Johathan Harris, The Lost World of Byzantium

This is a very good one volume history of the vitally important, but vastly misunderstood Christian Byzantine empire which lasted 1123 years, one of the longest surviving empires in history.  The main Western theme animated by the writings of Gibbon, is that Christian Byzantium was a complex of ‘cowardice and discord’, riddled with ‘effeminate’ ‘Greeks’, dogmatic, antiquarian, too Christian and other-worldly, theologically focused, worried about ceremony and decoration when there were wars to fight and enemies to subdue, and infertile in the production of arts, science, technology and innovation.  Gibbon’s dissertation has little basis in fact, and as Harris ably points out, most of the opprobrium which is attributed to Byzantium is incorrect, with many of the criticisms the opposite of reality.

As Harris relates, history is filled with temporal empires from the Sumerians to Alexander, Attila and the ‘1000 year’ Reich.  Why then he asks, did Byzantium survive and at times, simply thrive, for 1100 years?  Is that longevity to be ascribed to a sick, weak, confused, doddering, incoherent culture and civilisation?  Is Gibbon’s analysis even remotely feasible given the long duration of one of history’s most iconic and important states?  Western Europe would not exist without Byzantium – it would be Muslim.  Harris is quite impressed with Byzantium, as anyone who studies history must be, commenting:

“Its distinctive society and ethos were formed in response to the phenomenal and constant pressure on its borders.  In the face of the challenge, military prowess alone was no longer enough.  Defeat one group in battle, and three more would arrive to take their place.  A completely new way of thinking would have to emerge that sought other ways of defusing the threat, whether by integration and settlement, or by bribery and covert action….or…by creating a visual splendour that would overawe their enemies and draw them into the fold as friends and allies.”

Byzantium was able to survive due to military, political, economic, and most importantly its cultural strength and at times hegemony, based on the fusion of Christianity and the Greco-Roman past.  As Harris relates Constantinople and Byzantium, though it waxed and waned, were beacons of Christianity and light houses for art, architecture, pageantry, wealth, technology, and the advanced accoutrements of civilisation.  The empire and its leading cities were simply wonders of the world, to those who visited them at their heights of glory.  Here in Byzantium was the melange of the ancient and the new, of the past with the future, and of Christianity with paganism.  It simply overawed all who encountered it.

This superiority of Christian-Byzantine civilisation was in essence its salvation.  Viewed as permanent, divinely protected, rich in every aspect of civilised society, educated, artistic and intelligent, the Christian Byzantine empire not only converted the Slavs, Bulgars, Russians and others to the Holy Church, but it provided a buffer state for Western Europe against the depredations of the Persians (6^th, 7^th centuries), the Muslim Arabs (7^th, 8^th centuries) and the Turks (various tribes, Seljuks, Ottomans) from the 10^th to the 15^th centuries.  Byzantium informed Western Europe through its culture, trade, libraries, writings, art and theological and political governance.  It also protected Europe from being conquered.  As Harris correctly states, one of the main aspects of Byzantium besides its most Christian and Orthodox culture, was its ability to use various tools to integrate and indeed subjugate once erstwhile enemies and antagonists.  This is one important element in Byzantium’s redolent and impressive history and long duration of survival. 

The most vital fact in Byzantium’s long story, is the one Gibbon hated.  Byzantium was the most Christian empire in history.  Christian culture provided Byzantium with the platform, learning and wealth to become one of the longest surviving states in history, and thanks to its Christian nature, Byzantium was in many ways, and across any vector which one can use to measure a civilisation, one of the most successful states in world history. .