Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Only a Poor Old Man, post: 4645971, member: 111037&quot;]There was no intention of pointing out the Greekness of the Byzantine Empire as a negative. Quite the opposite actually. I find that calling the Byzantine Empire &#039;Roman&#039; undermines the Greek nature of that civilisation. Greece didn&#039;t die when Romans invaded. For me, the Byzantine empire is as important as Classical Greece. Two sides of the same coin (purdon the pun!)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I agree and I believe that Greece was very lucky to be conquered by the Romans during its decline rather than by someone else. Some conquerors choose genocide and anihilation, but luckily for the Greeks,in the Roman case it was more like appropiation and appreciation. That eventually made the Byzantine empire possible, which also greatly benefited from the Roman administrative practices and structure. Having said all that, the Carthaginians (if there were any left) wouldn&#039;t have anything kind to say about the Romans.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>To be honest, it is quite evident that theological differences were the &#039;excuse&#039; and political differences were the main reason for the schism. It was all about where the ecclesiastical power were supposed to be based, Rome or Constantinople.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Don&#039;t forget that the notion of &#039;national identity&#039; is a very recent one and it actually appeared around that time (the 19th century). Greece when it was conquered by Rome was hardly united. They were aware that they were all Greeks, but this didn&#039;t stop them fighting and killing each other in kingdom vs kingdom, city state vs city state. During the Ottoman period, the important uniting factor was religious identity and this is how people were mostly seperated/united.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in