What Are Your Favourite Topics About the Byzantine Empire?

ExtraCrispy · Boatswain Posts: 3923 **39058 Gold** -

I don't know, lads. I thought history was a mostly safe topic... I'm trying my best.

fleetp · Boatswain Posts: 3736 **36123 Gold** -

History is a safe topic. Religion has played a major part of history. I think it is safe to mention religion in a historical context, as long as there are no judgmental remarks about any specific religion.

ExtraCrispy · Boatswain Posts: 3923 **39058 Gold** -

ExtraCrispy · Boatswain Posts: 3923 **39058 Gold** -

ExtraCrispy · Boatswain Posts: 3923 **39058 Gold** -

Sorry if I am causing a disturbance, but if I am uncomfortable discussing a topic, I won't discuss it. I don't mean to start a fight or anything.

Also, I don't tell other people what to do. If you want to discuss these topics, you can. This is only for me and I need to be clear about that.

Again, I have no problem with anyone here. I sincerely mean well -- even if I do not come off as such. Thank you for being patient with me.

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Check this out:--

(https://www.realmofhistory.com/2017/12/28/10-facts-medieval-byzantine-army/)

corsair91 · Sailing Master Posts: 8252 **207581 Gold** -

Roland · Helmsman Posts: 4085 **22541 Gold** -

ExtraCrispy · Boatswain Posts: 3923 **39058 Gold** -

That's interesting, Roland. Thanks for sharing.

corsair91 · Sailing Master Posts: 8252 **207581 Gold** -

Anglo-Saxon nobility who were forced out of England by the Normans.

Harrying of the North
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrying_of_the_North

William the Conqueror campaign in northern England
by laying waste to the northern shires using scorched earth tactics
resulting in famine.

The fictional Novel Ivanhoe and the Robin Hood stories
touch on the friction between the Norman Overlords and the
local "Saxons".

corsair91 · Sailing Master Posts: 8252 **207581 Gold** -

The Rise And Fall of The Byzantine Empire (History of the Eastern Roman Empire Documentary)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtu8CveFBGw

Epimetheus
Aug 19, 2019
runtime 16:38

The Byzantine Empire History of the Eastern Roman Empire Documentary

This video covers a summary of the events from the ancient foundation of Rome to the fall of Constantinople. Byzantium Byzantine empire history summarized and explained in a nutshell.

corsair91 · Sailing Master Posts: 8252 **207581 Gold** -

Sack of Constantinople 1204 - Fourth Crusade DOCUMENTARY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QDdUXnFeZg&list=PLaBYW76inbX46r95D4BjCxiJz7-OeyOtW&index=3

Fall Of Constantinople 1453 - Ottoman Wars DOCUMENTARY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W0OTGQEY8E

corsair91 · Sailing Master Posts: 8252 **207581 Gold** -

What If The Byzantine Empire Survived? | Alternate History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2onQIDQV_U

Jan 15, 2020

runtime 14:20

What if the Byzantine emperor Romanos IV succeeded at Manzikert, defeating Seljuk Turk leader Alp Arslan, and ensuring that Byzantium never fell?
As we'll find out, it will take more than a victory at Manzikert to keep the Eastern Roman Empire from collapse.

Salty Dog · Sailing Master Posts: 10060 **191991 Gold** -

I just started reading about the Byzantine Empire based on your posts. I was very surprised to learn it started in 293 AD and disappeared around 1453 AD, making this one of the longest lived Empire in history. It started off Roman and was taken over by the Islamic Ottomans. Quite a long run!

corsair91 · Sailing Master Posts: 8252 **207581 Gold** -

The Byzantine Empire had the advantage of location, location.

A very defendable location, but eventually got overwhelmed
by the Ottomans. The Western Europeans having meddled in
Byzantine affairs, left the Byzantines to their fate.

The Ottomans were eventually defeated at the gates of Vienna, Austria.

The Hagia Sophia was recently in the news.

Hagia Sophia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia

Was the largest Christian church of the eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantine Empire) and the Eastern Orthodox Church, except during the Latin Empire from 1204 to 1261, when it became the city's Roman Catholic cathedral. In 1453, after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire, it was converted into a mosque. In 1935 the secular Turkish Republic established it as a museum. In 2020, it re-opened as a mosque.

Hagia Sophia: Turkey turns iconic Istanbul museum into mosque
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53366307

10 July 2020

see website article for pictures

The world-famous Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul - originally founded as a cathedral - has been turned back into a mosque.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the decision after a court annulled the site's museum status.

Built 1,500 years ago as an Orthodox Christian cathedral, Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453.

In 1934 it became a museum and is now a Unesco World Heritage site.

Islamists in Turkey long called for it to be converted to a mosque but secular opposition members opposed the move. The proposal prompted criticism from religious and political leaders worldwide.

Defending the decision, President Erdogan stressed that the country had exercised its sovereign right in converting it back to a mosque.

He told a press conference the first Muslim prayers would be held inside the building on 24 July.

"Like all our mosques, the doors of Hagia Sophia will be wide open to locals and foreigners, Muslims and non-Muslims," he added.

A change is coming to Hagia Sophia, which has endured since the 6th century, outlasting the Byzantine empire and the Ottoman era. Now, once again, it will be a mosque. But Turkish officials say Christian emblems, including mosaics of the Virgin Mary which adorn its soaring golden dome, will not be removed.

Making changes at Hagia Sophia is profoundly symbolic. It was Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, who decreed that it should be a museum. President Erdogan is now taking one more step to dismantle Ataturk's secular legacy, and remould Turkey according to his vision. The Turkish leader - who presents himself as a modern day conqueror - is making no apologies for the change. He says anyone who doesn't like it - and plenty abroad don't - is attacking Turkey's sovereignty.

Reclaiming Hagia Sophia plays well with his base - religious conservatives - and with Turkish nationalists. Critics say he's using the issue to distract attention from the economic damage done here by the Covid19 pandemic.

But many in the international community argue that the monument belongs to humanity - not to Turkey - and should have remained unchanged. They say it was a bridge between two faiths, and a symbol of co-existence.

Shortly after the announcement, the first call to prayer was recited at Hagia Sophia and was broadcast on all of Turkey's main news channels. The cultural site's social media channels have now been taken down.

What has the reaction been?

Unesco has said it "deeply regrets" the decision to turn the museum into a mosque and called on the Turkish authorities to "open a dialogue without delay."

The organisation had urged Turkey not to change its status without discussion.

The head of the Eastern Orthodox Church has condemned the move, as has Greece - home to many millions of Orthodox followers.

Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said it was an "open provocation to the civilised world".

"The nationalism displayed by President Erdogan... takes his country back six centuries," she said in a statement.

The court ruling "absolutely confirms that there is no independent justice" in Turkey, she added.

But the Council of State, Turkey's top administrative court, said in its ruling on Friday: "It was concluded that the settlement deed allocated it as a mosque and its use outside this character is not possible legally."

"The cabinet decision in 1934 that ended its use as a mosque and defined it as a museum did not comply with laws," it said.

The Church in Russia, home to the world's largest Orthodox Christian community, immediately expressed regret that the Turkish court had not taken its concerns into account when ruling on Hagia Sophia.

It said the decision could lead to even greater divisions.

While the move is popular with conservative religious supporters of President Erdogan, Turkey's most famous author, Orhan Pamuk said the decision would take away the "pride" some Turks had in being a secular Muslim nation.

"There are millions of secular Turks like me who are crying against this but their voices are not heard," he told the BBC.

History of a global icon

Hagia Sophia's complex history began in the year 537 when Byzantine emperor Justinian built the huge church overlooking the Golden Horn harbour

With its huge dome, it was believed to be the world's largest church and building

It remained in Byzantine hands for centuries apart from a brief moment in 1204 when Crusaders raided the city

In 1453, in a devastating blow to the Byzantines, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II captured Istanbul (formerly known as Constantinople) and the victorious conqueror performed Friday prayers inside Hagia Sophia

The Ottomans soon converted the building into a mosque, adding four minarets to the exterior and covering ornate Christian icons and gold mosaics with panels of Arabic religious calligraphy

After centuries at the heart of the Muslim Ottoman empire, it was turned into a museum in 1934 in a drive to make Turkey more secular

Today Hagia Sophia is Turkey's most popular tourist site, attracting more than 3.7 million visitors a year