Was the Byzantine Empire the Heir to the Ancient Greeks?

Kings and Generals historical animated documentary series on the history of the Romans and the Eastern Roman Empire continues with a video in which we ask if the Byzantine Empire was the heir to the Ancient Greeks. We look at how the Greek language slowly replaced the Latin, Hellenization of the empire and the region, tensions between Christianity and Hellenisation, Romanness and Hellenic nature, and nationalization of Hellenism, and how the Byzantines were able to reconcile all these different concepts.

Music courtesy of EpidemicSound

#Documentary #RomanEmpire #Byzantine

[chriskw]

“Rohmios” sums up the whole picture. Roman state/political and legal structure and Hellenic culture combined into one word.

[mybodyisamachine]

Well, it's not like the Romans replaced the Greek population. The Greeks never went anywhere after becoming part of the Roman Empire. But they did at least partially Romanize them, to the point where they considered themselves Romans.

[abdelrheemelsayed]

in Lebanon Greek orthodox are called Romans (روم)

[davidscwimer]

“Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artes intulit agresti Latio.”

Greece, though captured, took her savage conqueror captive and brought the arts into rustic Latium.”

[georgezachos]

Don't forget the 'Greek runestones', mainly in Sweden. Many of them were erected in memory of members of the Varangian guard, in service to the Emperor. On them, you find many inscriptions, such as: 'He died in Greece', 'He died among the Greeks' and the like. Read up on them, they are very interesting.

[davidscwimer]

“For we are Hellenes by race and Romans by polity, which means that we are both the heirs of the Greek wisdom and the upholders of Roman law.”

George Gemistos Plethon. prominent Byzantine philosopher and scholar of the late 14th and early 15th centuries

[bkohatl]

NO one in the Eastern Empire ever called themselves members of the Byzantine Empire. They called themselves ROMANS. And who would know better than them, who they are.

[Theodoros_Kolokotronis]

Greeks have been the predominant ethnic group in the region of Constantinople and Asia Minor, already for a millennium before the Roman Empire emerged. They never vanished from their native lands. Hence it was only natural for the Eastern part to retain its pre-existing Hellenic identity and background.

[AntonioTorcoli]

Greek by language and culture, christians by religion, Romans by law and selfidentification

[Hope_Boat]

After the fall of Constantinople the imperial prince Ioannis Laskaris was the main person behind the kickstart of the Renaissance in the West.
He saved thousands of greek manuscripts, founded the French Bibliothèque nationale he created the first Greek printing characters allowing the dissemination of greek texts and many other things.

[georgezachos]

Love the subject. As a Greek who embraces our whole history, the good and the bad, without trying to bypass a thousand years of history, i can't wait to watch this.

[gerassimos.fourlanos]

It seems to me that the Byzantine Empire was an expression of what we often call "Graeco-Roman Civilisation." Roman institutions, Roman Law, Roman Governance, Greek language and culture, the perfect marriage.

[davidscwimer]

“Romiosini is the blood, sweat, and tears of the people, while Hellenism is the spirit that soars above. Together, they form a living heritage, a beacon for all who carry Greece in their hearts.”

[georgios_]

16:51 The Greek Renaissance started in the late 17th century, and the Greeks rebelled numerous times even before the successful 1821 revolution

[carterghill]

Byzantium was purple because Rome was red and Greece was blue. Simple!

[nkolaos]

The western world referred to the Byzantines as Greeks as far back as the 7th century. The Fall of Constantinople is described in Italian sources as the "partition of the lands of the Empire of the Greeks." The Byzantines were ethnic Greeks with a Roman administrative and legal system. It is that simple.

[KrypteiaXi]

“Rome conquered Hellas with arms, Hellas conquered Rome with civilization”. Quoting somebody whose name I don’t remember yet I am too lazy to google, this means that Greece was conquered by the Romans, yet the Greeks conquered Rome from the inside out, gradually turning them into themselves, merging the two cultures evermore.

[davidscwimer]

If you go to Greece today you can relive both the Hellenic and Byzantine era it’s amazing 🇬🇷

[giannisgiannopoulos]

The Eastern Roman state that was coined "Byzantine" after the fall of the Empire because it was Orthodox and both culturally and linguistically Hellenized, was the continuation of Hellenic and Roman heritage up to the mid-15th century. A Christianized Greco-Roman state.

[mikemodugno]

Awesome! I would love to see more on Byzantine Italy!