u/Ambitious-Cat-5678

I think this is definitely a reasonable team to follow Fein's Red team this MCC. Thoughts?

When Crusader Kings and Seljuk Sultans all come to your capital to pledge allegiance to you that shows you're a fantastic politician. I still can't believe that practically all of his gains disappeared within a year of his death.

I would say that one of the fascinating parts of Byzantium is its art. While definitely sharing in the artistic traditions of Latin Europe and the Islamic World, it still maintained its own style that was unique to it and to those in its cultural orbit, and to me that makes it all the more fascinating to talk about. If I had to choose an era I do lean towards Classical art. I truly think that some invaluable expertise was lost with the chaos of the seventh century, and you also just no longer really see any more statues in the following centuries with an exception here and there.

I find it fascinating that Nicaea was practically abandoned with the Ottoman conquest of the city. Had the city undergone a steep decline, and if possible are there any possible estimates for the settlement's size in around its final century under Roman rule?

Perhaps it is because of the Constantinople-centric nature of the state, but the areas outside the capital are kind of fuzzy to me in the economic department. Like you usually hear that Western Anatolia and the Peloponnese are usually among the wealthiest areas, but the former is a large region with vague borders, and a wealthy region does not mean a wealthy population. So which regions had the wealthiest subjects?

I'm asking this since in the Renaissance and even beforehand you start to see Western Europeans really idealize and idolise their Roman heritage to the point they would even dress like them on some special occasions. Was this just a Renaissance thing, or did this also happen in Eastern Rome?

I find the Gunthertuch probaby depicting John Tzimiskes to be both visually stunning and fascinating in terms of art. You tend to think that such a depiction would belong to the early empire, not to 10th century Byzantium.

I have heard of Costantinople consuming a ton of shellfish, but that doesn't necessarily have to correlate to it being a favorite. So did the Byzantines have any preferred dishes, or does that just not seem to be a thing in the Byzantine era?

I realise that besides Hieronymus Wolf's coining of Byzantium and Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire I am ignorant of the attitude of Historians in this era to Eastern Rome. What was the view of authors and historians of the Byzantine empire?

Egypt at the time was an impoverished backwater. The French couldn't hope to even threaten British India with their current Naval capabilities. It just seems like madness to send such a force during such tumultuous times, when by this action they opened another front against a new foe.

After watching the episodes in The History of Byzantium Podcast on Michael VIII Palaiologos I kind of realise just how great his achievements were at the end of it. Don't get me wrong he was brutal, but he was also incredibly effective and pragmatic. Furthemore, his brutality as was displayed against dissenters to Church Union was usually for good reasons. It's on account of this ruthlessness that I think no one else would have been able to stave-off Charles of Anjou. Perhaps someone like Alexios or Leo III, but I personally do not see them to agree to effective Papal supremacy.

This is one thing that I think always baffles me with the Latin-Byzantine relations; why did such mutual hatred even exist to the extend it did? Of course it wasn't always antagonistic, but it was still a relationship characterised by enmity. The fact that this disdain continued till the Modern period says everything. Was it out of mutual religious zealotry, or appropriation of the Roman legacy, or something else?

The numbers here are mind boggling. You're telling me France could maintain an army of easily over half a million? China, with 400 million people, could only field a similar if not slightly higher number. What advancements occured to even allow such an extensive mobilisation in the first place?