A History of Byzantium, a Non Fiction Book by Timothy E. Gregory: Summary

Timothy E. Gregory is a professor of history at Ohio State University. He teaches Byzantium history and classical archeology. This is a book on the history of the Byzantium Empire, one of the longest-lived and most important cultures in Western civilization. The 377-page is published by Blackwell Publishing in Australia in 2005. This great history book is comprehensive and of course, is also well-written book. Learning history is always interesting. I really enjoy this book and I’ve read it twice. Mr. Gregory describes Byzantine Empire on art, society, politics, and culture in detail. If you are looking for high quality history book, you should consider for this one.

A History of Byzantium, a Non Fiction Book by Timothy E. Gregory: Summary

Byzantium

The inhabitants of the Byzantium Empire called themselves “Romans” and they would not have known themselves as “Byzantines,” as a term used by modern historians to distinguish them from the earlier Roman. The Byzantine Empire does not have a proper time when it starts but it was predicted on 753 B.C until its fall to Ottoman Turks in 29 May 1454 A.D. The Byzantine Empire was a crucial link between the ancient and the worlds, but it is far less studied than most other cultures of the Middle Ages and there is very little understanding of Byzantium among the general public.

Byzantine is used in English to donate a system of bizarre and sinister complexity. Byzantium is regarded as a place of mystery, yet its people were Christians and the theologians, and bishops created the teachings and organizational structure that Christianity today. Christianity was practiced for the thousand years of the Byzantine Empire, a period representing more than half of the religion’s existence up today.

The Geographical Background of Byzantine History

Asia Minor. The Byzantium Empire was a state built around the Mediterranean Sea and the core of the empire was heavily influenced by that fact. In the early period of Byzantine Empire two of these major areas were Syria and Egypt, both of which lost to empire in the Arabs invasion. Asia Minor was politically and geographically the center of the Byzantine Empire, its true heartland up and the end of eleventh century.

In the east there are high and difficult to cross, with especially treacherous passes toward Armenia and the Caucasus to the north and Mesopotamia and Syria to the south. On the north and the south the interior peninsula is shut off from the sea by chains of mountains, while in the centre id the great Anatolian plateau. To the west a series of mountain chains run roughly east-west down from the plateau to Aegean Sea, and several broad rivers run among the mountain. The valleys between these western mountains, in Caria, Lydia, Bithynia, and Phrygia are the richest parts of Asia Minor.

Balkan.  After Asia Minor, the second most important region of the Byzantium Empire was Balkans, a far poorer are but significant nonetheless, especially in the early Byzantine period and from the ninth century onward, when Byzantine power began to reassert itself in the area. The Balkans is defined in the north by the Danube River.

Third Century Crisis

Byzantine Empire does not have a proper beginning since it was, in fact, the continuation of the Roman state, which had begun (according to tradition) in 753 BC. A convenient starting date is the reign of Constantine, but the events and problems of the third century of Christ. The Romans were successful and the whole of Mesopotamia fell again into Roman hands. Julius Philippus, usually known as Philip the Arab, was appointed to succeed the loyal Timistheus, a praetorian prefect who suddenly died. Philip was the son of Arab sheik and he had already attained a high position in Rome. He had begun plotting against the emperor immediately. Food shortages among the army gave him an opportunity and when Gordian III was assassinated by the troops in March of 244, Philip became emperor. He had his young son crowned first as Caesar and then as Augustus.

Byzantine Houses

In the early Byzantine period ancient Mediterranean house types obviously continued to be built and some villas of the wealth were quite lavish, whether in the city or the country. They were commonly developed Roman houses, with frescoed walls and floor and marble and mosaic. Although houses would not normally have had running water, arrangements were commonly made for toilets, at least in the city house of the more well-to-do.

The Arab Invasions

In 634 – only six years after the death of the Prophet Muhammad-the Arabs broke into Byzantine territory and within two years they had essentially gained control of Byzantine East, including Syria and Palestine. The reader who lacks a basic knowledge of development of Arab caliphate would be advised to look at a good summary of early Islamic history. It is clear, however, that Prophet Muhammad and the early Islamic tradition grew up in the world with strong connections to Byzantium. Muhammad himself was fully aware of both Judaism and Byzantine Christianity, and the Prophet lived on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, which he almost certainly visited.

By the time of Muhammad’s death in 632, however, most of peninsula had at least formally accepted Islam, and Abu Bakr, the first caliph’ Umar (634-44), who began the military campaigns that led to rapid spread of Islam and the caliphate. In 634’ Umar invaded Syria and won a number of victories against Byzantine armies, including the conquest of Damascus and Palestine.  The growth of Islam was one of the most important historical developments, not only for seventy-century Byzantium, but also for the history of the whole world.

Much of our information on early Byzantine knowledge of and attitudes towards Islam comes from the chronographer Theophanes, a Byzantium monk and a fanatical supporter of image veneration in Byzantium, who wrote shortly after AD 814. Theophanes dates the death of Muhammad to AD 629/630, when in fact, he died in 632. He writes about the origins of Islam and describes Muhammad in detail. From being destitute and an orphan, the aforesaid decided to enter the service of rich widow who was a relative of his, called Chadiga (Kadij’a), as a hired worker with a view to trading by camel in Egypt and Palestine, until turn to be a prophet.

The Fall of Jerusalem to the Arabs

Beginning in 634, the Arabs quickly swept over the whole world of Near East, bringing the old Persian Empire and all the Byzantine East under their sway. Practically the only place where the Byzantine were able to offer resistance was the holy city of Jerusalem, where the fiery and powerful bishop, Sophronios, was able to hold out against the caliph’Umar. Finally, without the likelihood of support from Byzantine troops, Sophronios surrendered the city, taking advantage of the precept of Islam which held that a place which surrendered voluntarily to a Muslim power would be subjected peacefully and not subject to rape and pillage.

The End of the Empire

After the fall of Constantinople many well-to-do Byzantines fled Constantinople and established themselves in Italy, especially in Venice, which in 1470s had a population of some 4,000 Greeks. Among this immigrants were scholars. These scholars not only encouraged the study of ancient Greek authors among Italians (and westerners generally); they also carried out important research and publication themselves, including the translation of Greek works into Latin.

Theoretically at least, the Ottoman Empire based on Islam sha’ria (law) which viewed only Muslim as full members of community. On the other hand, Muslim tradition clearly recognized the rights of various people of the Book, including all Christian groups, and held that they were governed essentially by their own religious leaders. After the fall of Crete to the Ottomans in 1669 many painters fled to the Ionian Islands, where the tradition survived but slowly declined.

The Heirs of Byzantium. The Greeks, Russians, Armenians, Ukrainians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Serbs, and other Slavic peoples, both their own countries and in international diaspora which they have experienced, are direct cultural heirs of Byzantium. One of the first places where the ordinary modern person is apt to encounter Byzantine civilization is in the works of nineteenth-and twentieth-century Russian literature. The novels, plays, poems of Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Pasternak, and Solzhenitsyn have countless references of Russian Religion and its close connections with the religion of Byzantine Empire.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia:  Sebuah Buku Non Fiksi: A History of Byzantium, Timothy E. Gregory

Buku sejarah terbitan tahun 2005 oleh Blackwell Publishing di Australia. Buku ini merupakan salah satu buku non fiksi favorit bagi saya. Buku setebal 357 halaman ini ditulis dengan bagus dan dengan bahasa yang mudah dimengerti. Lewat buku ini pula, pembaca akan dibawa ke masa abad sebelum masehi hingga pertengahan abad lima belas. Kekaisaran Byzantine adalah kekaisaran yang terlama dan terakhir dari kekuasaan Roma. Tentu saja banyak benda sejarah termasuk teknologi, arsitektur, budaya, tradisi, dan agama di dalamnya.

Mr. Gregory adalah professor sejarah yang khusus mempelajari sejarah kekaisaran Byzantine dan arkeologi klasik. Penulis mengajar bidang yang sama atas pada Universitas Ohio, Amerika Serikat. Walau sudah pernah membacanya pada beberapa tahun lalu, sekaligus penanda kenangan indah di pulau Lombok, karya brilian ini memancing saya tetap membaca buku ini untuk kedua kalinya. Sejumlah ilustrasi dari lukisan dan patung-patung akan sangat membantu memahami buku ini.

Masa Kekaisaran Byzantine tidak dapat dipastikan kapan dimulai namun dari sejumlah bukti tulisan diperkirakan sejak 753 tahun sebelum masehi dan Konstantinopel sebagai pusat kekuasaan jatuh pada tangan Ottoman Turks pada 29 Mei 1453. Kejayaan Byzantine mencakup wilayah sangat besar dari Balkan di Utara, Mesir, Syria, Mesopotamia, dan berpusat di Asia Minor, Turki masa kini. Kekaisaran yang makmur dan kaya-raya di masa abad manakala Eropa sedang resesi.

Terlama dan banyak misteri serta fakta pertumpahan darah dalam perebutan kekuasaan dalam kerajaan dan penaklukan wilayah maupun pertahanan diri dari serangan seperti kelompok barbar seperti suku Jermanik dan Slavic. Di balik hitam dan kompleksnya Byzantium, bagaimanapun jaman Byzantine telah banyak membawa dampak positif bagi dunia secara global termasuk penemuan arsitek bangunan, tatanan pemerintahan, politik, perkembangan teknologi, dan struktur teologi Kekristenan hingga sekarang. Budaya Byzantine juga telah lekat dalam budaya masyarakat hingga sekarang.

Sistem pembuatan selokan perkotaan, drainase, pemipaan air ke rumah-rumah, dan benda yang sangat berguna, teknologi penemuan toilet yang kita pakai sehari-hari saat ini adalah peninggalan dari Byzantium. Gereja Hagia Sophia (kini menjadi mesjid) adalah bukti peninggalan arsitek Byzantine termashur hingga kini dan sekaligus penanda betapa kekristenan bermukim seribu tahun di Asia Minor. Namun tidak seindah itu, masa Byzantine pun menganiaya dengan alasan keyakinan yakni pada kelompok gnostik, Kristen, dan agama kepercayaan lainnya.

Islam mula-mula lahir dalam masa Byzantine sehingga tidak dapat dipisahkan dari sejarah Byzantine. Theophanes, seorang kronographer dan seorang biarawan Byzantine menjelaskan Islam mula-mula dengan sangat detil.

Sejumlah seniman patung dan lukis hebat pun lahir masa itu. Namun di akhir kejatuhannya, dunia seni juga semakin menurun, banyak lukisan dan karya seni tinggi dimusnahkan dan banyak pula pelukis melarikan diri dari kota Konstantinopel karena penguasaan Ottoman.

Buku ini sangat bagus dan akan sangat membantu pembaca memahami kemegahan Byzantium di masanya sekaligus juga Dark Ages dengan sejumlah pertumpahan darah dalam merebutnya, mempertahankan dalam masa gemilangnya, serta berbagai peperangan di dalamnya, terakhir pertumpahan darah pada kejatuhannya pada Ottoman Turks pada pertengahan abad lima belas.

Tentu saja, bagi pembelajar teologia, peminat karya seni dan sastra, pembelajar sejarah dunia, dan mahasiswa atau orang-orang bekerja pada bidang arsitek pastilah sudah akrab dengan Byzantine. Bila Anda sedang berburu bacaan berkualitas bergenre non fiksi maka buku ini sangat layak dimiliki.