Byzantium, the reorganised Roman Empire with its capital in the East, survive
for more than 1100 years, long after the Roman Empire in the West had perished.
Byzantium owed its wealth to its position astride trade routes from north to
south and from east to west. It owed its traditions of law and government to
Rome, and its language and learning to Greece. At its heart lay the fabulously
rich city of Constantinople in AD 330 as a new capital for the Roman Empire as
it faced the threat of disintegration.
In 534 Byzantium reconquered the North African states, in a campaign which culminated in the capture of Carthage. From Africa, after five years fighting, Belisarius, the greatest military leader produced by Byzantium, took Rome. By 555 all Italy and the southern part of Spain were in Byzantine hands. The Byzantine system of government included a senate which, like senate of Imperial Rome, had little to do beyond endorsing the emperor's decisions. It was filled with members from an aristocracy created by Constantine, and to compesate senators for their lack of power they were given new titles such as nobilissimus or illustris. Becouse Constantine grafted a Roman Society on to Greek town, two languages were in common use in Byzantium. At first, Latin was the official tongue of the court, the government and the law courts. But, more and more Greek-speaking people entered government and public service, while scholars, writers, poets and philosophes turned incresingly to the ancient Greek texts. Justinian tried to keep Latin, as the language of the court, but he recognised that Greek was the tongue of the people, and he published his last great legal works, "The Novellae" in Greek. Soon after Justinian's death the Greek language became supreme. The tide turned in the 9th century under dynasty of emperors which included Michael III (842-67), and later Basil's dynasty, which held the throne of Byzantium for the next two centuries. Basil's successors extended the empire's boundaries to the Euphrates, and made considerable inroads into Bulgaria. The empire's revival continues under Basil II (976-1025), a man of strong will and courage , whose reign gave Byzantium a period of prosperity and expension as great as that enjoyed under Justinian. So succesful was his campaign agains the Bulgars in the Balkans that he became known as Basil the Bulgar-Slayer. When Basil died in 1025, the empire had reached a peak of success, though at the cost of overstraining its economy. |