Byzantium Besieged

The eastern Romans (the Byzantines) saw themselves as the direct heirs of Rome. In fact, as we have seen, Emperor Justinian (r. 527–565) had tried to re-create the old Roman Empire territorially. Under Justinian, vestiges of classical Roman society persisted: an educated elite, town governments, and old myths and legends, which were depicted in literature and art. Around 600, however, Byzantium began to undergo a transformation as striking as the one that had earlier remade the western half of the Roman Empire.

Constant war shrank the eastern empire’s territory drastically. Cultural and political change followed. Cities decayed, and the countryside became the focus of government and military administration. In the wake of these shifts, the old elite largely disappeared and classical learning gave way to new forms of education, mainly religious in content. The traditional styles of urban life, dependent on public gathering places and community spirit, faded away.

Nevertheless, the transformations should not be exaggerated. A powerful emperor continued to rule at Constantinople (today Istanbul, Turkey). Roman laws and taxes remained in place. The cities, while shrunken, nevertheless survived, and Constantinople itself had a flourishing economic and cultural life even in Byzantium’s darkest hours. The Byzantines continued to call themselves Romans. For them, the empire never ended: it just moved to Constantinople.