Manuel I Comnenus

indeed, this is why for Greeks, tuesday is the unluckiest day of the week

Whoa, how did he do that? Like how many ships were there and size? It was an entire fleet, probably around 40 ships. The Sultan had the road flattened, and had the ships placed on top of wooden logs. He had the ships pushed from the sea, onto the logs, and then rolled them onto the other side of the chain. Quite amazing.

Really? I didn't know that, but i honestly can't see that happening. Although when you think about it, it does make sense as far as winning over the people of Constantinople is concerned, as well as persuading the Orthodox and (little chance) the Roman Catholic churches not to preach more crusades against them. However, knowing of the convoluted treacherous way Sultans were elected and deposed, it would be a bit dangerous to convert That is quite a silly rumor. Mehmet would never have considered converting at all. During the sacking of Constantinople, there were only a few terms offered to the men and women of the city. If they did not resist to the Turks they would be left untouched. If they converted to Islam, they would go untouched. Lastly if the Sultan had secured the particular family as pardoned, they would go untouched. The majority of the churches and houses were completely sacked from head to toe, the only districts that were spared were along the sea walls where the fishermen (after seeing the standards of the Ottoman Turks on the walltops) knew that the city was lost and opened up the sea ports to avoid slaughter. To think that the Sultan who allowed the unarmed nuns and priests of the churches to be slaughtered and raped, to have converted to the Christian religion is truly ludacris.

Just like the second World War, the greater alliances forged by the small Empires of the East were defeated because none of them came to the aid of the other when the time called. The Ottoman Empire was able to pick off one kingdom at a time until Trebizond itself fell.

haha.. the Varangian Guard was useful to Byzantium indeed. The Guard were fashioned liked the Praetorian Guards except they did not police the city, nor were they so ineffective at protecting their Emperors. The Varangian Guard was said to have been so loyal to the Emperor and commanded such respect, that often if the Emperor arrived on the field of battle with his Varangian Guard, the enemy would fall discouraged and falter. As for the history of Russia, it was the daughter of the Byzantine Empire. Russians have often called themselves the "third Rome," and believe that they are the true heirs to the Roman Empire and the Orthodox Church. Had Russia not been so far away, it surely would've come to Constantinople's aid during the seiges of Mehmet.

Would be pretty expensive I'd imagine. All that iron, which needs to be secured well to massive stone walls, then you have to get authentic ships... It is my understanding that the chain was recorded as being extremely efficent in the cause of guarding the Golden Horn. Infact, right up to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Sultan had to organize a way for his ships to bypass the chain by having his ships moved over land. And also, even if his vastly superior numbers, the Sultan did not directly assault the Christian ships positioned along the length of the chain in fear of another defeat. I have heard in various accords that pieces of the chain are still around in various European mueseums.

Andronicus Ducas had considerable hatred towards Romanus Diogenes. The family of Ducas had lost control over the Byzantine Imperium when Romanus took the throne for himself. Thus when the Emperor was lost in the fray, Andronicus deliberately added to the confusion by saying that the Emperor was dead, and that the day had been lost. Had he not been so selfish, the Byzantines could've held the day. Well, it's not really selfishness... it's more... "I'll make you pay for what you did." mentality. And IIRC I think that Romanus had killed, (or exhiled), Ducas' brother so... there's your motive. I'm not sure if Romanus had killed his brother, I do know for a fact that Romanus took the throne away from the Ducas family by having himself crowned Emperor. But still, to place personal matters before the matters of the state and the infidel... I'd call that selfish.

Recently with Turkey attempting to join the European Union, members of the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, and the Byzantine Catholic Church have been leading the movement in asking the European Union not to grant Turkey entrance into the EU until it has restored Hagia Sophia back to the Greek Orthodox Church and to the Patriarch of Constantinople. As may know, the Hagia Sophia was used as a mosque after the conquest of the city, but during the process of secularization in Turkey has been converted into a "muesuem." The building has been sitting in need of major repair.. and for such a work of art, little is done to upkep it. The government of Turkey has continued to refuse money and assistance from Orthodox Christians and money from the Roman Holy See which were offered to pay for the repairs to the church's hundreds of glistening mosaics depicting some of Eastern Rome's most beautiful works of art. This Site: http://www.hagiasophiablog.com/mainpage.html Is a petition collecting signatures calling for the European Union to make the restoration of the Hagia Sophia as a Christian church a condition in which TUrkey must oblige if wanting to enter the EU. For those who appreciate the beauty of Rome's most beautiful church, please sign this petition now and pass it on.

I would have to agree with whoever said that no Byzantine Emperor ever matched the likes of Nero. There were Byzantine Emperors that were cruel and harsh to the barbarians that invaded their lands.. but Nero was cruel and harsh to his own people. I don't think there is any Byzantine Emperor in my mind that killed his own people so ruthlessly as Nero did in Rome.

In order to talk about Venice in relations to the Byzantine Empire, the city of Venice was indeed once a part of the Eastern Roman Empire. In the beginning, the introduction of the Republic of Venice into the Byzantine Empire was the genius of Emperor Basil the Bulgar-Slayer. Finding the growing threat of Tsar Samuel who was taking major cities in Dalmatia and cities on the coast of the Adriatic, Basil did not like the idea of having to take his eyes off the East, and thus came up with a policy to keep his lands in the west, while not having to defend them himself. Basil used the Republic of Venice and at the time Doge Pietro Orseolo II, by granting them suzerainty of the Byzantine Dalmatian Coast. The trade off was that Venice gained the valuable Dalmatian coast (where pirates were harboring to attack merchant ships that were sailing for the harbors of Venice) but in return had to defend the land from invasion and keep it in Byzantine hands. The Republic of Venice and Constantinople had friendly relations until Emperors began to cut off the ties. Uptil then, the Republic of Venice was valiant in their support of Constantinople, even risking harsh finger pointings from the Holy See (the Vatican). In one case, the Republic of Venice joined Constantinople (Emperor Alexius Comnenus) in the destruction of a Norman fleet who was capturing cities along the coast of Greece on route to Constantinople itself (from Southern Italy). But in the end, the Republic of Venice was more a plague to the Byzantine Empire then it was ever helpful by a long shot. We owe the destruction of Constantinople and quite possibly the destruction of the Empire to Venice, and it's greed for gold. The 4th Crusade sacked Constantinople of all it's art work and beauty in order to pay off Venice for it's transportation east. We all know that these barbaric Crusaders in the end, established the brief Latin Empire in Constantinople, depriving the true line of Caesars for over 5 decades. At the fall of Constantinople, the Republic of Venice did send aid to the city, but much to the city's embarressment, a good portion of the men sent sailed away before the seige actually began. It was not Venice but the men from Genoa (the arch rival of Venice at the time) that fought with the Romans till the very end.

Andronicus Ducas had considerable hatred towards Romanus Diogenes. The family of Ducas had lost control over the Byzantine Imperium when Romanus took the throne for himself. Thus when the Emperor was lost in the fray, Andronicus deliberately added to the confusion by saying that the Emperor was dead, and that the day had been lost. Had he not been so selfish, the Byzantines could've held the day.

Though it would be impossible to pinpoint the exact cause of the Byzantine Empire