Which is one reason that the byzantine empire lasted a long time?
- Posted:
- 3+ months ago by Younggin23
- Topics:
- empire, byzantine, time
Answers (2)
Imperial policy was generally to protect and maintain the existing borders and territories of the empire, rather than to look to expand."What we have we hold" was a maxim that helped stability and prevented any over-extension by the military.
Large well organized,equipped,trained and led army.The Byzantines also maintained a large and effective fleet which made it very difficult to attack the capital, Constantinople effectively.
The Byzantines preferred to avoid war whenever they could,so paid subsidies to enemies either to maintain peace with them,or to attack each other.They also married off female imperial relatives to rulers of bordering states or groups to keep them as allies.Guile,bribery,treachery and deceit were also often used by the Byzantines in negotiations and diplomacy to achieve objectives - all seen as perfectly acceptable to the Byzantines,for who the ends always justified the means.
All this was aided by the fact that for much of its existence,the Byzantine empire was the most advanced state on the planet in technologically,economic,and political terms.
Historically, the Byzantine Empire was a continuation of the Roman Empire in the East. Its date of birth remains debated. One historian describes ancient . Most, however, agree that the Byzantine Empire began to take on the appearance of a distinct entity when Emperor Constantine moved the capital of his empire from Rome to Byzantium in 330 C.E. He renamed the city after himself—Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul).
Constantinople as “rich in renown and richer still in possessions.” Located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia—the Bosporus Strait—Constantinople bestrode both a superbly defensible peninsula and a sheltered harbor, the Golden Horn.In 657 B.C.E., Greek settlers named the place Byzantium after their legendary leader Byzas. More than ten centuries later, it was considered the New Rome, becoming home to half a million people during its glory days between the 6th and the 11th centuries C.E.
Major center of world trade routes. Its harbor was crowded with vessels. Its markets offered silks, furs, precious stones, perfumed woods, carved ivory, gold, silver, enameled jewelry, and spices. Understandably, Constantinople was the envy of other powers, so they repeatedly tried to breach its walls. Before the Ottoman conquest of 1453, only once did attackers succeed in conquering the city—namely, “Christians” of the Fourth Crusade. “Not since the world was made was there ever seen or won so great a treasure,” exclaimed the crusader Robert of Clari.
It was not political intrigue that led to the decline of the empire. The European West began transforming itself through the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment as well as the rise of science.
The empire had been slashed down not simply by an Islamic sword but by the sword wielded by the empire’s sister church in Rome as well. The final world power is on its way as described in Daniel's prophesy Daniel 2:44.
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