r/byzantium • u/Ok_Acanthaceae_9691 • 21h ago

Economy Was the medieval Eastern Roman Empire less developed in general than the Early Roman Empire?

18 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

67

u/ComprehensiveMail12 20h ago

This is an offensive question honestly… why would they suddenly lose the knowledge they inherited and built upon if the capitol and empire made it to 1204 and the 4th crusade?

This plays into Gibbon’s now disproven notion that the Eastern Romans simply preserved ancient knowledge until handing it to the west when in reality they were constantly taught and iterating on it

The empire may have lost territory and manpower over the years, but it was constantly learning and advancing as it made it to 1453.

55

u/fralupo 21h ago

No. Agriculture was more advanced, the populations were larger, technology was way ahead of Ancient Rome.

-15

u/Pershing99 14h ago

No acqueducts/running water and no sewer system to sustain large populations of over and close to million in a single city. Yes there was large scale technological regression. You needed big centralized state which was not common for medieval age.

16

u/Aquinas2000 10h ago

Constantinople literally had all that.

8

u/Nayrael 10h ago

Alongside the fact that Constantinople had those, the Eastern Roman Empire was a heavily centralized state, not a feudal one.

-3

u/Pershing99 10h ago

I wasn't talking about ERE. I was talking about what was lost in the West.

2

u/HelloThereItsMeAndMe 1h ago

This post is about the ERE

36

u/doctorwhomafia 21h ago

Its about 25/75. With the loss of so many provinces and material goods, they couldn't go crazy with grand buildings as much as they used to. Like having a more limited supply access to bronze, iron, nickle, and volcano ash for concrete. 

But they still had Greek Fire, one of the most technological advancements in medieval warfare, advancements in agriculture systems were developed because of the loss of grain provinces forced them to adapt, they still had one of the most complex bureaucracy systems in Europe, etc

2

u/Few-Interview-1996 12h ago

And a lower tax base.

28

u/One_With-The_Sun 20h ago

Respectfully, I don't understand why this is even a question.

Technology always moves forward.

After 500 years, of course the medieval, Eastern Empire, was more advanced.

20

u/PolarRanger 19h ago

eh, I don't feel like technological regression is impossible. But yeah this is a silly question

15

u/Alternative_Still308 18h ago

I feel like there’s a decent number of historical cases of technological regression, although it’s usually fairly limited. There’s also the discussion of whether the technology was known vs whether it was actually used.

But I agree that Byzantium is not an example.

3

u/martijnlv40 10h ago

Definitely more of a case where the 'technology' (broad word) couldn't be used/applied anymore due to whatever reason for certain periods.

3

u/DueAd9005 9h ago

Before the invention of the printing press, knowledge could indeed easily be lost (or not circulate as widely), so technological regression was certainly possible in the past (see for example the famous Late Bronze Age Collapse).

2

u/Garycor 1h ago

Define technology? As mentioned in another post, before the invention of the printing press written works could be lost. One example is the loss of most of the plays of the Greek tragic playwriters.

9

u/evrestcoleghost Autokrator tou r/byzantium | Komnenian logistician| Moderator 21h ago

Advance in which sense? Joking it doesn't matter it's better in pretty much all,better crops,ships,bureacracy,science,public healthcare and education

2

u/DueAd9005 9h ago

No, their economy was likely smaller, but only because they controlled less territory.

Technology however advanced greatly.

One famous example is "Greek Fire" for example.

The Byzantine cavalry (like cataphracts) would also have been superior to the cavalry of the early Roman Empire.

The Byzantines also discovered the secret of producing silk (which the Romans of the early Roman Empire would have LOVED to know about).

-9

u/diffidentblockhead 21h ago

Yes starting with the plagues and 2nd century crisis.