Everything about Byzantine Greeks totally explained
Byzantine Greeks or
Byzantines or
Romaioi, 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, the southern
Balkans, the
Greek islands,
Asia Minor (modern
Turkey) and the large urban centres of the
Near East and Northern
Egypt. In systems of
historiography such as
Arnold J. Toynbee's, where Byzantium is defined as a civilisation rather than a state, the term "Byzantine Greek" is restricted to the inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire, while "Byzantine" can refer to any medieval state of the
Orthodox faith (such as
Moscovite Russia). The terms
Byzantine Empire and
Byzantine Greeks were introduced in the English-speaking literature by Sir George Finlay in 1851, in his "History of Greece, from its Conquest by the Crusaders to its Conquest by the Turks".
During most of the
Middle Ages the Byzantine Greeks identified themselves as
Romans (Rhomaioi - meaning citizens of the Roman Empire), a term which in the
Greek language had become synonymous to "Christian Greek", though in
Latin it never lost its original meaning. The ancient name
Hellene was in popular use synonymous to a
pagan, and was revived as an
ethnonym only during the Empire's late period. While in the West the term Roman acquired a new meaning in connection with the church and the bishop of Rome the Greek form Romaioi remained attached to the Greeks of the Eastern Empire.
Byzantine Greek language
Since as early as the
Hellenistic era,
Greek had been the
lingua franca of the Eastern
Mediterranean, spoken natively in the southern Balkans, the Greek islands, Asia Minor and 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 nearly all significant literature was written in Greek. After the reforms of
Constantine the Great the ancient Greek city of
Byzantium became
Constantinople and the "Greek East" gradually evolved into a separate political and cultural entity, having Greek as its main language, while Latin was used as an official language of administration. However Latin had never been a spoken language in the East, and it was gradually displaced by Greek in all sectors. The evolution from the Eastern Roman into the
Byzantine Empire, properly speaking, starts with the reign of
Heraclius, when
Greek replaced
Latin completely in 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, which was the popular language of the Hellenistic world, and an intermediary stage between
ancient and
Modern Greek. Written Greek varied considerably, embracing an archaising "high" style which imitated classical
Attic, and a moderate "middle" style continuing the tradition of written Koine. Relatively few written specimens of the spoken or "low" variety of the vernacular language have been preserved. The resulting
diglossia of the Greek-speaking world (which had already started in ancient Greece) continued under Ottoman rule and persisted in the modern Greek state until
1976 - although Atticist Greek remains the official language of the
Greek Orthodox Church. As shown in the poems of Ptochoprodromos, an early stage of Modern Greek had already been shaped by the 12th century AD and possibly earlier. Vernacular Greek continued to be known as "Romaic" up until the 20th century.
A Greco-Roman heritage
The
Byzantine Empire 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. The presence of a distintinctive and historically rich literary culture was also hugely important in the division between 'Greek' East and 'Latin' West and thus the formation of a new identity, albeit by the same name.
Byzantines ruled a multi-ethnic empire where the
Hellenic element was predominant, especially in the later period. Like many other Imperial rulers of the time, Byzantines claimed the continuation of the mighty Roman Empire and indirectly laid claim to all Christian lands. The Latin west, for the most part, ignored such Byzantine claims and viewed the "Empire of the Greeks" as a schismatic Christian state. Some Byzantine Greek intellectuals responded by claiming for themselves the glories of ancient Hellas. A. Cameron argues that
ethnicity is a modern concept, which medieval peoples wouldn't have recognized, and that the inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire were not a 'people' in any ethnic sense. Demetrios J. Constantelos agrees that the Byzantine Greeks emphasized the value of their culture and language rather than racial characteristics in order to identify themselves. However, Constantelos finds that the overwhelming majority of "Byzantines" regarded the ancient Greeks as their ancestors. Moreover, they possessed an ethnic identity in which they referred to themselves as
Graikoi (Γραικοί). Therefore, the "Byzantines" self-identified as Roman citizens of Greek descent, culture, and language who adhered to Orthodox Christianity.
The cultures of the
Latin west and the
Greek east were split due to religious issues regarding recognition of the
Pope, procession of the
Holy Ghost, purgatory, clerical celibacy, etc. If these questions were ever resolved, then the two cultures would be reunited in a new "Romanity."
Yet, the pretence of Romanity began to wear thin in the age of the
Crusades. The result of the
Battle of Manzikert was to make 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. The markers of identity (spoken language and state) that were to become a fundamental tenet of nineteenth-century nationalism throughout Europe became - by accident - a reality during a formative period of medieval Greek history.
In other words, the
Byzantines of the 12th century had something very like a national identity, in the modern sense of the term, 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. The Byzantine Greek perception of "Romanity" was different from that of 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" (Ρωμιός), 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 of 'Greek'), was that of a
pagan. Yet most Byzantine Emperors would list neither
Augustus nor
Pericles among their ancestors, but
Constantine the Great and
Justinian, and the Christian emperors of Constantinople.
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."
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 Byzantine civilisation. The use of the term 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.
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 royalty 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 hadn't been popular up until then. Hence in the context of increasing
Venetian and
Genoese power in the eastern Mediterranean,
Hellēnic patriotism took deeper root among the Byzantine elite, on account of a desire to distinguish themselves from the Latin West, and to lay legitimate claims to Greek-speaking lands.
However Hellenic patriotism went even further, attempting to set boundaries between the various Greek royal families who laid competing claims to the throne of Constantinople (then under Latin rule). The theory that Constantine the Great had moved the Imperial capital to a Greek city for "racial" reasons (allegedly wishing to transfer Roman rule to the Greeks), gave birth to a new question: which of the Byzantine states was the "most Greek", and therefore worthy of ruling the "Roman Empire"? With that in mind, George Acropolites, a Byzantine historian of the Nicaean Empire, fixed the
Pindos mountain chain as the boundary between
Epirus and what Nicaean Greeks called 'our Hellenic land', thus disqualifying the Greeks of the
Despotate of Epirus as potential Roman rulers.
Western perception
In the eyes of the West, Byzantines were never the inheritors of the Roman Empire. Byzantium was rather perceived to be a corrupted continuation of
ancient Greece, and was officially known for most of its history as the
Empire of the Greeks or
Kingdom of Greece. Such denials of Byzantium's Roman heritage and ecumenical rights would instigate the first resentments between Greeks and Latins. Popular Western opinion is reflected in the
Translatio militiae, whose anonymous Latin author states that the Greeks had lost their courage and their learning, and therefore didn't join in the war against the infidels. In another passage the Ancient Greeks are praised for their military skill and their learning, by which means the author draws a contrast with contemporary Byzantine Greeks, who were generally viewed as a non-warlike and schismatic people.
A major turning point in how both sides viewed each other is perhaps the massacre of Latins in Constantinople in 1182, a major source for Western interpretations of the Byzantines, particularly during this event is
William of Tyre, a historian of the Crusades. He described the
Greek nation as a
a brood of vipers, like a serpent in the bosom or a mouse in the wardrobe evilly requite their guests,(External Link
) highlighting the strained relations between both ethnic groups as a result of the Crusades and the Schism, which helped to define the modern identity of the Greek nation.
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