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Purpura

@Purpura57912934

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Purpura is dedicated to 2228 years of unbroken Roman state continuity from the founding of Rome to the Ottoman conquest of Theodoro.

Lupercal
Joined January 2019
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12 days
Justinian II was the first Roman Emperor to depict a bust of Christ on his coins. The image of Christ, introduced on the gold Solidus in 705, aligns with the decision of the Quinsextine Council (692), which mandated that Jesus be represented in human form rather than as a Paschal
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@Purpura57912934
Purpura
@Purpura57912934
3 years
During the reign of the first Roman Emperor Augustus (27 BCE - 14 CE) wealthy Romans started visiting Egypt as tourists. At that point the new province’s main attraction, the Great Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu, was already more than 2500 years old.
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Constantinople in 1453, photographs from the stroll through the City. Work by French artist Antoine Helbert.
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If you completed your education with an impression that Rome fell in 476 your teachers, instructors and professors did a poor job robbing you of a full millennium or Roman state history: the final state remnants of the Roman Empire were conquered by the Ottomans during 1453-1475.
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When the Roman imperial rule collapsed on the Balkan Peninsula in the late sixth century, after nearly 800 years, paleo-Balkan populations (by that time, culturally and logistically fully Romanized) suffered two very different fates depending on their geographical location.
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Regardless of how fascinating Roman history is, Göbekli Tepe (southeastern Anatolia, modern day Turkey) is a humbling site, a monumental complex with megaliths that is more than 11,500 years old. The so-called “cathedral on a hill” was already there circa 9,000 years before Rome.
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Roman Empire surviving the onslaught by the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), including direct attacks on its capital Constantinople by both sea and land (669, 674-678, 717-718), is the greatest of all defensive successes in all of Roman history. Adaptability and flexibility,
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Vienna 1945. American soldier with the Reichskrone (The Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire) made circa 962 (with later additions). The original octagonal shape of the crown is an exact imitation of the shape of the crowns of the Roman Emperors in Constantinople at that time.
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Nova Anglia: Resettlement of Anglo-Saxon refugees fleeing the Norman conquest of England in the Roman Empire in 1075. Varangian Guard incorporated the best warriors in Constantinople, whilst the rest of the families were settled further east in the imperial Crimea.
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The shocking Arab raid on Rome in 846, during which both The Old St. Peter's and the Old St. Paul’s Basilicas (both built by Constantine I, in 318 and 324) were sacked, and Saint Peter’s and Saint Paul’s tombs both destroyed, marked the symbolic end of the medieval imperial Rome.
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3 years & 8,000 followers later, I just want to thank all who are following, and for many wonderful discussions. I started this account for fun as my research notes for neglected, overlooked, often misrepresented part of history - medieval Roman Empire. Never expected 80 people.
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This is a great example of the type of thinking that led me to open this account in the first place. Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire for 870 years of uninterrupted continuity in 1200, is not considered a European city. If a former Roman imperial capital is not
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The Romans viewed themselves primarily as land-based people, and they relied partially on others, such as the Greeks and the Egyptians, to build their ships. Because of that, the Roman Navy was never completely embraced by the Roman state early on, despite the fact that the Roman
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The ultimate balcony view: Church of the Saviour in Thessalonica, Greece, constructed in 1350 during the reign of the Emperor John VI Cantacuzene, now nested between modern apartment buildings.
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A map showing areas where Koine Greek was spoken in 30 BCE, the year of the Roman conquest of Egypt (dark blue is majority, light blue is wide use).
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Wonderful map of the length of stay in the Roman world, in years (ballpark take).
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Roman linguistic switch from Latin to Greek in state administration was a slow, gradual and organic process, naturally caused by the dwindling numbers of native Latin speakers in the Empire (Heraclius officially replacing Latin with Greek is just a historiographical myth). The
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Christianity was widely introduced to the area that constitutes modern day Ethiopia in 330, through the work of missionary brothers Frumentius and Aedesius, who left the Empire to spread the faith in the Kingdom of Aksum. There are around 51 million Oriental Orthodox Christians
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Portus Ferresanus, now known as the Farasan Islands (today part of Saudi Arabia), were the furthest known Roman military outpost, located circa 4,000 kilometers from Rome. Latin inscription from 144 was found on the islands, attesting to the construction of a Roman garrison.
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Roman Empire finally lost the town of Rome in 756, 1509 years after the traditional date of the founding of the Roman state. The very last imperial governor of Rome, Eustathius (752-756), left the final donor inscription in the Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin for posterity.
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The Palaeologan Renaissance (1261-1453) was the final flowering of medieval Roman culture, eventually spreading beyond the Empire’s borders and developing a life of its own there. Example: Serb Monastery of Visoki Dečani, built by the King Stefan Dečanski of Rascia, in 1327–1325.
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The Fourth Crusade, the event from which the Empire never recovered, made Islamic rule over the Balkan Peninsula possible for centuries (and, subsequently, permanent Islamization of large parts of it). The sack of Constantinople would directly lead to the Ottoman siege of Vienna.
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The Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, dedicated in 330 by Constantine I (unfinished when Constantine died in 337) spontaneously became the Roman Imperial Polyándreion (imperial cemetery). It housed mortal remains of Roman rulers, in purple sarcophagi, from
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Cuman 12th century funeral statues from the barrows in the Kharkiv region, northeast Ukraine. Turkic Nomadic Cumans who settled in the Balkans will eventually abandon Tengrism, become Eastern Orthodox, and integrate fully into the medieval Roman state and society.
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Calling the Roman Empire East or Eastern in 565, when its state territory included European and African shores of the Atlantic Ocean west of the Mediterranean Sea, is an utterly fascinating historiographical phenomenon. Illogical modern approaches to Roman history such as this
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Lordship of the city of Theodoro and the Maritime Region, the very last Roman state remnant, conquered by the Ottomans in 1475, fell only 17 years before Christopher Columbus made his landfall in the Americas in 1492.
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The Church of St. Sava (Belgrade, Serbia), one of the largest Orthodox cathedrals in the world, designed to replicate dimensions and architecture of Hagia Sophia, started construction in 1935. St. Sava’s remains were placed on a pyre and burnt on that spot by Sinan Pasha in 1535.
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John Haldon's phrase "The Empire That Would Not Die" captures the astonishing long term resilience of the Roman state during the Middle Ages. Comprehensive answer on it still eludes historians, although many pointed towards orderly tax collection, rule of law & sense of identity.
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The Church of Saint George (ቤት ጊዮርጊስ) in Lalibela, Ethiopia, is an example of a late 12th century rock-hewn monolithic church. It belongs to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the largest Oriental Orthodox church in the world (with about 36 million members today).
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Constantinople was purpose-built to serve as an imperial capital (initial major-scale construction lasted for 6 years, 324-330). The City was the crown jewel of Roman urban planning and long-term administrative vision: a capital city that stood free and unconquered for 867 years.
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In 1111 Constantinople purchased an entire fleet of the latest Viking ships, together with their operating crews, from Norwegian King Sigurd I Magnusson who was returning from a Crusade via the City. Varangian Guard also incorporated almost all of his warriors, who opted to stay.
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Norman embrace of medieval Roman culture gives us another fleeting glimpse of what Roman west might have looked like by the 12th century, had it continued.
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The entire Roman Empire was ruled from Constantinople during the 330-395 period, which is exactly what the Emperor Constantine originally intended.
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Faces of Roman Egypt: Faiyum Portraits are a type of naturalistic painted portraits on wooden boards, either as encaustic (wax) or tempera paintings, attached to upper class mummies, produced from the late 1st century BCE to the middle of the 3rd century CE (circa 900 were found)
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Roman Empire was an effective barrier to the Islamic conquest of the Balkans and beyond for almost 600 years (629-1204). Ottoman attack on Vienna (1529) wouldn’t’ve happened without the destruction of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade from which the Romans never recovered.
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Liutprand of Cremona noted that the Emperor Leo VI the Wise (reign 886-912) personally tested the security of his imperial capital one night by walking alone around Constantinople in disguise, and without any escort. He encountered two separate patrols of city guards who
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The first and the last Roman Emperor based in Constantinople, Constantine I and XI, 11 centuries apart, were both at least bilingual. Constantine I spoke Latin and presumably had good knowledge of Greek, whilst Constantine XI spoke Greek & Serbian (which means Bulgarian as well).
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The period of imperial Reconquest (956-1045) was also the era of continuous domestic population growth (urban and in the countryside). Historians disagree on the cause and effect (if the imperial advances spurred population growth, or if the population growth made them possible).
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The Empire in 1340, during the reign of Andronicus III. The map shows the curious case of Philadelphia, imperial enclave deep inland in Asia Minor. The city had its own imperial mint and coins struck there in isolation are one of the ultimate prizes of medieval Roman numismatics.
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Gold goblet with female personifications of Constantinople and Rome, circa 740. Ancient practice of presenting Roman cities as female figures continued on well into the medieval Christian age.
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Roman rule in Athens lasted for 1,352 years. The city was conquered during the Fourth Crusade, and never recovered: the Crusader rule (1204-1458) was directly replaced by the Ottoman rule.
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Nomenclature rant: When a student of history realizes that Roman state did not fall in 476 but in 1453-75 ten centuries later, individually it changes everything - internal perspectives, attitudes, realizations. I have seen this numerous times, and it is totally worth the effort.
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At the beginning of 1453 Constantinople had 1,500 land troops and 10 ships at its disposal. It took enormous amount of effort to bring the numbers up to 7,000 City defenders and 26 ships by April 6.
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Roman Empire in 756, territorial nadir. Thalassocratic construct, a disjointed sea world patchwork, now held together by the strength and capabilities of the Roman navy. Medieval recovery starts here.
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Roman Empire is the only state in history that had the privilege to call the whole Mediterranean Sea Mare Internum (Internal Sea).
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John VIII Palaiologos was the very last Roman Emperor who travelled to Rome, visiting the city during his trip to Italy in 1423.
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Helene Palaiologos née Dragaš (1372 – 1450), daughter of the Rascian magnate Konstantin Dejanović Dragaš, was the wife of Manuel II and mother of John VIII and Constantine XI. The last two Emperors in Constantinople were likely bilingual, with conversational abilities in Serbian.
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When depicting military saints from centuries ago medieval Roman artists used armor, weapons and equipment from the contemporary era, giving us priceless snapshots of Roman military at the time frescos were painted.
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Medieval Roman capital was also the City of many names. The Vikings called it Miklagarðr (Big City), in Arabic it was called Rūmiyyat al-Kubra (Great City of the Romans), in Persian it was Takht-e Rum (Throne of the Romans), and the Slavs called it Tsargrad (City of the Caesar).
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Mystras was the last centre of medieval Roman learning and culture. The famous Neoplatonist philosopher Gemistos Plethon lived there until he died in 1452. The Church of Saint Demetrios in Mystras is where the Marble Emperor, Constantine XI, was crowned on 6 January 1449.
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History of the Roman state can be categorized into four major periods: Roman Kingdom (753-509 BCE) Roman Republic (509-27 BCE) Roman Empire (27 BCE - 1204 CE) Era of Imperial Remnants (1204 CE - 1475 CE)
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Female Christian Priest from the Catacombs of Priscilla (Rome, Italy, circa 240 CE).
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Medieval Roman 10th century glass bowl, originally made in Constantinople and looted in 1204, now located in Venice’s San Marco, illustrates the way classical is rendered in what art historians call the Macedonian Renaissance (art during the Macedonian dynasty rule, 867 to 1056).
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Ani (Անի) is a ruined medieval Armenian city now situated in Turkey's province of Kars. During 961-1045, the "City of 1001 Churches" was the capital of the Bagratid Armenian Kingdom that covered much of present-day Armenia & eastern Turkey with an estimated population of 100,000.
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Portrait of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (also known as Caracalla, reign 198–217) depicted as a Pharaoh. The Temple of Kom Omb, Roman Egypt. He was recognized as a Pharaoh under the regnal name Kaimedjus(er) Antanynus Netikhu.
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Merry Xmas to everyone celebrating today. At this time of the year I tend to think about Constantine I, the most transformative Roman Emperor, whose geostrategic vision and religious foresight allowed the Roman state to reinvent itself for the next eleven centuries.
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Mystras, the Church of Saint Demetrios. The double-headed eagle marks the location of the coronation of the Emperor Constantine XI on 6 January 1449, the last medieval Roman ruler in Constantinople.
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On 25 XII 274 the Roman Emperor Aurelian succeeded in establishing the cult of Sol Invictus (Unconquered Sun) as an official religion, alongside the traditional Roman cults. It was a Syrian sun god, whose cult was first promoted in Rome under Elagabalus (204-22), without success.
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Anatolia (from the Greek Ἀνατολή, meaning "the East") is one of the geographical regions where continuous Roman state presence lasted the longest. It was there for 1594 years, from the annexation of Pergamon in 133 BCE to the fall of Trebizond in 1461 CE.
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As we are approaching the end of this annus horribilis, I would like to encourage you all to have a fresh start in 2021 by dropping the ad hoc label invented by Hieronymus Wolf in 1557. Whether you are a student, tenured academic or a history lover, your perspective will improve.
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Heraclius (610-641) switching language to Greek is a myth. Latin in the Roman Empire faded away over a millennium due to the dwindling number of native speakers. The final Latin Solidus coin was minted in Constantinople in 1092, the final administration use was in Ragusa in 1204.
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Fall of the Roman Empire’s capital during the Fourth Crusade on 13 April 1204 severed the living link with the ancient Roman world. Brutal three-day long Crusader sack of Constantinople resulted in immeasurable loss of knowledge including 874 years of state records kept since 330
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Sole female rule in the medieval Roman world was possible, since there were no imperial customs that prevented women from holding the highest state office.
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Constantinopolis received its final boost on native Latin speakers around 554 CE, when the Emperor Justinian resettled the final batch of old Senatorial families from Rome, in recognition of their suffering due to the three sieges of Rome that occurred during the Gothic War.
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Medieval Roman imperial treasury also took care of the periphery. Roman Crimea, reorganized in 840 as the Theme of Klimata (θέμα τὰ Κλίματα, marked below on a map showing the year 1000), received annual subsidies (Πακτα) from Constantinople. The administrative capital, Cherson,
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Unpopular opinion: Late medieval Roman Empire produced a civilization which is today reflected in the Orthodox Christian world. This is the main reason why it is neglected, overlooked and labeled as something different in our Western European perspectives.
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Orthodox England on the Bosporus: Saxon loyalists who fled England after Hastings (1066) and reached the Empire joined the imperial service as Varangians. They were granted English liturgical service in the Church of St. Nicholas and St. Augustine of Canterbury in Constantinople.
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From POWs to imperial colonists: medieval Roman resettlement policy of the VII-XI c. frequently moved Balkan Slavs from Bulgarian and Serb lands to Anatolia, en masse. Soldiers that surrendered on the battlefield could take their families to newly assigned lands, given as grants.
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If we look back at the 1183-1499 period, it is next to impossible to find an Albanian noble family without a Serb nobility bride, and/or vice versa. Nobility blending was extensive, family links were everywhere, bilingualism was very common. Two groups belonged to the same world.
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Medieval Roman heritage in contemporary Balkan state flags: cypher of the Palaeologus dynasty (1259-1453) and the current state flags of Albania, Montenegro and Serbia.
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After the imperial forces stormed the Gate of the Spring on 25 July 1261, they sprinted towards the Great Palace running across the fields and gardens where once the City stood. During the 57 years of Latin rule (1204-1261) deurbanization reduced Constantinople to about 35,000.
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In 663 Constans II, the last Roman Emperor to ever set foot in Rome, stayed in the former state capital for 12 days, following the traditional ceremonial entry into the city. During his stay the Emperor, his staff & the entire military escort occupied the imperial palaces of old.
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The latest Divine Liturgy in Hagia Sophia was held by Father Eleftherios Noufrakis (originally from Rethymno, Crete) on 19 January 1919
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7 months
Thirteenth-century underground frescoes which adorn the cave of Agia Sofia in Mylopotamos, Crete, Greece. Medieval Roman cave churches are a part of a long tradition of underground Christian places of worship. This tradition was greatly strengthened by a third-century monk, Saint
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4 years
A fascinating map of former Yugoslavia showing how many years various areas spent under the Ottoman rule.
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@Purpura57912934
3 years
The Temple of Garni (Գառնիի տաճար), the only standing Greco-Roman colonnaded building in Armenia. It was built in 77 by the King Tiridates I of Armenia, following his visit to Rome in 66, where he was crowned by the Roman Emperor Nero. The temple has an inscription in Greek.
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Purpura
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10 months
The scale of the ongoing Roman cultural, religious and statecraft impact on its neighbors continues to be evident even in the late medieval period. Example: Full medieval Roman imperial dress worn by Serb rulers Tsar Stefan Uroš and King Vukašin. Psača Monastery, present day
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Purpura
@Purpura57912934
2 years
Location, location: Romans lost Rome six times (390 BCE, 410, 455, 546, 550 and 756) but Constantinople only twice (1204 and 1453). Strategic defendable location that caught the Emperor Constantine’s eye proved to be a superb tactical choice.
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3 years
Medieval Roman basilica of St. Nicholas in Pula, Croatia, constructed during the reign of the Emperor Constans II (641-668), is the oldest building of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The church was gifted to the local Orthodox Cypriot Greeks in 1583, then to the local Serbs in 1785.
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3 years
Constantine’s Nova Roma was a Latin speaking city, and when the new Roman state capital was officially founded in 330, Latin was the language of law, military and administration. It will take approximately 300 years for Latin to fade away from the streets of Constantinopolis.
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4 years
The Last Great Caesar of Old: Medieval chronicler William of Tyre noted that the Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180) was “the most powerful and wealthy prince of the world”.
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1 year
Alexius I Comnenus was shocked on 1 VIII 1096 when the crowd of 30,000 men, women & children led by Peter the Hermit reached Constantinople. 10,000 already died since leaving Cologne. The Emperor pleaded with Peter to turn back the People’s Crusade, in vain. They died in Anatolia
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Purpura
@Purpura57912934
2 years
Roman state lasted long enough to see the final generation of its soldiers use firearms. The earliest form of arquebus in Europe appeared by 1411, and in the Ottoman state by 1425. Rome died in the gunpowder age.
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4 years
1371 portrait of the Serb Despot Constantine Dragaš Dejanović with his family from Ivan Alexander's Gospels (now in London, England). His daughter Jelena married the Emperor Manuel II 1392, and his grandson was Constantine XI, the last Roman Emperor who ruled from Constantinople.
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3 years
The Naples Dioscurides is an early 7th century medieval Roman secular illuminated manuscript herbal. It was most likely written in the Greek-speaking Roman ruled southern Italy, preserved in Naples. It’s a superb example of a non-religious or political book from this time period.
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Purpura
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3 years
Medieval Roman fresco of Saint Moses the Ethiopian from 1271, from the Saint Nicholas Monastery, originally built in 1095 near modern day Prilep, now in North Macedonia. Modern constructions of race based on the skin colour would be incomprehensible in the medieval Roman world.
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9 months
The ability of the medieval Roman imperial capital to endure very long sieges and blockades was not only due to the length, height and thickness of the Theodosian Walls. Constructing the walls so far out protected large fields between the urban area and the outer fortifications,
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3 years
Architecture and art of imperial Venice, which continued to follow all medieval Roman trends until the late 1130s, gives us a surreal glimpse of what Roman Empire would have looked like in the west had it continued into the High Middle Ages.
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2 years
Every Roman treaty involving Venice, including the 1198 chrysobull (the last one issued before 1204) ended with a Venetian oath stating they will defend the Empire.
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5 years
Frescoes of military saints, many of whom were soldiers in the Roman Army during the Diocletian’s reign, often provide contemporary historians with visual clues about medieval Roman military dress and equipment a millennium later.
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3 years
Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman role (43-410) & an active sub-Roman identity (use of vernacular Latin in writing) was preserved in southern Britain as late as 597. King Arthur was likely a Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons.
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4 years
The Emperor Alexander was the first Roman ruler who used the title Autocrator (αὐτοκράτωρ) on his coinage. It was inscribed on the coins to commemorate his ascent to the throne on 11 May 912.
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3 years
Andrew J. Ekonomou (author of "Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes", 2007) argues that during the final period of imperial rule in Rome (701-56) Greeks outnumbered Latins by nearly 3.5 to 1. Greek was the language of choice during this period, and Rome itself resembled the Empire.
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4 years
The Holy Trinity Church (Церковь Святой Троицы) in Antarctica is the southernmost Eastern Orthodox church in the world. The church was consecrated on 15 February 2004. The church is serving a Russian research station nearby and is manned year-round by one or two Orthodox priests
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5 years
After Constantinople, Mehmed II invaded the Serb Despotate of Rascia next in 1454-56, but failed to conquer it. The Ottomans lost both the Battle of Leskovac and the Battle of Kruševac in 1454, and also mounted unsuccessful siege of Smederevo, the Despotate's capital, in 1456.
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4 years
Mary with an Arabic scroll from Our Lady of Saidnaya Monastery, Syria, founded by Justinian (537). The scroll reads: لا لن تقتلني يا جوستنيان ولكنك ستشيد لي كنيسة هنا على هذا الصخر ("No, thou shalt not kill me, Justinian, but thou shalt build a church for me, here, on this rock")
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4 years
Chi-Rho (Christogram, formed by superimposing the first two capital letters - chi and rho, ΧΡ - of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ) fresco from the 4th century Roman villa at Lullingstone (now England, UK), including Alpha & Omega (Α & Ω, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet).
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5 years
The long distance aqueducts of Constantinople are one of the true marvels of Roman civil engineering, and the longest urban water supply system the Romans ever built. The total length of the system is 564 kilometers, out of which 426 kilometers have been surveyed in recent years.
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2 years
Constantinople granting autocephaly wasn’t the recipe for peace with the Empire, but as Bulgarian and Serbian examples show after 1204, it was impossible to roll independent domestic Church with vernacular service into Catholic structure. The Empire found a way to emulate itself.
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1 year
Unpopular opinion: Roman switch from Graeco-Roman polytheism to Christianity was a far more radical change than moving the political center of gravity from Rome to Constantinople or (eventually) replacing Latin with Greek. Remarkably, Roman state endured it all, without collapse.
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3 years
Western scholarship has a long tradition of denying Romanness of medieval Roman Empire after 476, and historical origins of it all are in Catholic Church efforts to delegitimize the medieval Empire as the legatee of ancient Rome. Hence we use the anachronistic label Byzantine.
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