Were Byzantines Roman or Greek? - Lars Brownworth

Edward Gibbon refers to the Byzantines as Greeks but the Empire is made up of a commonwealth of people. Do they all speak Greek and do they all see themselves as Greek?

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Lars
• Brownworth
• Byzantine
• Byzantium
• Roman
• Greek
• Gibbon
• History

[brennusduxgallorum]

In all the empires there are people of different nationality (for example in Britain there are Scottish Welsh english etc or in Russia there are ukrainians Russians etc.) However Byzantine empire was a Greek empire because the predominant nationality was the Greeks, and Greeks used to self identify as Romans but didn't recognise inhabitants of Rome or generally any other non Greek as Roman.Moreover during the last years they used more and more the term Greek and Greece.

[SpidahRidah]

Both.

[TheBaronofBallstein]

To state it simply, Byzantium is the marriage between Greek and Roman, the union, it becomes one nation, through the centuries and as provinces are lost, and foreign populations Hellenized in language, the predominant element survives, what started as a multicultural empire evolved into a Greek one.. and as I stated before, we are not only Greeks but also Roman, we still use the name Romans.. although un-officialy as of 1821. We are Greeks & Romans we are what's left of our Byzantine ancestors.

[TheBaronofBallstein]

Oh and learn you history brothers, Serbs and Bulgarians were different nations and nationalities which our Empire granted immunityt live in the Empires Northern Fronteer, they revolted and carved out their own kingdoms, thus we had wars with them.. It is amazing how people can fail at basic history. That is just one error I pointed out.. Bulgarians were never Byzantines.. ;)

[TheBaronofBallstein]

LOL Confused people... Regarding the Byzantine empire.. Greeks = Romans and Romans = Greeks. Byzantine is a modern term to distinguist between these Greek Romans and the Ancient Romans and the German Romans of the Holy blah blah Empire.. Everyone wanted to be Roman, at least in title.. We the descendants of the Byzantines have the right to that name. We modern Greeks are the direct descendants of the Byzantines ergo, we are BOTH Romans and Greeks.. By blood, culture and religion and tongue.

[Zorro11144]

He would answer it in Greek and the Byzantines read ancient Greek works not latin works. They knew that their ancestors were odysseus Agamemnon Alexander the great etc. And actually all foreigners saw them as Greeks and in the west their empire is even reffered as Imperium Graecorum the vikings in their runestones mention the Byzantines as Greeks. The Byzantines were actually Hellenes or Hellenized populations so they were not really Romans with latin origins. It was more a Greek Roman empire.