History RE-Summarized: The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantines (Blue's Version) - a project that took an almost unfathomable amount of work and a catastrophic 120+ individual maps. I couldn't be happier.
SOURCES & Further Reading:
"Byzantium" I, II, and III by John Julius Norwich, "The Byzantine Republic: People and Power in New Rome" by Anthony Kaldellis, "The Alexiad" by Anna Komnene, "Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire" by Caroline Finkel, "Sicily: An Island at the Crossroads of History" by John Julius Norwich, "A History of Venice" by John Julius Norwich
I also have a degree in classical civilization.
Additionally, the most august of thanks to our the members of our discord community who kindly assisted me with so much fantastic supplemental information for the scripting and revision process: Jonny, Catia, and Chehrazad. Thank you for reading my nonsense, providing more details to add to my nonsense, and making this the best nonsense it can be.
MUSIC:
Courtesy of composer Austin Wintory
/ @awintory
austinwintory.bandcamp.com/
Tracklist, in order of appearance: I Know How It Feels To Be Lost, Mount Olympus, Reclamatino, Welcome to the Real Underworld, Threshold, The Decision, Temptations, The Reliquary - from the Stray Gods Pantheon Edition and Journey scores.
Also, "Scheming Weasel" by Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/...
This video is a Remastered, Definitive Edition of three previous videos from this channel - "History Summarized: Byzantine Empire - Beginnings", "History Summarized: Byzantine Empire - The Golden Age", and "Fall of the Byzantine Empire - History Summarized". This video combines them all into one narrative, fully upgrading all of the visuals and audio, with edits and about one extra video's-worth of additions throughout the script.
TIMECODES:
0:00 1 - Rise
14:14 2 - Golden Age
27:45 3 - Fall
Our content is intended for teenage audiences and up.
PATREON: / osp
PODCAST: overlysarcasticpodcast.transi...
DISCORD: / discord
MERCH: overlysarcastic.shop/
OUR WEBSITE: www.OverlySarcasticProduction...
Find us on Twitter / ospyoutube
Find us on Reddit / osp
Want this video in another language? Check out our guide to contributing translated captions: www.overlysarcasticproduction...

[@sparkygol4569]

"How often do you think about the Roman Empire?" Blue: "Yes."

[@BradyPostma]

Blue's every thought is accompanied by, "How does this relate to the Roman Empire?"

[@marsultor6131]

@@BradyPostmaand does it have a dome?

[@BradyPostma]

@@marsultor6131 - Blue things those thoughts from within his own brain dome! It's domes all the way down!

[@Luchabul]

Shoot, made the same joke before scrolling through the comments

[@marsultor6131]

@@BradyPostma and at the end of the day the world is just two domes clapped together.

[@Oskarelu]

Eastern romans: "Could you please try to not invade our territory...FOR FIVE MINUTES!?" Persians, ottomans, mongols, huns, barbarians, etc: "What an awesome capital you have, guys!" 😎

[@andres20111996]

Crusaders: No, I don't think I will

[@sp4391]

@@ISLAMMEHMEDOVcrusaders did it first though

[@justinalicea1590]

Eastern Romans: "You want it so bad? Have a taste!" _Greek Fire_ Everything else, including the water: _screaming_

[@realdaggerman105]

@@ISLAMMEHMEDOV I’m not sure the Byzantine Empire of 1453 was a difficult prospect to conquer.

[@realdaggerman105]

@@ISLAMMEHMEDOV Well, if we look at the Byzantines just a few decades before the Ottoman’s established themselves, we would find that they weren’t in power at all. From 1204 to 1261 the old empire had been split into 3 successor states, Constantinople sacked and thrown into disrepair, and there was a massive territorial loss. Even 30 years after reunification, the wake of this event crippled the ERE. History isn’t about ‘winners’ and ‘losers’, because nothing stands eternal. No country, state, religion or person will exist forever. It’s about the mark you left behind on history. And the mark left by Rome was the largest across the entire Mediterranean hemisphere.

[@jonesy7009]

just want to say that your previous videos about the Byzantines helped me pass my exam about the Byzantine empire

[@haydenkinney5318]

Nice

[@Brasswatchman]

Noice.

[@francesleones4973]

Blue must be so happy to hear this news 😊

[@bobaoriley1912]

Same

[@jacktaylor6253]

Brilliant!

[@DomyTheMad420]

i absolutely love this thing where nearly every single person who learns about Theodora just goes "wow. i like her. such a badass and capable queen."

[@Brasswatchman]

Everyone except Procopius! MAN, did he hate her and Antonina!

[@nuh_uh210]

Some historical people just be like that!

[@paulwagner688]

Just don't bring up geese in front of her.

[@SirSoliloquy]

I, too, love totalitarian leaders who choose to massacre their subjects.

[@Clippidyclappidy]

⁠@@paulwagner688or what she had Justinian do to the people at the hippodrome

[@Kantara01]

I often don't think about how old some names are. But hearing the phrase "Byzantine Emperor Maurice" completely knocked me for a loop...

[@persuisixh4804]

Maurice, fetch me my city

[@savioblanc]

Crazy old Maurice...

[@nicolasdiaz1542]

Tiffany dates back to the 11th century

[@carltonleboss]

Phocas is just the 7th-century version of Mort

[@codeofclaw]

As tragic as it is, it’s kind of funny imagining the absolute chaos and terror of the sack contrasted with a group of Venetians going through the city like “ah yes, those would like good in St. Marks. Excuse me pillaging raider, I must bring this fine art back home.”

[@LeoTheI]

It isnt “kind of funny” Atrocious that you think it is.

[@rileylong5250]

@@LeoTheIit was 100s of years ago calm down

[@kostakole9876]

​@@LeoTheI always good to see someone having a mental breakdown over something minor in the youtube comment section.

[@brianaschmidt910]

​@@LeoTheIyou're right. It's freaking hilarious 😂 Imagine going shopping during a riot.

[@SiVisPacemParaBellum330]

@@brianaschmidt910 Well,seems quite the deal coming from an American,you guys have experience to that and many,many more...

[@Ruminations09]

The "Khosrau's Better Antioch" thing was so funny to me that I immediately had to tab out of the video to check. It's 100% legit. After sacking Antioch, he named his new city "Weh Antioch Khosrau", which translates to "Better Than Antioch, Khosrau Built This". That dude's meme game was absolutely unparalleled.

[@KaiHung-wv3ul]

"The New and Better Antioch, Brought to You By Khosrau"

[@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369]

Great Sage Equal to Heaven vibes

[@nicolasdiaz1542]

There's anechdote that is likely apocrypha but still funny where Khosrau talks to a kidnapped citizen and asks him how he likes his new digs. The citizen says it's great except there was mulberry(?) tree that he really like in his yard in the old Antioch. The next morning a fully grown tree is in his yard

[@the_tactician9858]

@@nicolasdiaz1542 It are stories like these that really don't matter whether they are fake or not, because they capture the spirit of the situation so well that there is no reason they could not be true at all. And yes, the story is hilarious. This is the reason why I sometimes lament that we don't really have true monarchies anymore. Who else but a king fully in control of his country could pull stunts like this?

[@alucard347]

​@@the_tactician9858well, billionaires. It is somewhat of a let down that our unelected global superpowers don't have the flare for theatrics the older generations had. Say what you want about Bezos just buying your favorite IP that got cancelled and bankrolling the entire creative endeavor so the artists could finish their work as they wanted, but it doesn't have the exact Umph as building your own better version of one of the world's largest cities and then actually committing to the bit, or drinking pearls in the first case in history of improvised champagne, or solving decades old dispute and the world's most difficult puzzle by just slicing it in half.

[@Nasser851000]

All Hail Emperor Blue!

[@theanimeunderworld8338]

Blue for Roman Emperor First policy is moving the capital to Venice

[@GloGlo315]

Bluesileus

[@TORchic1]

​@@theanimeunderworld8338 I'll get the scuba gear and floaties. They're for the domes. Y'all are gonna have to learn to swim or something.

[@Edmonton-of2ec]

@@GloGlo315You have won the Internet today

[@longliverockandrollsmith9323]

You mean vembis?

[@kammieceleek5113]

I'd love to see you do a deep dive on Justinian and Theodora, it would be entertaining and interesting. Especially given the Secret History and geese.

[@VictoriaStarratt]

Go watch his good couples of history Valentine’s Day special

[@LordRavensong]

Extra History has like, 10 videos on them and Bellisarius' campaigns.

[@kerneywilliams632]

Extra History has one. Maiorianus has an excellent channel on late Classical Roman History.

[@Brasswatchman]

If one can trust Procopius, anyway.

[@claudiacat4249]

Secret history and geese? Im hooked.

[@richeybaumann1755]

I love how your "resummarized" videos aren't just the original three videos clipped together into one track- they're nearly identical, but you've made corrections and changes. Like at 1:30, you corrected it from "the tried and true method of lions" to "the vivid but ultimately ahistorical method of lions". Small changes make a huge difference.

[@mark.mazzarella]

I find it very poetic that, at least from a mythological point of view, Rome sprouted from Greece and eventually returned to Greece.

[@HerdingHilarity]

I’ve always found it interesting too how in the beginning Romans considered themselves Greek and in the end Greeks considered themselves Roman. Pretty wholesome.

[@foulplayer7812]

One truly remarkable thing about the ascension of Emperor Heraclius is that it actually ended with the successful usurper personally slaying the tyrant he deposed. After Heraclius took control of Constantinople, a captured Phocas was brought before Heraclius. The triumphant Heraclius allegedly asked the usurper of Maurice, “Is this how you have ruled, scum?” Phocas reportedly replied, “And will you rule better?” Heraclius, rather than simply saying, “Yes, I’ll do a much better job. Thanks for asking,” instead personally killed and even beheaded Phocas right on the spot. We usually only see such things in fiction (ahem, Star Wars or Mortal Kombat). More often than not, only in books, movies, and video games do we have the protagonist and antagonist meet in a scenario in which only one walks away still alive. We did not, after all, have FDR personally fight and kill Hitler. Even in cases where an opponent did not commit suicide a la Hitler, the historic villain may have been dealt with by agents of the victor. In 610 A.D., however, the people’s champion indeed did not delegate to subordinates, but instead confronted and killed his adversary in person in one of only a handful of such instances in all of human history.

[@tiberiuscodius5828]

We should not forget that Heraclius was a master propagandist - that account is almost certainly an exaggerated version of events to aggrandize and legitimate the new usurper's authority. Notably, the meticulous Paschal Chronicle has a slightly different version of events. Heraclius supervises from his ship and is not present in the city when Phokas is killed and his body burned. Heraclius actually burns a statue of Phokas the next day in the Hippodrome so he could participate in person

[@francisdupont1656]

The chance of this episode being nothing but propaganda is 99%

[@arandomgreekfrombactria6302]

The battle (forgot it's name but it was after 1204) between Theodore Laskaris of the Nicean Empire and the Seljuk Turks was actually not Propaganda, and is ironically almost exactly like a price of fantasy in its outcome. With Laskaris on the verge of defeat but not before routing the Turks by killing the Seljuk Sultan in single combat.

[@Tansub96]

OSP is terrible at history and basically repeating Heraclian propaganda. Phocas was not a great emperor but in all fairness he was given a horrible hand. When he overthrew Maurice he may not have intended to become emperor and he had neither the necessary knowledge nor the legitimacy, making ruling the empire extremely difficult. He was most likely portrayed as much more cruel and incompetent than he really was by later pro-Heraclian sources. When Phocas was killed by Heraclius in 610, the Byzantines were losing the war against the Persians but they were still fighting on the border in Mesopotamia. The supposed miraculous arrival of Heraclius caused a civil war at the time when the empire needed soldiers on the frontiers the most. Not only that, but it was under Heraclius that the Levant and Egypt were lost, not under Phocas like OSP shows on the map. We will never know what would have happened had Heraclius not rebelled, but he may have made the situation even worse.

[@warlordofbritannia]

⁠​⁠@@Tansub96 If Phocas wasn’t cruel and incompetent, I strongly doubt Constantinople would have just completely rebelled the moment a navy showed up. When the Persians allied with the Avars(?) a few years later to put Constantinople under siege by both land and sea the city didn’t merely hold out but repulsed the double attack.

[@Natilra]

Loving the extra Theodora content!

[@sceptile6375]

Just as the Byzantines brought Rome back in a new form so too shall this video be enjoyed by us all.

[@thathistoryfam794]

Romans* ffs

[@francisdupont1656]

They didn't bring back anything, the roman Empire just survived

[@pyropulseIXXI]

@@francisdupont1656 No it didn't

[@TheRezro]

@@francisdupont1656 If we want to be specific, West Rome also technically didn't fall. After Hun invasion in 4'th century, where Legions perform poorly against horse archers. Rome start increasingly relying on the Cataract cavalry. And because those were usually part of auxiliaries (tribes who fought on side of the Rome). Those "barbaric" commanders start play increasingly important role in Roman politics. When Vandals burn the Rome in 5'th century, they actually intervened against usurpers in name of the Emperor. After that West Roman Empire basically go through Balkanization. With Longobards sizing control over Apennine Peninsula. BUT! Most of regions of the Rome, despite tribal population did consider itself as Roman. Only few decades after formal fall of Carolingian's (Franks) attempt to unite empire. In 8'th century recapturing the Rome. In fact they did attempt to rejoin Byzantium as Cesar (elector). But Roman Augustus (actual Byzantine Emperor) refuse negotiations seeing them as barbarians (fact that religions drifted from each other play also the role). Shortly after that control over Rome is taken by woman, in rather shady way. What is exploited by Franks, who call Byzantine interregnum and as they as Romans control city of Rome, they declare themselves as proper Roman Empire. From that point both sides basically were ignoring each other, considering other side as illegitimate. In 9'th century Frank empire go through split ironically identical to late Rome. Separating on three countries. But shortly after that Fance and Germany, invade Italy and Germans take Emperor crown. Founding Holly Roman Empire. But due to elector method Germany is divided, until Prussia finally unite country in 19'th century. While Italy struggle with reconquest of peninsula and isn't strong to claim title. While France despite united nature doesn't have strong enough claim to do so. At least until Napoleon temporarily claim the title. And there was also Austria-Hungary. Though it is weird case. Anyway, after WW1 Emperor is overthrown and formally for now, there is no one there. Though ironically Europe finally reunited though different means. So we may call it as Roman Union? I'm joking. East was no better. Country was in constant decline, after failed attempt of recapturing Apennine Penisula. They are finally defeated by Turks. Who also declare themselves as Roman Empire. But are universally ignored and later drop the idea. And there is also a madman known as Ivan the Terrible. Who declare himself as Cezar (Tzar) of Third Rome and some vogue concept of All-Rus (Russia). Though despite it being completely illegitimate, Russia is later overtaken by actual Germans, related to Kaiser. So it sort of become true. But not really? Definitely not now. If anything Bulgarian Tzar did have most legitimate claim to Byzantium heritage. Because he actually was subject and elector of Rome. So they technically could elect themselves. Anyway. Bulgaria is now in EU, so it doesn't matter.

[@liming7827]

​​@@pyropulseIXXI??? But it is the roman empire, just the eastern part of it.

[@themannerchannel784]

I want to thank Blue for introducing me to the glorious Byzantine Empire in the first videos several years ago. Since then it has become probably my favourite period/civilisation of history, and I was lucky enough to visit Istanbul earlier this year. Thank you so much for making me borderline obsessed with this niche but incredible part of history!

[@christosferizis-synodinos8851]

As a Greek Its sad to go To Constatinople it is our biggest faulire in the history of our people

[@Jacob-df5hr]

​@@christosferizis-synodinos8851 it's hard to explain to normal people why I hate Venice so much.

[@christosferizis-synodinos8851]

@@Jacob-df5hr Yep

[@moisesremusmajan6225]

Don't use the B word!

[@Steadyaim101]

It's beautiful. I lived in Istanbul as an international student for a year and I miss it greatly. I'm from Canada, so there's a lot of space but not much visible history here. It was amazing for me to be in one of the defining cities of the world, surrounded by history spanning nearly 2500 years. I took every opportunity to explore the city and the rest of the Eastern Mediterranean and I wish I could go back. I have a lot of fond memories of taking rubbings of Varangian graffiti in the Hagia Sophia while playing with the cats, watching the dolphins under the bridge, sketching the Topkapi gardens, and meeting friends at the Chai shops.

[@BradyPostma]

"the Byzantines are really special to me, and I'll count myself satisfied if I was able to convey why." "… at no point in Byzantine history was it too late to care." Yeah, Blue. You conveyed why. The timeless beauty of that brought tears to this old man's eyes.

[@alin-mihai]

He is also of Greek heritage. He has family back in Greece

[@BradyPostma]

@@alin-mihai Yep. I wish I could make something this cool as a homage to my heritage!

[@Kilthan2050]

Lets not forget that, at the council of Nicaea, Santa Claus (Saint Nickolas) punched out a heretic.

[@John_Weiss]

OMG! That's a great factoid to learn! As well as hysterical.

[@Kilthan2050]

​@@John_Weissthe people who say that council of Niceae were there to "fix" the Bible or hide some sort of secret or whatever don't understand how very important their task was to them. When a dude whose whole legacy is giving up of his own wealth to help others loses his cool over it, you know it was serious. They only canonized New Testament accounts that could be traced back to people who were actually alive with Jesus and written by them in their life time. even then, a lot of epistles were left out, OT books were left out because, while being mentioned by other parts of the Bible, they were incomplete or had obvious changes made to them. It was, for them, "If we do this wrong, we spend eternity in hell and condemn our followers to the same" So, Santa has to throw hands with a gnostic trying to co-opt the whole thing.

[@arkusworldwalker9818]

Waaiiit... Wintory *gave* you the *personnal* authorization to use *his* music? This guy is the goodest noodle around in video game music industry.

[@Penryck]

When Blue started going through the military units, I was getting Age of Empires flashbacks from my childhood and I LOVE IT!

[@DanielC01000100]

Byzantines are my favorite AoE2 civs (If you haven't, you really should check out the AoE2 definitive edition. It's a great upgrade from the original)

[@persuisixh4804]

@@DanielC01000100goths are so broken lol

[@michaelscott6022]

"So how much time do you want to spend talking about Byzantium--" *_"YES."_*

[@joshuasepeda3289]

What makes you think we'll ever stop?

[@ptgamer1vlog]

If blue didn't say "Let's not kid ourselves, these are still the Romans we're talking about" I would have died. Im glad that was kept

[@legateelizabeth]

"Anna Komnenos is the first woman historian" I won't stand for this slander of Ban Zhao's name, she predated Anna by about 1000 years as being a woman historian. And she's just the one I know of, I'm sure there are more.

[@grantdotjpg]

I will not research this as I don't believe in women, but I believe you, godspeed

[@tonic9914]

Alas, eurocentric history strikes again...

[@JohnLask]

china

[@nuh_uh210]

Yup, there’s also Pamphile of Epidarus, who was a female Egyptian historian who lived in Greece during Rome’s occupation of it. She was born during Emperor Nero’s reign, so depending on the date which Ban Zhou and herself were born, either Ban Zhou or Pamphile of Epidarus could be the first.

[@Dreamfox-df6bg]

@@tonic9914 It happens. Marco Polo: "I travelled to China and back." Ibn Battuta: "Amateur."

[@ae7957]

This makes me incredibly happy to see Blue touch up on the Byzantine history videos, they alone are the reason I got hyper fixated on Greek/Byzantine history.

[@hurremshiv]

Theodora my beloved. Also the 'Bloodthirsty? Maybe. Tyrant? Kinda. But like...girl can get it.' KILLED me.

[@sophiehung5755]

Blue, I took a trip to Venice last Sept and because of your previous Byzantine Empire videos, decided to start the trip off with a detour to Ravenna. All of the Byzantine sites there were stunning, but the Basilica di San Vitale especially was one of the most breathtaking places I’ve ever set eyes on, to the point that (as much as it may kill you personally to hear this), when I finally entered the Basilica San Marco in Venice, my immediate thought upon seeing their mosaics was ‘Eh, it’s no Basilica di San Vitale.’ So thanks for helping me find what has legit become one of my favorite places in the entire world!

[@anivijudi]

The utter delight in Blue's voice everytime he gets to show us a new dome always puts a smile on my face.

[@shadowknight7932]

I love the Byzantine Empire and I also love these RE-Summarized videos, so this is quite the win for me! Also that opening bit? *chef's kiss*

[@Aarlecchino]

I really love that this 're-summarized' video perfectly fits into the very current meme about how often men think about the Roman Empire 🤣🤣

[@lukegauci1159]

Honestly, I prefered Justinian and Therodorea's eyes glowing in the original cut. but other wise its really helpful to have all your Byzantine History episodes in one thing! Keep up the work Blue!

[@cianwalsh9137]

Khosrau Anushirivan is one of my favourite historical figures. His meme game was on point.

[@edim108]

The Byzantine Empire was the embodiment of "I didn't hear no bell"

[@RikkaP]

Even if Alexander kinda laid the fundations, I'd love a video on graeco-buddhist culture. While we are talking Greek culture going places and mixing philosophies, I mean.

[@ScholarlyHiccup]

Got the chance to interact with blue at one point. One of the kindest, most genuine humans I’ve ever encountered. Was tblown away by the altruism, despite little to be gained. When y’all consume this content, you’re supporting a truly phenomenal human being.

[@gearsie_]

I didn't know i needed Blue shouting "SLAYYYY 💅💅💅" in my life, but im glad i have it now

[@Stoneworks]

I fell asleep last night listening to this series, it's funny to see it pop up again the next day.

[@byzansimp]

An excellent upgrade and compendium of some of this channel's best videos! A small nitpick if I may: Emperor Constantine V did indeed campaign vigorously in the Balkans and secured much of it for the Romans, yes, but his main target were the Bulgars up north, not the Slavs in Greece. The basic reconquest of Greece first started taking shaped under Constantine's daughter-in-law Empress regent Eirene of Athens, whose generals secured the submission of the Slav tribes, then under her successor, Nikephoros I, who essentially colored Greece purple again like you showed for the year 800 (before having his skull become a drinking cup for the Bulgars).

[@Kuwagumo]

Well, blue's right. The cataphract really were awesome XD

[@wow-iz8gw]

would you ever talk about the indo-european migration, considering they conquered most of Europe, Iran and half of the Indian subcontinent and at one point controlled the entirety of Central Asia, they where the mongols of their day

[@JG-vh6oy]

It was a long term migration and not done under a single political entity. Not much resemblance to the Mongols. It would still be an interesting topic, though, for a video!

[@TheGamingBDGR]

The issue is there's no concrete archeology of what it looked like at the time. As someone else said it was a pointed political movement like the Mongols. It was just people(whom we know next to nothing of their language, trade goods, religions or anything of note) moving around, trading and settling in new places. All information is so dependent upon guess work that can't really be backed up. There isn't really a video there of substance.

[@sudonim7552]

@@TheGamingBDGR I'd say there's definitely enough knowledge for someone who specializes in archaeology, linguistics, or prehistory to do a video on the Indo-Europeans (maybe someone should ask miniminuteman) but there simply isn't any *history* for a history video on them.

[@MariaVosa]

They were not. The processes were far more diverse, slow and there was no central rulership as with the Mongols - or even the Huns. What you are describing is a fantasy that belongs to a very dark part of modern European politics.

[@wow-iz8gw]

oh my, my bad I didn't realize I ended up implying the indo-europeans where a centralized empire that conquered roughly half of Eurasia In a life time. I knew the indo-european migrations took centuries and where very decentralized, and I only made the mongol comparison because both involved a nomadic horse rising people that over time conquered roughly half of Eurasia, I should defiantly be more clear with my language next time @@MariaVosa

[@reidwallace4258]

I feel so vindicated by this history. As a kid I loved Medieval total war, played a couple thousand hours at least over the years... And I always loved the Byzantine style, the flavor and units and such, just great vibes... I didn't suck, I was just being historically accurate.

[@rvids20]

Finally a follow-up video on the best Roman Empire! I remember when part 1 of the original came out and waiting a year for part 3. So glad we got a whole RE-Summarized :)

[@1seriousgoose]

Thank you for giving me this re-polished gem to watch during my self-care day, Blue!

[@heck3143]

I gotta say, I absolutely adore the Re-Summarized concept. It's such a good idea. Blue has so many amazing videos from the early years. It feels like getting an unexpected remaster for my favourite old video game. But like... free lol

[@siraaron4462]

Any chance you could remake your ottoman video next? I'd love a deeper and more nuanced on the cultural succession in the region.

[@w.5655]

the number of maps in this video is truly astounding. rip blue's hand

[@megabyte01]

This might date me, but the 12 Byzantine Rulers podcast got me into Roman history and into thinking critically about the history in general

[@John_Weiss]

I remember that podcast! It's what caused me to stop saying, "Byzantine Empire", and start calling it the, "Eastern Roman Empire."

[@horacevonbergamot5093]

Ah, the Byzantine Empire. Giving expression "Byzantine" its meaning, before it was even called that.

[@corneliusmaze-eye2459]

Did you know the calling of The East Roman Empire the Byzantines was a slur that the Venicians started. Not surprising though, their way of thinking was bent and cultivated a mindset in the West that is without honor.

[@fulviopontarollo2952]

@@corneliusmaze-eye2459well maybe if the Byzantines hadn’t wrecked the Ostrogoth kingdom that kept Italy stable and unfragmented Venice wouldn’t have had any opportunity to rise and start the slur :^)

[@RepOfAntarctica]

From what has been taught to me, Byzantium was the name of the Ancient Greek city whose foundations Constantinople (or Nova Roma) was built over. One could guess, then, that they initially used it to discredit the legitimacy of the new city under the name of the guy that moved the capital from their area; or, just as likely, they just continued to call it that for a few generations during a transitional period of waiting to see if it would fail & revert, until it was colloquially more accepted. The latter aligns more with the fact the name was used poetically, but the former is just as valid considering how we adjust to new concepts ideas even today.

[@Kerb106]

This was an amazing and relatively quick overview that expanded on your earlier videos in a way I really appreciate. I'm sure the algorithm isn't going to be the biggest fan of these re-summarized videos, but I think they're great and hope you keep them coming on whatever topics you want to re-visit.

[@JonathanRodriguez-nz9nw]

You can see the work Blue puts into these, loved this 😊 thank you!

[@stefansauvageonwhat-a-twis1369]

11:00 Darn it spilled my drink lol, truly one of the best episodes yet!!

[@cirthador1453]

I LOVED this video. I have been looking forward to it ever since you remastered your Rome ones. I am a little disappointed you did not take a moment to talk about Trebizond and the Principality of Theodoro, but I will survive.

[@AegixDrakan]

Oh my goodness a 43 minute re-Summarized. :o Christmas came early!

[@somepepperonyoutube8374]

Khosrau vs Justinian is one of the best rivalries ever, very glad Mr. Immortal Soul got a well-deserved mention

[@ravenpotter3]

I am going to have a exam on this soon! Perfect timing thank you! It’s a art history class! It’s a early mediaeval art history class and at this point 4 weeks in we are focusing so much on Constantinople and Africa and I have just been loving it! I’ve never heard of so much of this history! This video will be the perfect study tool for me and I need to tell my professor of this!

[@williambird1827]

Thank you for sharing your passion project with the world Blue.

[@Aury]

Y'all make learning about history and writing interesting and fun. Thank you for the work you do!

[@sandmancase9]

I kind of zoned out while I was listening to this and doing dishes. When I came to and started listening to what Blue was saying I thought he was doing a satire of today's history. Time really is a wheel.

[@longliverockandrollsmith9323]

You’re not the only one. I too feel the full Byzantine Power when I say Kataphraktos instead the English cataphract. Rewatching this while playing as the ruler of the Byzantines in crusader kings 2

[@SpartanLeonidas1821]

KATAFRAKTOI ✊🏻

[@Toatony]

Thank you for making such a respectful video. As a Greek with deep ties to the Empire, it means a lot to me. I just wish you talked a little about the final siege of Constantinople because it might be the most incredible battle of all time.

[@juancasinisterra]

Absolute bamger of a work, thank you so much for bringing us this level of quality time after time!

[@alin-mihai]

For reasons, this video brings such bitter sweet feelings. Love your work OSP

[@pirateslifeforme7158]

Let's freaking go ! The empire we took our 2 headed eagle from. From those wondering the 2 heads represent how the byzantine empire watched everything from the east to the west as one. Like an eagle , you can do your best to watch over everything but there is one place you can't look, your behind. Hence the 2nd head. One to look everything from the east and the other to look everything from west. Is literally a sign of the empire sovranity.

[@joshuafrazier3904]

As someone who took Honors World History recently I really enjoyed this video. We went over the Byzantine and yeah they really did scrap for survival and succeed for way longer than could be expected.

[@samrevlej9331]

Thank you for including your sources in the description. It's something that I've found lacking in some of your previous videos, and which is very useful to fact-check you if need be.

[@no1legobatmanfan]

YALL UPLOADED THIS AT THE PERFECT TIME THANK YOU 🔥🔥

[@MysteriumArcanum]

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Blue was the one who started the "guys are always thinking about the Roman Empire" meme

[@Artur_M.]

When I heard about the recent 'meme' of thinking about the Roman Empire, my first thought was; 'does the "Byzantium" count?' And the answer I quickly gave myself was 'YES!' Also, I like seeing you revisiting old topics to cover them better, deeper, or from different angle. So I hope you'll make a video about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (delving deeper into the topic than in your video about Poland) or one just about the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, or both. 😁

[@zinarbabekir3462]

Thank you so much for conveying all of that history in such an interesting way! I really enjoyed every second of your documentary and can say with full confidence that I have learnt much more than I had previously anywhere else.

[@ramoxfireleaderofgauntlets3554]

I like these condensed videos, very nice to listen to while working.

[@chedelirio6984]

"Because *at no point was it too late to care.* Because they believed there was something about their state, their peoples, their faith, their identity, that was worth dying for, and *living* for..." And *that* is how you endure. You refuse to despair, to get to the point of saying "oh so let it all burn down what's the use". Turns out Theodora *was* prophetic: though reduced to a doomed rump city-state for over a century, when it finally went down for good, everybody knew, said and remembered that it went down as The Empire.

[@John_Weiss]

…and even its conqueror went, "No, wait wait wait wait wait! I'm not an invader! I'm just the new Caesar!"

[@Tzimiskes3506]

The Great generals of the Roman Empire who fought bravely for another 1000 years. Constantine the Great, Flavius Belisarius, Maurice, Heraclius, LeoIII, John kourkouas, Nikephoras Phokas, John I Tzimiskes, Basil II and many more!

[@devinbaer4193]

Thanks Blue. I really do love the way you teach history.

[@amyl4362]

I'm really enjoying the tweaked script here - very well done!

[@unknownentity4620]

Khosrau was the medieval equivalent of an internet troll. Surprised you never mentioned him fixing a chariot race in favor of the greens because Justinian and Theodora were fans of the blues (that's how they met, actually).

[@kurathchibicrystalkitty5146]

Fantastic video! Well done, Blue! *sets off imaginary noiseless fireworks* This was so fun to watch. 😀🎆

[@michaeltuite5510]

Loved the vid and love your channel. thanks for the hard work!

[@emom358]

These are some amazing videos, please keep up the great work.

[@Chilie5678]

There was never a question if Blue is thinking about the Roman Empire at any given moment.

[@twosheepinatrenchcoat5116]

Is that music I hear from Stray Gods, the Urban Fantasy Greek mythology role-playing musical that OSP and Ludohistory got me obsessed with?

[@Zengief77]

"You cannot hide, from this reality."

[@sevelofficial2696]

Just a few days too late!! I just gave a week's worth of lessons as a student teacher about the Byzantine Empire! I could have used this as a refresher and ideas of what to include, but still I'm excited to see you post!

[@gabrote42]

What an amazing remake. LOVED IT!!!

[@84themonth]

If I had a nickel for every time JoCat's "Smite!" soundbyte ended up in an OSP video, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

[@MaximusAugustusOrthodox]

Great video! God bless the Roman Empire 🇬🇷🇮🇹☦️✝️

[@trolledchaos6531]

This video made me cry. thanks blue boi, I needed this today.

[@AppleJude]

This was the longest and one of the Best video of Blue. I can only say one thing : Good Job !

[@fumkioyuki8457]

I cannot state the joy I felt when I saw Byzinties re-summeries correct me please

[@omowako]

Blue is probably the only person I wouldn’t fault for thinking about the Roman Empire on a daily basis

[@richardcope5066]

bruh, its really cool

[@kitcutting]

i don’t think I’ve been this early to an OSP video before. Also with Blue covering my favorite empire in history. Amazing.

[@allmachtsdaggl5109]

I hate the term "dark ages". It confuses people. It just means that we have less written sources from that time. It was not such a bad time, as it is made out to be and for most people nothing changed. Also it only referes to a very short period. This can not be stressed enough, given the stupid idea most people have of what is arguabely called "the middle ages"

[@blacksage2375]

Nahh dark age was absolutely meant as a slur on a thousand years of history because early moderns wanted to cast themselves as something new and enlightened. Saying “it’s about a lack of records” is just a disingenuous saving of face rather then properly fighting pop culture.

[@allmachtsdaggl5109]

@@blacksage2375 Nope, historians use the term on any time with less written sources. That is all it means. It is understood wrongly by people like you. Wjat you confuse it with is the term "middle ages" Wich was used by humanists during the late middle ages (yeah they thought them self out of the middle ages in the 14th century) in Italy. Seeing it as a middle time between antiquity and the Renaissance (wich is an art form, not a time, it started in the middle ages)

[@blacksage2375]

@@allmachtsdaggl5109 The historians in question are a few centuries dead fucknuts, the term has been around a long ass time now. Where it came into existence to portray early moderns as 'enlightened' and thus support why Europe deserved its imperialism. (And any alignment with why Protestants are better then Catholic is purely coincidence.) It was never about books. While of course historians today generally use "medieval period" most commonly in my reading, sometimes middle ages, and with so often its rather cliche include an extended note about how there was nothing dark about the time.

[@allmachtsdaggl5109]

@@blacksage2375 You are not quite right.The term is still used by historians today as a time of lacking written sources (not necessarily books, letters or chartes for example are much better sources). It is also used for the time between the bronze age collapse and the advent of the archaic greek culture, because we have less written sources for example. And back to the term "middle ages" this was dubed by Petrarca in the 14th century. And yes, he told a story about dark times that came between antiquity and his age. Yes he was convinced he would enlighten the world. The times were dark for him, because no one spoke propper Latin anymore wich he wanted to reform. Also he did not like the gothic architecture, he wanted classical roman architecture back. And here is my point: I have a problem with the term dark ages beeing used by scholars today, because of the confusion with what Petrarca said. And I am specifically about that modern use of the term, wich comes up most often in media.

[@DavidbarZeus1]

So, I have two requests for future videos. First, in honor of the season, why not cover the history of Halloween, from Samhain to the modern holiday and how we got here. Second, you’ve covered China’s history, why not some other Asian powers, like Japan?

[@ALookIntoTheEulenspiegel]

I had not actually read the title and description when the video started, because when I see a new OSP video... I click. So you can be proud to know that I intrinsically still knew every single story beat from watching the original video 3 years ago. At first I thought I was going crazy, but it turns out your videos just have a very easy time staying in my memory.

[@vanmars5718]

I literally bursted to tears...you made it so emotional 😭

[@oryxcalrissian6917]

Never thought I needed to hear Blue say: “Yes, Basileia…SLAYYYY!” until today

[@FuzzyStripetail]

Belisarius (one of the fiercest dinosaurs that rung a Belisarius with me) would have conquered the boot that is Italy much faster if he didn't enter foot first and instead started at the upper leg / thigh region then worked his way down.

[@Joshua-fq9tm]

same thoughts actually, I ain't no geographer but why won't he just march from Illyria from the north (like what Narses did in the later years after Belisarius)

[@maxweber6895]

I absolutly love you history (RE-)Summarized Videos :) Keep going

[@mariagartman2530]

That is some amazing work! Yes to the long form videos!

[@Nikos-o-gamer]

40:12 and second Morea lasted 8 more years than the rest of the empire falling to the ottomans in 1461

[@emperorbooglitch8540]

So basically, Rome is Team Fortress 2.

[@cryptic_kay]

I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE FOR DAYS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR UPLOADING THIS!!!!!!!

[@captianbacon]

This might be my favorite thing you put out.

[@dudewhatthewhat8983]

Okay, I listened to the newest podcast episode. And I have one note I need to say: If you want an example of GREAT asexual representation. Todd from “Bojack Horseman” is what I will give you. Not only does he have relatable struggles that plenty of ace people can relate to. Not only is he a fully fledged person, who is more then his sexuality, and gets to have plenty of great adventures and stories about other things (I hate it when a queer characters personality is “I’m queer” and that’s it) BUT the show also does a great job of explaining the entire concept, through Todd’s journey of figuring his sexuality out. I knew about being ace because of red, but I didn’t have the greatest understanding of it, but the show greatly changed that, and made me realize, I am asexual too. So yeah check it out. Cause even if the hole part about being ace comes in the later parts of the show, it’s not like I wouldn’t recommend the show before that. It’s pretty good.