13 Facts About Byzantine Greece

Byzantine Greece has a history that mainly coincides with that of the Byzantine Empire itself.

Life in Byzantine Greece continued under the Roman Empire much the same as it had previously, and Greek continued to be the lingua franca in the Eastern and most important part of the Empire.

Byzantine Greece was, of course, honored with a victory in every contest, and in 67 he proclaimed the freedom of the Greeks at the Isthmian Games in Corinth, just as Flamininus had over 200 years previously.

Byzantine Greece built his namesake arch there, and had a Greek lover, Antinous.

The apostle Paul had preached in Corinth and Athens, and Byzantine Greece soon became one of the most highly Christianized areas of the empire.

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Byzantine Greece remained part of the relatively unified eastern half of the empire.

Contemporary texts such as Hierocles' Synecdemus affirm that in late Antiquity, Byzantine Greece was highly urbanised and contained approximately 80 cities.

Byzantine Greece was raided in Macedonia in 479 and 482 by the Ostrogoths under their king, Theodoric the Great.

The Huns and Bulgars raided Greece in 559 until the Byzantine army returned from Italy, where Justinian I had been attempting to capture the heart of the Roman Empire.

Byzantine Greece resettled Greek-speaking families from Asia Minor to the Greek peninsula and the Balkans, and expanded the theme of Hellas to the north to include parts of Thessaly and Macedonia, and to the south to include the regained territory of the Peloponnese.

Byzantine Greece was relatively peaceful and prosperous in the 11th and 12th centuries, compared to Anatolia which was being overrun by the Seljuks.

The Latin Empire held Constantinople and Thrace, while Byzantine Greece itself was divided into the Kingdom of Thessalonica, the Principality of Achaea, and the Duchy of Athens.

Byzantine Greece was mostly used as a battleground during the civil war between John V Palaeologus and John VI Cantacuzenus in the 1340s, and at the same time the Serbs and Ottomans began attacking Byzantine Greece as well.