Byzantine Empire: Difference between revisions
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* [[Arch Enemy]]: As it turned out, the Seljuk and Osman/Ottoman Turks. Before that, the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. Before that, the Caliphate. Before ''that'', Persia. It also had some really nasty wars with Bulgaria for a century or two.
** Also the Papacy, Venice, and the [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman Emperor]] also had their time as the Archenemy of Rome.
* [[Art Evolution]]: Byzantine art endured through Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Though heading in an Oriental direction, it was very continuous and gave us the love for strong colours and intricate patterns that can still be seen in the aesthetics of Orthodox churches. And have you seen [https://web.archive.org/web/20120825163421/http://www.levantia.com.au/clothing/clothingcontents.html the Byzantine way of dressing reconstructed]? Set quite the tone for Eastern European folk outfits, didn't it? All of that evolved more or less from the Roman tunic, with an exotic whiff from Persia.
* [[Badass Decay]]: Towards the end. As more territory was lost, there simply wasn't enough economic base to gain back the wealth and power it once had.<ref>In fact, much of said wealth was plundered by Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade, eventually finding their way to places like Venice.</ref>
* [[Balkanize Me]]: The Fourth Crusade and subsequent capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204 splintered the Empire into various factions and successor states, a few even run by Crusaders hoping to rule their own domains. The Palaiologoi line however would eventually reunite much of the remaining Empire, with the most notable exception being the frontier "Empire of Trebizond," which even managed to outlast the Empire by a few decades.
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* [[Eye Scream]]: A particular favorite method of dealing with rivals for the throne was having their eyes put out and shipping them to a monastery to spend the rest of their days.
** Basileios [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Bulgar-Slayer]] allegedly did this to more than 14,000 prisoners of war after his victory in the battle of Kleidion. One in a hundred of them was allowed to keep one eye to lead them back to the Bulgarian Tsar Samuil, who is said to have suffered a heart attack from the sight of his men.
* [[The Glory That Was Rome]]: Though having evolved into something else. Over its millenium-long existence however, some shade of Rome's professional military tradition managed to endure; depending on the time period, this ranged from fielding professional forces to being just barely above typical European feudal armies. By the end though, the Empire increasingly relied on Italian (i.e. Genoese) mercenaries as it was no longer able to support large standing armies of its own.
* [[Going Native]]: After a fashion. The eastern portions of the Roman Empire from its beginnings were significantly Hellenistic in one way or another. But as time passed, the Eastern Roman Empire increasingly embraced this heritage, with the transition from Latin to Greek being just the tip of the iceberg. Though its people adamantly considered themselves Roman to the end, the Empire ultimately became something of a Greek nation in and of itself; after 1261 in particular, a citizen was increasingly likely to call oneself Hellene or "Greek" as well as Roman.
* [[Hijacked by Jesus]]: The first in Europe, ironically. To be more specific, what became known as Orthodox Christianity became the state religion of the Eastern Empire shortly after Constantine's death. By the Middle Ages, it had reached the point where it was intertwined with Byzantium itself in ways comparable only to the [[Papal States]].
* [[Horny Vikings]]: Serving as the [[Praetorian Guard]], called The Varangian Guard.
* [[In Name Only]]: This is the viewpoint of the Catholic world. Byzantium's Western rivals were not inclined to consider it the legitimate heir of old Rome, but instead ''Imperium Graecorum'', or Empire of the Greeks. Additionally, the Arabs, like the scholar Said Al-Andalusi, called the Byzantine Empire "the kingdom of the Greeks" and the [[Horny Vikings|Scandinavian]] [[Hired Guns|Varangians]] described the country they served in as "Greece."
** However, the Arab thing is complicate by the fact that one of the Arabic names for the Greeks, and particularly the Byzantine Greeks, was ''al-Rūm'' ("Rūm" is pronounced the way Americans say "room"), derived from "Roman". (Once the Arabs wised up to the fact that there was a linguistic difference between the Eastern and Western Empires, they began referring to the latter as ''al-Rūmān''.)
* [[Impoverished Patrician]]: In its final days, the Empire was effectively this. It didn't help that much of Constantinople's famed wealth was looted during the Fourth Crusade in 1204.
* [[Istanbul]] : Which was once Constantinople.
* [[It Got Worse]]: The long decline of the Empire, but especially after 1204, when the Crusaders sacked Constantinople.
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* [[Ancient Grome|Medieval Grome]]
* [[Patriotic Fervor]]: After a fashion. The Byzantines adamantly saw themselves as Roman (and after 1261, Hellene) to the very end. Over the generations, the Empire had also become ever more linguistically and culturally Greek<ref>Helped by how the eastern parts of the Roman Empire had traditionally been predominantly Hellenistic rather than Latin.</ref>, fostering a kind of nationalism in all but name.
* [[Praetorian Guard]]: The Varangian Guard eventually came to take their place in Byzantium. Through the Empire's history however, there have been various elite bodyguard units protecting the Emperor, collectively known as the ''Hetaireia''; they're so-called due to deliberately echoing the Companions of [[Ancient Greece]] and Alexander's day.
* [[Ragnarok Proofing]]: The walls and fortifications of Constantinople, first laid down by Theodosius, managed to survive for several centuries, barring some updates and maintenance.
* [[Recycled in Space]]: The Roman Empire {{smallcaps|in the East}}!
* [[The Remnant]]: Even after Constantinople fell, a number of Byzantine remnants held out against the Ottomans for a few more decades, such as Mystras and Trebizond. Their legacy meanwhile would reverberate in Russia and the Italian peninsula, the latter contributing to [[The Renaissance]].
* [[The Rival]]: To the Papacy, the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and the Venetian Republic.
* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: The ''Basileioi'' by and large continued the legacies of the ''Imperators'' of old. Among the most notable being Alexios I Komnenos (whose exploits are chronicled in the ''Alexiad'', penned by his daughter Anna) and Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Emperor (who fought and died in the final Fall of Constantinople in 1453).
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{{examples|The Eastern Roman Empire in popular culture:}}
*
** ''[[Total War]]: Attila'' features the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire at various points in Late Antiquity and the Dark Ages, showing its gradual transition into the Empire seen by the ''Medieval'' games. ''The Last Roman'' DLC in particular showcases the [[After the End|"post-Roman"]] days of Emperor Justinian and Flavius Belisarius, the titular "Last Roman."
* Similarly, history-based [[4X]] and other [[Turn-Based Strategy]] games may have the Byzantines as a playable faction, as well. ''[[Civilization]]'' added the Byzantines in its third and fourth incarnations in their second expansion packs (''Conquests'' and ''Beyond the Sword'', respectively) under Theodora and Justinian, respectively.
* Has a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] in Harry Turtledove's [[Videssos]] and Guy Gavriel Kay's [[The Sarantine Mosaic|Sarantium]].
* [[I Am Skantarios]], a [[Total War]] [[After Action Report]] following the exploits of the titular Basileus.
* The [[Belisarius Series]], which takes place in an [[Alternate History]] Byzantium.
* In ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', it's implied that {{spoiler|Ancient Greece}} eventually became Byzantium, which takes Turkey's role in ending the Empire a darker turn. This also could explain why Greece himself bears a grudge with Turkey.
* In the [[Prince of Nothing]] series, the Nansur Empire is the [[Vestigial Empire]] of ancient Cenei, is ruled by a [[Deadly Decadent Court]], lost control of its religion's holy city to heathen desert peoples and considers itself more cultured than the other Inrithi nations.
* Byzantine stragglers attempt to retake Constantinople from the Ottomans in [[Assassin's Creed: Revelations]].
{{reflist}}
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