What was it like to Grow Up Byzantine? DOCUMENTARY

[@InvictaHistory]

Click the link www.blinkist.com/invicta in my description to start your free 7 day trial with Blinkist and get 25% off of a Premium membership.

[@eldrenofthemist2492]

This Sounds like a Good life. One I could Come to love. If I was Born a Byzantine.

[@maryumgardner5958]

Can you do the Yoruba and Akan peoples?

[@josipradica5284]

Byzantine did not worshipstatues but icons, there is lot of statues in video

[@MaxStArlyn]

4:17 The Roman Empire (falsely coined Byzantium), put an end to slavery via free will, informed by Orthodox Christianity, by about 1000 AD.

[@MaxStArlyn]

4:12 The Orthodox Christian Roman Empire, led by Constantinople (falsely named Byzantine Empire ), ended slavery 1000 yrs ago, via FREE WILL. While people groups, informed by other world views, denominations, other religions, or even atheists, all doubled down on it. Almost a 1000 years later, via threat of violence, civil wars, and political conflict, …slavery was banned, by extreme force. Totally disregarding freewill. Officially to this day, the west, didn’t put an end to slavery via free will, like the Orthodox Christian Roman Empire led by glittering Constantinople did do. ......”Slavery became common within much of Europe during the Dark Ages and it continued into the Middle Ages. The Byzantine-Ottoman wars (1265-1479) and the Ottoman wars in Europe (14th to 20th centuries) resulted in the capture of large numbers of Christian slaves. The Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese, British, Arabs and a number of West African kingdoms played a prominent role in the Atlantic slave trade, especially after 1600. In the Eastern part of the one and only Roman (wrongly coined Byzantine) Empire, slaves became quite rare by the first half of the 7th century[1] A shift in the view of slavery is noticed, which by the 10th century transformed gradually a slave-object into a slave-subject.[2] From 11th century, semi-feudal relations largely replaced slavery, seen as "an evil contrary to nature, created by man's selfishness", although slavery was permitted by the law.”…ωικιρεδια

[@wu1ming9shi]

Well let's be honest. They prolly didn't think their empire would ever stop existing. So maybe no wonder they didn't bother writing things down about their society to be remembered. This happens with a lot of empires.

[@honinakecheta601]

Their empire lasted a thousand years didn’t it?? I’d think the same way as them if that were the case lol

[@f1camel860]

@@honinakecheta601 Rome lasted about 2200 years and was an empire for about 1400

[@honinakecheta601]

@@f1camel860 that’s impressive

[@f1camel860]

@@honinakecheta601 it is indeed

[@silmarian]

Even today, when we have thousands of years of empires rising and falling behind us, how many people honestly think America will fall apart? Also, this exact thing is why I roll my eyes at people snarking over people documenting their lives in tedious detail. If only .01% of what we write today is found and deciphered by future historians, what a treasure trove that will be! Still incomplete, but even still.

[@johndoe5432]

I really appreciate that you guys often take a more human look at history and our ancestors. It's too easy to become lost in wars and great building projects, to forget that our predecessors lived and breathed just as we do. And that many of the struggles we endure today were theirs before.

[@johnchao2422]

Amen bro

[@henripentant1120]

Wars and buildings and the biographies of prominent people ard important but people just have lost any sense of temporal scale and that matters to interpretation of history.

[@CHRB-nn6qp]

Very true. People focus so much on war in the history community that it just gets boring so fast.

[@armartin0003]

As a writer, your "What was it like to Grow up" series is invaluable to my fiction. Thank you very much.

[@janteo1]

same

[@javierbonnemaisoncorreas7397]

Same, I love it

[@tylarjeffs6654]

Same

[@BenAC75]

Same here.

[@Bxll_Bxll]

I often do research in writing so it really does help :D I think a lot of writers do this to make their worlds more believable

[@sarysa]

Episodes like this really helps one appreciate just how weird modern life is. In the Byzantine times, you knew where you stood, you were trained in the family profession from an early age (aka everyone was the Tiger Woods of their profession), had a hard life but a mostly predictable future. (more likely to be interrupted by war than everything) Nowadays, a lot of us are nomads, not finding out place in the world until 20's, 30's, sometimes even 40's, but with opportunities for adventure that Byzantine commoners could only dream of. Really puts things into perspective.

[@achillesrodriguezxx3958]

In eastern Rome the profession of a soldier was inherited. Passed on from father to son

[@dimitrikemitsky]

@@achillesrodriguezxx3958 that is.. very very incorrect for the majority of soldiers.

[@achillesrodriguezxx3958]

@@dimitrikemitsky For the thematic armies not the tagmata

[@tylerellis9097]

@@achillesrodriguezxx3958 Well depends on wether you’re on the recent side of scholars who believe thematic Troops were full time and didn’t actually do any farming which they had farmers do for them or on the side who believe they were Soldier farmers who were farmers that acted as part time soldiers second.

[@The-Plaguefellow]

It's a funny thing, that. Really, the more "nomadic" development paths of the commoners of the 21st century is just because of greater automation of many once-manual labor-intensive jobs and professions, leading to more and more time spent without a "focus". To me, at least, such isn't necessarily a bad thing, humans are infamously adaptable creatures societally, unfortunately, at least in the U.S., we're very deadset on insisting that we still live in a pre-computerized/more rustic/less-interconnected age... ... Actually, that means we humans aren't very societally-adaptive at all, so nevermind.

[@AbsolXGuardian]

11:51 I'm glad you acknowledged just how important skills stuff like weaving and cooking are to the functioning of a household, community, and/or society. The restriction of women to such tasks combined with the devaluing of women often means that even modern historians will focus only on the forced part and not the fact that these were important tasks that someone had to do

[@bill884]

The world that the video describes was not so different until very recently in the Greek world. To this day, many things that he described, for example, taking your name from your grandfather is still done today, and taking care of your parents is considered a great virtue. And many more that he said in the video you will find in a Greek community today. So you did not describe to me a foreign world but a very familiar and almost the same hahaha. Very good work!

[@samalaimukhametova7290]

Такое есть и в некоторых тюркских народах

[@mattstakeontheancients7594]

As an American it’s hard to imagine living in an empire(Byzantine) and city(Constantinople) that survived that long. I mean Constantinople lasted for over 1100 years until it was conquered and name was changed.

[@spary5751]

It's name remained the same even after the ottoman conquest, it was the Turkish Republic that changed Constantinople's name to Istanbul in the 1920s, although this had been a name in unofficial use for some time before this.

[@spary5751]

@@Zeerich-yx9po I never said it did

[@Deridus]

@@Zeerich-yx9po That's a nifty tidbit of linguistics. Neat.

[@dinos9607]

The name was not changed. Ottomans called Constantiniya until the 20th century.

[@somekindofflower2024]

@@Zeerich-yx9po true that

[@naly202]

So refreshing to hear a person with American accent speaking about the Byzantine Era. Sadly, the rich Byzantine legacy tends to be overlooked in the West. Even when it comes to art museums: they carry on about Renaissance this and that, as if the Renaissance appeared out of nowhere, invented itself. They completely forget the whole movement was sparked by learned Byzantines, fleeing to Italy to escape the Turkish invasion.

[@TheChiconspiracy]

It doesn't help that term Byzantine misleads a lot of people who are fans of Roman history into thinking the residents of the Empire were no longer Roman.

[@andro7862]

@@TheChiconspiracy True. I always call them Eastern Romans.

[@ΒασιλείατῶνῬωμαῖων]

@@TheChiconspiracy That is precisely the whole reason for creating the term Byzantine. Denials of Roman-ness of the eastern Roman culture.

[@okdude8215]

@@andro7862 no reason to clarify it as eastern after the western part fell its just roman empire

[@RandomVidsforthought]

​@@okdude8215Eastern Rome is still correct

[@Slav_Stiibun]

Charlemagne's empire would be fascinating to hear about, or growing up in the ancient Qing empire, growing up in the Mughal empire, or growing up in a samurai clan.

[@Crytica.]

Or growing up in Detroit

[@lord_cataphract216]

Charlemagnes empire probably not but about the other ones it surely would be

[@cricka09]

@@Crytica. that would not be interesting, just depressing

[@whathell6t]

@@cricka09 What the hell are you talking about? 8 mile was a good story about Detroit.

[@cricka09]

@@whathell6t it was a joke...

[@Sp-zj5hw]

The difference in surname ending is because the surnames were Greek. For instance we say Αλέξιος Κομνηνός(the name is very common in modern Greece) and Αννα Κομνηνή, the ending of the surname follows the gender.

[@legioromanaxvii7644]

Comnenos was not a Greek surname. It was a Thracian surname, but in a hellenized form. Some historians suspect that his family came from the ancient Thracian town of Comna. The Thracian language went extinct after 700 AD, supplanted by Greek language but the Thracians did not disappear. They just became east Romans.

[@Sp-zj5hw]

@@legioromanaxvii7644 Thracians were wiped out even before the Peloponnesian war and were colonized by southern Greeks. So what you write makes no sense. Read Thucydides about the Peloponnesian war, where Thrace was a major war front. When you refer to Greece proper, Hellespont, Asia Minor and Anatolia is a good practice to know some classical sources because i see many "Roman" fanatics here who are ignorant of the Greek colonization process in the region. There were two major Greek colonizations. These things are taught in elementary school guys.

[@Sp-zj5hw]

@@legioromanaxvii7644 Something else that many people do not understand is that for someone to be considered Greek , he had to speak Greek. Only Sparta and some Dorians were racist in the term "Greek", as Isokrates stated "Greek is everyone who has Greek education." Keep that in mind when reading about the middle ages Roman Empire. I am explaining very basic things here, everyone who did not speak Greek was a barbarian. When the hybrid cultures of Ptolemaic Egypt or Syria or IndoBactria were formed they stopped to be barbarian because they spoke Greek. Rhomaioi like Anna use the term Barbarian for non Greek speakers even in the middle ages.

[@Sp-zj5hw]

@@legioromanaxvii7644 The ending in surname "ηνος" like Kομνηνός, Μεταληνός etc usually states in Greek someone's place of descent. Learn Greek guys, it will make your Roman study a lot easier.

[@legioromanaxvii7644]

@@Sp-zj5hw The Thracian people were never wiped out. They were romanized by culture, and by language hellenized (until the Ottomans invaded Thrace, and began to spread the Turkish language, thereby they were turkified and still are turkified today). Thrace was never thought of as part of Greece, either by ancient Greeks or the Romans or even the Ottomans. Thrace is its own geographical unit, being an ancient land that was slowly hellenized and romanized during Roman rule. The Greeks never colonized all of Thrace, that is something that you made up completely out of thin air in order to justify Greek imperialism.

[@lefterismagkoutas4430]

Wow amazing video as a Greek I thank you for exploring such an interesting part of our history and culture!

[@ilias8972]

I don't know if the upload is a coincidence or not, but on this day Constantinople fell. May 29th, 1453

[@Derzelas05]

Sad day 😔

[@legateelizabeth]

RIP Constantine XI. Refusing to live as an Emperor without an Empire.

[@wu1ming9shi]

😔 F for Constantinople! That it's legacy be never forgotten!

[@nestormakepontos9700]

😔😪

[@AdmiralBonetoPick]

@@wu1ming9shi As I told my Greek girlfriend on our first date: "Don't worry, you'll get it back one of these days." She replied: "I hope so."

[@feildpres]

another amazing video!!! these "growing up" videos are some of my favorite history videos on the internet. We always see what it was like to be a king, or to serve in an army, but rarely do we ever see glimpses of the daily lives of ordinary folk

[@stylianos8686]

The urban areas didn't speak “more Latin”. Greek was spoken in large cities like Constantinople or Thessaloniki as the main language. Latin was only used in the early years of the empire by the government.

[@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ]

Latin was spoken heavily in the Balkans as well, and in Constantinople there must have been at least thousands if not tens of thousands who spoke Latin during the reign of Justinian the Great. The decline of Latin really begins to become reality after the loss of the Balkan provinces to the Avars and Slavs.

[@justtime6736]

Lol did you even watch the fucking video OP?

[@hachibidelta4237]

@@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ also the Dalmatian coast continued to use vulgar Latin. Ragusa was consistently part of the empire which does so even after it became independent.

[@achillesrodriguezxx3958]

Latin is still used predominantly in the Balkans and Thrace. The Justinian dynasty was founded by Justin who was born an illiterate peasant in the Balkans who died an emperor of Rome. Latin was also the language of the army until heraclius who changed it to Greek almost 100 years later

[@ericponce8740]

The Emperor Heraclius made Greek the official language of the Roman world during his reign.

[@ΘΕΟΦΑΝΩΚΟΜΝΗΝΟΣ]

To say that Latin was more widely spoken in Urban areas is largely incorrect. Not a single literary work in Latin exists from 600 to 1216 after the occupation of Constantinople by Latins, the lingua franca in both urban and rural areas was medieval Greek while scholars or senators could expect to learn more refined and educated dialects of Greek such as Attic Greek but Latin was not even close to being a living language in the empire after the 7th century.

[@dimitrispvoice133]

That's very true, and even in the beginning he mentions that mostly greek literacture was founded about the Empire yet proceeds to say ''it's biased and ignores little details''?? It's the only written document he has about that era! He's the one that ignores these details and choose to ''investigate'' by himself. One of these failures is how he completely ignores the fact that greek was the dominant language of the Byzantine empire as it was stated through literacture and history. I don't understand why there are some people that only in the last few years started doubting the hellenism of the Empire. The modern world deleted the history books and artifacts from existence? What gives?!?

[@ΘΕΟΦΑΝΩΚΟΜΝΗΝΟΣ]

@@dimitrispvoice133 I was really impressed coming from Invicta, even legal texts were already predominantly Greek by the time of Anastasius. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_bureaucracy_and_aristocracy en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_law

[@esti-od1mz]

In some areas north to the Jarček line, latin was (and is) spoken. Justinian was born as an illitterate, latin speaker peasant. As time passed, latin was less and less used

[@ΘΕΟΦΑΝΩΚΟΜΝΗΝΟΣ]

@@esti-od1mz True, after him came the Slavic invasions that mixed all the languages and traditions of the region, essentially Latin then became a feature of the West, especially Italy and Spain.

[@MagisterMilitumBelisarius5365]

@@esti-od1mz Latin was also spoken foremostly in Constantinople. There were also many Latin speakers in Asia Minor around Pisidia, Caria and Isauria. And in Greece, Corinth was a Roman colony. A lot of the Aromanians in Greece are probably descendants of Latin colonists.

[@deirdregibbons5609]

Excellent work! This is a period of history that I find fascinating, and it is nice to see your coverage. Beverly's artwork is always so charming, and she did a great job here.

[@Lassisvulgaris]

As in all multicultural soscieties, you had many ethnicities....

[@InvictaHistory]

I love being able to cover topics of daily life! What aspects would you like to see us cover? You can let us know here or on our Patreon where we run polls, release script previews, and provide art downloads: www.patreon.com/InvictaHistory

[@soloinvictus1057]

I would like to see something done in the far east, like how Japanese children were brought up in a Shinto- Buddhist society while also retaining a martial vigor and strict traditionalism. Also then inner workings of feudalism, peasantry, and merchantilism especially when compared to their neighbors. Edit: love what you and your channel does!

[@InvictaHistory]

@The Philosoraptor I'd certainly love to do something about attending those events! As for the Nika riots we actually did cover that history a while back: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ep6cnqaZgZekfrc

[@jackiecozzie4803]

I'd love to see more Byzantine stuff for people of all classes, like food, naming conventions, work, clothing etc. There's so many parts to culture so I love to see how they have varied through history

[@horusproductionsproudlypre6753]

Invicta can you tell us the name of the musical pieces that you use in your videos?

[@angela_merkeI]

How people learned of their relative's (for example son's) death in combat in the Ancient /Mediaeval world. If your son dies while serving in the legion in Britannia, do the officials send a letter to you who lives in Mauretania, do you have to rely on comrades returning home someday or do you just never hear of him again?

[@georgepeterson4708]

It's still a tradition in Greece to name some of the children after their grandparents I was named after my paternal grandfather

[@demetriusstiakkogiannakes1326]

Same thing can be said about the Last names

[@2dimitropolis370]

In Serbia in schools, we learn so much about this empire. In great details. So this seam very poorly done. And I can only imagine how much they study about it in Greece. Serbia was eather part of it or it's crazy neighbor, but we share same Orthodox faith, so there is also love and admiration. Numerous princesses from Serbia married in Constantinopolis ' royal families, and their married into ours. The last Byzantine impress was a Serb-Yelena Dejanovic h-Dragash... Aka Helena Paleologina. Wife of one and mother of two tsars. The Church was so powerful and faith was so strong that every 3rd citizen was member of clergy. They were deeply devoted Christians till fanatism. So, by making fun of their beliefs regarding child birth and the holly objects that they were using is very disrespectful. The one and only God's empire. So the life was full of joy and happiness to serve. I know that you on the west will never understand this level of God-fearing love and life, but at leasy try to. Your animation are totally wrong. This was not north Africa, ask some Greek to help you. Or look up for some paintings from churches...

[@RishiKumar-ie6ns]

Thanks so much for doing this Invicta! Its really nice to hear the stories of these cultures who are too often reduced to wars, famous individuals and large-scale events. If I had to ask for the next culture to consider, I would probably ask for you to delve further into Eastern and/or Middle Eastern cultures (broad I know but pls do bear with me). I am a bit biased to anything from India but I would particularly love something from Persia or China as well. Even if you were to go into cultures within or bordering the steppes, I would love the venture nonetheless :-)

[@TalonBrush]

This is an amazing overview of Byzantine life, even if it had to have been pieced together from infuriatingly sparse sources on the matter. There was so much here to inspire my own fictional empire in a fantasy world I'm writing. Love the art and animation, as well!

[@sushanalone]

Next 'How was it' video suggestion. How was it to be a Mongol child growing up on the steppes before Genghis Khan/ Temujin.

[@robbabcock_]

Fascinating! I love those rare glimpses we can get into the daily lives of ordinary people in the ancient world.

[@PakBallandSami]

“Byzantium The unpurged images of day recede; The Emperor's drunken soldiery are abed; Night resonance recedes, night-walkers' song After great cathedral gong; A starlit or a moonlit dome disdains All that man is, All mere complexities, The fury and the mire of human veins. Astraddle on the dolphin's mire and blood, Spirit after spirit! The smithies break the flood, The golden smithies of the Emperor! Marbles of the dancing floor Break bitter furies of complexity, Those images that yet Fresh images beget, That dolphin-torn, that gong-tormented sea.” ― W.B. Yeats,

[@sotiriospeithis6659]

I may have missed it, but seeing as the Byzantines lasted for more about 1000 years, it would be.important to state when in that time-lapse you place your study.

[@michaeldunne338]

Judging from the map provided, looks like a time period before the battle of Manzikert in 1071, but given the references to Alexios Komnenos, maybe covers a little bit of time afterwards (up to the 1100s?). As for lasting 1000 years, have to wonder about the impact on culture of new peoples/polities emerging, like the Slavs in the Balkans, or the Turks and those of the Muslim faith on the Anatolian Plateau? Or even of Crusaders, Italians, those of the Catholic faith (Latins) seizing Constantinople in 1204 and dividing up a bit of the rump state that was the Byzantine Empire then?

[@sotiriospeithis6659]

@@michaeldunne338 yeah, thats what I mean. Depending on when one sets the marker, byzantine society would be nothing alike. But the reference to the theme system also points to the timeperiod you mentioned : sometimes before mantzikert and after Alexios

[@hachibidelta4237]

@@michaeldunne338 it exist for 1400 years, so of course it influenced and was influenced by other cultures. There were lots of Anatolian-Armenian culture too that often got overlooked.

[@DestroyerOfSense000]

@@michaeldunne338 This map would fit the peak of the Macedonian revival, after the conquest of Bulgaria by Basil II in about 1015, and before the first substantial losses in southern Italy to the Normans (1035 - 1040, I believe).

[@tylerellis9097]

@@DestroyerOfSense000 Yeah its an inaccurate attempt at a immediate post Basil Byzantine Empire map( Bruh Georgia why). Norman losses started in 1040 afterwards btw

[@KTChamberlain]

I'm still requesting an episode of How They Did It: Growing Up on Ancient Egypt. I know, Egypt has a very long history, spanning at least 3,000 years the BC era, and it has different phases and foreign occupiers: Hyksos, Nubians, Libyans, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans in the ancient world, but funny thing about Egypt is that very little changed culturally in Egypt over that timeframe although they did remix their gods every now and then.

[@JonathanRivera-dj6mm]

That would be cool!

[@alejandrosakai1744]

When I was starting to self-study Antiquity and the early medieval period, I didn't like the Byzantine period due to what happened to them but this is getting interesting for me!

[@hokiebuddy]

Taking care of parents in their elderly age. What a concept….something we have forgotten largely today.

[@robkunkel8833]

Hi … I’m going to sign up for the app. Love that graphics were used intelligently, even lovingly. No comic book characters. The caveats at the beginning were appreciated. You describe research concerns very well. My reasons for being interested in thishistory stems creating play about a fictional social gathering spot in Judea, first century BC. The characters are there to do the census. A place that would be sought by the affluent Romans conducting the Census, government officials, persons involved in the spice trade and, of course, the people running the taverna. Working title: “Gus’s Place”.

[@screamingseal4805]

Shalom fellow upstater 👋

[@tonytruong861]

Excellent video Invicta, hopefully were will the "Growing up Persian" episode. 👍

[@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ]

Thank you Invicta, for making this video. Half of my family comes from Istanbul (Constantinople). We still are calling ourselves Romans even until modern times. My grandparents were self-identifying as "Rhomaeoi" (Romans) since when I was first little. We have not forgotten the great Roman Empire. Long live Rome.

[@Sendo664]

Are u living in greece now or somewhere else? And do you identify yourself also as ethnic hellene or is it for you something completly foreign? Greetings

[@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ]

@@Sendo664 Greetings, friend. My family now lives in Canada, some live in Germany. We left Anatolia decades ago. I can only remember my family saying that they are "Romans" in heavy Pontic Greek dialect. We call our language, "Romaeica", meaning Roman. I have met many Greek-Canadians in Canada, but they use the term "Ellenes" for self-designating themselves.

[@Sendo664]

@@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ All hellenes called themselves "Rhomioi" one century ago. But as far as i know pontians are the last ones who kept that traditions

[@demetriusstiakkogiannakes1326]

@@Sendo664 Correct and they used that term in all Greek speaking-Orthodox territories, as far as Crete. But as the Kingdom of Greece was founded in the 19th century and other Greek speaking parts of the Ottoman Empire sought independence they changed their Roman identification to the Hellenic term.

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

@@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ hey man, im not Greek but i always wanted to know a Greek from Constantinople (watever the name). Your family were from Constantinople or Anatolia ? Plz to meet you Modern Byzantine/Roman (I hope the term Byzantine is not offensive to you)

[@cpt.georgios6340]

Thanks for providing such detailed information about my ancestors, something that school didn’t!

[@rosswebster7877]

Fantastic Groing Up video as always Ivicta! I know I’m not the first to suggest this, but Growing Up Mongol might be a good addition series. I’d also like to see something about growing up to become an Ancient/Medieval Chinese bureaucrat. Something about what it was like to go to a Medieval European university would be great too. Also Groing Up in Moorish Spain would be fascinating too.

[@RexoryByzaboo]

Your suggestions are so interesting.

[@yaboyed5779]

How ironic, releasing a video of growing up Byzantine on the day t It fell😢😢😢😢😢

[@yaboyed5779]

@The Philosoraptor yup🫡🫡 May 29th

[@lordsiomai]

This is wonderful video. It really puts into perspective how different (and similar) these societies and civilizations are to our modern life. It's easy to remember Rome for Caesar, France for Napoleon, all the well-known artists, works of architecture, major wars, and etc., but in the end it's the simple everyday life of the people that tells the story of what an empire was like the best.

[@byzantinetales]

That’s a wonderful and concise description of how growing up in the ERE was.

[@Cpt.Blackadder]

Brace yourselves lads, Turks are invanding the comments to prove that Greeks were a footnote of Byzantium and that they are descendants of ancient Anatolian population, (so says their school books at least).

[@ThomasGazis]

Έχει γεμίσει το γιουτιουμπ με δεκάδες λουξ βίντεο στα αγγλικά που προπαγανδίζουν σκόπιμα ότι το Βυζάντιο ήταν Ρωμαϊκό και δεν είχε καμία Ελληνική συνιστώσα!

[@ΛαβύρινθοςτηςΜέδουσας]

It is not only Turks, it is anybody who has ever studied history. The heartland of the Roman Empire in the East was Anatolia, not really Greece. Anatolian ethnic groups composed the multitude of the Byzantine/Roman population. The Anatolians comprised a vastly divergent array of vibrant ethnic groups, spanning from Lydians to Cappadocians to Medians. Not only Balkan Greeks, who really were just a minority in Anatolia, just another invading force who managed to take over under Great Greek King Alexander of Macedon. The Romans took over after Macedonians. So Anatolians experienced a wave of hellenization, romanization and christianization. The last and most recent chapter in their history was their turcification. Anatolians are Turks now. But may we be honest, Anatolians were the heartfolk of the East Roman Empire, not we Greeks who were under opression.

[@Cpt.Blackadder]

@@ΛαβύρινθοςτηςΜέδουσας Your argument is in the right direction, but: a) I was referring to Greeks as the Hellenic civilization not the actual DNA. b) It also up to the knowledge of anyone that has actually studied history and from the archaeological finds, that we know of not just small greek speaking minorities of self intentified Greeks throughout Anatolia (which even it self is a greek word goddammit 😆). And finally c) Greek, Greeks, Greece are all new words i dare you to do DNA analysis to any Greek and Turk and see if anyone nowadays is fully somethin.. we talk about the influence of a civilizations here, and how a whole Empire that existed spoke, wrote, worshipped, and behaved, especially in the latter years. P.S I would love to discuss more about it but only with actual quotes and basis. Unfortunately as an archaeologist my self i can only try to help people to difference the intermerging of populus to the influence of civilizations so far via this platform.

[@gilpaubelid3780]

@@ΛαβύρινθοςτηςΜέδουσας Are you perhaps a Turk as well? Greeks were living in Anatolia since 1500 BC and 1923AD. That's almost 3500 years.. If that's "not really Greece" then what is? Greeks weren't "just a minority" in Anatolia, a big part of Anatolia was inhabited by them. Also Greeks settled in Anatolia long before Alexander, they didn't invade and weren't an "invading force" . Greeks were the heartfold of the byzantine empire and obviously weren't under oppression by themselves. You said "we Greeks" implying that you're Greek... So why so many mistakes in your comment?

[@ΛαβύρινθοςτηςΜέδουσας]

Dear Pantelis, I agree with you about a great many things. I wish that we could discuss in person, I am sure that we would have a great convo.

[@felipebortolanza5544]

Thanks for u videos. They help the fight against my depression

[@boredhi3454]

4:01 Oikogenia (Οικογενια) Family Οικος + Γενια House + generation Oikogenia = Generation of the house Truly greek is an amazing language

[@RoboticDragon]

I enjoy these videos. Always little things that people often ignore.

[@sebastianmaharg]

Why do all the featured individuals in the illustrations look like they hail more from the Indian subcontinent than Europe?

[@RexoryByzaboo]

This is what I've been waiting for. Thanks, Invicta.

[@TitusConstantine]

Good video! You should do a video about growing up in the early Ottoman empire. (I say early Ottoman empire because the Ottoman empire still existed somewhat in modern years.)

[@cultusdeus]

This is the best one in the series so far. Great job!

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

Fantastic, i was expecting how they did under foreign occupation, during rebellion or in the military. Also i imagine that the life of the citizens of the Byzantine Empire varied from eras and even from regions

[@agb6286]

This was really wonderful and engaging work. Thank you very much for making it.

[@carlramirez6339]

Please do a video on growing up in Ancient Judea

[@Pontus-dz2xh]

This was a great video! I really appreciate the attention to detail in visual representations!

[@ДаниелСпасов-ъ2ш]

As a person from the Balkans, some artistic choices from this video seem very strange, why are South European eastern romans painted like middle eastern and even sub Saharan people?

[@KatherineHugs]

I love these growing up videos! Thanks for all the hard work!!

[@px6883]

Idk why but sometimes I have like a weird kind of nostalgia for times when people's lives where more harsh, but much simpler than nowadays (no one expects you to find a profession that perfectly suits you, you don't have to worry about politics because you can't influence it anyway, etc.) even though I know that my life is probably way more enjoyable than it would have been back then

[@DestroyerOfSense000]

I definitely understand where you're coming from, but I don't feel the same way. It's not so much the hardships and dangers and relative lack of comfort, but the sheer monotony of it. I feel like I'd go absolutely mad from boredom.

[@vadalia3860]

I'm not sure how you manage to say "you don't have to worry about politics because you can't influence it anyway" in the comments of a video that talked about riots and people overthrowing emperors...

[@px6883]

@@vadalia3860 I'm pretty sure that 99% of people who lived in the Eastern Roman Empire during any time never participated in the overthrowing of an Emperor, they just included it in this video because it's interesting and it sometimes happened

[@mint8648]

in defense of bread and circus

[@AureliusLaurentius1099]

​@@DestroyerOfSense000 Well there is always the military and if your family was a merchant one, you would have a chance to travel through the Silk Road

[@grahamturner1290]

Fascinating, thank you!

[@aoi-chan8175]

Oh, you should do a growing up Ancient Chinese, or growing up as an Ancient Israelite

[@SlimRhyno]

I LOVE these videos! Thank you so much for making such entertaining and informative content. It's an excellent resource for people such as myself, and it is much appreciated!

[@theMadZakuPilot]

A "Growing up in Baghdad during the Islamic golden age" video would be great.

[@gre3nishsinx0Rgold4]

This was amazing. The steepe horde being mentioned makes me want to see them next. Growing up in the steepe.

[@Uzair_Of_Babylon465]

Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job

[@kimphilby7999]

Congratulations for this video! It describes very well the background of the Roman society,the Eastern one.A society which never tasted Middle Ages,nor witch hunting,because education was part of their lives.Every middle class boy was going to school,and even the farmers children knew to write and count. We are making the mistake in the west,to condemn the church,for the Middle Age's darkness,but the reality is that,in the east,there was no such regression.

[@jezusbloodie]

I love this series! I would love a such a video on bronze age europe, if that's even possible. Maybe as a collaboration with Dan Davis History, he probably knows if amd where to find information on that

[@lyricofwise6894]

Lol not much if at all, unless you mean the greece that existed before the BA Collapse

[@theromanorder]

PLEASE do a video on life in Egypt from different periods asap...

[@BenAC75]

These Byzantine Empire videos are so helpful for my medieval fantasy series that I'm writing. It's about two brothers who come from a country that is very much like the Byzantine Empire.

[@debbralehrman5957]

Thank you this was very informative.

[@orthochristos]

Interesting. But how do we know that the rural areas spoke Greek and the urban centres Latin? Is there a source we could look at?

[@eternal_riftz8801]

I dont think this is true either because its the opposite and they mostly spoke greek and latin was spoken in government or in italy so this is not true

[@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ]

Latin was spoken more frequently in Constantinople in the first few centuries after its inauguration. Constantine (the original, "the Great") wanted to attract folks to his new capital. It was easy for him to attract citizens from all corners of the Empire. Latin would have been spoken in the main urban centers since Latin was the language of military, government and law (even in the eastern provinces). But so was Greek. Latin was immensely influential until Constans II, and even after Constan's reign, Latin continued to affect the Greek language by gifting it with thousands of military, political and social terms. Many survive in modern Greek until today.

[@tylerellis9097]

There is no source, Latin use among Urban populations disappear in the early 700s of the Empire outside Italy, Balearics and Dalmatia

[@LDrosophila]

I really appreciate the history beyond wars and leaders

[@Alfonzridesagain]

Byzantines were Greek. These people have not been drawn Greek

[@papazataklaattiranimam]

😂😂😂😅😅😅 the entire world is hellenic according to greeks

[@ellenjoana1657]

I am half Greek and visit my family in Greece every year. I think the drawings are fairly accurate. Maybe some of the faces don't strike me as typical but that might just be the art style. For the most part Greeks tend to be darker/more Mediterranean looking than what Hollywood makes them out to be.

[@ΒασιλείατῶνῬωμαῖων]

Well if you want to push critique, make sure to start with the first part. Byzantines were Romans.

[@sammydasilva6152]

@@ellenjoana1657 Where in Greece have you been? I've been several times to Mainland Greece and the Islands. And the Greeks are not that dark when not suntanned. In fact, many tanned Greeks turn white in the winter or when they stop going to the beach and being in the sun much. Anyway, I have seen Greeks with light hair and eyes too, but they are a minority. That said, the Greeks in Cyprus, for instance, are darker than those on the Mainland, especially than those from the North.

[@demetriusstiakkogiannakes1326]

@@ΒασιλείατῶνῬωμαῖων And the Romans were Greek too, until they gave up their ethnic identity for the Hellenistic one.

[@sayville_silver]

Ill tell you one thing about growing up Byzantine.. They considered it "Growing up Roman" As they still very much identified as the Roman Empire and called themselves Roman.

[@Deridus]

It often surprises me just how much agency it is assumed that our ancestors gave their progeny. Marriage at 12-14? Professional life decisions at 10? Maybe it was because the parents were there 24/7 and cound therefore gauge better what their children could or could not be trusted with, compared to the modern school system where we are no longer raising our children and therefore don't actually know who thry are or what they are truly capable of?

[@randomelite4562]

Tbf the marriages were controlled by the parents or guardians

[@popculturecurious4535]

I think it was because of the lower life expectancy. Before the invention of antibiotics, the average person was expected to only live until their late 40s.

[@kbye2321]

@@popculturecurious4535Life expectancy is only so low because infants and children below 5 are included (those groups have much higher mortality rates). If you were an adult or even a teen, then you were likely to reach your 70s.

[@yamataichul]

Is easier when a whole community is raised for generations with child marriage in mind, not even teenage marriage. But it had it's problems, technically they still are much similar to "not christian" Romans of yesteryear. Addictions and personal need for "true" freedom is still an issue present (that's why alcoholics and prostitutes are mentioned)

[@Deridus]

@@yamataichul Solid points. Thank you for reminding me.

[@sologemeni]

lol as soon as you mentioned the Komnenos in naming I instantly thought of Alexios Komnenos; and then I thought "let me guess, he's going to bring up Anna next?" I died =))

[@Adam_okaay]

Growing up Parthian or Sassanid or Armenian or Assyrian is what I want to see.

[@stylianos8686]

I really love how you chose to post this the day Constantinople fell! 😭😭😭😭

[@my_vlog2478]

I would love to see “growing up Egyptian” next. For a large portion of my elementary school years I thought that Egyptians were pale skinned even though they lived in the middle of the desert. And even though they have popularity in Hollywood, not much just really talked about their history or mythology. I would love to see how kids grew up then

[@JatPhenshllem]

Egyptians aren't pale skinned?

[@jonathanwilliams1065]

Egyptians were pale skinned compared to their southern neighbors The “we was kangz” crowd is full of crap

[@lorenzospitaleri]

ancient egyptians were light brown and the men were tanned from the sun, not black like these fools depict them

[@birgbirg111]

@@lorenzospitaleri best answer

[@elenakusevska6266]

It's amazing how much Byzantium (and Rome in general) influenced life in the Balkans. This is what life was like for everyone orthodox in the Balkans until the 1900s (extended families, taking your father's profession, grandfather's first name, first names recycled in a family... It's a shame, we are much more similar than we like to admit.

[@vanmars5718]

Urban areas in Byzantium: Constantinople, Thessaloniki, Smyrna, Antioch, Athens, Trabzon : All traditional Greek speaking Invicta: urban areas spoke Latin 👀👀👀👀

[@hachibidelta4237]

Well to be fair early Constantinople was Latin speaking, but they just gradually got overwhelmed by Greek speaking migrants.

[@vanmars5718]

@@hachibidelta4237Early Constantinople was Latin speaking? Do you understand that Constantinople was nothing but a new name for an existing thriving Greek city called Byzantio? Soo early Constantinople was definitely Greek speaking since the existing population was the ones who had already lived in the city and nobody forced them to leave. So when did Constantinople became Latin speaking? At what point in history? What are the sources and historical material?? Why all the inscriptions from the city throughout the centuries are in Greek? The only Latin we have from Constantinople is the official documents of the Emperor and that up until the 6th -7th). But that is the royal court alone... So again are u serious? Constantinople and Latin? No.... *Migrants can only be the Latin speakers in Constantinople. Greek speakers in Constantinople are the ones who found the city.

[@vanmars5718]

@@hachibidelta4237 For making things more clear. People of the early Constantinople named their city as Constantinople in Greek. Lol. The name of the city is in Greek. Constantinopolis, the city of Constantine. Not in Latin, in Greek. I'm really astonished by this new narrative that some people try to pass on. Latin speaking Constantinople? Omg🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@hachibidelta4237]

@@vanmars5718 "why all inscription from the city is in Greek" ahhh suit your self then

[@hachibidelta4237]

@@vanmars5718 Nea Roma Constantinopolis

[@FritzHitz]

Love your documentaries much appreciated man

[@siredgar1235]

do what was it like to grow up in medieval times and the renaissance in western Europe (France, England, and others) please

[@osvaldoolmeda3773]

Like always, very interesting information!

[@vandare6913]

"In the end, the mediaeval (Christian) Byzantine Empire was characterised by political and cultural identity, whose romanness was inseparably linked with Greek language. Religious (Christian) and cultural and linguistic (Hellenic) stereotypes offered a sense of superiority over all other ethne, combined with the correlating hetero-stereotypes, this sense of superiority was disseminated not only in the upper classes, but throughout the population of Byzantium. It worked also and especially in periods of political decline. THE GREEK LANGUAGE BECAME THE REAL BASIS OF THE ROMAIC NATIONAL AWARENESS." Johannes Koder (2018) [Hellene, Romios, Greek: Collective Identifications and Identities] Eurasia Publications, pp.85

[@johanalitalo8331]

Beutiful work, like to see more videos from the byzantine empire.

[@LondonPower]

If you want to see the byzantine ways visit Greece 🇬🇷 the churches monasteries street markets villages.. Also every year at 29 may we mourn for the fall of Constantinnople

[@3452te]

it would have been amazing to see the architecture, forums, Libraries, schools, the artwork, & the remaining classical Roman arenas, roads & aquaducts still maintained in Eastern Roman Empire from the 6th to 10th century.

[@ThomasGazis]

Roman arenas??? There were none in Byzantium! They Byzantines were predominantly Greek and they mostly kept the Hellenistic traditions!

[@3452te]

@@ThomasGazis yes only, well some in North Africa during the reign of Emperor Heraclius. As a Frankish monk stated in seeing him there.

[@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ]

​@@ThomasGazis How funny. Are you trying to win a comedy award? In Constantinople there were Roman buildings everywhere. Roman aqueducts, Roman forums, Roman temples. Even the "Hagia Sophia" itself followed standard Roman engineering techniques. Ask yourself why it does not look anything like the Athenian Acropolis or the Temples of Olympia in Greece. The Theodosian Walls are also Roman walls. You are a living in a fantasy world if you think that the Greeks built these things and not the Romans. Even the name of the city itself bears the name of a Roman emperor, Constantine. And the official name still used by the Patriarch in Istanbul, Turkey, is "New Rome".

[@ThomasGazis]

​@@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ Let me correct you first on "Haghia Sophia". The ingenious architects-engineers who designed and calculated statistically (on papers and pencils - what a momentous task!) the wondrous church of Haghia Sophia were both Greek-Byzantines: Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. So Haghia Sophia is the product of Greek minds and of Greek artisanate! In your usual "bullish" style you are calling me a comedian and you are claiming that I live in a fantasy world, because I don't accept the fact that all the important buildings, city walls etc. of that era were built by latin Romans! Once more, you are wrong! First of all, the Greeks had achieved an amazing level of mastery on huge buildings and structures, long before the Romans! Remember that during the Hellenistic era the Greeks had built i.e. the Lighhouse of ancient Alexandria - which essentially was a sky-scraper! And the reality is that the Romans were massively employing Greek (or easterners with a Greek education) architects and engineers, like Apollodorus, who designed and calculated statistically the famous "Pantheon" of Rome - and the less known but quite impressive bridge that bridged the river Danube, for the Roman army to cross it! You are claiming that the name of the Byzantine capital was Roman. Again that's not true! I don't dispute the fact that Constantine the Great was a trully latin Roman emperor! But how comes he (and his immediate successors) gave to the new capital of their empire a Greek name? You see, the name "Κωνσταντινούπολης" (Constantinople) is purely Greek! It is composed of the Constantine's name in Greek (in its possessive case: "Κωνσταντίνου", meaning "Constantine's") and of the Greek word "ΠΟΛΙΣ" (POLIS - meaning city). How comes a proud Roman emperor like Constantine (and his immediate successors) condescended to the fact of their new imperial capital being named in Greek - and not in Latin (i.e. "Constantiniurb")???

[@jman173]

good job guys

[@ButchBirdie]

I'd love to hear about growing up Mughal or ancient Zimbabwean

[@raphaelledesma9393]

If we base it on Orthodox traditions, women most likely underwent churching after childbirth. For 40 days, the mother (whether the child died or not) would remain at home for 40 days to recuperate from childbirth and to spend more time with the child. At the end of this period, the mother and child would be brought to the church to receive a special blessing and mark her return to society. However, as one can imagine, this would be more commonly done by the urban and wealthy population. A mother might be needed more quickly if there was a farm or needed work.

[@kyrydonas1358]

As a greek and a descendant of byzantium, I do feel a bit offended, that all byzantines have been blackwashed. The artist should take a trip to greece. We Greeks are caucasians, not arabs / africans. Just because we differ from skandinavian blondes and anglo "white guys", does not make us non-european. We are the original europeans (even the word europe is a greek girls name... come on)

[@ItalMiser117]

That's literally how they looked like. More like modern day turks (more or less)

[@Stanley_Ca.]

​@@ItalMiser117Excuse me but comparing ancient Greeks including modern with Turks is absolutely a big mistake considering the fact that Turkish lifestyle destroyed Christian lifestyle.

[@ItalMiser117]

@@Stanley_Ca. i do not compare them culturally but ethnically

[@JustAskingquestions10]

Byzantine or the eastern roman Empire was a big empire including modern day Greece, turkey and the middle east. So Greeks are not the only descendants of the empire.

[@halorecon95]

@@ItalMiser117 Eventhough this isn't true, have you seen modern day Turks? They're not brown, lol. Especially not *this* brown, which is closer to Somalians than Arabs.

[@brookewoodside6123]

Please do what it was like growing up in ancient Egypt

[@haremking0018]

even a single diary would have given a better information source then all the ones used in this video!

[@scoon2117]

I really wonder what their personalitys were like, their sense of humor, the sound of their laughter, their smiles.

[@ruanheleno409]

Um vídeo sobre o império bizantino, no dia da queda de Constantinopla coincidência???

[@-RONNIE]

Thanks for the video a lot of information

[@_chara_4426]

It’s sad how most people depict Byzantines like they were Romas when they were mostly Greeks, Armenians, Slavs and Albanians. The language they spoke was Greek (both in urban centers and in the county)

[@ΡωμαϊκόνΠύρ]

They were Romans. You are uneducated. The Greek language was the language of not only Greeks, but the Romans. Many nationalities spoke Greek back then, much like how many speak English, Spanish or Arabic today.

[@akjdhajkdjhaghjkadh9804]

love this

[@olbiomoiros]

Why is there a minaret at 0:38

[@kochetovalex]

Great video! Many thanks! Can you please cover the next culture: Eastern Slavs (i.e. Kyivan Rus)? Thanks in advance!

[@bernie5951]

Why all people are portrayed so dark skined Greeks are not soo dark skined

[@sammydasilva6152]

@Dead Beat Nope. Greeks are darker than Northern Europeans but not that dark. In fact, the Byzantine folks depicted themselves way lighter than the Cartoons here. I have seen plenty mosaics of them and they are still on the white range.

[@skullthrower8904]

blackwashing history

[@valorwarrior7628]

exactly! Life in the Byzantine Era was much more comfortable and saw leverage than their predecessor.

[@Feon83]

Although the animation is great and the video too, i must say that the people portrayed in this, are middle eastern and not Mediterranean people. Yes, maybe people in the centrer and in the depths of Anatolia (Asia minor) and citizens of the middle eastern or even Caucasus provinces or even some costal areas maybe looked like that but the rest of the population probably looked like modern day Greeks, Italians and Spaniards but many of them a little shorter. So you would had a variety of looks from pale to more olive skin from blonde hair and blue eyes to brunette and dark hair and brown eyes, as portrayed in only a couple of scenes here. Especially in the interior of the Greek peninsula witch has a mountain temperate climate and was home to not only Greeks but also Wallachians and some Slavic communities and surely north of Greece where a lot of Slavic people had intercrated into the empire and made up a big chunk of the population there. So in my opinion the people should had looked more diverse as in modern day Mediterranean countries and not so much middle eastern because I think this gives the idea that the empire was a middle eastern empire more closely related and resemble the Persian or even the Arab empire while this is not the case. The empire was a Mediterranean/Balkan empire (although the term Balkan is easy for missinterpratation today) with a lot of influences by the east as this was always the case for the Romans and the ancient Greeks.

[@joeywheelerii9136]

Growing up In New Spain would be cool.

[@demetriusstiakkogiannakes1326]

To everyone watching this video when referring to the Byzantines. The video basically refers to the Eastern Roman citizens or Byzantine Greeks as they are known in Modern historiography. As an Empire the Eastern Roman Empire or Late Roman Empire included many different ethnic groups but the official language was predominantly Greek and its people derived from ethnically Greek stock and Hellenized populations that have appeared from the Hellenistic period. Edit: Byzantine-Greeks refers to the Rhomaioi( Ρωμαίοι), Romans of the Eastern Roman Empire also referred to as Byzantines. The Byzantine-Eastern or Medieval Roman Empire included various different ethnic groups all influenced by the Greco-Roman culture, Christian religion and Greek language.

[@tylerellis9097]

Triggers Kaldellis

[@demetriusstiakkogiannakes1326]

@@tylerellis9097 Kaldellis's opinion is still disputed by the majority of the Byzantinologists. While no one can deny the fact that the Empire included Armenians and other linguistic groups. We know that it was the Byzantine-Greeks that identified as Roman from the 9th century onwards. Anna Komnena in her work also states that the Romeoi are politically Romans and ethnically Greek. Empress Irene in her letters to the west also stated this.

[@tylerellis9097]

@@demetriusstiakkogiannakes1326 Well also the Latin Dalmatians of Dalmatia, Constantine purpleborn acknowledges their identification as Roman in Imperio, he uses a different spelling for them but still acknowledges them as Romans(Romani in English vs Romeoi) and points out they are subjects loyal to the Emperor. I agree with your point on Rhomaioi only being used by Greek speaking Citizens of the Empire but other ethic groups in the Empire did identify as Roman like the previously stated Dalmatians but also the Greek Orthodox Syrians(Rum) who were the major power group in Byzantine Antioch. And yeah Kaldellis sure is controversial lol, I see Greeks fight each other all the time about him. It’s always either strongly agree or disagree with him

[@demetriusstiakkogiannakes1326]

@@tylerellis9097 I agree that they were other ethnic groups that identified as Roman. Let us not forget that in the beginning the Empire consisted of territories from Southern italy to Syria and Egypt, but when i was referring to the Romeoi term in my first comment i was referring to the ethnic term that the ethnic and non ethnic Greeks created in the 9th century. These are the ones that modern historiography considers Byzantine-Greek as well. Kaldellis point of view kinda makes sense but i think it's pointless to argue anyway. Modern Greeks just argue about how much role the Eastern Roman Empire plays on the Modern Greek national identity and how much connected it is to the Ancient Greek culture. And i don't envy them it's hard to put Ancient Greece and Byzantium together especially when a lot of Ancient Greco-Roman monuments were lost during the rise of Christianity.

[@InHocSignoVinces5987]

@@demetriusstiakkogiannakes1326 Whether you like the Kaldellian theory or not, I cannot help but notice that you use the term "Byzantine Greeks" to refer to the "Byzantium" Romans as if such an ethnic group actually existed. The truth is that there were no Byzantine Greeks, like ever. They were Romans. Kaldellis' argument is that we should stop calling them "Byzantine Greeks" and instead recognize them as they wanted to be known, as "Romans". Another problem associated with calling them "Byzantine Greeks" is that it simply makes no sense. How do you propose that eastern Romans like Belisarius, Tiberius III, Justinian, Leo the Khazar, Nicephorus the Ghassanid, or Zeno be classified according to the "Byzantine-Greek" naming convention? Given the fact that you are Greek and there is a big push by Greek nationals to claim eastern Roman history, it is not a big surprise that you are pushing hard for the "Byzantine-Greeks" theory. Whether you like it or not, they were Romans. That is how they saw themselves, their state and nation. Their descent did not matter to them because the Roman nationality was an assimilative force involving willing acceptance of speaking either Latin or Greek. That is all that Kaldellis is saying, it looks like a lot of people in Western Europe and modern Greece do not want to accept this reality because of medieval political saber-rattling that regrettably still survives until today. Unfortunately there is no Rhomeic nation any longer that might speak up in defense of itself against Western Euro revisionism. I do not even think that modern Hellenic people should have a say in this matter because they have been infected with the Western Euro viewpoint. As you handily prove by adopting "Byzantine Greek". Byzantium Romans would have been insulted by this forthright candid dismissal of their Roman dignity.

[@lh384]

Growing up Egyptian would be fun!