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120-605: They emerged as a class of wealthy Greek merchants (of mostly noble Byzantine descent) during the second half of the 16th century, and were influential in the administration of the Ottoman Empire's Balkan domains in the 18th century. The Phanariots usually built their houses in the Phanar quarter to be near the court of the Patriarch , who (under the Ottoman millet system) was recognized as

240-431: A 14th-century survey of the village of Aphetos, donated to the monastery of Chilandar , the average size of a landholding is only 3.5 modioi (0.08 ha). Taxes placed on rural populations included the kapnikon (Greek: καπνικόν) or hearth tax, the synone (Greek: συνονή) or cash payment frequently affiliated with the kapnikon , the ennomion (Greek: εννόμιον) or pasture tax, and the aerikon (Greek: αέρικον, meaning "of

360-537: A Byzantine Greek woman could be divided into three phases: girlhood , motherhood , and widowhood . Childhood was brief and perilous, even more so for girls than boys. Parents would celebrate the birth of a boy twice as much and there is some evidence of female infanticide (i.e. roadside abandonment and suffocation), though it was contrary to both civil and canon law. Educational opportunities for girls were few: they did not attend regular schools but were taught in groups at home by tutors. With few exceptions, education

480-639: A Greek society. Linguistically, Byzantine or medieval Greek is situated between the Hellenistic ( Koine ) and modern phases of the language. Since as early as the Hellenistic era, Greek had been the lingua franca of the educated elites of the Eastern Mediterranean , spoken natively in the southern Balkans , the Greek islands, Asia Minor, and the ancient and Hellenistic Greek colonies of Southern Italy ,

600-420: A constant supply of muscle power for the building projects and rural work. Their numbers apparently increased in the late fourth and early fifth centuries as barbarian raids and a desire to avoid taxation pushed rural populations into cities. Since Homeric times, there were several categories of poverty: the ptochos ( πτωχός , "passive poor") was lower than the penes ( πένης , "active poor"). They formed

720-512: A generous bribe, proceeded to the country he was selected to govern (whose language he usually did not know). When the new princes were appointed, they were escorted to Iași or Bucharest by retinues composed of their families, favourites and creditors (from whom they had borrowed the bribes). The prince and his appointees counted on recouping these in as short a time as possible, amassing an amount sufficient to live on after their brief time in office. Thirty-one princes, from eleven families, ruled

840-482: A normal part of everyday life, much more so than in modern Western societies. While it is difficult to draw a distinction between Roman and Byzantine soldiers from an organizational aspect, it is easier to do so in terms of their social profile. The military handbooks known as the Taktika continued a Hellenistic and Roman tradition, and contain a wealth of information about the appearance, customs, habits, and life of

960-666: A number of Phanariots were appointed Hospodars ( voivodes or princes) in the Danubian Principalities ( Moldavia and Wallachia ) (usually as a promotion from the offices of Dragoman of the Fleet and Dragoman of the Porte ); the period is known as the Phanariot epoch in Romanian history. After the fall of Constantinople , Mehmet II deported the city's Christian population, leaving only

1080-638: A petition campaign against the princes in power; addressed to the Porte and the Habsburg monarchy , they primarily demanded Russian supervision. Although they referred to incidents of corruption and misrule, the petitions indicate their signers' conservatism. The boyars tend to refer to (fictitious) " capitulations " which either principality would have signed with the Ottomans, demanding that rights guaranteed through them be restored. They viewed reform attempts by princes as illegitimate; in alternative proposals (usually in

1200-479: A role in the affairs of Great Britain, France and the Russian Empire. The Phanariots competed for the most important administrative offices in the Ottoman administration; these included collecting imperial taxes, monopolies on commerce, working under contract in a number of enterprises, supplying the court and ruling the Danubian Principalities . They engaged in private trade, controlling the crucial wheat trade on

1320-548: A total of ten times in Moldavia and Wallachia . The debt was owed to several creditors, rather than to the Sultan; the central institutions of the Ottoman Empire generally seemed determined to maintain their rule over the principalities and not exploit them irrationally. In an early example, Ahmed III paid part of Nicholas Mavrocordatos ' sum. The Phanariot epoch was initially characterized by fiscal policies driven by Ottoman needs and

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1440-560: A very strong position in international trade. Despite the challenges posed by rival Italian merchants, they held their own throughout the latter half of the Byzantine Empire's existence. The clergy also held a special place, not only having more freedom than their Western counterparts, but also maintaining a patriarch in Constantinople who was considered the equivalent of the pope . This position of strength had built up over time, for at

1560-684: Is an exonym applied by later historians like Hieronymus Wolf ; "Byzantine" citizens continued to call themselves Romaioi (Romans) in their language. Despite the shift in terminology in the West, the Byzantines Empire's eastern neighbors, such as the Arabs, continued to refer to the Byzantines as "Romans", as for instance in the 30th Surah of the Quran ( Ar-Rum ). The signifier "Roman" ( Rum millet , "Roman nation")

1680-474: Is beginning to change for that of mobile, pro-active agents. The merchant class, particularly that of Constantinople , became a force of its own that could, at times, even threaten the Emperor as it did in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This was achieved through efficient use of credit and other monetary innovations. Merchants invested surplus funds in financial products called chreokoinonia ( χρεοκοινωνία ),

1800-444: Is still an open question. From then on, professional recruiting replaced conscription, and the increasing use of mercenaries in the army was ruinous for the treasury. From the 10th century onwards, there were laws connecting land ownership and military service. While the state never allotted land for obligatory service, soldiers could and did use their pay to buy landed estates, and taxes would be decreased or waived in some cases. What

1920-579: The Black Sea , Western Asia and North Africa . At the beginning of the Byzantine millennium, the koine (Greek: κοινή) remained the basis for spoken Greek and Christian writings, while Attic Greek was the language of the philosophers and orators. As Christianity became the dominant religion, Attic began to be used in Christian writings in addition to and often interspersed with koine Greek. Nonetheless, from

2040-624: The Black Sea . The Phanariots expanded their commercial activities into the Kingdom of Hungary and then to the other Central European states. Their activities intensified their contacts with Western nations, and they became familiar with Western languages and cultures. Before the beginning of the Greek War of Independence , the Phanariots were firmly established as the political elite of Hellenism. According to Greek historian Constantine Paparrigopoulos, this

2160-702: The Great Turkish War . By the 17th century the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople was the religious and administrative ruler of the empire's Orthodox subjects, regardless of ethnic background. All formerly-independent Orthodox patriarchates, including the Serbian Patriarchate renewed in 1557, came under the authority of the Greek Orthodox Church. Most of the Greek patriarchs were drawn from the Phanariots. Two Greek social groups emerged, challenging

2280-725: The Greek-speaking Eastern Romans throughout Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages . They were the main inhabitants of the lands of the Byzantine Empire ( Eastern Roman Empire ), of Constantinople and Asia Minor (modern Turkey), the Greek islands , Cyprus , and portions of the southern Balkans , and formed large minorities, or pluralities, in the coastal urban centres of the Levant and northern Egypt . Throughout their history,

2400-469: The Ottoman Empire , mostly based on the territory of the present-day state of Bosnia and Herzegovina . Prior to the Great Turkish War , it had also included most of Slavonia , Lika , and Dalmatia in present-day Croatia . Its reported area in 1853 was 52,530 square kilometres (20,281 sq mi). After the execution of King Stephen Tomašević in 1463, the central part of the Kingdom of Bosnia

2520-492: The Pope in Rome . The ecclesiastical provinces were called eparchies and were headed by archbishops or metropolitans who supervised their subordinate bishops or episkopoi . For most people, however, it was their parish priest or papas (from the Greek word for "father") that was the most recognizable face of the clergy. The Eastern Roman Empire was in language and civilization

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2640-770: The Sultan replaced de jure the Byzantine Emperor for subjugated Christians, he recognized the Ecumenical Patriarch as the religious and national leader ( ethnarch ) of the Greeks and other ethnic groups in the Greek Orthodox Millet . The Patriarchate had primary importance, occupying this key role for Christians of the Empire because the Ottomans did not legally distinguish between nationality and religion and considered

2760-526: The Treaty of Karlowitz , the province was down to four sanjaks (three of them diminished in size as well) and twelve captaincies. Before the Treaty of Passarowitz , another 28 military captaincies were formed, more than half of them along the frontier. This kind of intensive military administration corresponded to the Austrian Military Frontier on the other side of the same border. In 1703 the seat of

2880-563: The Varangian Guard like Greece runestones and the Piraeus Lion which we meet the terms Grikkland (Greece) and Grikkr referring to their ventures in Byzantine Empire and their interaction with the Byzantines. While social mobility was not unknown in Byzantium the order of society was thought of as more enduring, with the average man regarding the court of Heaven to be the archetype of

3000-663: The decline of the Ottoman Empire , as European states became interested in halting Russian southward expansion (which included the 1812 annexation of Bessarabia ). New consulates in the two countries' capitals, ensuring the observation of developments in Russian−Ottoman relations, had an indirect impact on the local economy as rival diplomats began awarding protection and sudit status to merchants competing with local guilds . Nicholas I of Russia pressured Wallachia and Moldavia into granting constitutions (in 1831 and 1832, respectively) to weaken native rulers. The boyars began

3120-560: The laymen , the clergy of the Eastern Roman Empire remained in close contact with the rest of society. Readers and subdeacons were drawn from the laity and expected to be at least twenty years of age while priests and bishops had to be at least 30. Unlike the Latin church , the Byzantine church allowed married priests and deacons, as long as they were married before ordination . Bishops, however, were required to be unmarried. While

3240-500: The lingua franca of commerce became Italian. In the areas of the Crusader kingdoms a classical education (Greek: παιδεία, paideia ) ceased to be a sine qua non of social status, leading to the rise of the vernacular. From this era many beautiful works in the vernacular, often written by people deeply steeped in classical education, are attested. A famous example is the four Ptochoprodromic poems attributed to Theodoros Prodromos. From

3360-452: The radical , nationalist cause during and after the 1848 Wallachian revolution .). Phanariot attention focused on occupying the most favorable offices the empire could offer non-Muslims and the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which were still relatively rich and—more importantly—autonomous (despite having to pay tribute as vassal states). Many Greeks had found favorable conditions there for commercial activities, in comparison with

3480-492: The 13th to the 15th centuries, the last centuries of the Empire, there arose several works, including laments, fables, romances, and chronicles, written outside Constantinople, which until then had been the seat of most literature, in an idiom termed by scholars as "Byzantine Koine". However, the diglossia of the Greek-speaking world, which had already started in ancient Greece, continued under Ottoman rule and persisted in

3600-539: The 1580s), mistakenly identified with the Phanariots in modern Romanian historiography, were much older. The mismanagement of many Phanariot rulers contrasts with the achievements and projects of others, such as Constantine Mavrocordatos (who abolished serfdom in Wallachia in 1746 and Moldavia in 1749) and Alexander Ypsilantis , who were inspired by Habsburg serf policy. Ypsilantis tried to reform legislation and impose salaries for administrative offices in an effort to halt

3720-466: The 17th century, the Ottomans began having problems in foreign relations and difficulty dictating terms to their neighbours; for the first time, the Porte needed to participate in diplomatic negotiations. With the Ottomans traditionally ignoring Western European languages and cultures, officials were at a loss. The Porte assigned those tasks to the Greeks, who had a long mercantile and educational tradition and

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3840-776: The 1820s it plummeted from about 50,000 to 20,000 gold coins (equivalent to Austrian gold currency ) in Wallachia and to 3,100 in Moldavia. Immediately afterward, Russia forcefully used its new prerogative. The deposition of Constantine Ypsilantis (in Wallachia) and Alexander Mourousis (in Moldavia) by Selim III , called on by French Empire 's ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Horace Sébastiani (whose fears of pro−Russian conspiracies in Bucharest were partially confirmed),

3960-438: The 5th century BC. It comprised a tripartite system of education that, taking shape during the Hellenistic era, was maintained, with inevitable changes, up until the fall of Constantinople . The stages of education were the elementary school, where pupils ranged from six to ten years, secondary school, where pupils ranged from ten to sixteen, and higher education. Elementary education was widely available throughout most of

4080-453: The 6th at least until the 12th century, Attic remained entrenched in the educational system; while further changes to the spoken language can be postulated for the early and middle Byzantine periods. The population of the Byzantine Empire, at least in its early stages, had a variety of mother tongues including Greek. These included Latin, Aramaic , Coptic , and Caucasian languages , while Cyril Mango also cites evidence for bilingualism in

4200-462: The Byzantine Empire entered the 11th century, more of the soldiers within the army were either professional men-at-arms or mercenaries . Until the thirteenth century, education within the Byzantine Greek population was more advanced than in the West, particularly at primary school level, resulting in comparatively high literacy rates. Success came easily to Byzantine Greek merchants, who enjoyed

4320-478: The Byzantine Empire's existence, in towns and occasionally in the countryside. This, in turn, ensured that literacy was much more widespread than in Western Europe, at least until the twelfth century. Secondary education was confined to the larger cities while higher education was the exclusive provenance of Constantinople . Though not a society of mass literacy like modern societies, Byzantine society

4440-469: The Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Romans ( Greek : Ῥωμαῖοι , romanized :  Rhōmaîoi ), but are referred to as "Byzantine Greeks" in modern historiography. Latin speakers identified them simply as Greeks or with the term Romaei . The social structure of the Byzantine Greeks was primarily supported by a rural, agrarian base that consisted of the peasantry , and a small fraction of

4560-634: The Byzantines were not considered by Western Europeans as heirs of the Roman Empire, but rather as part of an Eastern Greek kingdom. As the Byzantine Empire declined , the Roman identity survived until its fall in 1453 and beyond. The Ottomans used the designation " Rûm " ("Roman") distinctly for the Ottoman Greeks and the term " Rum millet " ("Roman nation") for all the Eastern Orthodox populations. It

4680-405: The Christian society of Byzantium to create a large network of hospitals ( iatreia , ιατρεία ) and almshouses, and a religious and social model largely justified by the existence of the poor and born out of the Christian transformation of classical society. Byzantine state and society relied on the Hellenistic system of joint tax liability due to the easy handling, fast and simple revenue for

4800-454: The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople). Many members of Phanariot families (who had acquired great wealth and influence during the 17th century) occupied high political and administrative posts in the Ottoman Empire. From 1669 until the Greek War of Independence in 1821, Phanariots made up the majority of the dragomans to the Ottoman government (the Porte ) and foreign embassies due to

4920-506: The Fourth Crusade of 1204. While this Latin term for the ancient Hellenes could be used neutrally, its use by Westerners from the 9th century onwards in order to challenge Byzantine claims to ancient Roman heritage rendered it a derogatory exonym for the Byzantines who barely used it, mostly in contexts relating to the West, such as texts relating to the Council of Florence , to present

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5040-667: The Great and the firm presence of the Habsburg Empire on the Carpathian border with the principalities. Dissidence in the two countries became dangerous for the Turks, who were confronted with the attraction on the population of protection by a fellow Eastern Orthodox state. This became obvious with Mihai Racoviță 's second rule in Moldavia, when the prince plotted with Peter to have Ottoman rule overthrown. His replacement, Nicholas Mavrocordatos ,

5160-454: The Greek concepts of charity for the sake of the polis ; nevertheless it was the Christian concepts attested in the Bible that animated their giving habits, and specifically the examples of Basil of Caesarea (who is the Greek equivalent of Santa Claus ), Gregory of Nyssa , and John Chrysostom . The number of the poor fluctuated in the many centuries of Byzantium's existence, but they provided

5280-587: The Greeks' higher level of education than the general Ottoman population. With the church dignitaries, local notables from the provinces and the large Greek merchant class, Phanariots represented the better-educated members of Greek society during Ottoman rule until the 1821 start of the Greek War of Independence . During the war, Phanariots influenced decisions by the Greek National Assembly (the representative body of Greek revolutionaries, which met six times between 1821 and 1829). Between 1711–1716 and 1821,

5400-619: The Jewish inhabitants of Balat , repopulating the city with Christians and Muslims from throughout the whole empire and the newly conquered territories. Phanar was repopulated with Greeks from Mouchlion in the Peloponnese and, after 1461 , with citizens of the Empire of Trebizond . The roots of Greek ascendancy can be traced to the Ottoman need for skilled, educated negotiators as their empire declined and they relied on treaties rather than force. During

5520-523: The Ottoman Empire (the klephts and armatoloi ). A Greek presence had established itself in both Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia , resulting in the appointment of Greek princes before the 18th century. After the Phanariot era, some Phanariot families in Wallachia and Moldavia identified themselves as Romanian in Romanian society (including the Rosetti family; C. A. Rosetti represented

5640-628: The Ottoman Empire, and an opportunity for political power; they entered Wallachian and Moldavian boyar nobility by marriage. Reigns of local princes were not excluded on principle. Several hellenized Romanian noble families, such as the Callimachis (originally Călmașul ), the Racovițăs and the Albanian Ghicas penetrated the Phanar nucleus to increase their chances of occupying the thrones and maintain their positions. Most sources agree that 1711

5760-485: The Ottoman era was Michael "Şeytanoğlu" Kantakouzenos , who earned 60,000 ducats a year from his control of the fur trade from Muscovy . During the 18th century, the Phanariots were a hereditary clerical−aristocratic group who managed the affairs of the patriarchate and the dominant political power of the Ottoman Greek community. They became a significant political factor in the empire and, as diplomatic agents, played

5880-419: The Phanariot princes were capable, farsighted rulers. As prince of Wallachia in 1746 and Moldavia in 1749, Constantine Mavrocordatos abolished serfdom and Alexander Ypsilantis of Wallachia (reigned 1774–1782) initiated extensive administrative and legal reforms. Ipsilanti's reign coincided with subtle shifts in economic and social life and the emergence of spiritual and intellectual aspirations which pointed to

6000-482: The Roman Empire's population were Christians , with most of them being urban population and generally found in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. The majority of people still honoured the old gods in the public Roman way of religio . As Christianity became a complete philosophical system, whose theory and apologetics were heavily indebted to the Classic word, this changed. In addition, Constantine, as Pontifex Maximus ,

6120-568: The Slavs of the Balkans and east-central Europe. This involved Cyril and Methodius having to translate the Christian Bible into the Slavs' own language, for which they invented an alphabet that became known as Old Church Slavonic . In the process, this cemented the Greek brothers' status as the pioneers of Slavic literature and those who first introduced Byzantine civilization and Orthodox Christianity to

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6240-552: The West and reform. Condemnation of the Phanariots is a focus of Romanian nationalism, usually integrated into a general resentment of foreigners. The tendency unifies pro− and anti−modernisation attitudes; Phanariot Greeks are painted as reactionary elements (by Communist Romania ) and agents of brutal, opportunistic change (as in Mihai Eminescu 's Scrisoarea a III-a ). Here is a non-exhaustive list of Phanariot families: Byzantine Greeks The Byzantine Greeks were

6360-631: The Western viewpoint. The ancient name Hellenes was synonymous to " pagan " in popular use, but was revived as an ethnonym in the Middle Byzantine period (11th century). While in the West the term "Roman" acquired a new meaning in connection with the Catholic Church and the Bishop of Rome , the Greek form "Romaioi" remained attached to the Greeks of the Eastern Roman Empire. The term "Byzantine Greeks"

6480-438: The air") which depended on the village's population and ranged between 4 and 20 gold coins annually. Their diet consisted of mainly grains and beans and in fishing communities fish was usually substituted for meat . Bread , wine , and olives were important staples of Byzantine diet with soldiers on campaign eating double-baked and dried bread called paximadion (Greek: παξιμάδιον). As in antiquity and modern times,

6600-406: The ambitions of some hospodars, who (mindful of their fragile status) sought to pay back their creditors and increase their wealth while in a position of power. To make the reigns lucrative while raising funds to satisfy the needs of the Porte, princes channeled their energies into taxing the inhabitants into destitution. The most odious taxes (such as the văcărit first imposed by Iancu Sasul in

6720-449: The beginning of the Byzantine Empire, under Emperor Constantine the Great ( r.  306–337 ), only a small part, about 10%, of the population was Christian . Use of the Greek language was already widespread in the eastern parts of the Roman Empire when Constantine moved its capital to Constantinople, although Latin was the language of the imperial administration. From the reign of Emperor Heraclius ( r.  610–641 ), Greek

6840-416: The case in the Ottoman realm. During the 16th century, the South Slavs —the most prominent in imperial affairs—converted to Islam to enjoy the full rights of Ottoman citizenship (especially in the Eyalet of Bosnia ; Serbs tended to occupy high military positions. A Slavic presence in Ottoman administration gradually became hazardous for its rulers, since the Slavs tended to support Habsburg armies during

6960-509: The center of the Orthodox world, with subordinate metropolitan sees and archbishoprics in the territory of Asia Minor and the Balkans, now lost to Byzantium, as well as in Caucasus, Russia and Lithuania. The Church remained the most stable element in the Byzantine Empire." In terms of religion, Byzantine Greek Macedonia is also significant as being the home of Saints Cyril and Methodius , two Greek brothers from Thessaloniki (Salonika) who were sent on state-sponsored missions to proselytize among

7080-468: The change in leadership and boyar complaints, about 80 percent of those seated in the Divan (an institution roughly equivalent to the estates of the realm ) were members of local families. This made endemic the social and economic issues of previous periods, since the inner circle of boyars blocked initiatives (such as Alexander Ypsilantis') and obtained, extended and preserved tax exemptions . The Phanariots copied Russian and Habsburg institutions; during

7200-418: The church of Constantinople became, between the 6th and 11th centuries, the richest and most influential centre of Christendom . Even when the Byzantine Empire was reduced to only a shadow of its former self, the Church, as an institution, exercised so much influence both inside and outside the imperial frontiers as never before. As George Ostrogorsky points out: "The Patriarchate of Constantinople remained

7320-409: The depletion of funds the administrators, local and Greek alike, were using for their own maintenance; it was, by then, more profitable to hold office than to own land. His Pravilniceasca condică , a relatively modern legal code , met stiff boyar resistance. The focus of such rules was often the improvement of state structure against conservative wishes. Contemporary documents indicate that, despite

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7440-461: The disappearance of promotions from the Phanar community; the Greeks were no longer trusted by the Porte. Amid tense relations between boyars and princes, Vladimirescu's revolt was primarily the result of compromise between Oltenian pandurs and the regency of boyars attempting to block the ascension of Scarlat Callimachi (the last Phanariot ruler in Bucharest). Ioan Sturdza 's rule in Moldavia and Grigore IV Ghica 's in Wallachia are considered

7560-454: The eastern shore of the Hellespont , which out of 173 households classifies 113 as peasant and 60 as urban , which indicate other kinds of ancillary activities. The Treatise on Taxation , preserved in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, distinguishes between three types of rural settlements, the chorion (Greek: χωρίον) or village, the agridion (Greek: αγρίδιον) or hamlet, and the proasteion (Greek: προάστειον) or estate. According to

7680-409: The emperor as a representative or messenger of Christ , responsible particularly for the propagation of Christianity among pagans, and for the "externals" of the religion, such as administration and finances. The imperial role in the affairs of the Church never developed into a fixed, legally defined system, however. With the decline of Rome, and internal dissension in the other Eastern patriarchates,

7800-435: The empire's Orthodox Christians a single entity. The position of the Patriarchate in the Ottoman state encouraged Greek renaissance projects centering on the resurrection and revitalization of the Byzantine Empire . The Patriarch and his church dignitaries constituted the first centre of power for the Greeks in the Ottoman state, which infiltrated Ottoman structures and attracted the former Byzantine nobility. The wealth of

7920-430: The end of military reforms in Bosnia. Ultimately, exploiting the rivalries between beys and kapudans, the grand vizier succeeded in detaching the Herzegovinian forces, led by Ali-paša Rizvanbegović , from Gradaščević's. The revolt was crushed, and in 1833, a new eyalet of Herzegovina was created from the southern part of the eyalet of Bosnia and given to Ali-paša Rizvanbegović as a reward for his contribution in crushing

8040-483: The end of the eleventh century when political machinations allowed the landed aristocracy to secure the throne for a century and more. Following that phase, however, the enterprising merchants bounced back and wielded real clout during the time of the Third Crusade . The reason Byzantine Greek merchants have often been neglected in historiography is not that they were any less able than their ancient or modern Greek colleagues in matters of trade. It rather originated with

8160-403: The equivalent and perhaps ancestor of the later Italian commenda . Eventually, the purchasing power of Byzantine merchants became such that it could influence prices in markets as far afield as Cairo and Alexandria . In reflection of their success, emperors gave merchants the right to become members of the Senate , that is to integrate themselves with the ruling elite. This had an end by

8280-423: The extensive Greek merchant class provided the material basis for the intellectual revival featured in Greek life for more than half a century before 1821. Greek merchants endowed libraries and schools. On the eve of the Greek War of Independence, the three most important centres of Greek learning (schools-cum-universities) were in the commercial centres of Chios , Smyrna and Aivali . The first Greek millionaire of

8400-428: The first of the new period, although the new regime abruptly ended in Russian occupation during another Russo−Turkish War and the subsequent period of Russian influence. Most Phanariots were patrons of Greek culture , education and printing. They founded academies which attracted teachers and pupils from throughout the Orthodox commonwealth, and there was awareness of intellectual trends in Habsburg Europe. Many of

8520-400: The form of constitutional projects), the boyars expressed desire for an aristocratic republic . The active part taken by Greek princes in revolts after 1820 and the disorder provoked by the Filiki Eteria (of which the Ghica , Văcărescu and Golescu families were active members after its uprising against the Ottoman Empire in Moldavia and Tudor Vladimirescu 's Wallachian uprising ) led to

8640-418: The hitherto illiterate and pagan Slavs. In modern Byzantine scholarship , there are currently three main schools of thought on medieval eastern Roman identity. Eyalet of Bosnia The Eyalet of Bosnia ( Ottoman Turkish : ایالت بوسنه ,Eyālet-i Bōsnâ ; Turkish : Bosna Eyaleti ; Serbo-Croatian : Bosanski pašaluk ), was an eyalet (administrative division, also known as a beylerbeylik ) of

8760-481: The imperial court in Constantinople . This society included various classes of people that were neither exclusive nor immutable. The most characteristic were the poor, the peasants, the soldiers, the teachers, entrepreneurs, and clergy. According to a text dated to AD 533, a man was termed "poor" if he did not have 50 gold coins ( aurei ), which was a modest though not negligible sum. The Byzantines were heirs to

8880-479: The intimate connection between Church and State, a legacy of Roman cultus . Also, the creation of a Christian philosophy that guided Byzantine Greeks in their everyday lives. And finally, the dichotomy between the Christian ideals of the Bible and classical Greek paideia which could not be left out, however, since so much of Christian scholarship and philosophy depended on it. These shaped Byzantine Greek character and

9000-475: The keeping of bees , was as highly developed in Byzantium as it had been in Ancient Greece . Aside from agriculture, the peasants also laboured in the crafts, fiscal inventories mentioning smiths (Greek: χαλκεύς, chalkeus ), tailors (Greek: ράπτης, rhaptes ), and cobblers (Greek: τζαγγάριος, tzangarios ). During the Byzantine millennium, hardly a year passed without a military campaign. Soldiers were

9120-535: The leadership of the Greek Church: the Phanariots in Constantinople and the local notables in the Helladic provinces ( kodjabashis , dimogerontes and prokritoi ). According to 19th-century Greek historian Constantine Paparrigopoulos , the Phanariots initially sought the most important secular offices of the patriarchal court and could frequently intervene in the election of bishops and influence crucial decisions by

9240-553: The majority of the infamous Constantinopolitan mob whose function was similar to the mob of the First Rome . However, while there are instances of riots attributed to the poor, the majority of civil disturbances were specifically attributable to the various factions of the Hippodrome like the Greens and Blues. The poor made up a non-negligible percentage of the population, but they influenced

9360-461: The mid-18th century they made noble rank dependent on state service, as Peter I of Russia did. After the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji (1774) allowed Russia to intervene on the side of Ottoman Eastern Orthodox subjects, most of the Porte's tools of political pressure became ineffective. They had to offer concessions to maintain a hold on the countries as economic and strategic assets. The treaty made any increase in tribute impossible, and between 1774 and

9480-472: The modern Greek state until 1976, although Koine Greek remains the official language of the Greek Orthodox Church . As shown in the poems of Ptochoprodromos, an early stage of modern Greek had already been shaped by the 12th century and possibly earlier. Vernacular Greek continued to be known as "Romaic" ("Roman") until the 20th century. At the time of Constantine the Great (r. 306–337), barely 10% of

9600-437: The most common cultivations in the choraphia (Greek: χωράφια) were olive groves and vineyards . While Liutprand of Cremona , a visitor from Italy , found Greek wine irritating as it was often flavoured with resin ( retsina ) most other Westerners admired Greek wines, Cretan in particular being famous. While both hunting and fishing were common, the peasants mostly hunted to protect their herds and crops. Apiculture ,

9720-472: The name "Rhomaioi" (Romans) in their languages was most commonly translated as "Greki" (Greeks). Some Slavonic texts during the early medieval era also used the terms Rimljani or Romei . At least one 11th-century Bulgarian source is attested which refers to "Ellini rimski" (Roman Hellenes). In most medieval Bulgarian sources the Byzantine Emperors were the "Tsars of the Greeks" and the Byzantine Empire

9840-500: The name 'Hellene' rise to replace it, given the prior revival as self-identification from the 13th century onward by the Nicaenean elite and in the intellectual circles by Georgios Gemistos Plethon and John Argyropoulos , that sowed the seed for it. Today, the modern Greek people still sometimes use, in addition to the terms "Greeks" and "Hellenes", the Byzantine term "Romaioi," or "Romioi," ("Romans") to refer to themselves, as well as

9960-401: The necessary skills. The Phanariots and other Greek as well as Hellenized families primarily from Constantinople , occupied high posts as secretaries and interpreters for Ottoman officials. As a result of Phanariot and ecclesiastical administration, the Greeks expanded their influence in the 18th-century empire while retaining their Greek Orthodox faith and Hellenism. This had not always been

10080-519: The onset of puberty , which was followed shortly after by betrothal and marriage. Although marriage arranged by the family was the norm, romantic love was not unknown. Most women bore many children but few survived infancy, and grief for the loss of a loved one was an inalienable part of life. The main form of birth control was abstinence, and while there is evidence of contraception it seems to have been mainly used by prostitutes. Due to prevailing norms of modesty, women would wear clothing that covered

10200-562: The pasha was moved from Sarajevo to Travnik , because Sarajevo had been destroyed by fire in the war; it wouldn't be moved back until 1850. At the beginning of the 19th century, Bosnia was one of the least developed and more autonomous provinces of the Empire. In 1831, Bosnian kapudan Husein Gradaščević , after meeting in Tuzla with Bosnian aristocrats from 20 January to 5 February for preparations, finally occupied Travnik , demanding autonomy and

10320-421: The patriarch. Greek merchants and clergy of Byzantine aristocratic origin, who acquired economic and political influence and were later known as Phanariots, settled in extreme northwestern Constantinople (which had become central to Greek interests after the establishment of the patriarch's headquarters in 1461, shortly after Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque). After the 1453 fall of Constantinople, when

10440-449: The perceptions of themselves and others. Christians at the time of Constantine's conversion made up only 10% of the population. This would rise to 50% by the end of the fourth century and 90% by the end of the fifth century. Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) then brutally mopped up the rest of the pagans, highly literate academics on one end of the scale and illiterate peasants on the other. A conversion so rapid seems to have been rather

10560-650: The period, and the province reached its territorial peak in 1683. The Great Turkish War that ended in Ottoman defeat in 1699 led to a significant decrease in the territory of the Eyalet, losing all the Slavonian sanjaks ("Požeški sandžak" and "Pakrački sandžak"), the sanjak of Lika and big parts of the Dalmatian coast from the sanjaks of Klisa and Herzegovina. The Eyalet lost three sanjaks and suppressed one (the sanjak of Bihać): after

10680-451: The poor. These peasants lived within three kinds of settlements: the chorion or village, the agridion or hamlet , and the proasteion or estate . Many civil disturbances that occurred during the time of the Byzantine Empire were attributed to political factions within the Empire rather than to this large popular base. Soldiers among the Byzantine Greeks were at first conscripted amongst the rural peasants and trained on an annual basis. As

10800-448: The principalities, resulting in long periods of political disorder, was dominated by a small number of ambitious families who competed violently for the two thrones and monopolized land ownership. A change in policy was indicated by the fact that autonomous Wallachia and Moldavia had entered a period of skirmishes with the Ottomans, due to the insubordination of local princes associated with the rise of Imperial Russia 's power under Peter

10920-692: The relationship between them and the West, particularly with Latin Europe , deteriorated. Relations were further damaged by a schism between the Catholic West and Orthodox East that led to the Byzantine Greeks being labeled as heretics in the West. Throughout the later centuries of the Byzantine Empire and particularly following the imperial coronation of the King of the Franks, Charlemagne ( r.  768–814 ), in Rome in 800,

11040-450: The religious hierarchy mirrored the Empire's administrative divisions, the clergy were more ubiquitous than the emperor's servants. The issue of caesaropapism , while usually associated with the Byzantine Empire, is now understood to be an oversimplification of actual conditions in the Empire. By the fifth century, the Patriarch of Constantinople was recognized as first among equals of the four eastern Patriarchs and as of equal status with

11160-560: The result of expediency than of conviction. The survival of the Empire in the East assured an active role of the emperor in the affairs of the Church. The Byzantine state inherited from pagan times the administrative and financial routine of organising religious affairs, and this routine was applied to the Christian Church . Following the pattern set by Eusebius of Caesarea , the Byzantines viewed

11280-655: The reverse was not unknown, as in Theodore Prodromos's description of a battered husband in the Ptochoprodromos poems. Although female life expectancy in Byzantium was lower than that of men, due to death in childbirth, wars and the fact that men married younger, female widowhood was still fairly common. Still, some women were able to circumvent societal strictures and work as traders, artisans, abbots, entertainers, and scholars. The traditional image of Byzantine Greek merchants as unenterprising benefactors of state aid

11400-438: The soldiers. As with the peasantry, many soldiers performed ancillary activities, like medics and technicians . Selection for military duty was annual with yearly call-ups and great stock was placed on military exercises, during the winter months, which formed a large part of a soldier's life. Until the 11th century, the majority of the conscripts were from rural areas, while the conscription of craftsmen and merchants

11520-467: The south and southeast. These influences, as well as an influx of people of Arabic, Celtic, Germanic, Turkic, and Slavic backgrounds, supplied medieval Greek with many loanwords that have survived in the modern Greek language. From the 11th century onward, there was also a steady rise in the literary use of the vernacular. Following the Fourth Crusade , there was increased contact with the West; and

11640-620: The spiritual and secular head ( millet-bashi ) of the Orthodox subjects—the Rum Millet , or "Roman nation" of the empire, except those under the spiritual care of the Patriarchs of Antioch , Jerusalem , Alexandria , Ohrid and Peja —often acting as archontes of the Ecumenical See . They dominated the administration of the patriarchate, often intervening in the selection of hierarchs (including

11760-418: The state are the peasantry ( geōrgikē , γεωργική , "farmers") and the soldiers ( stratiōtikē , στρατιωτική ). Peasants lived mostly in villages, whose name changed slowly from the classical kome ( κώμη ) to the modern chorio ( χωριό ). While agriculture and herding were the dominant occupations of villagers they were not the only ones. There are records for the small town of Lampsakos , situated on

11880-413: The state did allocate to soldiers, however, from the 12th century onwards, were the tax revenues from some estates called pronoiai ( πρόνοιαι ). As in antiquity, the basic food of the soldier remained the dried biscuit bread, though its name had changed from boukelaton ( βουκελάτον ) to paximadion . Byzantine education was the product of an ancient Greek educational tradition that stretched back to

12000-446: The state from the different towns and villages chorio , komai mostly made up of peasants, who were the main income. There are no reliable figures as to the numbers of the peasantry, yet it is widely assumed that the vast majority of Byzantine Greeks lived in rural and agrarian areas. In the Taktika of Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912), the two professions defined as the backbone of

12120-444: The succession to the throne of Moldavia. This was followed by similar measures in Wallachia, prompted by Ștefan Cantacuzino 's alliance with Habsburg commander Prince Eugene of Savoy in the closing stages of the Great Turkish War . The person raised to the office of prince was usually the chief dragoman of the Porte, well-versed in contemporary politics and Ottoman statecraft. The new prince, who obtained his office in exchange for

12240-586: The term "Romaic" ("Roman") to refer to their Modern Greek language. During most of the Middle Ages, the Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Rhōmaîoi ( Ῥωμαῖοι , "Romans", meaning citizens of the Roman Empire ), a term which in the Greek language had become synonymous with Christian Greeks. The Latinizing term Graikoí (Γραικοί, "Greeks") was also used, though its use was less common, and nonexistent in official Byzantine political correspondence, prior to

12360-490: The time and sometimes in villages. Nikolaos Oikonomides , focusing on 13th-century Byzantine literacy in Western Asia Minor, states that Byzantine society had "a completely literate church, an almost completely literate aristocracy, some literate horsemen, rare literate peasants and almost completely illiterate women." Ioannis Stouraitis estimates that the percentage of the Empire's population with some degree of literacy

12480-433: The two principalities during the Phanariot epoch. When the choice became limited to a few families due to princely disloyalty to the Porte, rulers would be moved from one principality to the other; the prince of Wallachia (the richer of the two principalities) would pay to avert his transfer to Iaşi, and the prince of Moldavia would bribe supporters in Constantinople to appoint him to Wallachia. Constantine Mavrocordatos ruled

12600-534: The way history was written in Byzantium, which was often under the patronage of their competitors, the court, and land aristocracy. The fact that they were eventually surpassed by their Italian rivals is attributable to the privileges sought and acquired by the Crusader States within the Levant and the dominant maritime violence of the Italians. Unlike in Western Europe where priests were clearly demarcated from

12720-439: The whole of their body except their hands. While women among the poor sometimes wore sleeveless tunics , most women were obliged to cover even their hair with the long maphorion ( μαφόριον ) veil. Women of means, however, spared no expense in adorning their clothes with exquisite jewelry and fine silk fabrics. Divorces were hard to obtain even though there were laws permitting them. Husbands would often beat their wives, though

12840-404: Was a natural evolution given the Phanariots' education and experience in supervising large parts of the empire. According to Nikos Svoronos argued, the Phanariots subordinated their national identity to their class identity and tried to peacefully co−exist with the Ottomans; they did not enrich the Greek national identity and lost ground to groups which flourished through their confrontation with

12960-400: Was a profoundly literate one. Based on information from an extensive array of Byzantine documents from different periods (i.e. homilies, Ecloga , etc.), Robert Browning concluded that, while books were luxury items and functional literacy (reading and writing) was widespread, but largely confined to cities and monasteries, access to elementary education was provided in most cities for much of

13080-559: Was also used by the Byzantines' later Ottoman rivals, and its Turkish equivalent Rûm , "Roman", continues to be used officially by the government of Turkey to denote the Greek Orthodox natives ( Rumlar ) of Istanbul , as well as the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( Turkish : Rum Ortodoks Patrikhanesi , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate" ). Among Slavic populations of southeast Europe, such as Bulgarians and Serbs

13200-588: Was at most 15–20% based primarily on the mention of illiterate Byzantine tourmarchai in the Tactica of Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912). In Byzantium, the elementary school teacher occupied a low social position and taught mainly from simple fairy tale books ( Aesop's Fables were often used). However, the grammarian and rhetorician , teachers responsible for the following two phases of education, were more respected. These used classical Greek texts like Homer's Iliad or Odyssey and much of their time

13320-474: Was kept by both Ottoman Greeks and their Ottoman overlords throughout the years of the Ottoman rule, increasingly transforming into an ethnic identity, marked by Greek language and adherence to Orthodox Christianity , a precursor that shaped the modern Greek ethnic identity . The self-identity as Roman among the Greeks only began to lose ground by the time of the Greek Revolution , when multiple factors saw

13440-567: Was known as "Tsardom of the Greeks". Both rulers of the Despotate of Epirus and the Empire of Nicaea were also "Greek tsars ruling over Greek people". Equally, among Nordic people such as Icelanders , Varangians ( Vikings ) and other Scandinavian people, "Rhomaioi" were called "Grikkr" (Greeks). There are various runic inscriptions left in Norway, Sweden and even in Athens by travellers and members of

13560-402: Was limited to literacy and the Bible ; a famous exception is the princess Anna Komnene (1083–1153), whose Alexiad displays a great depth of erudition, and the renowned 9th century Byzantine poet and composer Kassiani . The majority of a young girl's daily life would be spent in household and agrarian chores, preparing herself for marriage. For most girls, childhood came to an end with

13680-410: Was responsible for the correct cultus or veneratio of the deity which was in accordance with former Roman practice. The move from the old religion to the new entailed some elements of continuity as well as break with the past, though the artistic heritage of paganism was literally broken by Christian zeal. Christianity led to the development of a few phenomena characteristic of Byzantium. Namely,

13800-474: Was taken with detailed word-for-word explication. Books were rare and very expensive and likely only possessed by teachers who dictated passages to students. Women have tended to be overlooked in Byzantine studies as Byzantine society left few records about them. Women were disadvantaged in some aspects of their legal status and in their access to education, and limited in their freedom of movement. The life of

13920-516: Was the casus belli for the 1806–1812 conflict, and Russian general Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich swiftly reinstated Ypsilantis during his military expedition to Wallachia. Such gestures began a period of effective Russian supervision, culminating with the Organic Statute administration of the 1830s. The Danubian principalities grew in strategic importance with the Napoleonic Wars and

14040-465: Was the first official Phanariot in his second reign in Moldavia and replaced Ștefan Cantacuzino in Wallachia as the first Phanariot ruler of that country. A crucial moment was the Russo−Turkish War of 1710−1713, when Dimitrie Cantemir sided with Russia and agreed to Russian tutelage of his country. After Russia experienced a major defeat and Cantemir went into exile, the Ottomans took charge of

14160-474: Was the predominant language amongst the populace and also replaced Latin in administration. At first, the Byzantine Empire had a multi-ethnic character, but following the loss of the non-Greek speaking provinces with the 7th century Muslim conquests it came to be dominated by the Byzantine Greeks, who inhabited the heartland of the later empire: modern Cyprus , Greece , Turkey , and Sicily , and portions of southern Bulgaria , Crimea , and Albania . Over time,

14280-593: Was transformed into the sanjak of Bosnia . The Duchy of Herzegovina was added in 1483. In 1580, Ferhad Pasha Sokolović became the first governor of the Bosnia Eyalet, as beylerbey (also referred to as " pasha "). The Bosnia Eyalet (or Pashaluk) included the Sanjak of Bosnia (central province), Sanjak of Herzegovina , Sanjak of Viçitrina , Sanjak of Prizren , Sanjak of Klis , Sanjak of Krka , and Sanjak of Pakrac . The Ottoman wars in Europe continued throughout

14400-594: Was when the gradual erosion of traditional institutions reached its zenith, but characteristics ascribed to the Phanariot era had made themselves felt long before it. The Ottomans enforced their choice of hospodars as far back as the 15th century, and foreign (usually Greek or Levantine ) boyars competed with local ones since the late 16th century. Rulers since Dumitraşcu Cantacuzino in Moldavia and George Ducas (a prince of Greek origin) in Wallachia, both in 1673, were forced to surrender their family members as hostages in Constantinople. The traditional elective system in

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