Post by PeterB on Aug 7, 2007 2:47:59 GMT -4
As mentioned in earlier threads, I have a monthly spot on radio in which I discuss various historical topics. I prepare a 2-3 page document for the talk, and I've posted these to Apollohoax to provide something different to discuss. This time, lacking inspiration for a topical topic, I decided to discuss the Byzantine Empire, a topic which I find fascinating. Here's the document I sent.
= = = =
Byzantium - the Forgotten Empire
For many people, the Renaissance in the 15th century was something that just happened - a time in which Italians just spontaneously decided to look to Ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration. But in reality the Renaissance was triggered by the migration to Italy of many scholars from Europe's greatest repository of knowledge in the previous thousand years - the Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantine Empire was the continuation of the old Eastern Roman Empire, and in its capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul), it preserved much of our knowledge of Ancient Greece and Rome, while most of Europe sank into the Dark Ages. But the Empire was much more than a simple archive. Its strategic position protected Europe from conquest by the armies of Islam until it was strong enough to look after itself. It brought Christianity and literacy to much of Eastern Europe. Its architecture, both in churches and castles, influenced European architecture. Even the humble fork we use at the dinner table was developed in Constantinople and brought to Western Europe by a fussy Byzantine princess. Perhaps only in its literature does it gain much attention.
Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire's capital, started out as the Greek colony of Byzantium (hence the name given to the Empire by historians a couple of centuries ago), founded in the 7th century BC. It was brilliantly located, dominating the Bosporus, the narrow waterway connecting the Black and Aegean Seas, but also protected by it. The triangular wedge of land it sat on was also protected to its north by the inlet called the Golden Horn, meaning the city could only be threatened by land from one direction. On that side, massive walls were built in the 5th century, which were only breached by enemies twice in the Empire's history.
Within the walls was a city which was Europe's largest, at least until the 13th century, with as many as half a million inhabitants at its peak. Along with mansions for the rich, houses for the middle class, and tenement blocks for the poor, Constantinople contained churches, forums, monasteries, cisterns, two Imperial palaces, and a hippodrome for games and parades. Over all this loomed the massive and beautiful church of Hagia Sophia. But within the walls were also many open spaces devoted to farming, meaning the city was at least partially self-supporting during sieges.
The conversion of Byzantium to Constantinople started in the 4th century, when the Roman Empire's first Christian Emperor, Constantine, decided Rome wasn't suitable as the Empire's capital city: it was too far away from important military zones, and was itself too easy to besiege. Constantine chose Byzantium for its reasonable proximity to the lower Danube (beyond which German tribes loomed) and the border with Sassanid Persia (encompassing roughly modern Iran and Iraq). By creating a Senate to match Rome's, by financial incentives (bribes, if you like) to major families, and by moving all sorts of ancient monuments to the city, and by building many churches, Constantine created a momentum which sucked in migrants from many other cities in the region, guaranteeing Constantinople's success.
In a sense, it was just in time. Within a couple of generations, the Roman Empire had permanently split into Eastern and Western halves. Within a couple more, the Western Empire had fallen to barbarian invasions which the richer Eastern Empire had been able to avoid. At the start of the 6th century, the Eastern Roman Empire controlled all the land around the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: the Balkans, Turkey, Syria, Israel and Egypt. But it was in this century that the Emperor Justinian led a determined effort to reconquer the lands of the Western Empire. His generals were remarkably successful, regaining the rest of North Africa, Italy, and a third of Spain. Who knows where it might have ended if an outbreak of disease every bit as bad as the Black Death hadn't killed a third of the Empire's population.
But Justinian's efforts were largely in vain. Through the 7th century, province after province was lost - Spain to the Visigoths, most of Italy to the Lombards, the Balkans to the Slavs and Bulgars, and Africa, Syria and Israel to the first wave of the Arab armies of Islam. By the start of the 8th century, the Byzantine Empire consisted of what's now Turkey, Sicily, the land around Constantinople, and scattered coastal cities in Italy and the Balkans.
It was at this time that the Empire's character evolved: Greek replaced Latin in the palace, courts and army; Christianity became essentially the sole religion of the Empire; and the Emperor's title changed from the Latin "Augustus" to the Greek "Basileus". As a result, it's from roughly this time that historians call the Empire Byzantine, rather than Eastern Roman. But it's important to understand that the Byzantines continued to call themselves "Roman" until the end of their Empire.
The Empire barely survived for the next 200 years, but by the 10th century, it had regained its strength, advancing its borders in the east and in the Balkans, despite also losing Sicily. In the 11th century the Empire reached a level of power and prestige it hadn't experienced since the 6th century.
But once again disaster struck. Late in the 11th century, the Imperial army was defeated by Turks, and the subsequent civil wars allowed the Turks to conquer all of what's now Asian Turkey. The Byzantines fought back, regaining some of the land, assisted by the passage of the army of the First Crusade.
But Crusaders could be enemies as well as friends. At the start of the 13th century, an army of Crusaders conquered Constantinople, fragmenting the Empire. Fifty years later a Byzantine army recaptured the city, but the reconstituted Empire was a shadow of its former glory. In the following decades, it steadily lost lands to the Turks and Serbs, until by the middle of the 15th century, all that was left was the City itself, and a single province in the south of Greece.
The Empire came to an end in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople after a six week siege during which the city's massive walls were blasted apart by cannons.
It was in religion that the Byzantines had their most profound influence on the world. The Byzantines were, mostly, supporters of Orthodox Christianity, though they experienced a number of theological disputes over time, such as Arianism and Monophysitism. And this is one thing which makes the Byzantines so alien to us today. Not only were they very religious, the entire population got involved in theological disputes - not just the priesthood: was Jesus entirely divine, entirely human, or a mix; did the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father, or from the Father and the Son; was it acceptable to show the Divine in art form? Such questions not only captivated people, discussion could easily lead to riots. It's a result of one of these disputes that the word "iconoclasm" entered the English language, although for the Byzantines the word had its literal meaning - icon smasher.
The head of the Orthodox Church was the Patriarch of Constantinople, a man with technically the same rank as the Pope. But where Rome existed in a secular vacuum throughout the Dark Ages, the Patriarchs moved in the exciting world of Byzantine politics, meaning that many apparently religious disputes had civil implications, and the other way around. Such was the Patriarch's influence that after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Sultan appointed the Patriarch as the head of the Greek community in the Ottoman Empire.
On two occasions, in the 13th and 15th centuries, desperate Byzantine Emperors agreed to a union between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, which had formally split in the 11th century. But on each occasion, the union was furiously rejected by most Byzantines, secular and religious. For them, the independence of their church was more important than even political independence.
Orthodox churches are best known for their gorgeous icons and mosaics, most of them dating to a time after the 8th century period of iconoclasm. Mosaics were organised in a specific way within a church, with particular scenes assigned to various parts of the church. Made with tiny pieces of coloured or gilded glass, they display a remarkable subtlety and beauty, and some are considered the most magnificent Christian art anywhere.
But the full effect of Orthodox Christianity is best experienced in its complete form, with chanted liturgy and clouds of incense. The story goes that a 10th century Russian prince sent delegates to Rome, Constantinople and Baghdad to determine whether he should convert to Catholic or Orthodox Christianity, or Islam. Apparently the religious authorities in Constantinople spared no effort, so astonishing the Russians that they afterwards said they didn't know whether they were on Earth or in heaven. Russia became Orthodox Christian.
The other important aspect of Orthodox Christianity was its monasteries. Like their counterparts in the West, Orthodox monasteries were places of both retreat and learning. The main difference between them seems to have been their wealth - they were full of gold, mostly in the form of ecclesiastical furniture - crosses, candle holders, chalices and the like. Accordingly, there were two occasions, one in the 7th century, and the other in the 11th, when the Emperor asked the church to donate its gold to help pay soldiers. On each occasion, the gold was donated, but on each occasion the church expected the money returned promptly. In the first case, this resulted in a severe depression for the Empire as such a vast amount of gold was suddenly withdrawn from circulation.
Strangely for such a strongly Christian people, the Byzantines were almost perversely superstitious - a streak of paganism which ran even deeper than their Christianity. Portents were seen in various natural events, astrologers calculated auspicious dates, and mediums did a roaring trade. Just as perversely, no one in Byzantine society seems to have seen the contradiction - despite the various theological disputes which split Byzantine society, never once that I've been able to find did a theological dispute of that ferocity arise out of these pagan beliefs.
The Empire relied heavily for its survival on its army. For much of its history, unlike the feudal arrays in Western Europe, the Byzantine army was a regular, professional force. It was therefore expensive to run, and too valuable to risk unnecessarily. Therefore, the Byzantines often did what they could to avoid fighting. They were past masters of diplomacy, relying on a combination of gold, important sounding titles, expensive clothing, and occasionally a Byzantine princess to achieve their ends. If these didn't work, they might bribe another nation to attack the nation threatening them.
But if it came to fighting, the Byzantines also used tricks to improve their chances of victory. Several Byzantine military manuals have survived, describing the appropriate tactics to use against the Empire's enemies, as well as other tricks such as ambushes and feigned flights. The Byzantines also excelled in the logistical and medical side of military operations; for example, orderlies had the job of combing the battlefield for casualties, earning a bonus for each wounded man they brought in.
As their supply of native soldiers dwindled, the Byzantines increasingly relied on mercenaries, both from Europe (knights) and Asia (unarmoured horse archers). But the Empire's most famous mercenary unit was one of its earliest - the Varangian Guard. It was formed in the 10th century from Norse adventurers, later supplemented by Russians, and even Saxons exiled from England after the Norman conquest. Unlike most Byzantine soldiers, who were cavalry, the Varangians fought on foot, protected by massive suits of chain mail, and wielding massive two handed axes.
Unlike much of the world, women had considerable legal status at all levels of Byzantine society. The Emperor's wife wasn't a trophy. Instead, her position held certain privileges and power. No less than three women ruled the Empire as Empresses in their own right, and many more were Regents for underage sons.
The Empire was also to some extent a meritocracy - a clever, resourceful and lucky man could climb from almost anywhere in society, even to Imperial power. More than half a dozen Byzantine Emperors had been born as peasants, but used their talents to make good, usually through military service. Several Patriarchs also had such obscure origins.
As well as Christianity, the Byzantines brought literacy to Eastern Europe. In the 9th century, a Byzantine monk who knew some Slavic languages created an alphabet for these Slavs, based on the Greek alphabet. The monk's name was Cyril, and his name was given to the Cyrillic alphabet which is now used across much of the Slavic world.
But it's in literature that most people are familiar with the Byzantine Empire. Three historians in particular stand out: Procopius, Michael Psellus and Anna Comnena. Procopius wrote an official history of the times of the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. But he's far better known for his Secret History, which was mostly slanderous gossip about the Emperor and his wife, the Empress Theodora, and her colourful background. Michael Psellus was an 11th century senior bureaucrat who wrote biographies of the Emperors with whom he worked on a daily basis, his writing showing a deft ability to create colourful scenes and character sketches in a couple of words. Finally, Anna Comnena wrote a biography of her father, the 12th century Emperor Alexius Comnenus. She knew how to tell an entertaining story, although her loyalty to her father made her gloss over her father's shortcomings. She also provides a Byzantine perspective of the passage of the armies of the First Crusade.
All three of these writers show one major difference between Byzantium and the rest of Europe - the level of education. At a time when only a few churchmen in Western Europe were literate, most emperors, and most of the middle and upper classes, were highly educated, and able to argue theology or philosophy, or quote the Bible or Homer. As a result, many Emperors were able to discuss theology with churchmen as intellectual equals, rather than winning arguments by pulling rank. Likewise, a number of Emperors and Empresses were pious enough to provide large sums of money to churches, monasteries and various charities. Several even voluntarily abdicated before death in order to end their days in contemplation as monks and nuns.
Throughout much of the Byzantine Empire's history, there's a thin but continuous thread of evidence for remarkable technology. An impressive early example is the dome of Hagia Sophia in the 6th century, unequalled in size until the construction of the dome of St Peters in Rome in the 16th century. In the 7th century came the development of Greek Fire, a flammable liquid used in warfare, especially at sea. Because of its light oil base, it floated on water, meaning water couldn't be used to extinguish it. In the 9th and 10th centuries we read of a bronze tree with birds in the Imperial Palace. What makes this device remarkable was that by some means (probably compressed air), the birds could be made to flap their wings and make the calls appropriate to the species represented. The Emperor's throne could also be made to rise and fall, in order to impress embassies brought before the Emperor.
For those interested in learning more about the Byzantine Empire, the ideal introduction is the three volume narrative history by British historian John Julius Norwich: Byzantium, the Early Centuries; the Apogee; and the Decline and Fall. Norwich has a wonderfully dry wit, but he also knows when to keep quiet and let the primary sources tell the story themselves. For those feeling threatened by such a large investment, Norwich has also produced a one volume abridgement.
= = = =
Byzantium - the Forgotten Empire
For many people, the Renaissance in the 15th century was something that just happened - a time in which Italians just spontaneously decided to look to Ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration. But in reality the Renaissance was triggered by the migration to Italy of many scholars from Europe's greatest repository of knowledge in the previous thousand years - the Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantine Empire was the continuation of the old Eastern Roman Empire, and in its capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul), it preserved much of our knowledge of Ancient Greece and Rome, while most of Europe sank into the Dark Ages. But the Empire was much more than a simple archive. Its strategic position protected Europe from conquest by the armies of Islam until it was strong enough to look after itself. It brought Christianity and literacy to much of Eastern Europe. Its architecture, both in churches and castles, influenced European architecture. Even the humble fork we use at the dinner table was developed in Constantinople and brought to Western Europe by a fussy Byzantine princess. Perhaps only in its literature does it gain much attention.
Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire's capital, started out as the Greek colony of Byzantium (hence the name given to the Empire by historians a couple of centuries ago), founded in the 7th century BC. It was brilliantly located, dominating the Bosporus, the narrow waterway connecting the Black and Aegean Seas, but also protected by it. The triangular wedge of land it sat on was also protected to its north by the inlet called the Golden Horn, meaning the city could only be threatened by land from one direction. On that side, massive walls were built in the 5th century, which were only breached by enemies twice in the Empire's history.
Within the walls was a city which was Europe's largest, at least until the 13th century, with as many as half a million inhabitants at its peak. Along with mansions for the rich, houses for the middle class, and tenement blocks for the poor, Constantinople contained churches, forums, monasteries, cisterns, two Imperial palaces, and a hippodrome for games and parades. Over all this loomed the massive and beautiful church of Hagia Sophia. But within the walls were also many open spaces devoted to farming, meaning the city was at least partially self-supporting during sieges.
The conversion of Byzantium to Constantinople started in the 4th century, when the Roman Empire's first Christian Emperor, Constantine, decided Rome wasn't suitable as the Empire's capital city: it was too far away from important military zones, and was itself too easy to besiege. Constantine chose Byzantium for its reasonable proximity to the lower Danube (beyond which German tribes loomed) and the border with Sassanid Persia (encompassing roughly modern Iran and Iraq). By creating a Senate to match Rome's, by financial incentives (bribes, if you like) to major families, and by moving all sorts of ancient monuments to the city, and by building many churches, Constantine created a momentum which sucked in migrants from many other cities in the region, guaranteeing Constantinople's success.
In a sense, it was just in time. Within a couple of generations, the Roman Empire had permanently split into Eastern and Western halves. Within a couple more, the Western Empire had fallen to barbarian invasions which the richer Eastern Empire had been able to avoid. At the start of the 6th century, the Eastern Roman Empire controlled all the land around the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: the Balkans, Turkey, Syria, Israel and Egypt. But it was in this century that the Emperor Justinian led a determined effort to reconquer the lands of the Western Empire. His generals were remarkably successful, regaining the rest of North Africa, Italy, and a third of Spain. Who knows where it might have ended if an outbreak of disease every bit as bad as the Black Death hadn't killed a third of the Empire's population.
But Justinian's efforts were largely in vain. Through the 7th century, province after province was lost - Spain to the Visigoths, most of Italy to the Lombards, the Balkans to the Slavs and Bulgars, and Africa, Syria and Israel to the first wave of the Arab armies of Islam. By the start of the 8th century, the Byzantine Empire consisted of what's now Turkey, Sicily, the land around Constantinople, and scattered coastal cities in Italy and the Balkans.
It was at this time that the Empire's character evolved: Greek replaced Latin in the palace, courts and army; Christianity became essentially the sole religion of the Empire; and the Emperor's title changed from the Latin "Augustus" to the Greek "Basileus". As a result, it's from roughly this time that historians call the Empire Byzantine, rather than Eastern Roman. But it's important to understand that the Byzantines continued to call themselves "Roman" until the end of their Empire.
The Empire barely survived for the next 200 years, but by the 10th century, it had regained its strength, advancing its borders in the east and in the Balkans, despite also losing Sicily. In the 11th century the Empire reached a level of power and prestige it hadn't experienced since the 6th century.
But once again disaster struck. Late in the 11th century, the Imperial army was defeated by Turks, and the subsequent civil wars allowed the Turks to conquer all of what's now Asian Turkey. The Byzantines fought back, regaining some of the land, assisted by the passage of the army of the First Crusade.
But Crusaders could be enemies as well as friends. At the start of the 13th century, an army of Crusaders conquered Constantinople, fragmenting the Empire. Fifty years later a Byzantine army recaptured the city, but the reconstituted Empire was a shadow of its former glory. In the following decades, it steadily lost lands to the Turks and Serbs, until by the middle of the 15th century, all that was left was the City itself, and a single province in the south of Greece.
The Empire came to an end in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople after a six week siege during which the city's massive walls were blasted apart by cannons.
It was in religion that the Byzantines had their most profound influence on the world. The Byzantines were, mostly, supporters of Orthodox Christianity, though they experienced a number of theological disputes over time, such as Arianism and Monophysitism. And this is one thing which makes the Byzantines so alien to us today. Not only were they very religious, the entire population got involved in theological disputes - not just the priesthood: was Jesus entirely divine, entirely human, or a mix; did the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father, or from the Father and the Son; was it acceptable to show the Divine in art form? Such questions not only captivated people, discussion could easily lead to riots. It's a result of one of these disputes that the word "iconoclasm" entered the English language, although for the Byzantines the word had its literal meaning - icon smasher.
The head of the Orthodox Church was the Patriarch of Constantinople, a man with technically the same rank as the Pope. But where Rome existed in a secular vacuum throughout the Dark Ages, the Patriarchs moved in the exciting world of Byzantine politics, meaning that many apparently religious disputes had civil implications, and the other way around. Such was the Patriarch's influence that after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Sultan appointed the Patriarch as the head of the Greek community in the Ottoman Empire.
On two occasions, in the 13th and 15th centuries, desperate Byzantine Emperors agreed to a union between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, which had formally split in the 11th century. But on each occasion, the union was furiously rejected by most Byzantines, secular and religious. For them, the independence of their church was more important than even political independence.
Orthodox churches are best known for their gorgeous icons and mosaics, most of them dating to a time after the 8th century period of iconoclasm. Mosaics were organised in a specific way within a church, with particular scenes assigned to various parts of the church. Made with tiny pieces of coloured or gilded glass, they display a remarkable subtlety and beauty, and some are considered the most magnificent Christian art anywhere.
But the full effect of Orthodox Christianity is best experienced in its complete form, with chanted liturgy and clouds of incense. The story goes that a 10th century Russian prince sent delegates to Rome, Constantinople and Baghdad to determine whether he should convert to Catholic or Orthodox Christianity, or Islam. Apparently the religious authorities in Constantinople spared no effort, so astonishing the Russians that they afterwards said they didn't know whether they were on Earth or in heaven. Russia became Orthodox Christian.
The other important aspect of Orthodox Christianity was its monasteries. Like their counterparts in the West, Orthodox monasteries were places of both retreat and learning. The main difference between them seems to have been their wealth - they were full of gold, mostly in the form of ecclesiastical furniture - crosses, candle holders, chalices and the like. Accordingly, there were two occasions, one in the 7th century, and the other in the 11th, when the Emperor asked the church to donate its gold to help pay soldiers. On each occasion, the gold was donated, but on each occasion the church expected the money returned promptly. In the first case, this resulted in a severe depression for the Empire as such a vast amount of gold was suddenly withdrawn from circulation.
Strangely for such a strongly Christian people, the Byzantines were almost perversely superstitious - a streak of paganism which ran even deeper than their Christianity. Portents were seen in various natural events, astrologers calculated auspicious dates, and mediums did a roaring trade. Just as perversely, no one in Byzantine society seems to have seen the contradiction - despite the various theological disputes which split Byzantine society, never once that I've been able to find did a theological dispute of that ferocity arise out of these pagan beliefs.
The Empire relied heavily for its survival on its army. For much of its history, unlike the feudal arrays in Western Europe, the Byzantine army was a regular, professional force. It was therefore expensive to run, and too valuable to risk unnecessarily. Therefore, the Byzantines often did what they could to avoid fighting. They were past masters of diplomacy, relying on a combination of gold, important sounding titles, expensive clothing, and occasionally a Byzantine princess to achieve their ends. If these didn't work, they might bribe another nation to attack the nation threatening them.
But if it came to fighting, the Byzantines also used tricks to improve their chances of victory. Several Byzantine military manuals have survived, describing the appropriate tactics to use against the Empire's enemies, as well as other tricks such as ambushes and feigned flights. The Byzantines also excelled in the logistical and medical side of military operations; for example, orderlies had the job of combing the battlefield for casualties, earning a bonus for each wounded man they brought in.
As their supply of native soldiers dwindled, the Byzantines increasingly relied on mercenaries, both from Europe (knights) and Asia (unarmoured horse archers). But the Empire's most famous mercenary unit was one of its earliest - the Varangian Guard. It was formed in the 10th century from Norse adventurers, later supplemented by Russians, and even Saxons exiled from England after the Norman conquest. Unlike most Byzantine soldiers, who were cavalry, the Varangians fought on foot, protected by massive suits of chain mail, and wielding massive two handed axes.
Unlike much of the world, women had considerable legal status at all levels of Byzantine society. The Emperor's wife wasn't a trophy. Instead, her position held certain privileges and power. No less than three women ruled the Empire as Empresses in their own right, and many more were Regents for underage sons.
The Empire was also to some extent a meritocracy - a clever, resourceful and lucky man could climb from almost anywhere in society, even to Imperial power. More than half a dozen Byzantine Emperors had been born as peasants, but used their talents to make good, usually through military service. Several Patriarchs also had such obscure origins.
As well as Christianity, the Byzantines brought literacy to Eastern Europe. In the 9th century, a Byzantine monk who knew some Slavic languages created an alphabet for these Slavs, based on the Greek alphabet. The monk's name was Cyril, and his name was given to the Cyrillic alphabet which is now used across much of the Slavic world.
But it's in literature that most people are familiar with the Byzantine Empire. Three historians in particular stand out: Procopius, Michael Psellus and Anna Comnena. Procopius wrote an official history of the times of the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century. But he's far better known for his Secret History, which was mostly slanderous gossip about the Emperor and his wife, the Empress Theodora, and her colourful background. Michael Psellus was an 11th century senior bureaucrat who wrote biographies of the Emperors with whom he worked on a daily basis, his writing showing a deft ability to create colourful scenes and character sketches in a couple of words. Finally, Anna Comnena wrote a biography of her father, the 12th century Emperor Alexius Comnenus. She knew how to tell an entertaining story, although her loyalty to her father made her gloss over her father's shortcomings. She also provides a Byzantine perspective of the passage of the armies of the First Crusade.
All three of these writers show one major difference between Byzantium and the rest of Europe - the level of education. At a time when only a few churchmen in Western Europe were literate, most emperors, and most of the middle and upper classes, were highly educated, and able to argue theology or philosophy, or quote the Bible or Homer. As a result, many Emperors were able to discuss theology with churchmen as intellectual equals, rather than winning arguments by pulling rank. Likewise, a number of Emperors and Empresses were pious enough to provide large sums of money to churches, monasteries and various charities. Several even voluntarily abdicated before death in order to end their days in contemplation as monks and nuns.
Throughout much of the Byzantine Empire's history, there's a thin but continuous thread of evidence for remarkable technology. An impressive early example is the dome of Hagia Sophia in the 6th century, unequalled in size until the construction of the dome of St Peters in Rome in the 16th century. In the 7th century came the development of Greek Fire, a flammable liquid used in warfare, especially at sea. Because of its light oil base, it floated on water, meaning water couldn't be used to extinguish it. In the 9th and 10th centuries we read of a bronze tree with birds in the Imperial Palace. What makes this device remarkable was that by some means (probably compressed air), the birds could be made to flap their wings and make the calls appropriate to the species represented. The Emperor's throne could also be made to rise and fall, in order to impress embassies brought before the Emperor.
For those interested in learning more about the Byzantine Empire, the ideal introduction is the three volume narrative history by British historian John Julius Norwich: Byzantium, the Early Centuries; the Apogee; and the Decline and Fall. Norwich has a wonderfully dry wit, but he also knows when to keep quiet and let the primary sources tell the story themselves. For those feeling threatened by such a large investment, Norwich has also produced a one volume abridgement.
