39,327
edits
Byzantine Empire: Difference between revisions
update links
No edit summary |
(update links) |
||
Line 32:
* [[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.
Line 46:
* [[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).
Line 65:
* 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}}
| |||