Speaker A
When we try to understand a vast subject, we instinctively divide it into smaller, more manageable bits. Eastern Roman history is no exception. The traditional split between the Early, Middle, and Late Byzantine periods is useful, but its boundaries are either too vague or too strict, and each category is often too broad to explain the dramatic political, social, and cultural changes within it. Dividing the empire by dynasties: the Isaurians, Macedonians, or Komnenians offers greater precision, but creates another problem: it places emperors and ruling families at the centre of the story, while changes in society, culture, institutions, or the general balance of power can easily be overlooked. In this video, we propose a different way of approaching Eastern Roman history: seven distinct “hyperdynastic” periods. These divisions draw upon traditional dynastic and chronological boundaries, but are not limited by them. Dynasties may be grouped together - or passed over entirely, when the wider historical conditions demand it. Each period is defined not simply by who occupied the throne, but by the empire’s culture, elite composition, social structure, institutions, and the relationship between the state and the forces around it.
