The History of Byzantium
is a History Podcast by Robin Pierson detailing the history of the Byzantine Empire from roughly the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 C.E. to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 C.E.
Intentionally created to pick up from where Mike Duncan's The History of Rome ended, the podcast aims to complete the full narrative of the Roman state and people. In addition to picking up from where Duncan left off, Pierson modeled much of the presentation after the structure of THoR with 30-40 minute narrative installments from a state-wide perspective.
The main contribution that differs it from it's predecessor is that when Pierson approaches the end of a century in the history of Byzantium, he stops the narrative and does a series of episodes that overviews wider issues relevant to that particular century that couldn't be fit into a traditional narrative episode.
Having started in 2012 and having a catalogue of over 200 episodes (in addition to bonus and exclusive episodes behind paywalls) and still an ongoing endeavor, the podcast has long surpassed the five year run and total number of episodes of The History of Rome.
This series contains examples of
- Bittersweet Ending: How one could describe the ending of Heraclius' reign. He managed to ensure the survival of the Byzantine state from both the Sassanids and then the Arabs but saw the permanent loss of Egypt and Syrian provinces.
- Breather Episode: When the podcast reaches the end of a century, Pierson does a mini retrospective series of episodes overlooking parts of Byzantine society, life, and events going on in neighboring regions that wouldn't fit into the traditional narrative episodes. As well as also episodes devoted to questions from the audience.
- The Cavalry: The cavalry wing of the Byzantine military has long surpassed the infantryman as the primary focus of the army, something that started late into the The History of Rome's run. A necessity with the rise of the Arabs and the need to quickly respond to Arab raids along the Byzantine border and interior.
- Civil War: A frequent topic that often overlaps with Succession Crises
- Darkest Hour: How the episodes leading up to and detailing the Siege of Constantinople of 717 C.E. by the Arabs is portrayed for the Byzantines. 20 years of continuous Succession Crisis, the military being overrun and unable to defend Thrace or Anatolia, and the Arabs now knocking on the doors of Constantinople. Pierson points out that to many at the time, it may have looked like the Romans finally lost the favor of God.
- End of an Era: The episodes dealing with the end of Heraclius' reign and the rise of the Arabs can be considered this. The wealthy provinces of Egypt and Syria have been forever lost, the old Sassanid Persian rivals have been conquered by the Arabs, and for the first time in centuries the Roman state (be it republic or empire) is no longer the dominant power in the Mediterranean or Near East.
- Enemy Civil War: Whenever the various Arab or later Islamic empires fall into their own dynastic civil wars, it proves a much needed few years of respite for the Byzantines.
- The Exile: A common tactic for dealing with political enemies, and sometimes deposed Byzantine Emperors, is for them to exiled to some distant portion of the empire or fringes of civilization (usually living in a monastery). Explained as Byzantine Emperor's way of dealing with political opponents without having to violate the "thou shall not kill" portion of Christian teachings.note
- Special mention goes to Justinian II who was the first Roman Emperor to be exiled but to later return.
- Extra-Long Episode: “The Final War”, episode 46, covering Emperor Heraclius’ campaign against the Sassanids is over 2 hours in contrast to the usual 30-40 minutes. Pierson described it himself as “Dan Carlin-esque”
- He did similarly long episodes for the 717 Siege of Constantinople, the 1071 Battle of Manzikert, and the 1097-1098 siege and subsequent battle of Antioch during the First Crusade, and TWO long episodes for the Fourth Crusade.
- Genre Shift:
- Episode 89, "The House of War", takes a break from the traditional narrative-focused structure of the episodes and is more of an Audio Drama from the perspective of a nameless Byzantine frontier soldier taking part in a defense against an Arab raid into Anatolia. It proved popular enough that Pierson later expanded it into a five-episode miniseries.
- Episode 166, "To the City," similarly takes the listener on a guided tour of tenth-century Constantinople from the perspective of an amnesiac soldier and his equally mysterious host. Both turn out to be Dead All Along, with the host being none other than the spirit of St. George of Lydda.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: Byzantium (outside of Justinian sometimes) is a largely overlooked historical state, so by it's very nature the podcast covering the whole history of the Byzantium falls under this.
- Greek Fire: As expected, it makes it's appearance though later than would expect going off traditional dating. Pierson actually leans more towards the growing viewpoint Greek Fire was first used during the more famous 717-18 Siege of Constantinople and later histories retroactively inserted it into the earlier Siege of Constantinople of the 670s.
- Insistent Terminology: Pierson makes a point to call the denizens of the Empire "Romans" as much as he calls them "Byzantines" to drive home the point that this is the same state and people of the classical Ancient Romans we think of, just having evolved and changed with the times as all peoples do. As well noting that "Romans" were what they both called themselves and were called by their neighbors when they were around.
- Locked Away in a Monastery: Being exiled to a monastery or a small island (or a monastery on a small island) was a fairly common fate for deposed emperors and failed usurpers alike.
- Mark of Shame: A common tactic by Byzantine Emperors when dealing with political enemies, usurpers, possible claimants, or overthrown previous Emperors. Usually as a way to signal them out for their crimes so it becomes hard for them to rally supporters around them.
- Special mention goes to Justinian II, referred to as ''The Slit-Nosed".
- Meet the New Boss: The explanation for why the Christian areas (such as Egypt) conquered by the Arabs during the early Muslim conquests didn't go into immediate revolt. After decades of occupation by the Sassanids and then the unpopular religious policies of returning Byzantines under Heraclius, the Arabs wouldn't have looked that marginally better or worse to the average citizen or local bureaucrat. To some they may have looked even preferable given the early Muslim rulers largely had a hands-off policy in local governments.
- No Name Given: Another effect of limited historical sources that come mainly from Byzantine authors is usually not even knowing the names of foreign rulers or generals.
- The Plague: Yersinia pestis, also known as "The Plague of Justinian" is given a big spotlight when it comes up in the timeline, along with it's long reaching after effects on the Byzantines and neighboring regions.
- Plot Detour: Whenever the show reaches the end of the century, Pierson does a series of retrospective episodes that overviews other events going on in neighboring regions that are relevant to Byzantium in someway, such as looking at the origins of Islam or the reign of Charlemagne.
- Replaced the Theme Tune: As part of Pierson's tribute to The History of Rome, the opening for episode 100 (his interview with Mike Duncan) uses Acoustic Picking 18 to replace the podcast's standard theme.
- Rising Empire: The emergence of Islam and the first caliphates are discussed from a Byzantine perspective.
- Sequel Escalation: When compared to The History of Rome in terms of number of episodes and running time of the average episode. Pierson also goes more into aspects of Byzantine society and culture in his end-of-the-century retrospective miniseries that was only done intermittently on THoR.
- The Siege: There are plenty of episodes focusing on sieges. Some notable examples:
- Episode 46 details the siege of the Constantinople by the Avars and Sassanid Persians.
- Episode 69, "Lost to the West", is an hour plus episode going over the pivotal, year long, Siege of Constantinople from 717-718.
- Shout-Out:
- Episode 66 is called "The Emperor Strikes Back"
- Episode 69 is called "Lost to the West", a shout out to Lars Brownsworth's book Lost to the West. Brownsworth being an early history podcaster who also did a Byzantine-themed podcast, called 12 Byzantine Rulers, that was an inspiration for Mike Duncan. Brownsworth's book being largely a book version of his podcast.
- Succession Crisis: A frequent topic and carry over from The History of Rome, happens to just about every dynasty of Byzantine. Probably the most infamous being the 20 year period that began with Justinian II's first downfall in 695 C.E. and culminated in the fateful Arab Siege of 717 C.E.
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Spiritual Successor: As has been stated, to the The History of Rome - Unreliable Narrator: Pierson makes note this is a challenge with just about all of the available primary sources on the Byzantines (and even the early history of Islam). Special mention goes to Procopius, the chief historian under Justinian and aide to Belisarius. He wrote many of the state-approved histories of Justinian's reign and then in his own personal time, the Secret History for him and his friends' amusement which skewered Justinian, Empress Theodora, and Belisarius.
- Vestigial Empire: If it wasn't this at the start of the series then Pierson notes it is this by the 640s C.E. with the loss of Egypt, Syria, and North Africa to the Arabs. Pierson describing it more as a compact Greek kingdom than a multinational expansive empire.
- The War to End All Wars: The episode detailing the conclusion of the almost 30-year long war between the Romans and Sassanid Persians is called "The Final War". It is actually the final war between the two empires, but only because they'd have a new enemy to worry about rather shortly.
- Written by the Winners: Pierson notes a problem with covering the Byzantine Iconoclasm controversy of the 8th and 9th centuries is the available primary sources on the subject where written by the victorious anti-Iconoclasts.
