Why did this volatile system survive for so long?

To anyone who was following my alternate history of Rome: The Eternal Eagle, I have to sadly say it is discontinued for now. I am not happy with how it is turning out and want to make some major revisions/do some smaller Alternate histories before starting over. I will get back to it, but it will be awhile.

Here is the link for the timeline

Here is the link for the full story

So it was revealed that the new start date which will come with the new dlc Roads to Power in CK3 will be in 1178.

Interesting Byzantine characters in the 1178 start

I think the new start date opens a lot of interesting possibilities especially with regards to the succession of Manuel I Komnenos who is gonna die in 2 years.

I would like to share a couple facts of the E. Roman Empire that I find quite fascinating.

The completion of the Catholic Spanish Reconquista discovery of the new world by the same crown occurred in the year 1492. This was a fundamental turning point in Christendom. The cool part is that the year 1492 is also the year 7000 in the Byzantine calendar. Thus, the completion of the Roman Empire was the same year that Christendom broke the yoke of Islam, and became the first empire to truly rule the world. There were also many Greeks in the service of the Spanish empire who were descendants of the last Roman’s who fled Constantinople after its fall in 1453. Most famously Juan de fuca, who made voyages long the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington in the year 1587.

Another fascinating fact: two of christendom’s greatest emperors had their reign 1000 years apart

Justinian the Great, Eastern Roman emperor 527-565

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor 1519-1556 & King of Spain/Lord of the Netherlands 1506 to 1555.

One last interesting 1,000 year fact: 539 BC, the Persian king Cyrus the Great issued the Edict of Cyrus allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and the Land of Judah, which was made a self-governing Jewish province under the new Persian Empire. Cyrus was most importantly responsible for the construction of the second temple during his reign. This same temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70 AD, as it was prophesied by Jesus Christ. The construction of Hagia Sophia was completed in the year 537 AD(almost exactly 1000 years from the construction of the second temple), during the reign of justianian the great. In my opinion, the Hagia Sophia is the greatest architectural achievement that exists, and it serves as a testament to the truth and validity of Christianity in terms of verifying its divinity.

Does anyone know of any weapons like spears or polearms that are uniquely Eastern Roman from the 12th century or even 13th century?

I know that the Komnenoi originally came from somewhere in Thrace or at least that's what I heard, but are they descendant of Greeks who settled in Thrace or just hellenized Thracians?

Who would go? Would the People get there first and destroy it? Not suggesting a land grab, just wondering what the 'coalition' would look like. Im assuming the Pope would have to call it like in olden days, but who would answer his Papal Bull?

Assuming that the Crusaders and the Venetians have enough money to sponsor their own venture to Egypt, that means Constantinople will never be sacked. However, how will the civil war among the Angelos dynasty turned out then? And once the civil war ended with the rise of the new Emperor, what will the new Emperor do between consolidated the Empire's administration, establish good relations with the court of Queen Tamar of Georgia, or launching the reconquest of Anatolia from the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, which is also in a middle of civil war of its own?

And if the Forth Crusade did succeed in taking Egypt, how will that impacted the Roman Empire, the Crusaders, the Republic of Venice and the surrounding nations?

I am travelling to Trabzon and Nicea in a couple weeks. Planning my itinerary now and looking for suggestions. I´ll be in Trabzon for 3 days and Nicea 1 day. My starting point are the attractions on the byzantine legacy website (a great resource btw for byzantine sites). It covers all the main byzantine attractions like the Hagia Sofias and Sumela monastery but thought I'd ask here if anyone has other suggestions? Open to non-byzantine attractions as well, especially Trabzon

​

https://www.thebyzantinelegacy.com

And did you like the show? Im considering it if they are like in Constantinople and you see Byzantine buildings & culture etc.

Please edit the wiki page of the list of Byzantine Emperors, it's not arranged separately (dynasties), please someone take a look at it and edit it, it will be helpful, thank you.

It never ceases to amaze me that the most powerful trebuchet ever built was in off all places in Scotland a relative small player compared in Europe and that none of the other European superpowers in the continent esp in France and Germany ever attempted to construct soemthing ina similar scale to capture the most powerful fortress......

But having read about how the earliest giant canons (which were small compared to what the Ottomans would later use) from after the decline of the Mongol empire but before gunpowder reached Europe in the Chinese dynasty that followed the expulsion of Temujin's heir in China shot shells at 300 pounds of force which was roughly the same force War Wolf propelled stones at.........

How come nobody before Mehmed ever tried to recreate a replica of Warwolf in sieges at Constantinople or at least some pre-gunpowder mechanical siege equipment with similar size and firepower? Could Warwolf threaten Constantinople at least enough to be a gamechanger even if it couldn't damage the walls effectively enough to create a breach? If one Warwolf wasn't enough could a bunch of them say 20 have been able to allow capture of the city?

You'd think something like Warwolf would have been used first in the big leagues such as the Byzantium and France or the Holy Roman Empire in the DACH. But instead it was only built in an unimportant campaign in the backwaters of Europe! And never been replicated by major powers like the late Abassids and the Seljuks to besiege Constantinople. Why did no one attempt to built a ballista or onager or other siege weapon of similar scale before gunpowder whenever they tried to besiege the prized mighty city?

So I've been reading through 1453 which got me thinking again about how one side of the chain blocking the Bosporus was in Galata and because Mehmet wasn't at war with them, he couldn't take the tower and break the chain.

Which has begged the question why he didn't want to go to war against the Genoese. I know very little about them, but that leads me to believe that they were not particularly strong militarily. Did the Ottomans simply want to maintain a good trading partner?

I'd love any insight as well as book recommendations. I want to learn more about the Venetians and Genoese during the empire.

1.1.Anastasius I (491-518), upon his death at the age of 87, left a spectacular budgetary surplus of 103,500 kilograms of gold in the Roman imperial treasury.

1. Economic Reforms: Anastasios implemented various economic policies aimed at revitalizing the Byzantine economy. He introduced a new gold coin, the solidus, which became the standard currency of the Byzantine Empire for centuries. He also enacted tax reforms and encouraged trade and commerce, leading to increased prosperity.

2. Administrative Reforms: Anastasios initiated significant administrative reforms to improve governance and streamline the bureaucracy. He reorganized the tax system and reduced the influence of corrupt officials.

3. Religious Policies: Anastasios faced religious controversies during his reign. He pursued a policy of religious tolerance, striving to reconcile the Monophysite Christians, who believed in the divine nature of Christ, with the Chalcedonian Orthodox Church, which held that Christ had both divine and human natures. Although his efforts did not lead to a lasting resolution, Anastasios maintained relative religious peace throughout his reign.

4. Military Engagements: Anastasios faced external threats during his rule. He successfully defended the Byzantine Empire against Persian invasions and secured peace treaties with the Sassanid Empire. Additionally, he made efforts to strengthen the Byzantine military and fortify the empire's borders.

5. Construction Projects: Anastasios undertook several ambitious construction projects. Most notably, he initiated the construction of the fortified wall known as the Anastasian Wall, which aimed to protect Constantinople's landward side. This wall would serve as a significant defensive structure for centuries.

6. Legacy: Anastasios' reign is considered a period of stability and consolidation after the tumultuous reign of his predecessor, Zeno. His economic and administrative reforms laid the groundwork for the Byzantine Empire's future prosperity. However, his religious policies did not achieve the desired unity and left unresolved tensions that would continue to influence Byzantine history.

I'm talking about battles where unusual stuff happened like in the battles of: Kleidion, Antioch on the meander, Nineveh, Manzikert, the one where belisarius was covered in dirt and wasn't recognized by other soldiers, Pelagonia, Kalavrye, Abydos

Just curious because I just finished a class that dealt with the history of Islam at my college, and it began with Constantine and ended at the Battle of Vienna. However, there was never a time where “Byzantium” began and Rome ended. It was all just the Roman Empire.

I'm aware that many Greeks still identify/are familiar with the Roman label and identity outside of Greece itself, particularly in Istanbul and parts of Turkey (e.g the Pontic region). But I've always been curious of the fate of the Greeks of southern Italy, who lived there since ancient times as part of Magna Graecia and were under Roman control until 1071 when Bari fell to the Normans.

After that, southern Italy and Sicily became part of the Norman kingdom which was a very diverse nation of Italian Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and even Arab Muslims. The Greeks of the south seem to have still made up a substantial part of the population as late as the 1150's when Manuel invaded the Norman kingdom, as they revolted against Norman rule and assisted the East Romans in their initial advance before it faltered.

But then what happened to the Greeks after that? I'm aware that the Arab Muslim population was expelled at some point and there is still a small minority of Greek speakers in south Italy to this day known as the Griko. How did such a demographic shift occur where the numbers of Greeks dwindled from what it had been in the High Middle Ages? And did they continue to see themselves as/use the term 'Roman' to describe themselves?

It would be really interesting to get to know the different roles in which each province played during the byzantine rule, Anatolia for example worked as an excellent buffer against the Persian, and Arab incursions into the empire, Aegyptus, and Africa both supplied Constantinople with grain, and had two of the most important cities in the empire, Alexandria, and Carthage, and Thrace held Constantinople.

Still, other provinces over extended the empire, and the coast of defending them outweighed that of their short rule, such as Spania, and Italia.

The themes won't be counted, but the theme system would be used for each province, for example, the pros, and cons of the theme of Ravenna would be considered when discussing byzantine Italy, and that would decide on how good, or bad the province of italia is.( I hope that makes sense ).

So I want to see how you would rank each province using multiple factors such as how urbanized, integrated into the empire, recruiting soldiers, defensible, and other factors I didn't mention.

I know that Justinian was the last emperor to have Latin as his main language and that heracleus was the emperor that made greek the official language of the state, at the same time emperors of the Roman empire and even prominent figures of the republic spoke greek as a second language. The question is was there ever an emperor that didn't speak Greek at all?