The Komnenian Dynasty of Byzantium

The Byzantine Empire between the 11th and 12th century was a country that was diverse religiously, socially, and culturally. What we now call Byzantium was just an extension of the ancient Roman Empire. The Byzantines or Eastern half was since the time of Augustus the more prosperous and culturally rich part of the empire. The Roman Emperor Constantine had in 330 A.D founded and named after himself a new capital called Constantinople, for the next 1000 years Constantinople would become the center piece of a Greek Empire that would rival the Romans in wealth and power. While the empire had its share of ups and downs historians agree that the empire was a social and military powerhouse and contributed many things to modern society. Although the empire had once covered vast areas from the Crimea Peninsula on the Black Sea to Spain, during the 11th century the empire was on a slow decline, the disastrous Battle of Manzikert at the hands of the Seljuk Sultanate had occurred in 1071 and had left the empire in a dangerous position and suddenly that slow decay that had been taking place for centuries took a turn for the worse and almost brought ruin to the ancient empire. The Byzantines fortunes however changed when a young General by the name of Alexios Komnenos came to power in 1081. Emperor Alexios helped to revive the stagnant empire and brought not only glory for its armies but also fueled a national renaissance that would eventually lead to the European renaissance centuries later.

The 11th and 12th centuries in the Greco-Roman world were in my opinion the most fascinating in the medieval time period. The Byzantines were already by this time very well-known throughout the western world for their rich history and extremely divers...

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...world would never have experienced the explosion of artistic thought that came with the renaissance. It is of my opinion that the world’s greatest kingdom is not the vastly more popular Roman Empire but the Byzantine. They were a beacon of light and helped Europe bridge the hole left behind from the collapse of the Romans and even during the depravity and violence that the middle-ages are known for we can look at the Byzantines and through all their great works of art and magnificent architecture see that mankind can be capable of greatness.

Works Cited

http://www.ancient.eu.com/Byzantine_Empire/ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/87186/Byzantine-Empire/9244/From-867-to-the-Ottoman-conquest http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/byza/hd_byza.htm http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03096a.htm http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/notes/byzantinechron.html