Since spending our last 10 summers in southern France, Les & I have been immersed in the Roman world. It's all around us, especially here in Villevieille. We can walk to an archeologically reconstructed Roman house ruin in 7 minutes. Our house, & the houses around us, are built in a basic Roman style, but without the atrium. Within 25 miles, in Roman Nîmes, the City of Emperor Augustus (27 BC-14 AD), we can enter the arena (c 100 AD), or go to a museum dedicated to Roman culture & full of authentic Roman coins, graves, & multiple artifacts. I used to think Roman was OLD.

Last week, during our family week on Paros, a Cycladic island in the Aegean Sea, we toured Delos, a small island called "the Cradle of Mediterranean Civilization", dating back to 2500 BCE. This tiny island, no more than 5 Km long & 1300 meters wide, was, for Greece, the most sacred place. It's the birthplace of Apollo (the god of light, harmony & balance) & Artemis (the moon goddess, his twin sister). It's so old it's part of the Greek Pantheon, for Heaven's sake!

On Paros, Les & I also visited Lefkes, a small inland medieval village with its Byzantine Road. We'd never thought of Greece as "byzantine". And I wasn't sure what Byzantine really meant, so I did a bit of internet research.

Understanding "Byzantine" starts with Istanbul, which is today the largest city in Turkey, & among the 15 largest urban areas in the world. It's location, on the Bosphorous Strait, straddles Europe & Asia. Its long history spans the rise & fall of the world's famous empires, including of course the Roman Empire & also the Byzantine Empire. Inhabited as early as 3,000 BC, Istanbul didn't really become a city until Greek King Byzas arrived in the 7th C BCE, and named it Byzantinum.

Jumping ahead to 330-395, the Roman Empire included not only the city of Byzantium, but the EASTERN Roman Empire. Roman Emperor Constantine played an important role, because he introduced Chistianity to Byzantium, after becoming Emperor in 306, after fighting off several rivals to keep his throne. In 312, he fought in the vicious battle of Milvian Bridge. Before that battle, fearing a big loss, he prayed to the Christian God to help him in battle. And then he saw a CHI RHO (the first 2 letters of the word "Christ" in Greek) in the brilliant blue sky, & the words "in hoc signo vinces" (by this sign, conquer"). Supposedly, this vision pushed him to victory. He did not, however, immediately & fully embrace Christianity, but he did support it.

Constantine played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire. While native cults remained, Constantine helped Christians financially & theologically, & provided funds for them to build basilicas & to buy property. He also named them to high-ranking offices, & allowed them tax exemptions.

The age of Constantine was a turning point in the history of the Roman Empire in its transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. He built a new imperial residence at the city of Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople (now Istanbul) after himself. It subsequently became the capital of the empire for more than a thousand years, the later Eastern Roman Empire being referred to as the "Byzantine Empire" by modern historians.
Before his death, he replaced the earlier Tetrarchy (shared rule of 4 emperors) with the principle of dynastic succession, leaving the empire to his sons and other members of the Constantinian dynasty. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and for centuries after his reign.

But he waited until his deathbed to convert to Christianity in 337.

During the reign of Emperor Justinian (527-565), Constantinople became a hub of culture along the ancient Silk Road, connecting Rome to China. From China, Rome imported silk, perfumes, pepper, incense, cosmetics, furs, iron, cinnamon & rhubarb. But another other extremely impactful import that came from China along the Silk Road was The PLAGUE. It started at an animal market, where the rodent & flea populations were high, in western China. Does this sound a bit too familiar?

The Silk Road ran both ways, over land & sea. Goods sent to China included gold, silver, precious stones, glass & glassware, fighting c*** , rhinoceros, embroideries, gold & threaded net from Rome & other stops along the way.

And right in the middle of all this trade was tiny Leftes, on tiny Paros, in the Cyclades Islands of Greece. At the time, Leftes was the capital of Paros, kept safe by its ring of mountains. Its village streets are a labyrinth of twisting, narrow walkways that go in all directions. But as they always say "All roads lead to Rome" (even the tiny Byzantine Road in Lefkes)… & I guess we can add "All roads lead back to China" as well.

One more important thing about Byzantium is the importance of the Greek Orthodox Church. In our photo album called "Parikia & its Glorious Church", we've included images from Ekatontapyliani (The Church of 100 Doors), the Orthodox monastary & church.

I will close with 2 quotes from the brochure for Ekatontapyliani:
"It is believed by Orthodox Christians that their Church has preserved the tradition of the ancient Church in its fullness compared to the Christian denominations which have departed from the common tradition of the Church of the first 10 centuries. Today the Orthodox Church numbers approximately 300 million Christians who follow the faith & practices that were defined by the first 7 ecumenical councils."

"At the time of the Schism of 1054 between Rome & Constantinople, the membership of the Eastern Orthodox Church was spread throughout the Middle East, the Balkans & Russia, with its center in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Emprire, which was also called the New Rome… Even today, the bulk of its members live in the same geographic areas."

I hope you've enjoyed "the Road to Byzantium" as much as we did. We found the Greek islands & their culture a perfect place to explore, learn & reconnect with family.

Yamas!