81. Jews in the Byzantine Empire (Jewish History Lab)

Brief overview of the history of the Jews in the Byzantine Empire, 4th-15th centuries.

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[HenryAbramsonPhD]

Hello everyone! It seems that something funky is going on behind the scenes; the video wouldn't allow a live chat. I'm here with you, though! I guess the best we can do is enter comments here. Enjoy in good health!

[brutallyreliablereviews]

I’ve now seen all 81 of your Jewish history lab lectures and would just like to say, thank you so much. You’ve allowed me to learn so much about my history and thus learn so much about myself. You are a phenomenal teacher. Shalom!

[Darkev]

Coming from Blogging Theology; thanks for the academic insights you provide, truly educational

[tallmikbcroft]

A very interesting subject. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[senecanzallanute]

I understand that not everything can be said in 20 min, yet, accuracy is necessary when studying history. In 337 CE there was only one Roman empire, divided into two administrative subdivisions (Eastern and Western part, each governed by an emperor) but the empire was still only one. It is anachronistic (and erroneous) to call the Eastern empire 'Byzantine', a term that was not used at the time. Even after the dissolution of the Western empire, which occurred gradually after the battle of Adrianopolis in 378 CE, the emperor in Constantinople called himself Pantocrator ton Romaion -- governor of the Romans. He saw himself as the lawful ruler of the entire empire and repeatedly tried to take back Italy from the Gothic tribes that had occupied it.

[nikosz]

My father - a Christian Orthodox - was born in 1925 and raised in Chalkis, Evia island, place of the most ancient synagogue of Europe. He and his Jewish classmates were so much bonded that in the great Orthodox Celebrations all of them would v i s i t the local church. These ancient Greek Jews were called Romaniotes. For many many centuries they spoke Greek (unlike the Sephardi <newcomers>) as their first language, dressed like the common Greeks and were absolutely incorporated in our country. The town honours a significant local higher Greek Jewish Army officer and Hero of WWII (Mordehai Frizis) with a central statue of his, while Greece was one of the few European countries to pass ALL the estate property of the perished Greek Jews to the Greek Jewish Central Community (and not confiscate it).

[hexapodc.]

The first minute has HUGE misunderstandings. There was one single Roman Empire that stretched from Scotland to Egypt and Spain to Syria. It split politically into the western and eastern Roman empires but the Roman’s always saw themselves as one empire with 2 emperors. The Byzantines were never less Roman than the western Roman’s in fact the term Byzantine didn’t exist until after the fall of Constantinople, and until the bitter end they were Roman’s. In fact some Greek islands even still called themselves Roman’s as late as the early 1900’s. Do not make the assertion that the Byzantines were somehow different than the western Roman’s because nobody as the time, eastern Roman or not, saw that type of distinction. If the Islamic caliphates, Persians, nomads, and Frankish knights can recognize the romanity of the eastern Roman’s you can too.
Secondly ideally you shouldn’t use the word Byzantine ever, but i do recognize that it is a common scholarly term so it’s acceptable with the caveat that you mention that Rome and Byzantium are the same thing. Not only did u not say that u implied they were fundementally different.

Seckndly the western empire was not Catholic. They were included into the patriarchal system. The 5 patriarchs were those of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and ROME, the Roman bishop would only assume more power after its split from the eastern Roman Empire in the 700’s after the Lombard invasions as it was now more distant from the empire itself (this is very similar to how to Coptic pope of Alexandria assumed more power over Egyptian and Sudanese Christian’s after the Islamic invasions seperated Egypt from Constantinople) and therefore could act in greater autonomy. And the concept of the Latin rite was very far from existing in this time. If you’re going to make a video about th eastern Roman Empire please don’t get this much wrong in the first minute, do some basic research on the empire itself

[joelthorne]

As a professional historian, would you recommend that students of Jewish history expand their studies to include Roman and Byzantine history?

[johnlansing]

Again thank you for adding to my education.

[JWHOLLANDIA]

Thank you, can you please elaborate on what the origins is for the hostile stance on Judaism in this period?

[linak]

Haman. Boo! My husband will often say, how would you like to be Jewish? It baffles me how much persecution the Jewish ppl hv endured throughout every generation.

[zoookx]

Byzantine Empire" is a term created after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire simply as the Roman Empire (Medieval Greek: Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων,  romanized: Basileía Rhōmaíōn) or Romania (Medieval Greek: Ῥωμανία), and to themselves as Romans (Medieval Greek: Ῥωμαῖοι,  romanized: Rhōmaîoi) – a term which Greeks continued to use for themselves into Ottoman times. Although the Roman state continued and its traditions were maintained, modern historians distinguish Byzantium from its earlier incarnation because it was centred on Constantinople, oriented towards Greek rather than Latin culture, and characterised by Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

[Jsmith]

Thank you very much for this. I am not a Jew, but I am a Christian and student of Byzantine history so I come to this from a slightly different angle. A couple of minor points about your excellent presentation: I think it's worth noting that the Byzantines never considered themselves "Byzantines, " they always saw themselves as Romans; hence the importance of Justinian I retaking Rome from the Ostrogoths. Also, the city was called Constantinople until 1930, when it was changed to Istanbul.

[drgeorgek]

Not sure if I have missed an upload on this as there are so many to look through, but if not done, I’d like to see a review of the history of Jews in Greece. My father is from Corfu where a significant population exists to this day. Sadly most Greek Jews were exterminated by the Nazis, with very few remaining, many of these still in Corfu.

[JaneDoe-ijls]

Thank you so much ❤️, Sir. There's so much to learn❤️.

[bingeltube]

Your short excursion on the influence on the Cyrillic script was a very interesting tidbit! Thanks for also mentioning that Russia is sort of the third Roman empire. Many people do not seem to be aware of that, but it explains to some extent the expansionary tendencies of Russia.

[PC-luzf]

The Rise of Islam in the 7th Century was the direct Result of the fall of Rome according to my Former University Professor. Eastern Empire was not strong enough to stop the tide of its rapid spread. Great lecture.

[nophotoplease]

Thank you for such a great lecture!

Were 9th century Byzantine Iconoclasts inveighing against Jews just as a convenient “heretical” scapegoat for their own theological agenda or did they view Jews as having some corrupting influence?

I ask this question knowing full well the heated debate that exist (and in fact continues to exist) within Jewish circles around the display of human-form images in religious settings.

Considering the fact that archaeological discoveries indicate how synagogues of that era did actually contain mosaic reliefs depicting human/angelic forms, might this have played a role too?

[vladimirdavydov]

Hello. Please make a presentation regarding Jews of central Asia and Mt. jews. i’m curious of their origins historically. Thanks

[teknikai]

At 11:00 there is a spelling mistake on "Constantinople" on your graphic. Please rectify. Thanks