The Byzantine Empire: Part 2 - Barbarians Knock at the Door

An artist's incorrect depiction
of Julian the Apostate's fate,
apparently mixing him up with
another emperor. So not only is it
wrong, but it looks hilarious.
0/2, ancient Roman artist.

363-491

It's been a bit of a shaky start. Brothers fighting brothers, plenty of infighting, and some poor leadership is causing some troubles for the Byzantines. Unfortunately, it's about to get a heck of a lot worse. A streak of crappy emperors caused a number of difficulties at a time where they needed leadership the most. The worst in particular was Julian the Apostate's immediate successor, only eight months after his passing, left a brazier burning in his sleeping tent and suffocated himself to death. Another would die of a rage-induced brain aneurysm. If only he had Homer Simpson's soothing ocean noises.

What they really could have used a decent emperor for was the massive influx of barbarians looking not to raid but to settle. Terrified of the rampaging Huns, the Germanic tribes simply wished to move elsewhere and join the Romans (I'll try my best to refer to the Western Roman Empire as the Romans and the Eastern Roman Empire as the Byzantines). With 200,000 at their doorstep and promising military support, the empire welcomed in the refugee Ostrogoths and Visigoths - but not particularly nicely. Many were starved, kidnapped or sold into slavery, and being barbarians, weren't particularly keen on going through the official channels and lobbying for support, decided to do what barbarians do best. They revolted.

The Visigoths sacking Rome in the
most uncomfortable and awkward
way imaginable. 

The empire did its best to stifle them and set out to put a swift, violent end to the revolution, but found that the barbarians were more than a match. The soldiers were slaughtered, and the loss paved the way for even more barbarians to flood into the territory. Traditionally, the empire has been fine with either immigrants or the civilians of takeovers. It just means a larger empire. However, the problem with the barbarians is their abject refusal to assimilate into their culture, causing a distinct divide between the barbarians and the Romans. They started to make their way into government positions, the army, and pretty well every facet of everyday life. One particularly important member of the barbarians was the half Vandal general Stilicho.

Stilicho was actually a fairly loyal soldier, but due to his half Vandal status he was looked upon with distrust. So when the Visigoth king Alaric unites his men and plans to attack Rome (he was originally attacking the east, but the Eastern Roman Empire convinced him to slip past and attack the West) Stilicho suggests they pay him off as they didn't have the army to fight him. For this, the rather incompetent Western emperor Honorius had him executed - only to find out that he was correct as the Visigoths then attack and invade Rome and pillages the place. Upon hearing about this, Constantinople builds a massive wall fourty feet high and sixteen feet thick out of fear of invasion - walls that would stand until the very empire would fall.

Leo, likely created immediately after hearing
how poorly his brother in law has fought, which
explains the bug-eyed look and tight-lipped
disapproval. 

By now the west was in desperate need of assistance in purging their lands of the barbarian menace, but no help would be coming from the east. The barbarians were the ones really in power, holding the emperor as more of an official, puppet position. Out east, in a similar fashion, the barbarian general Aspar placed a puppet leader named Leo to sit in the seat as emperor, thinking that he would be a weak man whom he could easily control. Little did he know he had a spark. Accusing Aspar's son of treason, he lowered the barbarian general's position and gathered an army of his own to garner power, effectively retaking the east in more than just name alone. To support the west, he attacked the Vandals in North Africa to hopefully damage the barbarian force enough to allow the west to rise up once more.

It was a sound plan, but - typical Roman nepotism! - he placed his brother in law Basiliscus in charge who by all accounts was a massive catastrophe of not only a general but as a person. He panicked and left after some of his ships crashed upon the shore, causing chaos and confusion in his ranks which resulted in a massive rout of the invasion force. Leo was convinced not to kill him and instead put him in exile, but that's not all he had in store. Basiliscus' sister Verina tricked Zeno (the son in law of Leo who took over in his stead) into thinking the people were to revolt against him, making him flee. Verina wanted the throne herself, but seeing as she had no royal blood, guess who they put in charge? Basiliscus! One of his first actions was to - quite brilliantly - have many of the people who helped with the revolt murdered. Further proving his brilliance, he takes one of the generals who helped with the revolt - who just had many of his friends killed by Basiliscus' hand - and sends him to find Zeno and kill him. Naturally, the general turns sides and leads his army back to knock Basiliscus off the throne. While all of this is going on, the barbarians took the rule of the Western Roman Empire, ending it officially. Way to go, Basiliscus.

Oddly enough, in spite of all of this Byzantium comes out OK. Zeno gets the idea of sending the Ostrogoths to take the now barbarian west from the Visigoths, solving two problems at once; the Visigoths were basically wiped from history, and the Ostrogoths can now rule independently, satisfied that they have land and not needing to attack into the east anymore. While the west may have fallen, the barbarian threat was muted, there were no major political enemies, and they didn't lose an ounce of territory. Things have never looked better, and they were on the up and up.

The Byzantine Empire: Part 1 - Foundations

AD 305-363

Oh boy. The book I read on this covers over a millennium of history condensed into three-hundred pages. Now I'm taking that and condensing it into blog form, further slimming down an entire empire that shaped much of our world as we see it into a few posts. It's not an easy task. However, there is an upside to it - condense that much time and you'll find that basically all you hear about is one of three things; revolutions, warfare, and assassinations. For the Byzantines, and pretty much every other civilization around at the time, that was their jam, so their story reads like something straight out of HBO. That would make sense, because of, you know, Rome. Anyways - the following blogs will show you the most important (or in my mind the most interesting) time periods of Byzantine history - just like you've always dreamed. Enjoy.

The Roman Empire at it's peak, roughly two hundred years before
the separation of east and west. An empire with both Sarmizegetusa and 
Lutetia Parisiorum? Are you kidding me?! Incredible!

So what exactly is the Byzantine Empire? Aside from the fantastic tech tree they had in Age of Empires II, I wasn't entirely sure - I knew they were old, now defunct, and their capital, Constantinople, spawned an intensely frustrating 1950s swing song about its name, but I didn't know much else. As it turns out, it all started out with the Roman Empire.

The Romans had been going through some tough times. While they may have created the greatest system of roads yet known to man, it kind of came back to bite them. Barbarians from the borders of their empire were using those roads, and were using them for things a little more nefarious than trade. I.e. looting and pillaging. Probably some other unpleasantries too, as those that loot and pillage typically are pretty loose in morals to begin with. Perhaps they would have been able to fight off those armies effectively, but they also had the debilitating problem of fighting themselves as well. Civil war was rampaging across the land as a number of would-be emperors were vying for the crown. Even further ruining the empire was the problem of inflation due to many of those emperor wanna-bes producing a ton of coin (or mad skrilla, as the Roman youth called it) causing tons of inflation in trying to fuel their uprisings. Essentially it was one problem creating another and creating another on top of that, ultimately leading to an issue even greater than the sum of its parts. The empire was collapsing, and they needed a hero. (By the way, you're going to be seeing that statement a lot throughout this blog series - good emperors seemed to crop up at opportune times fairly frequently.)

In comes Diocletian. A soldier who rose up and gained an army took the throne the only way someone takes a throne; by assassinations and crushing rival armies. Having the entire empire at his beck and call, he decided on something that few would be strong enough to do in that position, and relinquished some of the power. Proving to be a great show of foresight, he split the land in two with none other than an old drinking buddy of his, Maximian. We can only assume that when they were quite drunk one day Diocletian said "you know, if I ever rule over the entire empire in a bloody coup, I'm totally going to give you half, bud" and his friend took it to heart. Oddly enough, it ended up working very well. It was an easy separation, as the empire was already split across language barriers and culturally different from one another. Considering the empire was so huge, it also helped to better improve efficiency in tax collection and arming soldiers. He took the eastern side, mostly influenced by Greek culture through the wild exploits of Alexander. (Read about him here!)

He also made the role much more important than it had been in the past. Before, they followed in a
system that made it seem like the emperor was just a man, but a particularly smart or talented one that deserves respect and recognition. Unfortunately for the empire, that had meant that men could rise up and attack the throne if they believed themselves superior - which is ironic as that is just the way he rose to power. His solution for this problem was to make himself appear divine, linking himself with the gods, so anyone that dared try to usurp his position would lose the support of the common man and be labeled a heretic. You can attack an emperor if he's just a man, but you best not attack one that's chosen by the gods or you're getting a face full of lightning. Unfortunately for many in the empire, that meant he had to clear out Christianity as that no longer meshed with his beliefs. If he says he is chosen by the pagan gods, Christian followers will still theoretically be able to usurp him as they believe there is only one God (note the capital) and He can't be linked just to one single emperor.

There was a problem with succession, however. It's always been an issue for the Romans, and leaving someone who was ill equipped to lead may ruin all that he has done. Diocletian, thinking beyond his time on Earth, decided to retire (at the same time as Maximian) and left the rule to their Caesars (the rank below them). Those men, Galerius and Constantius, became co-emperors after their departures. Unfortunately, Diocletian made the mistake of giving power to two men who had sons - and sons typically meant a claim to the throne by birthright (ugh - such Roman nepotism). Maximian's son Maxentius and Constantius' son Constantine were made Caesars, but that did not necessarily slate them to become emperors. Once their leaders passed, they would be mere citizens when they believed they should inherit the throne. This didn't sit well with them.

Diocletian post-retirement. He went to go farm cabbage for
the remainder of his life, similar to George Bush painting in
his spare time upon his retirement. I don't want to say Bush
is the reincarnated Diocletian but, yes, yes I am saying that.

When Constantius passed on, a new emperor was chosen to lead by the name of Severus, much to the frustration and disappointment of Constantine. His army, whom he had successfully been leading, believed he was the true leader and Constantine agreed wholeheartedly. Not only did his army win out, claiming the eastern side as his own, but Maxentius took the western throne in a coup as well. However, Constantine wasn't quite done with his mission for power yet. In spite of a successful reign of co-emperors, Constantine wanted it all. He moved to attack Maxentius and gain full control, but just prior to his attack he prayed that the one true god would appear before him. According to his own words, God (like, Christian God - note the capital) showed himself and told him to lead by his banner. Upon the next morning he became a devout Christian, flying the banner of Christianity and attacking Maxentius successfully under the sign of the cross. Victorious, Constantine took the crown as the leader of the entire empire.

Perhaps his greatest achievement was using the massive treasury of the empire and having them produce a capital on an easily defensible position adjacent to a harbour. This would serve as the capital for his empire, having it built in only six years. Of course, he names it after himself, and Constantinople was born, and in turn, the Byzantine Empire. The name comes from the colony that originated there. To further cause confusion, it was also referred to as New Rome. To further cause confusion, in modern times it was renamed to Istanbul. But from now on, to make it clear, I will not call it Constantinople/New Rome/Byzantium/Instanbul but rather simply Constantinople.

Perhaps having a bit of an ego about him (being called an emperor must do that to you - just ask Napoleon) he also named all his sons as variations of Constantine as well. Household conversations must have been an infuriating affair. Worse yet, he didn't properly name a successor. That simple act of leaving one item off his ancient Roman to-do list (I assume some sort of stone tablet or something) meant that the moment he passed his family would be thrown into a civil war. Three brothers each named as a variation of the name Constantine battled it out for the throne. Through actions of slaughtering almost his entire family, the middle son took the helm, and Constantinius II is crowned.

He did, however, let his bookworm cousin Julian the Apostate live. Regardless of having no military experience, he sends the socially awkward, Woody Allen-esque guy named Julian to battle the barbarian Gauls in what was sure to be an absolute disaster. But, lo and behold, somehow it didn't pan out that way. He turned out to be a great leader, and against all odds his campaign was a massive success.

Now here's what's frustrating for the generals of the time; if you do poorly you get excommunicated, shamed, executed, or any number of awful punishments, but it's almost as dangerous as doing exceptionally well. Generals have had a storied history of rising to power in the Roman heritage and the riches and territory brought to the citizenship makes successful ones the most popular man in the... I don't know, public bath or wherever ancient Romans congregated. That means that those that do well, even those that are loyal to the crown (as Julian seemed to be) were looked upon with caution by their emperors that should be reaping the rewards of their generals' success.

Constantine just looked at his men
with those puppy-dog eyes and simply
asked to be emperor. Who could say no?

Constantinus II, in response to these victories and in a sense kind of worried that there would be more, recalled a number of his troops to go and fight in the east. This didn't go over all that well in the camp. Many of the men that had joined only did so on the promise that they wouldn't be going east. Naturally, this led to a revolt, and Julian the Apostate was ready to lead it. Planning to return to pagan roots, he sent messages promising a return to the old beliefs upon coming to power.

Meanwhile, Constantinus didn't really know this was going on. He was falling ill, and knew he was about to pass on soon. Believing Julian was still loyal to him and to Christianity, he named him as his successor.

Julian was not only true to his promise of returning to paganism, but overzealously true. He believed the Christian morals of generosity and forgiveness were making the empire weak and effeminate, and cracked down hard on the religion. Christianity would no longer be taught in schools, and Christians themselves could be killed or beaten with impunity. This didn't sit well with the public, and after a poor campaign against the Persians to the east, he died having lost all the popularity he had gained.

So what's next for the empire? Nothing but smiles and sunshine for the next thousand years until they leave the limelight satisfied? Well... no. Barbarians. A lot of barbarians are coming.