Why the term 'Byzantine' Empire shouldn't be used any more.

🔴 YOU WANT TO SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL? 🔴

🤗 One-Time Donation?
- Bitcoin: bc1qv4lsfsplvfecrrgvmfclhga28we7mvh9563xdj
🔗 Share the video with anyone who might be interested (it helps a ton!)

📚 BEST BOOKS ON ROMAN HISTORY: 📚
These are all excellent books if you are like me, absolutely fascinated by the transition of Rome from late antiquity to the early medieval period.

🎦 FILMING EQUIPMENT WE USE: 🎦

Disclosures: Some links in the description are affiliate links which means that if you purchase something by clicking on one of them, your host Sebastian will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. In this way you will be supporting the channel to improve the video production quality at no extra cost to you.

#Maiorianus

[PearlHarbor]

The fact that the HRE gets to have Roman in its name but not the actual Roman Empire is crazy to me

[CharlesOberonn]

I think Tiberius' suspicions of Germanicus and his recalling of him from the German frontier did more to sabotage Rome's attempts at conquering Germania than the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, which despite being a massive morale hit, was only a temporary setback strategically.

[CHAS]

"The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire", Voltaire

[lucyfaire]

Finally a channel that uses correct terminology. Thanks and greetings from Greece! (former Romans not Byzantines, :) )

[iDeathMaximuMII]

Also sometime in reign of Nikephorus II Phocas, he met with a German Ambassador in which he said to the German
“Your Emperor is not a Roman, but a King of Barbarians”

[michaelporzio]

"Byzantine" is also a derogatory adjective meaning overly complicated and even devious. "Byzantine Diplomacy" and "Byzantine Bureaucracy" are phrases still used. Then again "Vandal" is associated with gratuitous property destruction and "Goth" has now a meaning that has nothing to do with Alaric or Theodoric!

[gabrielalexanderkhoury]

I am an Orthodox Christian, originally from Palestine. My friend asked me in Arabic "anta Rumi?", translated "are you Roman?". I said yes. That meant I am a Roman Orthodox, ie. Greek Orthodox in English. All this because emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman empire to Byzantium, a Greek speaking city at the time (renamed Constaninople after him but then renamed Istanbul after the Turks moved in). In Palestinian lexicon it is still Roman not Greek - going all the way back to the Eastern Roman Empire. The Eastern Roman Empire survived for more than a thousand years. Confused? Here is more. When you go to the Orthodox church in Palestine, you find the flag of Greece. Yet, in the 19th Century it was the Russians who were the guardians of the Palestine Orthodox community. Apparently, the Crimean war was fought because Russia wanted to protect Orthodox people in the Holy Land - then ruled by Muslim Ottomans (this may have been a political rather than religious move). More confused? The Russians then gave up their guardianship after the October revolution. The Greeks then moved in. Now Russia once again is Orthodox, but the new mother Greek Church upset the Palestinian Orthodox people recently when they leased/sold Orthodox lands to Israel. Now Palestinian Orthodox people do not want to be identified with Greece and call themselves just Orthodox Christians - not Roman nor Greek. Just Orthodox. Interestingly, the holder of the keys of the Holy Seplechre Church in Jerusalem is a Muslim (regarded as neutral) because of infighting between the different Christian denominations within the Church. There is more. But enough confusion for now.

[marcoparente]

Finally somebody is doing a video on it, really appreciated 🤗

[diamondinthesky]

Holy Roman Empire?
I got confused, I believe you mean the Unholy German Confederacy.

[thelastroman]

I personally use the term ‘Medieval Roman Empire’.

[marvelfannumber]

So to be a pedant for a second, the Eastern Roman Empire wasn't a "successor" of the Roman Empire, but a continuation. A successor, in common parlance and in political science refers to something that succeeds a prior entity. For instance how the Russian Federation is a successor to the Soviet Union. It's a new entity that succeeds a prior state.
The Eastern Roman Empire isn't a successor. It's merely a continuation of the same Roman state. There was no point in which the Eastern Empire succeeded the 'original' Roman Empire.
One might argue that the split in 395 was the point of succession, but this is mostly a modern construction. The empire had been divided like this several times before, it had only been "reunited" for a year under Theodosius, so it being split was already the usual status quo, and the division was never seen as creating seperate states, co-rulership was common in the Roman Empire since the very beginning, but we never talk about for instance, the First Triumvirate creating new states.

[imperialstormtrooper]

You got a subscriber in me for making this video. It also does not help that so many lazy YouTubers are carelessly making videos and calling them Byzantines, continuing recklessly the trend of Roman denialism. Thanks, Maiorianus.

[lifelessperson]

Bettany Hughes writes in her book entitled 'Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities' that in Istanbul today, people of Greek ethnicity are referred to as Romoi. It is also said that Sultan Mehmet II upon coming through the gates of his new capital declared that he was Qayser i Rum (Caesar of Rome). In the Holy Qur'an there is a chapter called Ar-Rum (The Romans). Let there be no doubt that the proper name of the empire of which its capital was Constantinople is and was the Roman Empire.

[niccoarcadia]

Thanks! That info will now be used by myself when speaking about the Eastern Roman Empire.

[felipegonzalez]

Marjoranius..Would you consider doing an episode on the Lombard invasion of Italy? I know it is a middle ages topic, not late antiquity, but very interesting nonetheless

[PainStation]

As a listener of Robin Pierson’s History of Byzantium podcast, I appreciate this recognition from this channel in referring to the proper terminology for the Eastern half of the empire; the Romans of the East never gave up their Roman identity.

[iDeathMaximuMII]

I’ll be straight here. Haven’t watched the video yet but, the topic of “Byzantine” to “Roman” was something created in the 16th century, 100 years after the fall of Constantinople. The Eastern Part of the Empire ALWAYS since the days of the Republican Conquest, spoke GREEK, never Latin & the Romans never enforced the Language on the population, more so the Administration

In Rome itself, Senators spoke Greek to each other instead of the native Latin
It was seen as a Posh Language to them & only used by the Upper Class in the West

Latin was the Official Language in the East until 630 when Heraclius made the change because aside from North Africa, Italy (what was left) and the northern part of the Balkans, the rest of the Empire was Greek speaking. Greek speakers also doesn’t automatically mean that “They were Greeks not Romans” bullshit for some people. While yes, the Eastern Romans were different from the West, it was to be Expected. They lasted 1, 000 years after the Fall of the West, so there’s obviously going to be big changes in how the Eastern Romans did their thing.

Just because the City of Rome itself was not in the Empire, doesn’t mean shit, Constantinople’s original name (by Constantine) upon its foundation in 330 was called Nova Roma (New Rome) Same thing with Carthage & New Carthage (back in the day of the Carthaginian Empire)

And in the Western Roman Empire, Rome was no longer the Capital. It was Ravenna, that’s where most of the Government was & they only had Rome as the spiritual Capital

[SamAronow]

I was very careful about this in my medieval videos and people got irritated. No regrets though.

[Victor_aeternus]

This is perfect. I am currently writing an exam about why it would be better to use the terms Eastern Roman Empire or simply Roman Empire, over using the term Byzantine Empire.

[yankj]

I'm adamantly against using "Byzantine" Empire, must use Eastern Roman Empire.