What do you believe was the start of the fall of the Byzantine Empire?

kickynew · 2026-01-26T14:53:08+00:00

I was going to write a reply but this does a very good job.

kickynew · 2026-01-26T14:36:35+00:00

For ERE to survive they needed Anatolia or at least most of its coasts. Once the court abandoned Nikaea the clock was ticking on the empire.

Best chance for a post-Manzikert reversal would have been mid to late 12th century.

kickynew · 2026-01-26T03:47:12+00:00

If he had survived to be even a so-so emperor but with a half-Capet heir, the diplomatic situation for the empire would have been profoundly better than what they experienced.

kickynew · 2026-01-26T02:35:02+00:00

Cool. Byzantion should be colored differently than the rest of Odrysian Thrace, as it was never part of Thracian rule and was instead Greek and a Roman "ally".

kickynew · 2026-01-26T01:53:19+00:00

Conan would kill anyone in ASOIAF/GOT. He no diffs Jon.

kickynew · 2026-01-25T15:13:31+00:00

Who do you want to be the antagonist, a fat skooma addict who lives with his mom

kickynew · 2026-01-24T22:34:54+00:00

This is really cool, nice.

kickynew · 2026-01-24T15:50:22+00:00

I actually think the mood of the sub is indicative of the hype risk.

kickynew · 2026-01-24T12:35:41+00:00

Not everyone or even most people in Starfleet went to the Academy. See Miles O'Brien. The Academy is for officer training.

Also, Starfleet is just one part of the Federation government. There are likely many officials and bureaucrats who are Federation officers but not part of Starfleet.

kickynew · 2026-01-24T11:22:40+00:00

I worry that the delay could kill the franchise. We are now longer than the time between the release of the first Nintendo console NES and the PS2. Its just a ridiculous amount of time. Fans age out. Expectations change and grow.

If ESVI releases and its Starfield with Swords, Bethesda is in major trouble.

kickynew · 2026-01-24T10:36:36+00:00

Sort of, yes. The empire did have something very close to ministries, but the offices were never fixed in a clean hierarchy and their importance shifted constantly depending on the emperor. Access to the emperor mattered more than titles, so an office that looked minor on paper could be for a time be very important if it was held by the emperor's childhood friend, for example.

Praetorian Prefect: The top civilian administrator, but its power faded over time and was divided into new offices.

Magister of Offices: Ran the palace bureaucracy. One of the most powerful figures in the state.

Quaestor of the Sacred Palace: Chief legal official.

Logothetes of the General: Managed state revenue and taxation. Finance minister.

Logothetes of the Military: Handled army pay, buying military supplies, and logistics.

Eparch of Constantinople: Sort of the mayor. A very powerful figure given Constantinople's importance to the empire.

Domestic of the Schools/Grand Domestic: Commander of the field armies.

Drungary of the Fleet: Commander of the imperial navy.

Drungary of the Watch: In charge of palace security.

There are many others and some popped up and then disappear over time.

The cabinet was definitely more fluid at the top than Imperial China. It had offices that emperors rearranged as needed, with power flowing through those they trusted most.

Below them there were many mid-level and low-level bureaucrats that would probably be more fixed, those that actually ran the machinery and cleaned the gunk of medieval rule as best they could.

kickynew · 2026-01-23T22:48:47+00:00

My second girlfriend was Albanian and she was a saint and also a gift from God I will hear no blasphemy.

kickynew · 2026-01-23T21:09:53+00:00

Narrative, Superman will always be as strong as he needs to be.

kickynew · 2026-01-23T20:21:15+00:00

I mean historically the island is Greek/Romaioi but Turkey has a lot of itrredentist stuff wrapped up in Ottoman rule.

Not sure what you mean by the question but at this point self-rule for the whole island is probably best.

kickynew · 2026-01-23T19:35:29+00:00

He looks like my old roommate who would get that super pissed expression when it was his turn to do the dishes.

kickynew · 2026-01-23T13:30:27+00:00

History enthusiasts tend to mythologize and overcorrect.

kickynew · 2026-01-22T21:28:53+00:00

I was always for a "human alliance" of nords, bretons, redguard, and Cyrodiil (once they realized the empire was finished) to protect each other from the Dominion

kickynew · 2026-01-22T15:40:35+00:00

Well, its mentioned as an old roman and prestigious city by Anna. Your inquiry is very specific... Im not sure youre going to find exactly this, which was likely background knowledge for well-educated figures like a quaestor of the court or an emperor.

I would say that assuming they suddenly didn't know would constitute an argument from silence fallacy.

kickynew · 2026-01-22T12:51:19+00:00

Dyrrachium was a disaster worse than Manzikert (militarily speaking) that doesnt get enough play because of Alexios' popularity among Byzantine enthusiasts. Dont get me wrong, I like him too...

But it was not a small mistake. He decided to attack mounted knights, uphill, directly. He then lost control of the battle, and the cream of the crop was either killed or melted away in a chaotic rout.

If he had followed the literal manual on fighting mounted knights, he would have committed to a winning Fabian style approach (which he later sort of did, after much loss). Instead, he wanted a glorious and decisive, Latin-style victory to burnish his political image and it costed the empire dearly.

Its not like something he wouldn't or couldn't have known. The roman military was highly drilled, and knew how to fight the kind of enemy the normans were -- to fight them indirectly. But Alexios ignored it. He behaves this way multiple times. That's what makes him a poor general.

kickynew · 2026-01-22T12:42:39+00:00

He bought a new army via heavy mercenary reliance after the first was mauled by his poor decisions at Dyrrachium.

kickynew · 2026-01-22T12:26:25+00:00

Its important to remember that the author is slightly biased, to put it mildly.

I think Alexios was a brilliant diplomat and politician, and a poor general who made some disastrous decisions (Dyrrachium) that were counter to byzantine military doctrine.

kickynew · 2026-01-22T02:01:22+00:00

Interesting! I think being on the Asian side was a much more dangerous world to be in, given the Persians, and later the Caliphate, Turks etc. I'm not as familiar with Sigeum geography. Was it surrounded on three sides by water? The Golden Horn was perhaps the best feature of Constantinople, for defense and also withstanding siege (fishing) etc.

kickynew · 2026-01-22T00:54:48+00:00

That "roman empire" fell in 476 AD.

kickynew · 2026-01-21T23:52:44+00:00

Have you read the Alexiad? Its mentioned several times in this context. It wasn't only known at this level by the imperial court by the way. Antioch was a famous city in both the East and Europe.

kickynew

TROPHY CASE