Byzantium vs Western Europe 2
Byzantium vs Western Europe 2
Voltaire and other Western European Englightment thinkers, frivolously and unfairly criticized Byzantine Empire, while having only superficial knoweledge about it. Their criticism of Byzantium is something against them that certainly places much doubt regarding the correctness of other opinions they have expressed. People that are globally recognized as leading writers or philosophers don't say or write very stupid things.
Probably, Voltaire and other Enlightment thinkers did not know Byzantine accomplishmets because if they had known, they would have a lot more respect for the longest empire in history, even if they may have disliked its religiousness. Perhaps Byzantine accomplishments were not so impressive as those in Classical Greece or even Hellenistic kingdoms. Actually, this is questionable. Byzantines had indeed remarkable achievements.
But these are not so well known. One important reason may be the fact that most achievements of Byzantine Empire were in the capital Constantinople (city of Constantine). Ottoman Turks sacked Constantinople in 1453 AD. Since then and until today, Constantinople remains in Turkey as Istanbul. Turks did not preserve and promote well Byzantine heritage because it was not their own but instead their enemies' heritage.
Most people in the world know, have seen or heard of Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The Byzantine equivalent of Parthenon is Hagia Sophia in Instanbul, Turkey. It is not as well known as Parthenon. Both were built for religious purposes. Parthenon was initially a temple, dedicated to goddess Athena Parthenos. Hagia Sophia was an Orthodox Christian Cathedral.
Most people have learned in school about Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle etc. Many people have read books about their philosophies. There were some philosophers in Byzantium that integrated ancient Greek philosophy with Christianity, Michael Psellos, John Italos, Anna Komnene, George Gemistos Plethon etc. However, these are not so well known as ancient Greek philosophers. Lately, their work is recognized more. Byzantine accomplishments were not so much in philosophy but in many other areas.
They invented pendentive dome. Massive circular domes were placed over square rooms. They built many big churches but Hagia Sophia was the largest and most known, an engineering and architectural masterpiece, built during Justinian rule. It was the largest Cathedral from 537 till 1520 AD, when the Cathedral of Seville was built. Byzantine churches are renowned for their beautiful vibrant interior mosaics and frescoes (paintings that use a certain techhique).
Justinian also compiled Corpus Juris Civilis (Justinian's Code) which is the foundation of modern jurisprudence in a large part of the world. Between 408 and 413 AD, Theodosius II built the near - impregnable, triple - layered "Theodosian Walls". Byzantines had advanced road and aqueduct networks, pointed arch bridges, ship mills and water-powered mechanical devices. Pointed - arch bridges directed weight more efficiently than traditional rounded arches.
They had the most advanced military. They developed Greek Fire, something similar to contemporary Napalm. The formula was heavily guarded and still remains unknown today. There are only speculations of what the formula was. They used massive defensive chains across waterways, counterweight trebuchets, hand grenades, cheirosiphons (early flamethrowers), cataphracts.
They had a system of fire-signal beacons to transmit messages rapidly across big distances. These were keyed to synchronized, water-regulated clocks. Nikephoros Gregoras calculated the discrepancies in the Julian calendar. His work was the foundation for Gregorian calendar that was developed two and a half centuries later and is used today. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, not Gregoras.
Byzantines had many innovations in military tech, engineering, statecraft. They had a strong, centralized bureaucracy with organized, merit-based civil service, complex taxation system and professional military. They excelled in diplomacy and intelligence. They mastered the use of espionage, treaties and cultural assimilation to neutralize threats before going to war.
They invented the concept of the organized public civilian hospital. These had specialized staff and served as foundation of contemporary hospitals. Byzantines were the most educated people of their time with much higher literacy rates than the other states. They developed Cyrillic Alphabet which is used in Eastern European countries. Byzantine scholars copied, translated and preserved ancient Greek and Roman texts.
These are just some of Byzantine accomplishments. Voltaire was probably the harshest critic of Byzantine Empire but there were others during Enlighment, like Edward Gibbon, G.W.F. Hegel, Baron de Montesquieu. They were too small intellectually to judge the longest empire in history. What they claimed about Byzantine Empire was not a big lie. Their claims had some merit but were exaggerated.
They mentioned only the negative aspects or what they perceived as negative. There was no state in history that did not have anything negative. Their motive for criticism was religious. Their judgement was extremely biased. They wanted to undermine the importance of Byzantine Empire because it was indeed religious. In Byzantine Empire, religion was important but so it was in Western Europe during the same period.
Voltaire and others failed to state that Byzantine Empire was a lot more advanced and prosperous than Western Europe. Although not most advanced in all areas, overall it was most likely the most advanced state in the world for the largest part of its existence. For Voltaire and other Enlightment thinkers, it was very hard to accept that a state that was indeed religious could also be the most advanced and prosperous.
Voltaire compared Byzantine Empire with Ancient Greece (Hellas). The Classical period of Greece was 5th and 4th century BC, from 480 to 323 BC. Byzantine period was from 330 or 395 to 1453 AD, more than a thousand years. Some argue that taking into account the time length, Ancient Greece accomplished a lot more than Byzantine Empire. It is questionable if this is correct.
The Golden Age of Athens (roughly 480–404 BC) was a peak period of Ancient Greek (Hellenic) civilization. Parthenon was built in 447 BC. This was not the first temple that Ancient Greeks (Hellenes) built. Before Parthenon, they had built numerous others. Parthenon was the best of all. Socrates was born in 470 AD and died in 399 AD. He was not the first ancient Greek philosopher. There were many others before him.
The peak two centuries of Ancient Greek civilization had as foundation many previous centuries. Parthenon was built based on previous temples that Ancient Greeks had built. Socrates' philosophy was deeply influenced by other preceding philosophers. Hagia Sophia was built in the beginning of Byzantine Empire, between 532 and 537 AD. After Hagia Sophia, they did not build a Cathedral like that.
This is not a sign of stagnation. They were capable to build bigger and better Cathedrals than Hagia Sophia. But there was no need to do so. They had the largest Cathedral in their capital for the rest of the Empire's existence. It took Western Europeans one thousand years to to build a larger Cathedral. When the Cathedral of Seville was ready in 1520 AD, there was no longer Byzantine Empire.
Voltaire was an Enlightment thinker but it is questionable if he was a good thinker. For the sake of argument, let's assume that Ancient Greece had better accomplishments than Byzantine Empire. This does not change the fact that (most likely) it was the MOST ADVANCED state in the world for the largest part of its existence. The COMPARISON with WESTERN EUROPE is like DAY and NIGHT.