ἀνθρώποισι πᾶσι μέτεστι γινώσκειν ἑωυτοὺς καὶ σωφρονεῖν.
Who were taught in the Byzantine Empire
St. Gregory Nazianzen confidently states: ‘I think that all those who have sense will acknowledge that education is the first of the goods we possess‘, and J. B. Bury was doubtless right in saying that in the Eastern Empire ‘every boy and girl whose parents could afford to pay was educated’, in contrast to the West where in the Dark Ages book learning was drawn from monastic sources. Continue reading “Eastern Roman (‘Byzantine’) Education”
“All the Romans, both officers and soldiers, were far from entertaining any thought of confronting the enemy or standing in the way of their passage, but manning their strongholds as each one could, they thought it sufficient to preserve them and save themselves.” Continue reading “Difficulties in devising defenses in Syria – Disturbing precedents”
Poor relations between Romanus the Exarch of Italy in Ravenna and Pope Gregory in Rome.
Writes Gregory: “I will only say that his [Romanus’s] malice towards us is worse than the swords of the Lombards. The enemies who kill us outright are kinder than the State officials [judges, magistrates of the commonwealth/res publica], who wear us out with their malice, their robberies [plundering, piracy] and their frauds [deceits]” (quoted in Richards p.171) Continue reading “Emperor Maurice accuses Pope Gregory for treason – Italy’s sad condition”
The German invasions of the fourth and fifth centuries were the principal cause of the differing fortunes of East and West, and the decisive factor was the geographical and strategic position of Constantinople, lying at the northern apex of the triangle which included the rich coast-line of the eastern Mediterranean. Continue reading “German invasions & The reign of Justinian the Great”
The army of Heraclius’ empire after demobilization in 629 and 630 was almost certainly smaller than that of Justinian’s reign, which the contemporary historian Agathias had speculated in estimating its strength at 150,000. The question is how much smaller were the total disposable Byzantine forces at the beginning of the 630s than they had been late in the reign of Justinian. Perhaps they were smaller by as much as one-third, although it is difficult to conceive how they could have been much less than two-thirds of the late Justinianic armies’ size, because of the remaining vast dimensions of the empire. Continue reading “Size and effectiveness of the Imperial Roman army on the eve of the Muslim conquests”
De-population and Contraction of town life in Italy
Moorhead, in NCMH vol 1, p.158, notes that in Cassiodorus’s works – before 535AD – there are many references to open cities, while forts (castra, castella) are barely mentioned. In pope Gregory’s [590] works, however, the narrative is all forts. Continue reading “Patriarch (Pope) of Rome: First acts of political independence from Constantinople – Depopulation in Italy and slavery during the 6th century”
Novo Scriptorium 