Byzantium

[Neos Dionysos]

Yes, in the sixth century...

 

No, all the time. I think the last attemts to conquer something in the West there were in XI century.

 

 

Can you give a reference? Because I can not think of any attempts to conquor land in the west excpet in the Balkan region, and that it not really the west and they were more of taken back recently lost land.

[Philhellene]

The last military campaign in the West that I know is the war against arabs of Sicily in 1038-1040.

Edited December 2, 2005 by Philhellene

[eggers]

Diocletian divided the empire into 4 parts. And then the Empire was reunited and divided many times and when it was divided, there were not only 4 but sometimes more or less then 4 parts. And thier size wasn`t stable. I think the first time, when the empire was divided, occured during the reign of Gallienus when he made Odaenathus his co-ruler.

 

D'oh! my bad

[Neos Dionysos]

The last military campaign in the West that I know is the war against arabs of Sicily in 1038-1040.

 

Right, but this was to capture it from Saracen hands, not to try and extract it over the same way the Eastern Church had once dominated the Western one in Rome. The Normans eventually came in and took the island, and the Byzantines continued to fight them for years since Sicily was seen as a birthright to be part of the Imperial fold mainly because of its highly Greek population and orthodox sway. My eariler point was that the initial ocnquest of Italy in the 6th Century was not a big deal with the church since they were not split, once they were the West wanted to be independant and Sicily was not really part of that so there was not the fear of being under sway of the the Eastern Church. There was no attempt to conqueor Rome, and both churches would be at each others throats.

[Philhellene]

I mentioned only the last campaign (according to my opinion).

 

I also remember the military campaigns of Constans (Constantine) Pogonatas. He waged war with Lombards in the middle of VII century.

[Andrew Dalby]

I cite Scanderbeg

 

The greek language was an offical language of administration of the Roman East.

 

I agree with Philhellene and others. There's more, too. Probably the majority of surviving literature from the Roman Empire is in Greek. Well-educated Romans were expected to know Greek, and many went to study (at 'university') in Greek-speaking provinces. Although some Romans didn't like to hear Greek in the Senate, it's true in many ways that the Roman Empire was bilingual (or maybe multilingual?)

[Philhellene]

And I have found out that emperor Manuel (I) Comnenus waged war in Italy against Norman kings of Sicily and Italy. He also tried to defeat Egyptian kings in Egypt.

 

And I have found out that emperor Michael (VIII) Paleologus possessed himself of the Lipari Islands (near Sicily) in 1275.

Edited January 11, 2006 by Philhellene

[Andrew Dalby]

And I have found out that emperor Manuel (I) Comnenus waged war in Italy against Norman kings of Sicily and Italy. He also tried to defeat Egyptian kings in Egypt.

 

In addition, Manuel brought land in the western Balkans (Bosnia, Dalmatia) under his control, and made a serious attempt to be recognised as the ONLY Roman emperor (i.e. cutting out the German/north Italian 'Holy Roman Emperor'). I don't think the Pope ever conceded Manuel's demand here.

 

Immediately afterwards, with the chaos under Alexios II and Andronikos, Byzantium lost interest in the West (and that's putting it mildly).

[Philhellene]

This interest returned under Michael Paleologus, because of war against Charles d`Anjou.

[Philhellene]

In addition, Manuel brought land in the western Balkans (Bosnia, Dalmatia) under his control...

 

We don`t consider Balkan region. See above:

 

Can you give a reference? Because I can not think of any attempts to conquor land in the west excpet in the Balkan region, and that it not really the west and they were more of taken back recently lost land.

[Andrew Dalby]

In addition, Manuel brought land in the western Balkans (Bosnia, Dalmatia) under his control...

 

We don`t consider Balkan region. See above:

 

Can you give a reference? Because I can not think of any attempts to conquor land in the west excpet in the Balkan region, and that it not really the west and they were more of taken back recently lost land.

 

Well, I mentioned it because historically Croatia might be considered 'Western' -- in terms of religion, for example.

[Aphrodite]

The reign of heracules (sp) was when things started to go officially greek, most importantly the administration.

 

The ways historians define the difference between the two periods is with categories such as latin/greek and pagan/christian.

 

Although the inhabitants always saw themselves as Roman... even up until the end of the ottoman empire locals would call themselves "romini", but they also defined themselves as greek and othodox.

[Philhellene]

The reign of heracules (sp) was when things started to go officially greek, most importantly the administration.

 

So... When exactly? I mean the year.

[Andrew Dalby]

The reign of heracules (sp) was when things started to go officially greek, most importantly the administration.

 

So... When exactly? I mean the year.

 

Heraclius (or Herakleios) reigned 610-642. He reorganized the administration, defended the Empire successfully against the Persians, lost and regained the True Cross ... and then lost the whole of the East (permanently) to the first wave of Islamic conquest. The latter event, too, will have had a big linguistic effect, because it removed Aramaic and Coptic, the two largest regional languages, from the Empire, making it less multilingual.

[Philhellene]

Heraclius (or Herakleios) reigned 610-642.

 

I know the years of Heraclius` reign, but I asked the year when the greek language was made an official language of the Empire.