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Pope Benedict XVI has now undone much of the good will, despite his successful visit to Ankara and to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. By citing the Dialogue out of context, he projected Byzantium as thoroughly antagonistic to Islam. Yet the debate came out of a tradition of interfaith discussions going back centuries, in which the Orthodox Christians had tried to understand and correct what they perceived to be the errors of Judaism, Islam and other heresies. Byzantium also maintained diplomatic relations with Arab rulers even during times of warfare, and regularly tried to resolve military problems by negotiation. Of course Manuel II wrote a work of Christian propaganda, but it records at great length a serious debate with a Turkish Muslim. The emperor probably realised that Byzantium would fall to the Ottomans one day. Yet even then, he took pains to clarify what Islam taught. It is a message that should not be lost today.
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‘Byzantium 330-1453' is at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, October 25 - March 22 2009
 
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Demetrios
January 10th, 2009
4:01 PM
Who were these Byzantines by the way? You mentioned they spoke Greek. They also seemed to be Greek Orthodox. They further studied and preserved the Greek classics. But who were they? Is anyone calling themselves Byzantine these days? Of course not, as there never was anyone who did. The place you call Byzantium was called by itse people Basileia Romaion, or Romania and they refered to themselves as Romaioi, or Romans in Greek. Another people who still call themselves Romaioi are, as you might have thought, the Greeks themselves. There is no such thing as an ancient Greek or a modern one any more there ever was such a thing as a Byzantine. There are just Greeks.

tervel
October 24th, 2008
7:10 PM
"...The newly enthroned emperor, Leo III, was an experienced military leader who called on Khazar allies from the Crimea to attack the besiegers in the rear while he made strategic use of Greek fire to destroy enemy ships and led military sorties from within the city. ..." Not Khazar allies from the Crimea but Bulgarians from Bulgaria. The ignorance is a great deal.

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