An ancient Greek city on the Bosphorus, Byzantium was already roughly a thousand years old when Constantine chose it as the site for his new capital, refounding it as Constantinople. Its strategic and economic position made it a natural choice, and it had previously figured in the conflict between Licinius and Maximinus Daia, whose invasion opened with its capture. Later historians reached back to the city's original name to coin the term "Byzantine Empire," avoiding the unwieldy alternative of "Constantinopolitan Empire."
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What each episode says
Episode 1 (4 mentions)
Byzantium is the ancient Greek city on the Bosphorus that Constantine refounded as Constantinople. Brownworth notes that later historians reached back to this original name — rather than the unwieldy 'Constantinopolitan Empire' — to coin the term 'Byzantine Empire.'
“Constantine when he refounds the city of Bezos or Byzantium and it's renamed Constantinople in his”
“so they went back to Constantinople's original name of Byzantium, and from there we get the”
“quite an abysmal opinion of Byzantium, which he considered to be nothing more than a thousand”
Episode 3 (3 mentions)
The small town seized by Maximinus Daia when he invaded Licinius's territory with 70,000 troops. Its capture is presented as the opening move of the conflict between Licinius and Maximinus Daia, which Brownworth frames as a battle of Christian vs. pagan.
“If Diocletian was the grandfather of Byzantium, then Constantine was the father, a father”
“invaded his territory with 70,000 troops and seized the small town of Byzantium.”
“In the next lecture, we'll look at the founding of Byzantium, and decide if a man who could”
Episode 4 (2 mentions)
The ancient city, already a thousand years old when Constantine first saw it, that he chose as the site for his new capital. Though later legends grew about its divine origin, its strategic and economic advantages were obvious to any observer.
“The city that would become Byzantium was already a thousand years old when Constantine”
“Byzantium stood as a great bulwark, protecting an underdeveloped Europe against the onslaught”
Episode 8 (1 mention)
“Byzantium's greatest general. He was too young, too successful, too brilliant, and too popular.”
Episode 9 (1 mention)
“the modern visitor can go to momentarily lift the veil of 1500 years and glimpse Byzantium”
Episode 10 (1 mention)
“The long, crippling war between Persia and Byzantium had been to the detriment of both.”
Episode 13 (4 mentions)
“and letting Theophano run the administration, two of the finest generals Byzantium ever”
“But despite the brutality of his accession to power, John's reign would be one of Byzantium's”
“Now seeing Byzantium's greatest generals fighting each other, Samuel struck, invading”
Episode 14 (1 mention)
“The message to Byzantium's neighbors was clear.”
Episode 15 (7 mentions)
“territories back to Byzantium, they had at least weakened the Empire's eastern enemies.”
“The two Angelli had presided over the virtual disintegration of Byzantium”
“With the two emperors dead, Byzantium at last had an effective ruler.”
Episode 16 (6 mentions)
“When the Sultan died in 1451, the second year of his reign, the people of Byzantium breathed”
“It was the spiritual heart of Byzantium, and in their hour of despair, there could”
“It was the end of the empire, but not the end of Byzantium.”
Episode 17 (8 mentions)
“Byzantium remained a shining light more than just the preserver of Christian civilization. It was Christian civilization”
“Bishop Lutprand wrote that Byzantium was populated by idle liars of neither gender and no less an authority than Voltaire”
“But Byzantium's voice has gone unheard its lessons unheeded as that inveterate critic Voltaire wrote”
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