tHEBYZANT hvf^ EMPIRE^ EI3WARD-A Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924085212151 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 085 212 151 UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME THE STORY OF THE PHARAOHS BY JAMES BAIKIE, F.R.A.S. WITH 32 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS AND 49 IN THE TEXT THE SEA-KINGS OF CRETE By JAMES BAIKIE, F.R.A.S. WITH 32 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS EGYPT IN ASIA BY GEORGE CORMACK WITH 24 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS AND 23 IN THE TEXT BURIED HERCULANEUM BY ETHEL ROSS BARKER WITH 9 PLANS AND 64 ILLUSTRATIONS ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK, 4,^5 AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE AGENTS AHESICA . THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64 & M Fifth Avenue, new YORK AUBIBALASIA . OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 20S FLINDERS LANE. MELBOURNE CANADA , . THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA. LTD. St. Martin's House, 70 Bond Street, TORONTO INDIA .... MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD. MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY 309 Bow BAZAAR Street, CALCUTTA Plate I JUSTINIAN TRIUMPHANT. luom an ivory in llic Mma dn Louvre, Palis. THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE THE REARGUARD OF EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION BY EDWARD FOORD WITH 32 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS LONDON ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1911 TO THE MEMORY OF SIR PERCY BUNTING, MY GODFATHER IN LITERATURE PREFACE THIS volume is an attempt to supply the need of a short popular history of the Later Roman Empire. There is at present, I believe, no book on the subject in the English language between Professor Oman's sketch in the ' Story of the Nations ' series and monumental works like those of Gibbon, Finlay, and Bury. The Early Middle Age of Europe has always had a fascination for me, and on the wonderful story of the ' Byzantine' Empire I have concentrated much atten- tion. When, therefore, Mr. Gordon Home broached the idea of the present volume, I readily undertook the task, believing that a knowledge of what was required, combined with a real enthusiasm for my subject, might enable me to produce a book which would fill the gap. For me this work is only a preface to a larger one, embodying the results of my own original research, which I hope in the future to produce. I had the advantage of reading Dr. Bussell's first volume on the Roman Empire before publication ; the second appeared when this book was nearing completion. The orthography of the innumerable proper names has given a good deal of trouble, and I should not like to say that I have solved the problem. As regards chronology, I have generally followed Bury. The Maps are all from the author's drawings. That of the Roman Empire in 395 is based upon vii Preface the one in Kiepert's Atlas. The remaining five constitute, I believe, the first real attempt to illustrate the strange territorial fluctuations of the Empire on a rational principle. In every case the culmination of a particular epoch has been chosen. The Maps are supplemented by carefully compiled statistical tables, which may serve to give the reader a con- crete idea of the extent of the domain of Imperial Rome. The Map of the Hellenic Colonies was added at the suggestion of Mr. Gordon Home, and I must thank him for much valuable assistance in the matter of the illustrations. Little space has been wasted on ecclesiastical con- troversies, these being, in my opinion, entirely secondary to the Empire's work as preserver of civilization and rearguard of Europe. I have not hesitated to express the opinion that Byzantine cruelty is largely a myth, and otherwise it may be found that my estimate of certain rulers differs from that which commonly prevails. Four of the genealogical tables have been copied or adapted from those in Professor Bury 's work; the fifth and sixth were compiled with the assistance of my friend Mr. R. M. Cuningham, a fellow-enthusiast in things Byzantine, whose painstaking kindness I cannot too warmly acknowledge. Nor must I forget to thank Miss Marguerite Cartal for aiding me in the compilation of what, I hope, is a satisfactory index. I have elsewhere discussed and defended the use, for popular purposes at least, of the adjective ' Byzantine,' and do not need to do so here. EDWARD FOORD. October, igii. viii 31 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. BYZANTIUM AND CONSTANTINOPLE. THE PEERLESS CAPITAL I II. CONSTANTINE TO ARCADIUS—BARBARIAN INFLUENCE 1 III. THEODOSIUS II. TO JUSTIN I.—REORGANIZATION - 31 - IV. JUSTINIAN I. 53 V. Justinian's successors—weakness and decay 84 VI. THE ONSET AND REPULSE OF IRAN—THE COMING OF ISLAM 95 VII. THE WARRIOR HERACLIADS 121 VIII. DESTRUCTION OF THE WORK OF THE HERACLIADS I4S IX. THE REPULSE OF ISLAM 1 60 X. THE ICONOCLASTS 180 XI. THE NAVAL AND MILITARY SYSTEMS 203 XII. IRENE'S SUCCESSORS TO MICHAEL III. 2 13 XIII. THE EARLY MACEDONIANS 238 XIV. THE GREAT CONQUERORS 266 XV. THE AGE OF WOMEN 299 XVI. THE COMING OF THE TURKS 3 16 XVII. THE COMNENOI—THE LAST GREAT RALLY 33 XVIIL THE ANGELOI—-THE TRAITOr's STROKE - 364 XIX. EPILOGUE : THE DEATH-AGONY 379 XX. BYZANTINE SOCIETY — THE EMPIRE'S PLACE IN HISTORY 397 EASTERN ROMAN SOVEREIGNS FROM A.D. 395 407 THE SOVEREIGNS OF THE POLYARCHY 409 ix Contents GENEALOGICAL TABLES PAGE 1. THE HOUSE OF THEODOSIUS 4'° II. THE DARDANIAN HOUSE 4I I III. THE HERACLIADS 412 IV. THE ISAURIANS - 413 V. THE AMORIANS AND MACEDONIANS 414 VI. THE COMNENOI, DUKAI, ANGELOI, AND PAL^O- LOGOl - facing 414 TABLES I. THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN A.D. 395 415 II. THE ROMAN EMPIRE COMPARED WITH OTHER EMPIRES OF THE ANCIENT AND MIDDLE AGES 416 III. THE TERRITORIAL FLUCTUATIONS OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE 416 INDEX 419 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE I. Justinian Triumphant (Ivory) Frontispiece FACING PAGE II. The Triple Wall of Constantinople from outside 5 III. Part of Ivory Diptych of a Roman Consul, a.d. 518 12 IV. Ivory of the Empress Eudocia - - 33 V. 'Theodora Imperatrix' - 48 VI. Sancta Sophia, Constantinople • - 56 VII. Church of San Vitale, Ravenna (Interior) 65 VIII. Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Mosaic of Theodora - 80 IX. Church of Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna (Interior) - 85 X. Column of the Serpents, Constantinople 92 XI. The Walls of Constantinople from the Seven Towers 113 XII. The Golden Gate, Constantinople 128 XIII. San Vitale, Mosaic of Constantine V. 145 XIV. Sarcophagus in S. ApoUini c in Classe - 160 XV. Mausoleum of Galla Plac i.a, Ravenna 165 XVI. St. Irene, Constantinople • - 172 XVII. Byzantine Coins - 193 XVIII. Galleries in Sancta Sophia, Constantinople 208 XIX. Byzantine Ornaments 229 XX. ' The Choice of Theophilus ' - 236 XXI. Church of The Twelve Apostles, Thessalonica 241 XXII. A Capital in the Church of San Vitale, Ravenna - 256 XXIII. The Taurus Mountains near Adana - 273 xi List of Illustrations PLATE FACING PAGE XXIV. The Walls of Antioch - - - 288 XXV. .Silk Brocade - 305 XXVI. The Marble Tower, Constantinople - 320 XXVII. Palace of the Porphyrogenitus, Constantinople 337 XXVIII. Sancta Sophia (Interior), Constantinople - - 352 XXIX. Harbour of Bucoleon, Constantinople - - 373 XXX. The Bosphorus and Castle of Europe, Constantinople 380 XXXI. The Pempton Gate, Constantinople - 385 XXXII. Medallions of Justinian I. and John VII. 400 LIST OF MAPS Principal Greek Colonies, 800-600 b.c. - xiv The Roman Empire, a.d. 395 - - 29 Eastern Empire, a.d. 565 79 Eastern Empire, a.d. 800 201 Eastern Empire, a.d. 959 261 Eastern Empire, a.d. 1025 - - 297 Eastern Empire, a.d. 1180 361 THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE THE REARGUARD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION CHAPTER I BYZANTIUM AND CONSTANTINOPLE—THE PEERLESS CAPITAL the eighth and seventh centuries before Christ INthe Eastern Mediterranean was bidding fair to become a veritable network of Greek city-states. Never were there such colonizers as these men who had come down from the north and settled on the ruins of the far-famed sea-kingdom of Minos, whose glory they were destined to rival and surpass. Perchance the renown of the Minoan Empire, of which they must have heard, spurred them to emula- tion perchance they were forced seaward, like other ; peoples before and since, by pressure from behind. Domestic political troubles undoubtedly played their part in the formation of many of the settlements which covered the shores of the Levant ; but when every circumstance is taken into full con- Byzantium and Constantinople sideration, the feats of the men of Hellas were wonderful. The wild outburst of colonizing energy which began in the ninth century continued for two centuries without a check, and did not slacken until there was scarce any section of Eastern Mediter- ranean coast-line, save that of Egypt and Syria, that was not studded with Greek towns. It was not by the great cities of the Golden Age that the work was done. The now-forgotten towns of Chalcis and Eretria were the pioneers in Europe. In the eighth and seventh centuries the lead was taken by famed Miletus, leader of Hellas in many things until her destruction Persia in b.c. by 494 ; but Miletus found a not unworthy rival in the European town of Dorian Megara, on the Saronic Gulf. Megarean ships passed up the Hellespont, and established settlements on the Asiatic shore of the PrOpontis, steadily moving forward until, in 675, they founded Chalcedon (Kadikoi), at the entrance of the Thracian Bosphorus. How or why they overlooked the unrivalled site on the Thracian shore for the immeasurably inferior one of Chalcedon is truly difficult of comprehension fear ; perhaps their of the wild folk of the Thracian inland had some- thing to do with it.