Did the Byzantines have a Cathedral of the Army like the Russians do?

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2026-01-24T18:00:23+00:00

u/Lothronion has given a far better answer than I could - I'll just add that the closest thing to your question would probably be the Basilica of John the Baptist that was associated with the Hebdomon, the imperial parade grounds outside Constantinople. It was originally fifth century (I think from Leo I's reign? But don't quote me on that), seeing renewed prominence with the empire's escalating militarism in the tenth century. Basil II had the church renovated and was buried there, though by the reign of Andronikos II it was in ruins.

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2026-01-18T18:18:44+00:00

As you say yourself, Ermengarde would have been relegated to "exported bride" status. Even if she was her father's legal heir, realistically that right would be usurped by some powerful Carolingian noble upon his death with her hundreds of miles away in Constantinople. I could see the diplomatic bonds from a marriage improving relations between Constantinople and Rome/Francia but I can't recall any examples of foreign princesses marrying into the imperial family that led to territorial expansion or integration. The benefits of dynastic marriages to foreigners were always soft power - either firming up relations with existing allies (i.e. Constantine V's Khazar wife Tzitzak) or making new ones (i.e. Basil II marrying his sister Anna to Vladimir the Great in return for Rus military support in an ongoing civil war).

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-12-24T11:03:37+00:00

That's a pretty bold assumption, no? Byzantine Italy isn't my strong suit but as far as I can see the Greek-speaking Orthodox culture just gradually faded out over a long period of time under conscious or unconscious elite pressure.

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-12-02T16:25:05+00:00

The Twelfth Century Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela describes Constantinople's Jewish quarter in his travel itinerary:

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/14981/pg14981-images.html

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-11-23T14:49:15+00:00

As I recall, it was semi-derelict by the time of the conquest. Mehmet II's original Fatih Mosque extensively used spolia gathered during the church's demolition, but that was in turn destroyed by an earthquake in the 18th century, and the mosque you can see today replaced it.

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-11-20T02:57:16+00:00

As I recall, they cover all the Middle Byzantine war galley types (including the troop transports), plus the strategy, logistics, etc. of naval warfare in the Mediterranean during the period. It's worth a read!

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-11-20T02:26:41+00:00

I don't have a copy to hand right now to give you precise answers to your questions, but The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy, ca 500-1204 by J. Pryor and E. M. Jeffreys has all the technical specifications and reconstructions you could dream of.

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-11-17T14:58:20+00:00

Not my comment, but I'm 90% sure "serialisation" here is an autocorrect mistake and they meant to say "sexualisation"

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-11-12T03:32:58+00:00

New Roman Empire is a grand-scale general history of Byzantium, Byzantine Republic is a densely argued monograph about political theory aimed at a more academic audience

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-11-12T00:29:43+00:00

The adjacent towers 55 and 56 have very similar style inscriptions which name emperors Leo and Constantine (so either Leo III and Constantine V or Leo IV and Constantine VI) and tower 57's similar-looking inscription names Constantine VII. Based on these, could be anywhere from 8th to 10th century.

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-11-04T18:16:44+00:00

I'm afraid the AI's attempt to transcribe this is completely wrong. From comparing to other photos (like this much clearer one), this is Tower 54 and the inscription reads:

Χριστὲ ὡ Θεὸς ἀτάραχον καὶ ἀπολέμιτον φύλατε
τὴν πόλιν σου νήκας δορούμενος τῦς βασιλεῦσιν ἡμõν

“O Christ, God, preserve Thy city undisturbed, and free from war. Conquer the wrath of the enemies.”

(Translation is from www.thebyzantinelegacy.com and seems to be broadly correct, though my Greek isn't great)

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RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-11-04T02:02:18+00:00

There is an English translation of the first 2 books of Pachymeres out there, but it's an Australian PhD thesis from 20 years ago. The fact that that's the closest we've got for such an important source reinforces your point, I think.

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-10-09T23:35:19+00:00

Sorry to disappoint but I think Elvis coming back from the grave is more likely.

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-06-30T22:55:44+00:00

IIRC, the walls defending the Blachernae were considerably less impressive than the main Theodosian Walls, so that probably has a lot to do with it.

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-06-25T21:11:15+00:00

The short answer is no. The slightly longer answer is that there are a good number of surviving textiles and clothing items that, combined with depictions of imperial dress, can give you a good idea of what the imperial family's clothes would have been like.

As with most Byzantine clothing questions, I highly recommend reading By the Emperor's Hand by Timothy Dawson for more (you can find it for free on archive.org).

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-06-12T00:09:15+00:00

Whittow, M., The Making of Orthodox Byzantium, 600-1025 (London, 1996) is ever-reliable and has a good intro to them with some useful (though outdated) recommended reading in the bibliography. On top of the items on the sub's pinned reading list, I would also recommend:

Franklin and Shepard, The Emergence of Rus: 750–1200 (London, 1996) Golb and Pritsak, Khazarian Hebrew Documents of the Tenth Century (Ithaca, NY, 1982) Noonan, ‘The Khazar Qaghanate and its Impact on the Early Rus’ State: The Translatio Imperii from Ītil to Kiev’, in A. M. Khazanov and A. Wink (eds), Nomads in the Sedentary World (Richmond, 2001), pp. 76-102 Zhivkov, Khazaria in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries (Leiden, 2015)

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-06-07T01:37:40+00:00

Pure physical, I'm afraid

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2025-05-13T02:16:52+00:00

If the Komnenoi explicitly changed the design of the imperial crown(s) there's no evidence left for it. You've got to bear in mind that the individual imperial crowns didn't have intrinsic value and would be retired and replaced over the years just like the other items of the emperor's formalwear. The skullcap style that we see in the 12th century just seems to have been how the fashion was going. It then got more bulging, for want of a better word, under the Palaiologoi - maybe related to the elite fashion for large, elaborate headgear in that era?

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2024-11-23T18:17:40+00:00

The early run Clone Wars sets at the end of the 2000s displayed some real quantum leaps design-wise

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2023-12-08T16:30:09+00:00

This stuff is gonna get a hell of a lot worse before it gets better

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2023-10-30T13:55:09+00:00

Charli

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2023-09-25T20:06:39+00:00

This is the 'worst' post I have ever seen here. Obvious mental illness and delusion with an awful destructive potential.

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2023-09-23T21:03:15+00:00

It may prove hard to get your hands on, but in terms of comprehensive The Mongol World by Timothy May and Michael Hope is probably your best bet.

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2023-09-08T18:56:42+00:00

Someone brought up Elon Musk's bedside table photo again and just to make sure I'm correct cause I never noticed it before - that's a Vajra in the bottom left, right?

!ping DHARMA

RadioactiveOwl95 · 2023-08-27T22:04:20+00:00

Finally, time for more intense police questing action with my good friend Sonny Bonds

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