Christianity, which regards itself as correct and any deviation as wrong
by definition. To be sure, Christianity considers other religions as inherently
false, but their adherents can be forgiven since they may not “know better.”
Christians who disagree, however, have presumably been exposed to the truth
INTRODUCTION
3
and they cannot be excused so easily; this attitude presumably carries over into
areas beyond theological belief.
Other than the differences in religion, easterners and westerners were, and
remain, divided by the historical experience of the Crusades. This phenomenon,
of course, had important religious connections, but the Byzantines were never
able fully to understand the religious basis of the westerners’ desire to conquer
the Holy Land. The Byzantines, as we shall see, always felt that they continued
to “own” territories that had once been a part of the empire and, as a result, they
believed that the Holy Land rightfully belonged to them and that the Crusades
were an intrusion into Byzantine affairs. Thus, when the Crusaders arrived –
uninvited – in Byzantine territory, they expected a warm and friendly welcome
and full cooperation, but they were greeted with suspicion, a lukewarm reception, and occasional opposition. The westerners regarded this as hostility to
the good intentions of the Crusaders, and the mistrust became mutual. Byzantine
hostility to the westerners, of course, hardened as a result of the conquest of
Constantinople and the partition of the empire by the Fourth Crusade (1204),
while westerners regarded the unwillingness of “the Greeks” to accept their
rule and religion as perverse and wrongheaded. These attitudes, on both sides,
remained for the whole of the Middle Ages and into the modern period.
The ideas of the Enlightenment, which were hostile to the Middle Ages in
general and to the medieval church in particular, were naturally not well disposed to the Byzantine Empire, where monasticism, miracles, and the organized
church played such a large role. Edward Gibbon, one of the foremost historians
of the period, devoted much of his multi-volume The Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire to Byzantium, and his scathing denunciation of the Byzantines
and their culture has influenced historical thinking up to the present.
In more modern times the Byzantine tradition has been associated with poor
peoples who were under Turkish rule and later inhabitants of Balkan countries
notorious for murderous divisiveness and political intrigue. The only major
power directly associated with Byzantium was Russia, which was regarded as a
notorious autocracy on the fringes of Europe and, for most of the twentieth
century – in the guise of the Soviet Union – the main enemy of the West.
In this book I have tried to move beyond these cultural prejudices against
Byzantium and many readers will probably even detect a hint of admiration
in the author’s tone. This is not because I think that the Byzantine Empire
and Byzantine culture were any “better” than other civilizations, but rather
because I think the study of Byzantium has intrinsic interest and that our
society loses a great deal by not knowing more about it.
The Institutions of the Roman Empire
Since the Byzantine Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire, it is
crucial that the reader be familiar with the basic political institutions of the
Roman state. By the time of Constantine the Great, the old Roman Republic
4
ARMENIA
Black Sea
PANNONIA
DACIA
nube
Ravenna
MOESIA
DA
LM
THRACE
ATI
A
Ad
ria
tic
Constantinople
Adrianople
BI
TH
YN
IA
R. Da
PHRYGIA
CAPPADOCIA
Nicomedia
Se
a
Rome
MACEDONIA
ITALY
IR
OS
S
THE
Antioch
LYCIA
SYRIA
ACHA
IA
Korinth
(Corinth)
Athens
Cyprus
Sicily
Damascus
PALESTINE
Crete
Jerusalem
Mediterranean Sea
Alexandria
ARABIA
EGYPT
LIBYA
Map 0.1
The Eastern Mediterranean, showing geographical divisions, ca. 300
AD
INTRODUCTION
EP
A
CI
LI
CI
ASIA
SALY
INTRODUCTION
5
had been gone for nearly half a millennium, but some of its institutions lived
on, most only in name but a few continuing to fulfill something like their
original functions. Many of the old offices of the Roman state (the magistracies)
survived into the Byzantine era, most of them with tasks that were completely
different from those of the past, and alongside the autocracy of Byzantium
there remained, at least among some intellectuals, an admiration of republicanism. The consul continued to exist, appointed now by the emperor (when
the emperor did not hold the office himself ) and frequently more than two
were appointed each year since the consuls were expected to provide lavish,
very expensive public entertainments. The quaestor had emerged as the most
important legal adviser of the emperor and he continued to fulfill that task
at least through the seventh century. The old Roman Senate, which by the
time of the early empire had lost its political power, continued to exist, in
Rome until the fall of the West, and in Constantinople until the end of the
empire. Members of the Senate (the senatorial order) in Constantinople were,
generally speaking, men who had risen in the imperial service, and they
were normally the “emperor’s men,” rather than members of a traditional
aristocracy.
The most important political office of both the Roman and the Byzantine
Empires was, of course, the emperor. By the second century , if not before,
the emperor had essentially become a monarch, and his word was law. There
were still expectations that the emperor would rule fairly and wisely, and
philosophical considerations, especially from Stoicism, argued that the emperor
had to rule for the benefit of his subjects. These considerations minimized
autocratic and arbitrary behavior on the part of the emperor, as did, increasingly
as time went by, the moral authority of the Christian church, which could
appeal to specific expectations based on Biblical texts and the development of
canon law. In addition, the real power behind the throne always was the army,
and no emperor could succeed if he did not have a successful military career
and the support of the senior officer corps.
Despite the enormous power the emperors held, it is interesting that the
Romans never developed a consistent “constitutional” means to arrange the
succession. Commonly, the reigning emperor would choose his successor, and
the election of a new emperor by this means rarely encountered any opposition. Normally, the elder emperor would make his choice of a successor publicly known, and he would “associate” the new ruler with him on public
occasions to make the situation clear and give subjects the opportunity to get
used to the new emperor. Furthermore, there always existed a tendency for the
development of dynasties, with son succeeding father on the throne: undoubtedly this had some connection with Roman culture in general, which seems to
have seen such transfers of power in a positive light.
There was, nevertheless, no coronation ceremony in the Roman Empire,
nor any one moment when it could be said that a private citizen actually came
to be emperor. When the succession wasn’t clear and there was no obvious
candidate for the imperial throne, the outcome almost always depended on the
6
INTRODUCTION
peculiarities of the individual situation and the mix of personalities and power
that could be brought to bear at the time.
Among the individuals who might have a say in the choice of a new emperor
were the administrators, advisers, and personal servants who made up the
imperial court. These persons often had direct access to the emperor, his
papers, and the instruments of state (such as seals and various symbols) and
these could all be useful in the issue of succession. The weakness of the court
was that its members were not always individuals of high social standing and
their point of view could be simply swept aside by the use of violence.
Potentially more important were members of the Senate, who sometimes
were also members of the court, but who normally possessed independent
wealth and bases of power. There also was a tradition, not always respected,
that the Senate as a body might act in cases where the succession to the throne
was not clear. The weaknesses of senatorial power were that members of that
body did not always agree, nor did they normally act quickly, and a decision at
court or elsewhere might catch the senators napping.
The third base of power in the choice of an emperor was the army, and this
was frequently the most important of the three, especially in cases where an
emperor was overthrown. A military revolt was one of the more frequent
means for the removal of an unsuccessful emperor and, in such cases, the
army might be expected to promote a new candidate for the job. Most favorably
placed for such intervention were the Praetorian Guard, theoretically the bodyguard of the emperor, who played the role of “emperor-maker” on many
occasions. The legionary troops also could play a role, although the danger
here was the threat of civil war, as well as the logistical difficulties involved in
bringing troops to a place where they could have an effect.
Aside from the lack of provision for the succession, the Roman political
system had one other characteristic that distinguished it from most other
imperial systems. This was the small size of the staff of provincial governors
and the generally low level of governmental involvement in local affairs. The
Roman Empire has often been called an “alliance of cities,” and the description is not totally inappropriate. Most of the functions one might normally
associate with provincial government – such as police and fire protection,
public works, the maintenance of food supplies, and public amenities – were
commonly not provided by the Roman state, but rather by the local councils
(curiae) of the cities of the empire. Naturally, this allowed Rome to administer
the empire at a remarkably low cost.
Over the history of the Roman Empire, from Augustus (27 – 14)
onward, the machinery of the state did grow and a central administration (as
opposed to provincial government) slowly emerged to assist the emperor with
the job of running the state. This bureaucracy was to develop considerably in
the Byzantine period and became one of the most characteristic features of the
Byzantine state.
In general, the Roman central government could be broken into three broad
areas: the military, the administrative, and the fiscal, although there was
INTRODUCTION
7
naturally considerable overlap. One need say little about the military organization, since to a large degree the commanders of the armies were the governors
of provinces along the frontier, and military affairs were naturally controlled
tightly by the emperor himself. Administrative and fiscal concerns were
closely linked and in the first century  they tended to be managed by
individuals of low standing (sometimes former slaves) who were directly
dependent on the emperor. As time went on, into the second and third centuries, emperors came to rely on administrators of higher status, some of
them from the senatorial order itself. Legal issues were naturally of primary
importance and lawyers came to play an increasingly important role as advisers
to the emperor.
There was no clear division between the emperor as an individual and
the emperor as ruler of the Roman world: the emperor’s private and public
wealth were frequently one and the same (at least in practice) and his personal
advisers were the most important political figures. No constitutional “council
of ministers” emerged, but naturally these advisers frequently met, at the
emperor’s pleasure, to help him determine matters of state policy.
In social and economic terms the Roman Empire was an interesting contrast.
On the one hand, a powerful aristocracy of landowners dominated society at
all levels, especially in provincial cities. Trade and the merchants who engaged
in it were looked down upon and landowning was thought to be the only
“profession” for a gentlemen. There was nothing like a middle class in the
Roman Empire and the vast majority of individuals were poor farmers, either
engaged in subsistence agriculture or tenant farmers who worked the fields
of the large landowners. Slavery was, of course, common and new supplies of
slaves were provided by wars and piracy. Some slaves were condemned to
especially difficult lives, in the mines or the large farms and ranches of the
extraordinarily rich, and few of these survived very long. One should be careful, however, not to overestimate the numbers of slaves, which certainly
declined as time went by, or their importance in the overall economy, which
continued to be dominated by the poor but free farmer.
Thus, on the one hand, society and economy were dominated by age-old
systems that had not changed for centuries and in which the majority could
not hope for advancement in their position. On the other hand, the power of
the emperor, his desire for administrators who could serve him well, and the
lack of racial or legal restraints meant that many individuals did, in fact, rise
in Roman society, and the phenomenon of the slave who came to be the
emperor’s most trusted associate or a wealthy trader in Rome was not at all
uncommon. Probably even more important, the army provided a remarkably
effective means of social and economic change. New recruits were, not surprisingly, mainly enlisted from the more backward parts of the empire (Spain,
the Balkans, the northern frontiers), and cleverness, strength, and bravery
often brought rapid advancement. The higher commands in the army were
generally reserved for members of the aristocracy, but as time went on soldiers
from the lowest ranks were promoted even to these and there was, thus, at the
Baltic Sea
8
North
Sea
BRITAIN
Don R.
R
be
El
GERMANY
per
R.
Se
ine
nub
R.
Da
EN
SI
S
Rhone R.
S
LM
AT
IA
MOESIA
THRACE
Se
Rome
Corsica
S
MACEDONIA
Sardinia
Mediterranean Sea
Sicily
ITANIA
Korinth
(Corinth)
Athens
ASIA
CILICIA
Damascus
Cyprus
Mediterranean Sea
SAHARA
LIBYA
Prefecture of Gaul
Antioch
SYRIA
Crete
NUMIDIA
PALESTINE
Jerusalem
Alexandria
EGYPT
Map 0.2 The restored Roman Empire, ca. 300
(Wadsworth, 2003), map 6.4, p. 153
AD.
R.
400 miles
Later line of division
between East
and West
le
600 km
Ni
Prefecture of Illyricum
Prefecture of the East
PHRYGIA CAPPADOCIA
Syracuse
NORTH AFRICA
Prefecture of Italy
BITHYNIA
Constantinople
Nicomedia
Pergamum
Carthage
MAUR
Adrianople
Red
Sea
After Jackson J. Spielvogel, Western Civilizations, fifth edition
INTRODUCTION
PA
IN
a
ER
NEAR
Black Sea
DA
R
DACIA
tic
R
CISALPINE
GAUL
ria
NA
N
BO
Ravenna
NORICU
M
PAN
NON
IA
Ad
IN
PA
R.
.
eR
GAUL
FA
RT
HE
Dnie
.
e
Rhin
Atlantic
Ocean
INTRODUCTION
9
very highest level of society remarkable mobility and change, not all of it
naturally to the liking of the traditional aristocracy.
Christianity and the Christian Church
The Byzantine Empire was a thoroughly Christian society and the institutions
and teachings of the Christian church influenced it in all its aspects. Most
readers of this book will be familiar with the Gospel stories and the origins of
Christianity, on the one hand, and, on the other, the basic ideas of Christianity
as they are accepted today. Most readers will not, however, be fully aware
of Christianity as it was practiced for the thousand years of the Byzantine
Empire, a period representing more than half of the religion’s existence up
to today.
This book will naturally not attempt to present all the details of Byzantine
theology, nor will it take any position about the validity of various ways
of interpreting the Christian message. We should, however, point out that
readers of this book should not expect the Christianity of the Byzantines to be
identical to that practiced in the West today. In fact, it might be suggested that
readers approach the study of Byzantine Christianity with an open mind and a
willingness to explore it in the same way one might examine the religion of
ancient Greece or China. There will be times when Byzantine Christianity will
seem very familiar to most readers, but there will also be times when it will
seem very new.
By the time of Constantine ( 306–37), when this book begins, Christianity had already moved into a phase characterized by a reasonably complex
institutional structure. Although not yet universally accepted, bishops had
come generally to dominate the church in an essentially monarchical fashion:
each bishop ruled his city (and its hinterland) as a supposedly unquestionable
figure who had acquired his authority in a direct line going back to the Apostles
of Christ (the idea of apostolic succession). The bishops were essentially independent of all other authority, although a rough ranking of bishops, based
largely on the importance of their cities, had emerged. Bishops controlled the
increasingly significant wealth of the local churches and they determined the
nature of public worship, the disbursement of charity, and the regulation of
the increasingly large number of clergy (priests, deacons, and minor clerics)
under their control. The bishop was thus emerging as a major figure in society
as a whole.
By the time of Constantine there was a general agreement among Christians
about which books should be considered part of the Bible. There was also a
basic agreement that God was a Trinity, made up of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. In addition, it was agreed that Christians should lead a certain
kind of life and worship together and in private according to standards that
were still set at the local level. Christian authors of the post-apostolic age had
begun the development of the principles of Christian theology and it was