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Greeks had settled in Southern Italy and Sicily since the 8th century BC. In this way, Italian tribes came into contact with Greek culture very early on and were influenced by it. The alphabet, weights and measures, and temples were derived from the Greeks. [1] [2]
The Romans came into contact with Greek culture again during the conquest of Magna Graecia, Mainland Greece and the "Hellenistic countries" (countries that had been marked by Greek culture and language) in the 2nd and the 1st centuries BC. The Romans, who had defeated Carthage but were still a society of peasants, saw in Hellenistic cities that daily life could be more comfortable than theirs. Formerly sparsely-ornamented houses acquired columns, statues, mosaics on the floors, tapestries and paintings on the walls. One did not have dinner while sitting anymore, but while reclining, according to Greek custom.
The Romans gained from the Greek influence in other areas: trade, banking, administration, art, literature, philosophy and earth science. [2] In the last century BC it was a must for every rich young man to study in Athens or Rhodes and perfect their knowledge of rhetoric at the large schools of philosophy. It was also a must to speak Greek as well as Latin.
There were some who resisted this Greek influence on every aspect of life. For example, Cato the Elder prophesied Rome's demise; he considered everything Greek to be suspect; he even mistrusted Greek doctors and claimed that they only wanted to poison Romans. Roman writings frequently stereotyped the Greeks as untrustworthy, debauched and overly luxurious. Roman aristocrats warned of Greek influences corrupting Roman morals or Roman religious piety, and believed that excessive imitation of the Graeculus "Greekling" (a Roman slur for Greeks popularised by Cicero) would lead to the collapse of Rome. These views did not prevent the same anti-Greek Romans from adopting some elements of Greek culture and intellectual life, although some like Cato the Elder and Gaius Marius would refuse to use Greek in official capacity. [3] According to Cassius Dio, a Roman from the East, Romans typically used the term Graecus as a negative reference to the lowly origin of a Greek person. Emperor Julian, who considered himself culturally Greek and praised Hellenization as the foundation of the Roman Empire, was himself mocked as a Graeculus and a pretentious fraud by Roman troops from the Western provinces. [4]
Indeed, some Greeks might have had every reason to hate the Romans, who had devastated their home, robbed temples and public buildings, decimated the population and brought many Greeks to Rome as slaves. [5] [6] [7] [8] Aemilius Paulus, the victor of the Battle of Pydna in Greece in 168 BC, is said to have sold 150,000 Greeks to Rome as slaves all by himself. [9]
Roman culture itself was Graeco-Roman from the start and matched the Greeks in terms of culture and civilization, partly because of the Greeks who voluntarily or involuntarily fought in Rome.
Greek cities like Ephesus or Athens flourished during the long era of peace (Pax Romana) more than ever. Though Greek, cities like Ephesus were not explicitly distinctive from Roman cities. [10] Because of the general prosperity, there was no revolt against Roman rule, which was even seen as positive however although both Greeks and Romans were friendly due to their common similarities they both like to differentiate each other often through the language, customs, and literature.
However, by late antiquity both parts of the Roman Empire began an accelerating division mainly due to the new religion of Christianity introduced and its differences between the more weakened and disorderly Latin West versus the more prosperous Greek East which just now had Constantinople as its own capital that could rival Rome itself. Already in Constantinople you could find Greek-speaking poets and historians referring to Rome as an almost foreign city full of vices, corruption and decadence, often boasting about the more recent Constantinople.
The situation of the Romans and Rome began to change rapidly and many local Roman traditions disappeared. It was frequent to hear Barbarian languages in the Italian peninsula and it was common to hear Greek in Rome, largely because the Greeks dominated the economic life of Rome, this dependence was not to the liking of the Romans so in 440 the western emperor Valentinian III decided to expel "all the Greek merchants" from the city whose consequence culminated with a total famine for which he was forced to withdraw the edict. Depending only on militias armed by the upper classes, trade routes in the West were almost non-existent due to the insecurity of the routes, this plus different key factors such as the frequent use of barbarians in the Roman army over time would lead to the fall of Rome in 476 after much looting in Rome itself and the Italian peninsula. [11]
The effects of the Fall of the Western Roman Empire for the Romans who remained in the city or in Italy ranged from bad to devastating, classical Roman education was almost extinct, the upper classes were able to endure and retain their positions in the Ostrogothic kingdom that after all had adopted many of the Roman institutions. Even so the fate of the common Romans was harsher, many of them had been forced to pay taxes and contribute with supplies. The most unfortunate were sold as slaves or killed in the frequent looting of cities or sieges, many native Italic-Roman villages were forced to live alongside many barbarians sharing lands with frequent conflict. [12] [13]
After recapturing Rome and parts of Italy, the violent Gothic wars and the various other sieges throughout Italy further disregarded the already almost non-existent native Roman population, the already bad reputation of the Greeks for having abandoned the Romans worsened even more after the violent conflicts that took place. Roman citizens even reached conspiracy points against Belisarius and his troops, mostly Greek or Greek speaking. When Belisarius arrived in Italy, the Goths began to propagate anti-Greek sentiment, usually commenting that the only Greeks that were in Rome were mimes and thieves who did not contribute anything. The sentiment successfully spread due to the resentment already born between the Romans to the Greeks. At the climax of the tension and violence the Romans wrote a letter to the Emperor Justinian in which they proclaimed that they would rather be ruled by Goths than by Greeks, the Roman resentment against the Greeks was not limited only to the troops of Belisarius, but to all Hellenic influence in general. [14]
Belisarius, noting the growing distrust of the Romans, wrote a letter to Emperor Justinian I over his concerns about the intentions of the Romans: "And although at the present time the Romans are well disposed toward us, yet when their troubles are prolonged, they will probably not hesitate to choose the course which is better for their own interests. [...] Furthermore, the Romans will be compelled by hunger to do many things they would prefer not to do."
To reestablish order Justinian and Belisarius began to replace the native Roman popes and high functionaries who commonly conspired against the Byzantine troops in Rome or Italy, along with prestigious and powerful Roman nobles by Greek speakers from Syria, Antioch, Alexandria and Cilicia which he trusted more. This policy of "Hellenization" in the Italian peninsula and in the newly reconquered western provinces of the empire, each with a Byzantine exarch, was closely followed by Justinian and his successor's. [11]
The Ravenna exarchate and the following Catepanate of Italy, were responsible for the strong and continued Hellenic-Eastern influence on Italy to the point were most native if not all Roman traditions and customs had vanished due to the lack of a native Roman-Latin population, whose already almost non-existent cultural identity had to constantly face wars, famines and most importantly, their neighbors' Hellenic influence resulting in the decline of the previous Latin Roman culture. [15]
The widespread destruction of Italy in the war, harsh Gothic and Byzantine reprisals of their opponents' supporters, and heavy Byzantine taxation led the Italian populace to shift allegiances: instead of loyalty to Empire, their identities were increasingly tied to religion, family and city instead. [16]
However in the more prosperous east, their Byzantine counterparts were reflecting a kneading Hellenizing influence all over the Mediterranean. Reaching again their second biggest climax under Basil's the second reign with Hellenic influence having deep effects in neighboring territories such as the Georgian, Armenian, Balkan and Italian provinces as well. They successfully reestablished their position and influence on former Hellenic territories such as Syria, Lebanon, much of Palestine and the surroundings areas. [17]
Pope Sergius I was the bishop of Rome from 15 December 687 to his death, and is revered as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church. He was elected at a time when two rivals, Paschal and Theodore, were locked in a dispute about which of them should become pope. His papacy was dominated by his response to the Quinisext Council, the canons of which he steadfastly refused to accept. Thereupon Emperor Justinian II ordered Sergius' arrest, but the Roman people and the Italian militia of the exarch of Ravenna refused to allow the exarch to bring Sergius to Constantinople.
The Third Council of Constantinople, counted as the Sixth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches, as well as by certain other Western Churches, met in 680–681 and condemned monoenergism and monothelitism as heretical and defined Jesus Christ as having two energies and two wills.
Pope Vigilius was the bishop of Rome from 29 March 537 to his death. He is considered the first pope of the Byzantine papacy. Born into Roman aristocracy, Vigilius served as a deacon and papal apocrisiarius in Constantinople. He allied with Empress Theodora, who sought his help to establish Monophysitism, and was made pope after the deposition of Silverius. After he refused to sign Emperor Justinian I's edict condemning the Three Chapters, Vigilius was arrested in 545 and taken to Constantinople. He died in Sicily while returning to Rome.
Pope Pelagius I was the bishop of Rome from 556 to his death. A former apocrisiarius to Constantinople, Pelagius I was elected pope as the candidate of Emperor Justinian I, a designation not well received in the Western Church. Before his papacy, he opposed Justinian's efforts to condemn the "Three Chapters" in order to reconcile theological factions within the Church, but later adopted Justinian's position.
Pope Constantine was the bishop of Rome from 25 March 708 to his death. One of the last popes of the Byzantine Papacy, the defining moment of his pontificate was his 710/711 visit to Constantinople, where he compromised with Justinian II on the Trullan canons of the Quinisext Council. The city's next papal visit occurred in 1967.
Pope John V was the bishop of Rome from 23 July 685 to his death on 2 August 686. He was the first pope of the Byzantine Papacy consecrated without prior imperial consent, and the first in a line of ten consecutive popes of Eastern origin. His papacy was marked by reconciliation between the city of Rome and the Empire.
Pope John VI was the bishop of Rome from 30 October 701 to his death. John VI was a Greek from Ephesus who reigned during the Byzantine Papacy. His papacy was noted for military and political breakthroughs on the Italian Peninsula. He was succeeded by Pope John VII after a vacancy of less than two months. The body of the pope was buried in Old St. Peter's Basilica.
Pope Conon was the bishop of Rome from 21 October 686 to his death. He had been put forward as a compromise candidate, there being a conflict between the two factions resident in Rome — the military and the clerical. He consecrated the Irish missionary St Kilian and commissioned him to preach in Franconia.
Blachernae was a suburb in the northwestern section of Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire. It is the site of a water source and a number of prominent churches were built there, most notably the great Church of St. Mary of Blachernae, built by Empress Pulcheria in c. 450, expanded by Emperor Leo I and renovated by Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century.
The Exarchate of Ravenna, also known as the Exarchate of Italy, was a lordship of the Eastern Roman Empire in Italy, from 584 to 751, when the last exarch was put to death by the Lombards. It was one of two exarchates established following the western reconquests under Emperor Justinian to more effectively administer the territories, along with the Exarchate of Africa.
The Gothic War between the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Emperor Justinian I and the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy took place from 535 to 554 in the Italian Peninsula, Dalmatia, Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica. It was one of the last of the many Gothic Wars against the Roman Empire. The war had its roots in the ambition of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I to recover the provinces of the former Western Roman Empire, which the Romans had lost to invading barbarian tribes in the previous century, during the Migration Period.
The selection of the Pope, the Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, prior to the promulgation of In Nomine Domini in AD 1059 varied throughout history. Popes were often putatively appointed by their predecessors or by political rulers. While some kind of election often characterized the procedure, an election that included meaningful participation of the laity was rare, especially as the Popes' claims to temporal power solidified into the Papal States. The practice of Papal appointment during this period would later result in the putative jus exclusivae, i.e., the claimed but invalid right to veto the selection that Catholic monarchs exercised into the twentieth century.
The Byzantine Papacy was a period of Byzantine domination of the Roman Papacy from 537 to 752, when popes required the approval of the Byzantine Emperor for episcopal consecration, and many popes were chosen from the apocrisiarii or the inhabitants of Byzantine-ruled Greece, Syria, or Sicily. Justinian I reconquered the Italian peninsula in the Gothic War (535–554) and appointed the next three popes, a practice that would be continued by his successors and later be delegated to the Exarchate of Ravenna.
The Byzantine Empire underwent a golden age under the Justinian dynasty, beginning in 518 AD with the accession of Justin I. Under the Justinian dynasty, particularly the reign of Justinian I, the empire reached its greatest territorial extent since the fall of its Western counterpart, reincorporating North Africa, southern Illyria, southern Spain, and Italy into the empire. The Justinian dynasty ended in 602 with the deposition of Maurice and the ascension of his successor, Phocas.
The Placidia Palace was the official residence of the papal apocrisiarius, the ambassador from the pope to the patriarch of Constantinople, and the intermittent home of the pope himself when in residence at Constantinople. The apocrisiarius held "considerable influence as a conduit for both public and covert communications" between pope and Byzantine emperor.
The apocrisiarius or apocrisiary was the legate from the pope to the patriarch of Constantinople, circa 452–743, equivalent to the modern nunciature.
The Romans were a cultural group, variously referred to as a collective ethnicity and nationality, that in classical antiquity, from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD, came to rule large parts of Europe, the Near East and North Africa through conquests made during the Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire. Originally only referring to the Italic Latin citizens of Rome itself, the meaning of "Roman" underwent considerable changes throughout the long history of Roman civilisation as the borders of the Roman state expanded and contracted. With the Roman Empire, Roman identity was a collective geopolitical identity, extended to nearly all subjects of the Roman emperors and encompassing vast regional and ethnic diversity.
Vacis was an Ostrogothic commander under King Witigis during the Byzantine–Gothic War (535–554).
Hellenization in the Byzantine Empire describes the spread and intensification of ancient Greek culture, religion and language in the Byzantine Empire. The theory of Hellenization generally applies to the influence of foreign cultures subject to Greek influence or occupation, which includes the ethnic and cultural homogenisation which took place throughout the life of the Byzantine Empire (330-1453).
The Romanization of Anatolia saw the spread of Roman political and administrative influence throughout the region of Anatolia after its Roman acquisition. The aim of Romanization in Anatolia included the change from the previously dominant cultures, such as Persian and Greek, to a more dominantly Roman presence in any one region. Romanization usually included forcing the local populaces to adopt a Roman way of life – ranging from the local laws to its political system and the impact it had on the peoples living in the region. Anatolia was largely to completely resistant to the entire overhaul of culture as its systems of government were largely Hellenic. It already had local laws and customs that were similar to the Romans thus it was impractical Romanizing it. A more complete overhaul of culture can be seen in its more western provinces which were majority Latin after the success the Romans had at Romanizing places such as Gaul.