It seems to me that not much world history is taught in school beyond American History unless you are a history major or elect other courses. Besides, at the time, raging hormones dictate more interest in other class members than whatever the teacher/professor is droning on about up there.

As important as American and European History are, and they are, now that we are more involved globally, it is vitally important to understand what was and is going on in other parts of the world that we never heard of.

Migrations of peoples have been traced to a certain degree by the various blood types. Now that we are cracking the genetic code with the Genome Project, in time I think a lot more interesting facts will be discovered about the origins of the human family. Migration and mutations caused physical changes over the millennia. Then when a people settled down and stayed in one place, the dominant genes took over and made those physical characteristics more pronounced.

But lets back up in time again. This is some more of the nitty-gritty of history that I have forgotten if I ever did know! There was an unbelievable amount of intrigue, treachery and working at cross-purposes going on, involving multiple sides. I am only hitting some of the high points in all of this.

Starting with Caesar Augustus who reigned from 27 BC-14 AD, there were eighty-four Roman Emperors. (I counted 'em!) There was a lot of skullduggery going on. Remember Valerian (253-260 AD) who was imprisoned by Persia's Shapur I ? Many of the eighty-four Emperors ruled only a year or less.

The Roman Empire had become far flung and so unwieldly, it was nearly impossible to govern.  With 10,000 miles of frontier, it was tenuously held together by military force.  Most of the third century AD was marked by near anarchy.  Diocletian was chosen emperor in 284.  He proved to be a visionary statesman more than being committed to military might.  He abandoned Rome and made his capital in Nicomedia a few miles south of what would become Byzantium.  The necessity of defending the empire in Europe as well as Asia caused Diocletian to chose a co-emperor of the West, Maximian, while Diocletian remained co-emperor of the East.   The plan was to have each of them appoint two deputies, "Caesars", as aides and presumably one of them would succeed each of the emperors.  Maximian had his capital in Milan, closer to the "Empire of the West."  Rome was more or less abandoned.  To cement the arrangement both emperors gave their daughters in marriage to their respective "Caesars".  Four "Caesars" emerged as potential contenders for the title of emperor. 

It was a dandy idea and worked for a while, but didn't take into account the very human rivalry of ambition.  In time, after a century of political and social chaos, six "Caesars" competed for Roman Emperor.  Both Diocletian and Maximian got a little carried away by proclaiming themselves deities.  Diocletian declared himself as Jupiter incarnate; Maximian embodied Hercules, giving absolute authority to the co-emperors.  This form of monarchy, traditional in Persia and the Orient, became the "Divine Right of Kings" in Byzantium and thus, European realms until the French Revolution.

Maximian designated Constantinius Chlorus (the Pale) as one of his "Caesars".  Chlorus, as he was known, made his capital in Trèves,  (Triers, Germany. Centuries later, Karl Marx was born in this historic city.)  Constantine (306-337) was the natural son of Chlorus by a concubine, Helena.  As a young soldier, Constantine fought wars with Egypt and Persia until, among other battles, he joined his father to fight in Britain against the Picts and the Saxons.   When Chlorus died in York in Britain, the soldiers proclaimed Constantine not as "Caesar", but as Emperor.  Naturally, the other "Caesars" did not take kindly to this turn of events, so a long chain of intrigues ensued.  The orderly succession of the tetrarchy, the rule of four envisioned by Diocletian, degenerated into the usual assassinations, murders and finally civil war between the "Caesars". 

Constantine and his army crossed the Alps to challenge "Caesar" Maxentius, son of Maximian, in battle a few miles north of Rome. This is the dramatic legend of Constantine's conversion to Christianity.  The afternoon before the decisive battle, Constantine saw a vision in the sky of a gleaming cross with the Greek words emblazoned upon it, en toutoi nika.  The Latin translation is in hoc signo vinces, "in this sign thou shalt conquer".  The legend continues that the next morning a voice told him to have his soldiers place on their shields the monogram of Christ that the emperor had seen the day before.  There were a number of Christians in Constantine's army anyway, so this no doubt energized them.  Once again, religion was linked to war. 

Under the symbol of Christ, Constantine went into battle at the Milvian Bridge to meet Maxentius' army that was bearing the banner of Mithra.  Constantine won a resounding victory.  Maxentius, (oh yes, Constantine's brother-in-law) drowned in the Tiber River with most of his army.  Constantine entered Rome triumphant as the unopposed "Caesar" of the West.

Constantine's conversion has been debated many times.  Was it genuine or political and military expediency?  Probably a little of both.  In the later years of his reign, he demonstrated, if not great piety in his personal theology, a genius in the organization and administration of the Christian Church.  He built churches all over the empire and is single handedly credited with the Christianization of the Roman Empire.

The rarity of natural death coupled with the usual wars and murders had eliminated other contenders and left Flavius Licinius as the lone "Caesar" of the East.  Constantine and Licinius emerged as co-emperors of East and West respectively.  They met in Milan to arrange their rule in equal terms.  Following tradition, Licinius married Constantine's sister to affirm the alliance.  This worked for about ten years, but......Licinius was still a staunch supporter of the old pagan religion and Christian persecution while Constantine was busy promoting Christianity.  Neither had quite relinquished the desire for supreme emperor status.  In  time their mutual animosity once again exploded into wars back and forth.  Constantine was finally victorious in 323.  Licinius surrendered with the promise of safe conduct.  However, he began his usual fomenting and was put to death within a year.

Constantine was sole emperor.  His reign marked political stability after the anarchy of almost a century. 

History has shown over and over again that it is almost impossible to establish an empire and maintain it without a strong autocratic regime supported by some form of slavery.

Constantine set about consolidating his power and organizing the policies of the empire.  He had already spent a great deal of time in Byzantium.  The city had been the at the crossroads of commerce for many years.  On a visit to Rome, Constantine refused to take any part in a pagan religious procession.  He left Rome and never returned. 

He began building his magnificent new capital, Nova Roma.  Further, he instituted a number of reforms, abolishing crucifixions and many forms of torture.  The horrific persecutions of Christians that began in earnest with Nero ceased.  Among many other accomplishments that benefited the Church, he established the foundations for Church property and exemption of the clergy from secular duties.

In many respects, the Church was in disarray with numerous heretical sects springing up all over the empire.  Arius, a priest in a small Egyptian town, started a major schism over the nature of Christ.  This was vehemently opposed by the Bishop of Alexandria.  These disputes had to be settled if the unity of the Church were to survive.  In 325, Constantine called for a council of bishops and other Church dignities to be held in Nicaea, Bithynia, (now Turkey).  He was impatient with what he considered nit-picking over esoteric fine points of theology.  He felt the theologians had too much leisure time on their hands to ponder trivia.  Perhaps, then, as now, more emphasis could be put on Christ's message than his persona. 

Three-hundred-eighteen bishops were in attendance.  Constantine personally presided over the council.  A number of other contentious issues were clarified.  The council was vital to the continuity of the Church.  The result was the Nicaean Creed.  It was revised in 362 and again in 660.  It comes to us as a statement of Christian beliefs and is now known as the Nicene Creed. 

The schism of Arius was renounced, so the council anathematized and exiled the priest. However, later Constantine recalled Arius for an interview and reinstated him.  The emperor's theology leaned toward Arianism and the schism continued.

Constantine formally replaced the tetrarchy with the heredity succession principle that was maintained throughout Europe and the Middle East for centuries.  By leaving the empire to his three sons, he established a political dynasty.  He further renamed Byzantium Nova Roma and then Constantinople.  The establishment and building of Constantinople was one of his crowning achievements.

It appears that Constantine's religious convictions were not wholeheartedly compatible with Christian principles.  Perhaps his personal ambitions and responsibilities as emperor overshadowed a firm belief. (He murdered his second wife, his son by his first wife and a nephew.  Why, is unclear.)

He always said he wanted to be baptized in the River Jordan but never got around to it. On his deathbed, he received the rites of baptism and extreme unction from his friend, Eusebius, the Bishop of Nicomedia, an Arian.  For forty years after Constantine's death, Arianism was the official orthodoxy of the Eastern Empire.    

After Constantine, the Roman Empire was starting to break apart. Romulus Augustus (Flavius Momyllus Romulus Augustus 475-476 AD) was the last one and the Emperor of the West only (Rome).

The site of the emperor's throne switched back and forth between Rome (West) and Constantinople (East) for over a hundred years and between the Emperors Valens and Zeno. Hence, the designation of Western Emperors and Eastern Emperors. (You can skip some of the paragraphs below. I put those in just to show that I have done my homework thoroughly!)

The Emperors of the East set up shop in Constantinople with Emperor Zeno (474-491). There were sixty-two of them including three empresses: Irene (797-802), Zoe (1042-56) and Theodora (1055-56).  Earlier, a different Theodora was co-empress with her husband, Justinian I. Another emperor we remember is Heraclius (610-641) who fought so viciously against the Persian King Khosru Parvez . The Emperors of the East ended with Alexus V Ducas Murtzophlus in 1204.

Then came the Latin Emperors starting with Baldwin I (1204-06), ending with John (1231-37). There were seven of these including Empress Yolande (1217-19).

Next, the five Nicean Emperors. First, Constantine XI Lascaris (1204-05), ending with John IV Lascaris (1258-61).

The Greek Emperors (the name had been changed from East to Latin to Nicean to Greek) were restored with Michael VIII Palaeologus in (1261-82). Twelve Emperors followed, including John V Palaeologus who was deposed and restored three times. The Byzantine Empire ended with Constantine XI Palaeologus (1448-53). They were big on repeating the names especially Constantine and Palaeologus.

The Emperors, Maurice (reign 582-602) and Phocas (reign 602-610) are a couple of interesting names to bear in mind for future reference. The designation of Latin and Greek by then was analogous to Western and Eastern. You will notice they used Roman Numerals with the names just as the popes still do. The Ottoman Empire had not yet spread the Arabic numbers now in common usage in the world today.

Now, the Empires and all their Emperors were political or temporal leaders not to be confused, at least in name, with the religious or sacred Roman Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox Church. We will get to the Russian Orthodox Church later.

As the West was deep into the Dark Ages in the sixth century, the East was emerging into a splendid epoch. The Eastern Roman Empire is better known as the Byzantine Empire. Most historians refer to it as that part of the Eastern Roman Empire that still survived around the beginning of the seventh century AD. The capitol city of Constantinople and now Istanbul, Turkey, was strategically located on the isthmus between the Aegean and the Black Seas.

For ten centuries, magnificent Constantinople was the most beautiful and civilized city in the world! It became one of the richest cities of the Middle Ages. The distinctly cosmopolitan population was a mixture of many races and cultures from both East and West. Greek became the primary language by the seventh century. The Greek Orthodox faith was also a strong unifying influence. The city had a hierarchy of population as follows:

•  Important officials and senators

•  Land-owning aristocrats

•  Merchants

•  A vast bureaucracy of government employees

•  Shopkeepers and master crafts workers

•  Free labor

•  Slaves

However, Constantinople had far fewer slaves than Rome. The Greek Orthodox Church condoned slavery as did the Roman Catholic Church.

Geographically, Constantinople was at the crossroads between East and West in an almost impregnable location. In this strategic position, it became a commercial metropolis with trade routes networking North to Russia, toward the West with Greece and Italy; and East with Egypt, Syria, Persia, and the Silk Route to the Far East. Economic prosperity flourished at its height from the eighth to the eleventh centuries.

The art of the Byzantine culture reached its zenith in its churches, mosaics, frescos and sculpture. Expressing the spirit of the Byzantine culture, highly skilled craftsmen produced luxury goods in ivory carvings and jewels for trade.

Justinian I was by far the greatest Byzantine Emperor, on the throne from 527-565. His wife, Theodora, ruled at his side as co-empress and was very influential. Justinian built the great church of Hagia Sophia at Constantinople. Hagia Sophia was not named after a female saint. Actually it is the Hagia Sophia, the "Church of Holy Wisdom" or "Creative Logos of God Himself."

"Barbarians" had invaded and conquered much of the West. Britain had fallen to the Celts, Angles and Saxons. Spain was taken by the Visigoths; Italy, the Ostrogoths; northern Africa by the Vandals; and Gaul went to the Franks and Burgandians. (You can look up some of those other invading guys yourself! I will only discuss a few of them.)

A little aside, the noun "vandal" and the verb "vandalize" came from the Vandals. When they invaded and sacked a city they defaced the buildings and statues. They seemed to favor smashing noses and cutting off the genitals of statues. This is why today so many of ancient sculptures seen in museums are missing those parts.

The name "barbarian" has a negative connotation. However, many of the so-called "barbarians" had highly developed civilizations. They were only "barbarians" when they invaded and conquered territories, doing the same things that the "good guys" were doing all along.

Whereas Rome had been the political center of the Roman Empire, Constantinople had become the great commercial center of the Byzantine Empire by the end of the fifth century.

Justinian was inspired to recapture the lost provinces of the West and restore them to Roman rule. With his greatest general, Belisarius, he re-conquered northern Africa, Italy and a part of southern Spain through a long series of wars. However, the Empire was strong enough to only temporarily hold on to those distant dominions.

Justinian ran an ongoing conflict with his old enemy, Khosru I, king of Persia. After both monarchs had died, a Persian General, Bahram, deposed Khosru I's son. Bahrum took the throne for himself. The grandson, Khosru II, in exile in Syria, appealed to the Byzantine Emperor Maurice to help him, Khosru II, regain the throne. Maurice agreed as long as Khosru II promised to relinquish all rights to Armenia. Unprecedented, the Byzantines crowned a Persian king, Khosru II, in the Sassanian capital of Ctesiphon!

Phocas killed Maurice and usurped the Byzantine throne. As revenge for his old friend, Khosru II declared war against Byzantium and the ancient competition was on again.

After Justinian died in 565 AD, the Empire began to crumble. His successors could not defend such a vast territory. So the Eastern Roman Empire, or the Byzantine Empire as it was known by then, became even more cut off from the West. In the seventh century when the Arab Moslems conquered Syria, Egypt and Africa and thus controlled the southern Mediterranean, the Byzantine Empire was even more isolated. Most of its ties with the West had been lost.

As the classical Greco-Roman culture of the West declined, the Byzantine Empire was influenced more and more by Eastern art and religion. The divine-right monarchy became the dominant political philosophy. The Empire was the center of a new theocratic monarchy. Constantine had made Christianity the state religion. Pagan cults, that is, the Greek and Roman Gods as well as others, had been outlawed.

Corruption, incompetence and intrigue invaded the palaces of the Byzantine Empire. There were two women involved in some of the most heinous abuses. Leo IV (775-780) designated his ten-year old son as emperor when he died. His widow, Irene, was appointed as regent until the boy came of age. She ruled quite well, reversing many of the cruel excesses of several of her predecessors. She also convened the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 that affirmed the veneration but not the worship of sacred images. This tenet became and still is a major bone of contention between Christian and Islamic doctrines. (Constantine had convened the First Council of Nicaea earlier where the Christian Nicaean Creed was adopted.)

When Leo V reached his majority, Irene did not want to relinquish the reins of power. Leo exiled his mother but later had her returned for her counsel in 792. Five years later she blinded and imprisoned her own son! and regained the throne, this time as Emperor Irene (797-802). She refused to be called the feminine basilissa, (empress), preferring the title basileus, (emperor). For another five years she was effective in lowering taxes, adorning the city, and promoting charities especially for the poor. The people adored her. The military chafed at the very idea of a woman better qualified than most men.

A palace revolt deposed her, and she was banished to the island of Lesbos. Penniless and friendless, Irene died nine months later. However, the Church praised her devotion to God and in the end, beatified her.

A generation later, Michael III (842-867), "The Drunkard", had a favorite friend named Basil. As a former Macedonian horse-trainer, Basil rose from chief equerry to co-emperor with Michael. After he eventually murdered Michael in order to become sole emperor, Basil founded the great Macedonian Dynasty. This dynasty was the most brilliant period of Byzantine history from 867-1081.

The morality of the court declined even more notoriously in the later tenth century. Empress Theophano supposedly murdered her two husbands and a father-in-law. Niephorus Phocas was her second husband. I guess she was a firm believer in monogamy. Niephorus Phocas was a great general who led a victorious campaign against the Moslems. With the conspiracy of her nephew, John Zimisces, Empress Theophano had Niephorus Phocas assassinated.

After Niephorus Phocas, John Zimisces successfully routed the Russian tribes in a triumphant battle in the mid-tenth century. The Russians were sent back north of the Danube. However, John Zimisces' successor, Basil II was instrumental in establishing friendly trade between Russia and the Byzantine Empire. This was a very important event because it made it possible for the Byzantine culture and religion to permeate throughout Russia. As a result, Russia accepted Christianity and the ecclesiastical rule of Byzantium.

A few emperors later, a five-pronged story of intrigue and outright treachery ultimately brought on the downfall of the Byzantine Empire. It is quite complicated so pay attention! The Turks were again threatening Constantinople. Alexius III deposed and blinded his brother, Isaac II, in 1195. (The Byzantines seemed to be big on deposing and then blinding for good measure!)

Isaac II's son, Alexius IV was the primary instigator to regain his father's throne. He fled to Swabia, a duchy in Germany, where his brother-in-law was King Phillip. Alexius IV and Phillip managed to gain the support of Pope Innocent III as well the Fourth Crusade not only to fend off the Turks, but restore Isaac II. Innocent III considered the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Church a hostile schism anyway.

At this juncture, Venice got into the act. This little Italian sovereign state of twelve islands survived for over a thousand years by its wits. Its leader, the doge, or duke, presided over the city but the real power was in the hands of the nobles. They gave nominal allegiance to the Byzantine Empire. However their principal interest was to protect themselves from Germany and the other Italian city-states of the Lombards.

The Venetians considerable wealth was the result of extensive maritime trade. One of their enterprises was the sale of Christian slaves to the Arab Saracens. In turn, they used the proceeds to construct elaborate shrines to Christian saints!

The Venetian nobles in Italy were land-hungry and also wanted to secure better trading positions in the Aegean and Black Seas. The Fourth Crusaders were in debt to the Venetians for transportation of ships and supplies. The Venetians diverted the Crusaders from Egypt to Constatinople. By then the Crusaders had gone from their self-proclaimed lofty cause of spreading Christianity and freeing the Holy Land from the Moslems to becoming primarily adventurers out for plunder.  They blithely perceived greed and piety to be quite compatible!

There were actually rules, regulations and procedures for sacking and looting! The hapless inhabitants of the city under siege had three options to look forward to. Death, enslavement or flee to refuge if possible. Hence the word "refugee". The victorious besiegers went about their plundering ways in a fairly ordered fashion. They melted down gold and other precious metals into more conveniently carried forms. They became connoisseurs of art objects, paintings and especially religious relics. A brisk trade grew out of real or counterfeit relics. An example is a story of half a dozen "skulls" of "John the Baptist" that circulated and exchanged hands any number of times.

"Time sanctifies errors as well as theft."₄

Alexius III was somewhat surprised when the Crusaders showed up to "save" the city from the Turks. In 1203, Constantinople fell to the Crusaders. Isaac II and Alexius IV were restored. The Crusaders demanded outrageous payment for their "help". When Isaac II and Alexius IV failed to produce, the city was sacked in 1204. The Crusaders and the Venetians looted the great treasures that had taken the empire centuries to acquire. Thus, the Crusaders were successful in warding off the Turkish menace but were ultimately responsible for the collapse of the Byzantine Empire. The spoils of the looted empire were divided among European interests. The line of Latin Emperors of the Byzantine Empire began in 1204.

The glory days of the Byzantine Empire were over and a myriad of raids and invaders gradually reduced it further. In 1453 the new Ottoman Sultan, Mohammad II, besieged the city and forced it to surrender. Constantinople was re-named Istanbul.

The Ottoman Turks are generally credited with bringing down the Byzantine Empire. Not so. More accurately, the Fourth Crusade of 1204 inflicted a mortal wound. But it was two and a half centuries later that the Turks finally delivered the coup de grace.

It seems to be a sad fact that the destiny of any civilization is shaped by three main factors: (1) All peoples strive for the best possible life they can provide for themselves and their children. (2) The higher birth rate and grinding poverty outside the "empire", coupled with the (3) higher standard of living within the "empire" make immigration and/or ultimate invasion inevitable.

Contented civilization have relatively little history.  Good deeds are rarely newsworthy.  It is the exceptions to the rules that make news.  The egos and excessive ambitions of some, but not all, leaders promote war, and then the inevitable successive wars.  From time to time, the conquered chafe at their status and must be conquered again. Further, a new "empire" is always on the horizon, waiting to challenge the authority of the older regime.  Thus, a conqueror must continually be at the ready in the arts of warfare.  How does he do this?  By imbuing into the population the love of country, which is already there, and inspiring the ideal of dying for home and country.  Who can deny basic patriotism?  And, so if wars do not occur on their own, then rationales for them have to be invented from time to time.

Leaders and their people alike preach peace and prosperity.  Unfortunately, war grabs our attention and gets the hot blood flowing.