The Decline of the Eastern, aka Byzantine, Roman Empire

I happened across an article about the decline of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire a week or so ago and found it quite interesting. It's called 'What Brought the Decline of the Eastern Roman Empire - and What Can We Learn from It?' by Lev Cosijns and Haggai Olshanetsky.

Basically, the authors contend that the supposed decline does not seem to be a result of climate change. Yes, a volcano exploded in Iceland in 536 AD (and others erupted throughout the following decade) and the volcanic dust, etc, did block the sun in various places and perhaps caused a lowering of temperature - maybe around the world, maybe not. But there aren't any textual records of this happening (dust veils and extreme cold) in the Eastern (Byzantine) empire in the mid 500's.

The authors note that first instance of the Justinianic plague in the Eastern Empire happened from 541 to 544. This supposedly caused the death of millions of people in the Mediterranean (and other) areas. However, the authors of the paper don't think the plague started the decline of the Eastern Empire. In fact they see the 6th C as one of prosperity with economic stability for the Eastern Empire.

Detail of a contemporary portrait of Justinian I in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna. Nice earrings! From worldhistory.org

Quote from the article:

It seems the Roman Empire entered the 7th century at the peak of its power. But Roman miscalculations, and their failure against their Persian opponents, brought the entire area into a downward spiral. This left the two empires weak and allowed Islam to rise.

I agree, and think the Empire in the east did have a lot of power under Justinian. After all, he managed to take back parts of what was once the Western Roman Empire, like Italy, southern Spain and North Africa. So the Imperial territory widened, and trade was doing well.

People have been talking about how the changes in our American Republic are leading to the USA being like the Roman Empire. And they talk about the decline and fall of said Empire. But, but... which one of the said Empires? And is it the actual end of the Empire, or the end of the Kingdom, the Republic, the one main Empire, the western Empire, the eastern Empire, the Holy Roman Empire? Heh, lots to choose from!

There are many, many parallels in all of them, and in what's happening in the USA right now, and what has happened many, many times over many, many centuries and millennia in history and probably pre-history. For example, those in power favor their children, right, Biden? right, Trump? They favor their friends. Rich, very rich, people get control, right, Musk? The 'Republic' continues, but the Senate is controlled by the rich and only really has a sort of ornamental control. That is how the Roman Republic ended around 0 AD or so, and those in power, rich, those in charge of the army, those related to these people, took control and the Empire started. It continued for a long time, around 500+ years in the West, 1000+ years in the East or longer. My Latin teacher at Penn always used to joke that the Roman Empire didn't end until WWI started with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. After all he was the last Holy Roman Emperor.

Thanks for reading! Here's the open thread - remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!