PING!
Ping.
1453. Sad day for the world
Ah yes, Where the rulers had a penchant for blinding
any relatives in line for the throne.
More than a city or even an empire, Byzantium was a civilization, with deep roots in antiquity but bequeathing little to the future except for its cultural inheritance — the Renaissance and Orthodox Christianity.
Alternate History - What if Constantinople had not been devastated by the 4th Crusade led by its deadly rival, Venice? Could it have then lasted longer against the surge of Islam?
One of my favorite authors John Julius Norwich wrote a three part history of Byzantium that is fantastic. He also wrote a condensed version in a single book if that is more your speed. I highly recommend the three book set.
Looks better than today; no minarets.
Try looking in Istanbul.
bfl
We in the U.S. “forget about them”, but the Byzantines considered themselves The Roman Empire.
What we forget is that Constantine had moved the capital city of the Empire to Byzantium/Constantinople before Rome fell.
Rome was just the regional capital of the Western Empire when it fought the Visigoths for its very survival.
Rome and the West fell, but the Empire rolled along in the East for another 1,000 years.
We forget Byzantium because we are children of the West, Latin and Germanic speaking, and Rome is where we look to for our history. We either battled Rome or we were part of them. Or both. Hail Caesar.