Brownworth notes that the Western Empire fell in 476, an event most people were taught marks 'the fall of Rome.' He argues this has led to a false perception that the Middle East jumped straight from a classical past to a Muslim present, ignoring the millennium of Byzantine history that continued in the East.
Also known as: Western Roman Empire · Eastern
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What each episode says
Episode 1 (12 mentions)
Brownworth notes that the Western Empire fell in 476, an event most people were taught marks 'the fall of Rome.' He argues this has led to a false perception that the Middle East jumped straight from a classical past to a Muslim present, ignoring the millennium of Byzantine history that continued in the East.
“eastern half of the Empire, off and on. But by 480, after the western half had fallen, there really”
“but from a Western disregard dating from before the Crusades, made up of equal parts envy and”
“People are looking at the Byzantine Empire in 1453, which closely resembled an Eastern potentate.”
Episode 3 (3 mentions)
“Galerius, the Eastern Augustus, by this time was in serious decline, hopelessly obese,”
“Licinius more of a threat than any barbarian tribe or western usurper.”
“the book Lost to the West, The Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Rescued Western Civilization.”
Episode 4 (5 mentions)
“He had unified both the eastern and western churches and established his own moral superiority”
“The empire had many enemies, and the most formidable ones were clustered on its eastern”
“the book Lost to the West, The Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Rescued Western Civilization.”
Episode 5 (4 mentions)
“had written Constantius in the Florid language only an Eastern potentate could use.”
“In less than a century, the Western emperor barely had control over Italy, and the Eastern”
“the book Lost to the West, The Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Rescued Western Civilization.”
Episode 6 (3 mentions)
“Zeno was now the sole ruler of the Eastern Empire, and he had much to thank Leo for.”
“Odoacer had sensibly chosen to give lip service to eastern authority while he ruled in his”
“in the eastern provinces, and in a spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to reconcile orthodox”
Episode 7 (1 mention)
“Justinian was appointed consul and master of the eastern armies in quick succession,”
Episode 11 (8 mentions)
“Christianity, to the great benefit of Western art, has always seen it as a shade of gray.”
“Worse still, the condemnation of images had alienated the pope and most of western Christendom.”
“the book Lost to the West, The Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Rescued Western Civilization.”
Episode 12 (13 mentions)
“over the eastern territory lost to the Saracens.”
“he was determined to reconquer the Western territories.”
“that rescued Western civilization.”
Episode 13 (3 mentions)
“Western Emperor Otto III, the Holy Roman Emperor, who was born of a Greek mother and had dreams”
“In four years Basil had conquered the eastern half of the Balkan peninsula, and Samuel had”
“the book Lost to the West, the forgotten Byzantine Empire that rescued Western civilization.”
Episode 14 (8 mentions)
“The letter, one of the most fateful in Western history, reached Urban in the summer of 1095.”
“stop killing each other and to take up arms to defend their eastern brethren.”
“the book Lost to the West, The Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Rescued Western Civilization.”
Episode 15 (4 mentions)
“territories back to Byzantium, they had at least weakened the Empire's eastern enemies.”
“he had promised to unite the eastern and western churches”
“than the fact that the fate of Eastern Christendom”
Episode 16 (7 mentions)
“A few years later, Othman captured the city of Bursa at the western end of the Silk Road,”
“Eastern bishops and signed a decree of union, officially joining the churches.”
“the city ever since they had first burst upon the scene, and he would not, like Western”
Episode 17 (4 mentions)
“Russia especially with its Byzantine alphabet and Eastern soul saw itself as carrying the flame”
“Carried along by the heady dreams of the age of discovery all too quickly forgot the story of the Eastern Roman Empire”
“Eastern Europe would be unrecognizable and since”