End of an Age: Difference between revisions

* The reign of Justinian I, while acknowledged as a golden age for the Byzantine Empire, is unanimously regarded as the last of many eras.

** Justinian's reign was the last time the Byzantine Empire was truly a Roman empire. Justinian was the last emperor who spoke Latin as a first language, and Greek would soon become the defacto official language of the Empire after his death, with several Roman offices effectively abandoned and replaced by Greek ones, before the change was made official in the seventh century.

** The last time the Byzantine Empire would undertake serious ambitions in the West. While the Eastern Roman Empire had longed considered undertaking military adventures in the West, especially in regards to the Vandals, they had always been derailed by the Sassanids or internal turmoil. Justinian would prove to be different, conquering North Africa, Italy and Pannonia for the Eastern Roman Empire, but the overstretched empire lacked the money or resources for such an extensive gain, and many of these gain were lost, in some instances, shortly after Justinian's death. The emergence of the Arabic Caliphates meant that unless it was to send reinforcements to any remaining provinces, any Byzantine interest in launching an invasion in the West was utterly implausible.

* The severe losses the Eastern Roman Empire suffered in the 7th century against the Muslim Caliphates is unanimously agreed to have ended the age of antiquity. The severe loss of territory, wealth, and manpower marked the end of large armies, and armies would now usually only number a few thousand. It also marked the end of a distinctly Roman identity, as the Byzantines began to start seeing themselves as Greeks rather than Romans or Latins. This would contribute to the end of harmonious relations between the Byzantines and Western Europe, to be replaced with religious rivalries centuries later.