Child of Rome: The Birth of the Byzantine Empire

The development of the cohesive culture and political area known first as the East Roman empire, then as the Byzantine empire, is not easy to track. It's human nature to want to start at the beginning, but when trying to find a date that could represent such a thing for the Byzantine empire, I felt like I had just opened a giant can of worms. Can its very beginnings be traced back to the death of the Roman-friendly King Attalus III of Pergamum, who bequeathed his entire nation to the Roman republic in 133 BC? From there the Romans went on to annex Asia Minor and would later conquer further territories around the eastern Mediterranean, establishing the beginnings of the world's first super-power - and pre-cursor of the Byzantines.

Or does the empire find its origins centuries later? By the third century AD there were sure signs of cracks in the Roman empire's unity. The Third Century Crisis – brought on by revolts, economic depression and outbreaks of disease – made the supposedly invincible Roman conquerors look decidedly shaky. By 260 AD, the mighty Roman empire had been sadly reduced into three smaller parts: the Gallic empire (Gaul, Britannia and Hispania) and the Palmyrene empire (Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor and Lebanon, ruled by Zenobia) were two break-away territories that claimed independence from Rome.

However, this was not the beginning of the Byzantine era either because the emperor Aurelian was able to reunite the empire: in the east he conquered the Palmyrene cities and defeated Zenobia at the battle of Emesa in 272 AD. The city of Palmyra itself was sacked and it never regained its former glory. In the west he subdued the Gallic emperor Tetricus more through diplomacy than through might. A decade later, Diocletian saw the need for a new structure for governing if the empire was to be kept together. In 285 AD he introduced the Tetrarchy, which installed two Augusti as co-rulers – one for the east and one for the west. Each Augustus would have his own 'deputy', called a Caesar. This series of events certainly suggested the fallibility of the Roman empire, but it didn't lead directly to an independent East Roman empire.

An Empire of Two Halves

This eventuality came a step closer when Constantine I decided to move the administrative centre of the East Roman empire from Nicomedia to Byzantium on the Bosphorus straits in around 324 AD. He had just defeated Licinius in the battle of Chalcedon, becoming sole emperor of the Roman empire. One of his priorities was to set about completely rebuilding Byzantium and it soon became the de facto capital.

But despite Constantine's efforts at unity, another split was not long in coming. The division of rule decreed by Valentinian I in 364 AD was also another signal that the Byzantine era was on its way. It was less than 35 years since Constantine I had gone to such lengths to unify the old empire, but Valentinian decided to share his emperor's robes with his brother Valens, who took charge of the eastern half. This was not to be a definitive split. Theodosius I ruled from 379 to 395 AD and he was the very last emperor of a united Roman empire. After 395 AD, his sons Honorius and Arcadius took control of the west and the east halves respectively.

In the fifth century, while the west was plagued by invasions and eventually fell into decline, the eastern empire continued to prosper, even after the fall of Rome in 476 AD. Some say that this would be the point at which the East Roman empire became completely independent – and would have thus morphed into the Byzantine empire. The problem with that interpretation is that not even the 'Byzantine' inhabitants at the time would have described it like that. They thought of themselves as being the continuation of the Roman empire, and referred to themselves as Romans (the term 'Byzantine' wasn't coined until the reign of Heraclius, who started to use it in 610 AD).

The Byzantine empire was to last for almost 1000 years after the generally accepted end of the Roman empire. It wasn't until the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453 that the Byzantine empire – or, depending on how you want to look at, it the Roman empire – came to an end.

The Influence of Constantine

Whatever your personal view on the start of the Byzantine empire, it is certainly a fluid continuation of the Roman civilisation – influenced heavily by its local cultures and also by one of its most famous rulers. Perhaps no one did more than Constantine I to pull the Roman empire together, in terms of both political unity and religious acceptance. By founding his own city  – Nova Roma, or Constantinople as it then became known – he left his own indelible mark on the future East Roman empire too. 

There are several reminders in modern-day Istanbul of its Roman past. Perhaps the most impressive is the Column of Constantine, which was built when the city was declared centre of the Roman empire in 330 AD. It now stands 35 metres high and is part of the World Heritage site known as the Historic Areas of Istanbul. Other Roman ruins include the Valens aqueduct, the remains of the Great Palace of Constantinople and the Hippodrome of Constantinople.

Foundations Firmly in Rome: Byzantine Culture

The popular image of the Byzantine culture is inherently different to that of the Romans, the main difference being the religion. While the former became the centre of Orthodox Christianity, the other was renowned for its pagan sacrifices and temples. But even the religion of the Byzantine empire stems from the Roman emperor Constantine I, who introduced religiously tolerant policies and was a Christian himself in his later life. Constantine also played an instrumental role in uniting the early church in the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD – he was able to establish a form of agreement between all the Christian bishops assembled at the council, and the document they signed still forms part of Christian doctrine today.

There are artistic influences as well: Byzantine iconography has its roots in Rome's detailed, realistic style of painting and mosaic. The Byzantines made this style their own by introducing stronger colours and symbols in their religious paintings. The influence of the 'old' Rome was also seen everywhere in the 'new' empire's cities. Many of the towns and cities of the Byzantine empire were built before 476 AD – many of them were built during the earlier conquests during the Roman republic, or during the first century of the Roman empire. While many of these cities were sacked by invaders in later centuries, some are still visible today. Here are seven sites from the Byzantine empire that were either founded or built upon by the Romans between 64 BC and 125 AD.

Roman Cities of the East Roman Empire

Caesarea Maritima and its harbour Sebastos were built by Herod the Great, a Roman client king of Judaea. He built it in approximately 20 BC. The main remains from the Roman period are an aqueduct, a theatre, a temple dedicated to Caesar and the harbour. Interestingly, parts of Caesarea Maritima's Roman heritage is now under water and can be visited only by scuba diving.

Baalbek was known as Heliopolis, city of the sun, to the Romans and Greeks but its roots as a human settlement go back much further, pre-dating even the Seleucid kings and the Phoenicians. The mystery of Baalbek lies in the enormous stones that lie under foundations of the Temple of Jupiter. So big are these blocks – some more than 1,000 tonnes and approximately 20 metres long – that they imply an ancient civilisation with scientific knowledge superior to that of the Romans or ours. In 15 BC the Romans decided to base one of their legions there and so began the Romanisation of Baalbek and the construction of the Temple of Jupiter, the first of several grandiose, larger-than-life religious buildings to pagan gods. One of the most impressive temples of the Roman world is at Baalbek and is dedicated to Bacchus, god of wine and good times. By the time Constantine signed the edict of 313 in Milan, Christianity was becoming a dominant force and many pagan temples, including those of Baalbek were sacked.

Tyre is another Unesco World Heritage site in Lebanon that is rich in Roman ruins even though its origins go far further back than the expansion of the Romans into the east. Now the fourth city of Lebanon, it was once an island city and principle Phoenician centre until it was attacked by Alexander the Great. This conqueror left an unmistakeable mark on Tyre by building a causeway to connect the island with its mainland settlement. The causeway subsequently became permanent when silt gathered around it. It was also famous during Phoenician times for its purple dye made from murex shellfish. Tyre became part of the Roman empire in 64 AD.

Qanawat, previously Canatha, in Syria is about 100 km south-east of Damascus and was one of the group of cities or towns known as the Decapolis at the eastern edge of the Roman empire that were granted a certain amount of autonomy because of their Greco-Roman culture in what was otherwise a mainly Jewish region. It became part of the Roman province of Palestine in the first century AD but today it is little more than a village. Some of the standing ruins include an aqueduct and a theatre sculpted in the rock.

The ancient city of Bosra, named Nova Trojana Bostra under the Romans, flourished under their rule as the centre of several trade routes. Its main attraction today is the Roman theatre, possibly the best-preserved building of its kind, which is largely intact and is still used as a venue for music concerts.

Palmyra, also known as Tadmur in Arabic, first came to Roman attention in 41 AD when Mark Anthony attempted to occupy it. About 50 years later the city became part of the Roman province of Syria and it flourished as a centre of trade. It was later to become the seat of the Palmyrene empire lead by Queen Zenobia, which lasted just 13 years. Her success and conquests were a wake-up call to the Roman empire, which was struggling anyway with its 'Third Century Crisis' and the separation of the Gallic empire.

Ephesus, a city with neolithic origins, was home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. It was prosperous during the classical and Hellenic periods and in 133 BC it became part of the Roman republic. Just over a century later, when Rome hailed its first emperor, Ephesus had become the largest city in the eastern Mediterranean with as many as half a million inhabitants – and was second only to Rome. Its most visited site is probably the Library of Celsus, built in around 125 AD to hold up to 12,000 scrolls. Now restored and reconstructed, the library is the biggest and best example of a library from the ancient world.

Photos by Vince Millett, Bija Knowles and Chaim Jaskoll.

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Bija Knowles

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Bija Knowles is a freelance journalist based outside Rome, Italy. She graduated in Italian and English Literature from the University of Birmingham, UK, and her main areas of interest are art, travel and history in Italy.