Byzantine deception was not merely intrigue. It was crisis management.
Diplomacy, intelligence, ritual display, strategic delay, and calculated misdirection helped an embattled empire survive threats that force alone could not solve. 🏛️🕯️
#Brewminate #ByzantineHistory #MedievalHistory #Diplomacy
https://brewminate.com/byzantine-deception-crisis-management/
Rounding out the #MATW2026 papers is Younes Köhler (LMU) with "Cross meets Crescent: The materiality of Early Islamic documentary papyri and the pagarchs under Arab rule (641 – 750 CE)" https://dmratzan.github.io/2026-nyu-lmu-materialities/papers.html#koehler
#ancientHistory #archaeology #papyri #classics #middleAges #IslamicHistory #ByzantineHistory #lateAntiquity
If you think the Vikings had weird names, the Byzantines had an emperor called Constantine V Copronymus (or 'the shit-named') and the father of another was called Theophylact Abastactus (or 'the unbearable').
My #Greek is pretty bad, and it doesn't help if it's 1300 years old Greek. Unfortunately, most scholars of #ByzantineHistory assume you know Greek, which is fair.
Anyway, can anyone translate the orders here into non-Greek letters?
Brewminate
Tom Elliott
Ancient Origins
Medievalists.net
Simon dē Gulielmō 🐧
Carsten
Matt Cropp 🌲🌲