Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am not sure what exactly you mean by your explanation, what traditions, who is forcibly converted until 1950's?
I mean the Byzantine folk and religious traditions do not exist in the current owners. There were extensive pogroms and population exchanges. Although Istanbul in particular was exempt from those based on treaties, in reality the treaties were ignored. Regarding the last major events in the 50s I have found this, don’t know how detailed it is: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_pogrom
A new history of Byzantium reveals the inner workings of a late antique empire
91–94 of 94 posts
Re: A new history of Byzantium reveals the inner workings of a late antique empire
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you’re underestimating the deleterious effects of the Turkish naval domination of the Mediterranean on intellectual communication. The enlightenment was made possible by Lepanto.
Uh, no. The Enlightenment -- which was a phenomenon of Western and Central Europe, not the Mediterranean -- was in no way affected by Turkish naval control of the (Eastern) Mediterranean.
Re: A new history of Byzantium reveals the inner workings of a late antique empire
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Uh, no. The Enlightenment -- which was a phenomenon of Western and Central Europe, not the Mediterranean -- was in no way affected by Turkish naval control of the (Eastern) Mediterranean.
Uh, yes. The Near East, both before and after the Muslim conquests, was the most culturally, philosophically, artistically, and scientifically advanced region in western Eurasia if not the entire world. Turkey controlled both the overland and maritime trade routes. Given the high odds of ending up a galley slave or worse, there was little cultural exchange between West and East. The Battle of Lepanto smashed Turkish…
1. You're way overestimating the wealth of the Near East in the time period we're talking about. If you look at Maddison's estimates of historical GDP (e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_by_past_GDP_(P...), you can see that circa 1000, "Western Europe" had a GDP of about 10.9 billion (1990) USD, slightly below "West Asia's" 12.4 billion. But by 1500, Western Europe has ballooned 44.2 billion, while West Asia has fallen to 10.5 billion.
2. Italian merchants had regular access to the Near East throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, so "suddenly the West had easy access to trade with the East after Lepanto" is not even remotely true.
3. Lepanto's significance even in the context of the 16th Century Mediterranean is highly debatable; arguably, the most it did was to halt further westward expansion by the Ottomans, while they solidified their hold over the Eastern Mediterranean (they did, after all, rebuild their fleet within a year). See, e.g. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/head-head/how-important...
4. The most significant transfers of "knowledge" happened earlier, during the 12th Century Renaissance (translation of Arabic works and Arabic translations of Greek works) and the Italian Renaissance (translation of additional Greek works); continued transfer is evident in the apparent presence of 14th and 15th Century Arabic mathematical and astronomy texts in early 15th Century Italy, where they influenced Copernicus. And, of course, the transmission of other forms of knowledge and technology (compasses, paper, new agricultural products like citrus fruits, rice, and sugar, etc.) occurred throughout the period.
Re: A new history of Byzantium reveals the inner workings of a late antique empire
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do these Homeric manuscripts all come the Thrasyllus edition in Alexandria? It’s crazy that every single one of Plato’s books survived.
I think Plato had a bunch of manuscripts that weren't designed to be public facing that don't exist today. It was like he had stuff for the public, and then he had stuff only for his students. I imagine the tone and narrative voice would have been much different, and that he would have expected much more from his readers in these other works.