Why was Rome split in two (Short animated documentary)
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Date: 2025-02-02
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Comments and reviews: 20
history_matters
It's good that Charles Augustus and the Pope restored the title of Emperor of the West in 800, and the Byzantines were forced to recognize it by a peace treaty in 812!
Byzantium is simply a collection of eastern Greek-speaking territories to whose lands the capital was simply moved to Constantinople. It is known that from the 10th century onwards, the Byzantines would call Latin-speaking people Romani, and Greek-speaking people Romei.
The Greeks became citizens of the Roman Empire only in 212, when the real Latin-speaking Romans granted them Roman Citizenship.
Even today, the Greeks prefer to call themselves Hellenes in their language, because they see a difference between themselves and the Romance peoples. A good example is the Romance people who live in the north of Greece and are called Aromanians, and unlike the Greeks, they have more rights to be considered descendants of the ancient Romans!
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It's good that Charles Augustus and the Pope restored the title of Emperor of the West in 800, and the Byzantines were forced to recognize it by a peace treaty in 812!
Byzantium is simply a collection of eastern Greek-speaking territories to whose lands the capital was simply moved to Constantinople. It is known that from the 10th century onwards, the Byzantines would call Latin-speaking people Romani, and Greek-speaking people Romei.
The Greeks became citizens of the Roman Empire only in 212, when the real Latin-speaking Romans granted them Roman Citizenship.
Even today, the Greeks prefer to call themselves Hellenes in their language, because they see a difference between themselves and the Romance peoples. A good example is the Romance people who live in the north of Greece and are called Aromanians, and unlike the Greeks, they have more rights to be considered descendants of the ancient Romans!
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Lodrik18
For one the Empire was divided several times (I think you did a good job explaining why, you cant be everywhere AND need to react in a timely manner that wasnt possible with the size of the empire. Secondly the idea that the West fell is controversial because while the Kaiser was usurped by Odoacer institutions such as the Senate remained intact and the concept of the fall of the West Roman Empire only started with the preparations to conquer the area by East Roman Empire. (at least the Prof in University felt the need to point this out, but he didnt elaborate)
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For one the Empire was divided several times (I think you did a good job explaining why, you cant be everywhere AND need to react in a timely manner that wasnt possible with the size of the empire. Secondly the idea that the West fell is controversial because while the Kaiser was usurped by Odoacer institutions such as the Senate remained intact and the concept of the fall of the West Roman Empire only started with the preparations to conquer the area by East Roman Empire. (at least the Prof in University felt the need to point this out, but he didnt elaborate)
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andersonklein3587
Rome was assassinated by Caesar, Marius, and Sulla. Everything past that civil war with Caesar was beyond the event horizon, with only one destination. Even the Romans lacked the infrastructure to allow a single dictator to rule an empire that vast; a republic, however, might have managed the provinces had Marius not eroded the societal structure by stripping the equites and patricians of their monopoly on force.
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Rome was assassinated by Caesar, Marius, and Sulla. Everything past that civil war with Caesar was beyond the event horizon, with only one destination. Even the Romans lacked the infrastructure to allow a single dictator to rule an empire that vast; a republic, however, might have managed the provinces had Marius not eroded the societal structure by stripping the equites and patricians of their monopoly on force.
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tezz2698
Most importantly, by this point it was extremely difficult for an emperor to give military command of a frontier to someone without naming them an emperor as well. Trying to do so would just result in said commander proclaiming himself as the emperor anyway, so it was better to just skip the civil war or humiliation. And trying to run the entire empire alone just meant that wherever the emperor wasn't would get invaded.
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Most importantly, by this point it was extremely difficult for an emperor to give military command of a frontier to someone without naming them an emperor as well. Trying to do so would just result in said commander proclaiming himself as the emperor anyway, so it was better to just skip the civil war or humiliation. And trying to run the entire empire alone just meant that wherever the emperor wasn't would get invaded.
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n_asmo
It bugs me every time when people use the colour of the united Roman Empire for Western Rome and use a different colour for Eastern Rome on a map. Since the capital was situated in the East, I always thought of the Eastern Empire and the Eastern Imperial Court to be the more legitimate one out of the two.
I'd rather give the Eastern Empire the same colour or just use completely different colours for both empires.
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It bugs me every time when people use the colour of the united Roman Empire for Western Rome and use a different colour for Eastern Rome on a map. Since the capital was situated in the East, I always thought of the Eastern Empire and the Eastern Imperial Court to be the more legitimate one out of the two.
I'd rather give the Eastern Empire the same colour or just use completely different colours for both empires.
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history_matters
Fair enough, yet Justinian I as you pointed out, tried indeed to restore a unified Roman empire, which almost led to its demise by Arabs. The Eastern empire called themselves Romans not Byzantines which is a term introduced much later, by Western scholars, arguably to differentiate it from the Western empire. Furthermore, Byzantium held to Italian peninsula until late 11th century and the Norman conquest.
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Fair enough, yet Justinian I as you pointed out, tried indeed to restore a unified Roman empire, which almost led to its demise by Arabs. The Eastern empire called themselves Romans not Byzantines which is a term introduced much later, by Western scholars, arguably to differentiate it from the Western empire. Furthermore, Byzantium held to Italian peninsula until late 11th century and the Norman conquest.
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denethweerasinghe
It was one empire, two co-emperors and two governments of equal rank.
After 476, it was one empire, one sole emperor and a king of Italy who was vassal to the former, and still two governments.
Odoacer's and the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy were just the Western Empire with a different name.
People find this hard to understand because they are used to modern Westphalian states.
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It was one empire, two co-emperors and two governments of equal rank.
After 476, it was one empire, one sole emperor and a king of Italy who was vassal to the former, and still two governments.
Odoacer's and the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy were just the Western Empire with a different name.
People find this hard to understand because they are used to modern Westphalian states.
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VicriusHispnirum
I would say that there were attempts to reunite, at least one: when Honorius died, Theodosius II did not want to accept the successor appointed by Honorius, Valentinian III, as he wanted to rule both halves of the Empire, and the sources are pretty explicit about this. This caused the usurpation of John. After the usurper was suppressed, Theodosius accepted Valentinian as ruler.
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I would say that there were attempts to reunite, at least one: when Honorius died, Theodosius II did not want to accept the successor appointed by Honorius, Valentinian III, as he wanted to rule both halves of the Empire, and the sources are pretty explicit about this. This caused the usurpation of John. After the usurper was suppressed, Theodosius accepted Valentinian as ruler.
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victorconway444
Justinian proved his predecessor’s anxieties about getting too involved with the west correct. The eastern empire was weaker for it. Their armies also caused a lot of destruction in Italy and the city of Rome itself in their effort to reconquer it by force. Ironically, the barbarian kings Odoacer and Theodoric were better at preserving Roman civilization in Italy.
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Justinian proved his predecessor’s anxieties about getting too involved with the west correct. The eastern empire was weaker for it. Their armies also caused a lot of destruction in Italy and the city of Rome itself in their effort to reconquer it by force. Ironically, the barbarian kings Odoacer and Theodoric were better at preserving Roman civilization in Italy.
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RedXlV
And when Justinian decided to reconquer the Western Roman Empire, he ended up destroying it instead. The people living there didn't actually perceive the Western Roman Empire to have fallen at all. They still saw themselves as Romans, living under Roman law. The Ostrogothic kings of Italy were Roman Emperors in all but name. Justinian's ego-trip reconquest changed that.
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And when Justinian decided to reconquer the Western Roman Empire, he ended up destroying it instead. The people living there didn't actually perceive the Western Roman Empire to have fallen at all. They still saw themselves as Romans, living under Roman law. The Ostrogothic kings of Italy were Roman Emperors in all but name. Justinian's ego-trip reconquest changed that.
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history_matters
The reason Justinians reconquests wouldnt last is because people who claim to be romans comming over to Itally and killing peole who considered themselves romans broke the roman identity and any notion that empire was still arround just in an interregnum. The latins didnt see it as a liberation from germans, they saw it as a greek invasion.
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The reason Justinians reconquests wouldnt last is because people who claim to be romans comming over to Itally and killing peole who considered themselves romans broke the roman identity and any notion that empire was still arround just in an interregnum. The latins didnt see it as a liberation from germans, they saw it as a greek invasion.
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Carlo-zk2cy
This is why calling the Eastern Roman Empire as Byzantine Empire is blasphemous.
They were the eastern half of the Roman Empire ruled from Constantinople.
Eastern Roman emperors had an unbroken line of successions from Constantine the Great himself.
Their people were Roman citizens unlike the pretender Holy Roman Empire
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This is why calling the Eastern Roman Empire as Byzantine Empire is blasphemous.
They were the eastern half of the Roman Empire ruled from Constantinople.
Eastern Roman emperors had an unbroken line of successions from Constantine the Great himself.
Their people were Roman citizens unlike the pretender Holy Roman Empire
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hyowonkim-f7r
It is surprising that the Western half of Rome was weaker than the Eastern. The countries in the Western half(France, Spain, Portugal) went on to become global powers with substantial economic and military strength. I wonder how that switch from Eastern superiority to Western superiority came about.
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It is surprising that the Western half of Rome was weaker than the Eastern. The countries in the Western half(France, Spain, Portugal) went on to become global powers with substantial economic and military strength. I wonder how that switch from Eastern superiority to Western superiority came about.
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Jotari
Whoa, whoa, whoa, Rome stopped being the capital of Rome before Rome fell. That seems like it's worth a video. Why did they move the capital from a city with the historical legacy as the origin of the empire and even the name of the empire to somewhere just to a bit to the north
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Whoa, whoa, whoa, Rome stopped being the capital of Rome before Rome fell. That seems like it's worth a video. Why did they move the capital from a city with the historical legacy as the origin of the empire and even the name of the empire to somewhere just to a bit to the north
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3seven5seven1nine9
What was life like for those who lived near the border of the two empires Was it clearly known which villages along the border belonged to which empire, was travel restricted across that line, or was it more like whichever tax collector showed up that day
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What was life like for those who lived near the border of the two empires Was it clearly known which villages along the border belonged to which empire, was travel restricted across that line, or was it more like whichever tax collector showed up that day
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prickly10000
And now the Western half has some of the strongest Economies in the world and the eastern half is a garbage fire. I wonder what changed in the last 1000 years. I wonder what arose to cause the Persians and Eastern Rome to fall so far. HMMMM
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And now the Western half has some of the strongest Economies in the world and the eastern half is a garbage fire. I wonder what changed in the last 1000 years. I wonder what arose to cause the Persians and Eastern Rome to fall so far. HMMMM
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history_matters
0: 16 Rome was split between East and West many times before Theodosis. Since his division of the empire between his sons was based on precedent, Theodosis probably didn't anticipate how consequential and permanent the split would become.
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0: 16 Rome was split between East and West many times before Theodosis. Since his division of the empire between his sons was based on precedent, Theodosis probably didn't anticipate how consequential and permanent the split would become.
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pyrouscomments
Precisely because Justinian reconquered a lot of stuff, his successor couldn't contain the persian. And precisely because the persians and romans beat each other into a pulp, the arabs conquered north africa and persia
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Precisely because Justinian reconquered a lot of stuff, his successor couldn't contain the persian. And precisely because the persians and romans beat each other into a pulp, the arabs conquered north africa and persia
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Iason29
This is one topic though that cannot be fully explained in just 3 minutes. However important to note is that some view it as a mistake and that it was one of the reasons that contributed to the fall of the Empire.
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This is one topic though that cannot be fully explained in just 3 minutes. However important to note is that some view it as a mistake and that it was one of the reasons that contributed to the fall of the Empire.
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nicoallison9228
Love the Eastern Rome content, you did a phenomenal job with the late antiquity character designs. I would love to see more in the future given how often the Eastern Empire is ignored in popular culture
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Love the Eastern Rome content, you did a phenomenal job with the late antiquity character designs. I would love to see more in the future given how often the Eastern Empire is ignored in popular culture
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