- Mar 2013
- 1,441
- Escandinavia y Mesopotamia
How and where did the negative notions of “decadence” and “intrigues” Byzantium start
Before 1960 or so the Byzantine Empire was seeing as a sort of a decadent Empire which was “horrible” or something like that, and full of intrigues or something other inconsistence assumptions which of course is rejected by the scholars today. Today it has altered completely and it has a positive reputation among the scholars who reject above statements as Byzantium is seeing as a continuation of the Greco-Roman world with outstanding achievements and with a lifetime over 1100 years.
When the Migration Period started the western Europe was devastating into a primitive hemisphere but the eastern part under Byzantium continued an advanced culture where the Greco-Roman stuff were preserved like for instance ancients texts were studied and as well the roman laws due to the codifying into “Corpus Juris Civilis” which basically is the foundation of European jurisprudence today.
Also Byzantium worked as a shield of Europe against Muslim aggressions where they defeated first the Arabs and then the Turks under Macedonian and Comnenian dynasties. After the Latin Sack of Constantinople in 1204 where it was obvious they were weakened heavily they managed to stance further over 200 years which actually give times enough to the Austrians Habsburgs Empire and Tsar Russia Empire to emerge perfectly in time and thus these two empires slowly defeated and took lands onwards against the Turks when the Turks only managed to conquer weak Balkan or slavic areas.
Byzantine coinage collection as a hobby did almost not exist before 1960 as people collected ancient Greek and Roman coins. Byzantium was a sort of decadent they thought. After 1960 when the academic circle began to argue that Byzantium was not a backward intrigues empire an upsurge interests in Byzantine coinage grew rapidly. A fine grade Justinian gold solidus coin would be sold for around 100-150 Euro around year 2000 according to some auction achieves I sought. Today the same fine grade solidus of Justinian is sold for around 500 Euro.
When I go to the library and ask after academic books on Byzantium I can see on the database that a lot books have been published after the year of 2000 like for instance. Byzantium today has finally shaken off the notion of decadence and intrigues it was connected with prior to WW2.
So I want to ask whether there are any here who are academic well-informed who may give an explanation where its negative reputation prior to 1960 derives from?
I know that the Middle Ages’ negative reputation from prior WW2 derived from 1700’s intellectuals who misunderstood some works of Francisco Petrarca. These eighteenth century’s characters' rendition of the Middle Ages, like Edward Gibbon’s one, is rejected today. Of course.
But how about the negative reputation of Byzatium from prior WW2? Where and how did it start?
Before 1960 or so the Byzantine Empire was seeing as a sort of a decadent Empire which was “horrible” or something like that, and full of intrigues or something other inconsistence assumptions which of course is rejected by the scholars today. Today it has altered completely and it has a positive reputation among the scholars who reject above statements as Byzantium is seeing as a continuation of the Greco-Roman world with outstanding achievements and with a lifetime over 1100 years.
When the Migration Period started the western Europe was devastating into a primitive hemisphere but the eastern part under Byzantium continued an advanced culture where the Greco-Roman stuff were preserved like for instance ancients texts were studied and as well the roman laws due to the codifying into “Corpus Juris Civilis” which basically is the foundation of European jurisprudence today.
Also Byzantium worked as a shield of Europe against Muslim aggressions where they defeated first the Arabs and then the Turks under Macedonian and Comnenian dynasties. After the Latin Sack of Constantinople in 1204 where it was obvious they were weakened heavily they managed to stance further over 200 years which actually give times enough to the Austrians Habsburgs Empire and Tsar Russia Empire to emerge perfectly in time and thus these two empires slowly defeated and took lands onwards against the Turks when the Turks only managed to conquer weak Balkan or slavic areas.
Byzantine coinage collection as a hobby did almost not exist before 1960 as people collected ancient Greek and Roman coins. Byzantium was a sort of decadent they thought. After 1960 when the academic circle began to argue that Byzantium was not a backward intrigues empire an upsurge interests in Byzantine coinage grew rapidly. A fine grade Justinian gold solidus coin would be sold for around 100-150 Euro around year 2000 according to some auction achieves I sought. Today the same fine grade solidus of Justinian is sold for around 500 Euro.
When I go to the library and ask after academic books on Byzantium I can see on the database that a lot books have been published after the year of 2000 like for instance. Byzantium today has finally shaken off the notion of decadence and intrigues it was connected with prior to WW2.
So I want to ask whether there are any here who are academic well-informed who may give an explanation where its negative reputation prior to 1960 derives from?
I know that the Middle Ages’ negative reputation from prior WW2 derived from 1700’s intellectuals who misunderstood some works of Francisco Petrarca. These eighteenth century’s characters' rendition of the Middle Ages, like Edward Gibbon’s one, is rejected today. Of course.
But how about the negative reputation of Byzatium from prior WW2? Where and how did it start?
