[BTS] [RFC/DoC] The Legacy of Byzance: An Eastern Roman Tale

[Gruekiller]

In due time, Also, in due time...

 

[Dumanios]

Recover all of Trajan's domains for Roma!

 

[NinjaCow64]

I notice you took "I am Alexander" off your sig, is that finished?

 

[Gruekiller]

No, it's just not in my sig at the moment because it's not one of my recent updates. It's still in the page that it links to, under "Ongoing"

 

[NinjaCow64]

No, it's just not in my sig at the moment because it's not one of my recent updates. It's still in the page that it links to, under "Ongoing"

Phew, I was worried.

 

[MoreEpicThanYou]

The Eternal Empire shall never fall! Bless Phocas, and Curse Heraclius!

Is that an actual Byzantine quote? If so, I never knew that they actually called themselves the Eternal Empire.

Anyway, good update.

 

[Gruekiller]

Naw, I don't think anyone ever liked Phocas enough to say that. But 'Eternal Empire' is a very Roman thing to call one's self.

 

[Tambien]

Maybe Phocas himself said it.

 

[Daedwartin]

Maybe Phocas himself said it.

Or maybe.
Or maybe.
Maybe he said.... Something?

 

[Gruekiller]

1.6 - Iconoclasm​

Unlike his father, Alexandros busied himself primarily with ecclesiastical concerns. Early in his reign, he decided to outlaw icons, especially those of saints and of the Virgin Mary, deeming them idolatrous. This earned the new emperor stiff resistance from the clergy, many of whom came to despise him. However, Imperial authority at this time was high, still riding high after the conquest of Dacia by Ioannes. Thus, resistance lowered to a dull simmer. This iconoclasm would not be contested for another century.

An Iconoclast breaks icons in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
​

However, Alexandros also funded the construction of numerous churches across his empire, particularly the lavish Church of the Holy Cross in Athina. The True Cross, evacuated from Hierusalem in 650, was kept in Constantinople for some years, and then finally moved to Athina when the Church was completed. It would remain here for another four hundred years.

The Church of the Holy Cross, completed in the ancient capital of Hellas.


The Church today in Athina.
​

The reign of Alexandros also saw the first time in centuries that there was a contender to Roman power in Europe.

In the year 732, a delegation from the Visigothic kingdom of Spain reached the Queen of Cities. Though it had collapsed into squabbling fiefdoms a century before, a king of Barcelona named Alaric the Wise had reunified Hispania under one monarch, creating the first organized rival of Rome on the continent since the fall of the West.

​

Four years later also marked the first time that the Roman grip on the Bishop of Rome was contested. Although the Roman hold on the papal Curia remained unmoved, it would not stay that way forever. A new age of political independence for the Western church was fast approaching.

​

By the end of his reign, these reverses in Roman influence over Latin Europe had made Alexandros weak in the eyes of his people. At 56, he died in 740 a reviled man - whether fairly or not - and left his eight year old son, Mezezios, the throne as Mezezios II Gnunios. Too young to rule, Mezezios was placed under the stewardship of a count of the palace, Theodoros.

The tentative peace amongst the palace officials did not last long, and Theodoros exiled the twenty-year old Emperor in 752, ending the Gnunian dynasty. More naturalist than ruler, Mezezios went home to his family's estate in Armenia to study birds and trees, leaving Theodoros I Apokavkos as Emperor of the Romans.

Theodoros I, 'the Idle'.​

 

[Gruekiller]

Yes - 'the Idle'. You're in for an exciting reign here, folks.

 

[trexeric]

It has been more than a month! Where have you been, Gruekiller?
Oh, and great chapter!

 

[Lord_Herobrine]

I must say, nice gap between updates, keeps them wanting!

 

[Gruekiller]

Well, with DYOS in a slight lull, you can expect a few more of these in relatively short order.

 

[NinjaCow64]

Wow, I didn't expect this. But it is very cool!

 

[need my speed]

First of all; nice story!

Secondly, and more importantly... You're a member of the place where Ian reigns and Thande is blamed, right? The place where we curse unmentionable sea mammals and bask in the power of alien space bats?

 

[Gruekiller]

First of all; nice story!

Secondly, and more importantly... You're a member of the place where Ian reigns and Thande is blamed, right? The place where we curse unmentionable sea mammals and bask in the power of alien space bats?

The place where the highest award I could hope for is that of Vlad Tepes. Yea verily.

 

[Gruekiller]

So, we have a century or two of absolutely nothing happening before anything interesting actually comes up in Byzantium's long trek through history. Goodness.

 

[Koning]

Like your story so far. Please tell us about the fortunes of the Rhomanoi in those centruries. Are the Balkans, Carthage and Sicily still Roman?

 

[Gruekiller]

From the Heraclian dynasty through the Apokavkoi, at least, the Empire in this story remains confined to Greece, Dacia, and Anatolia. But worry not, for great reconquests lie ahead.