The Byzantines spoke Greek, did not rule in Rome nor were they Roman Catholic, thus they were not Roman.That is the basis for all arguments that dismiss the title of the Eastern
Roman Empire. In a complex world, its
history becomes complex as well.
Constantine the Great created a second capital for the
Romans in the 4th century, it was called New
Rome and then
Constantinople after its creator Constantine. Its creation was because the Empire was too large and to spread out. The location he chooses was excellent for defense and for trade and taxation. At the time of its creation, it
had no enemies close by, just conquered lands of the
Romans. Originally the population spoke Latin, that changed after the revolt of
Heraclius in the early 7th century.
As time passed, the city of
Rome fell. The Empire changed and new ones appeared in it place but the Empire of the
Romans still stood in
Constantinople. In the
west it was referred to
Res Publica Romana, In the mid-8th century the popes of
Rome made a change, in the
west, the empire became known as
Graeci. That is the earliest test to the empires name and Emperor’s title.
In the 9th century the real push to remove the title from the Eastern
Roman Empire, they began to question if the Eastern Emperor
had the right to call himself Emperor of the
Romans. This came about as the Germans powers were drawing heavily on
Roman prestige. They saw the Eastern claim to the title as a major obstacle.
As the title
Graeci was used with more frequency, it became known as a name with many negative connotations, treachery, excessive sophistication, love of luxury, verbal trickery and cowardice.
During the time of the Empire, they themselves called it the “
Roman Empire” and their enemies called it
“bilad al-Rum ( Lands of Rome)In the
West It again changed, Western literature began calling the Emperor,
Emperor of the Greeks and
Emperor of Constantinople, also less frequently used,
The Low Empire, The Late Empire, The Roman Empire. These remained in usage until long after the fall of
Constantinople. The 19th Century was the first regular usage of the word
Byzantine.
Now the first usage of the word
Byzantium came from the title of a commissioned book of translations, the author was a translator Hieronymus
Wolf the
work was” Corpus Historiae Byzantinae” ( 1557-62) In it he makes
his contempt for the Empire known.
“I am surprised, not sorry, that such dregs and bilge water of a iniquitous people so long remained unmolested and were not conquered earlier.”So the word
Byzantine was born after the empire and not as a compliment, just another way to disassociate it from
Rome.
At this point the word
Byzantine was not in regular usage to describe the Empire, the real time when this word becomes common is in the mid-19th century. No one knows for certain what created the movement of referring to the
Romans as
Byzantines, it seems to be a buildup of modern politics, racism and theological conflict. Some have surmised it was brought into use after the Modern Greek state in 1820 to deny the
Greeks their
history and claim to their old territories. In other theories it was to prevent
Russia from creating a new Puppet state in the
Ottoman territory. This story is more complex, but it again
had to do with the Modern Greek state.
Regardless the results are the same, with the name
Byzantine in leaves an empire without a known heritage, it was based on the original long forgotten town the city of
Constantinople was built on.
It is interesting that this question is being asked in multiple books, now
Byzantium is a name of convenience to represent the time. For
Numismatics Byzantine begins at the coin reform of Anastasias, for some it is the change of language after the revolt of
Heraclius and for some The
Roman Empire ended during the fall of
Constantinople in 1453 so
Byzantium never existed.
The
flip side to this is the question was
Byzantium an Imperial
Roman state or is it just a continuance of the
history of
Greece?
My primary sources for this write up were two newly published books, both are filled with abundant info, far more detailed than my brief write up.
Romanland Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium by Anthony Kaldellis
The Invention of Byzantium in Early Modern Europe Edited by Nathanael Aschenbrenner and Jake Ransohoff
We have discussed this before, early in the boards beginnings. I thought I would share what I recently read.