Earth' Recent CLimate Spiral 2.0

[Leonardo17]

why do you use “eastern roman empire” as if it were an epithet?

it is without a doubt a keystone civilization on humanity’s path to modernity.

not all that many civilizations deserve comparison to it.

never forget you enemy might be a better man then you.

Of course. It took the Roman Empire 1000 years even to disintegrate. Many civilizations don’t even last that long. From 395 to 1453 Byzantium / Constantinople became “The New Rome” and in the following centuries, while the Western empire disintegrated and was taken over by some warrior societies, the new capital was a center of the arts, medicine, law, etc. In fact the age of Belisarius (And Emperor Justinian and Theodora) was sort of the height of the Byzantine Empire when they were striving to reconquer the Western parts of the Roman Empire (which were for the most part “sold” to the vandals etc. by later emperors).
 

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   But anyway, Belisarius was that general who reconquered some of the Western to the Emperor Justinian. By the way, there was a rebellion during the time of Justinian. On the night of the rebellion Theodora is believed to have said:
 
“Emperor, if you wish to flee well and good, you have the money, the ships are ready, the sea is clear. But I shall stay. I believe in the ancient proverb Purple is the best burial sheet”
 
Explainer: The use of purple as a royal color goes back to Augustus Caesar, the first Emperor of Rome. So we all understand what the empress is saying. So in that night, the rebel were slaughtered. The earlier Hagia Sophia (Church of Holy Wisdom) burned. Emperor Justinian built a new very grandiose Church instead which was known as one of the greatest religious monument throughout the Middle Ages. He even said “Solomon, I have outdone you”. (Meaning that his structure was even more wonderful that the Temple of Solomon that is mentioned in religious scriptures).
 
So back to our modern era: In the beginning of the Turkish Republic the monument of Hagia Sophia was turned into a museum. That’s because its 1500 year old obviously, because the bigger and better “Blue Mosque” of Istanbul is right in front of it (if anyone feels like praying or something) and because it contains beautiful frescoes and mosaics (which is an inconvenience for both visitors who want to see these beautiful objects of art and those who go there for prayer: In Islam you are not supposed to pray if there is a relic / statue or something like that toward the direction of Mecca. So it doesn’t work very well).
 
So the first allegory is this. President Turkish version of Donald Trump has turned this museum back into a cult place. And that’s allegory number one: I say he is remembering his past life as the main general of Emperor Justinian
 
Allegory number two: Both my grandmother used to wear headscarves. Still the way his wife is dressed (especially the headdress) is very similar to the Headdress of Empress Theodora:

a typical Turkish Headscarf looks like this:




Theodora Type exagerated headscarf looks like this:






 
Third allegory is his physical resemblance to the Byzantine general Belisarius.




 
Fourth allegory is the way is being revered by his populist supporters. Here are the lines from an old Byzantine song that was composed to honor the deeds of Belisarius (you can find it on YouTube). I always think of this song when I see something on TV like his meeting with the Azari President after the Nagorno-Kabagh event (if you watched the news this week).
 
See: I don’t like tough-guys in politics. This whole attitude of being tough and bold is entirely / completely Belisarius to me. Just like in these song Lyrics:
 
I am Rome's sword. Where is our empire?
Weep not, mother Rome, again shall you prosper.
A citizen of Rome I am, yet without an empire I am,
In barbarians' blood shall Rome be reborn!
 
The sands of Africa, with Vandals' blood, are turned red!
Weep Gelimer, king without a kingdom,
I am the sword of Rome,
Belisarius!
 
The gardens of Italy, with Goth's tears, are made fertile,
Weep Goths, barbarians,
I am the sword of Rome,
Belisarius!
 
Finally, there is this aspect of popular culture. We as the Turks have entered Asia Minor in the year 1071. It took us some 500 year to be able to take Constantinople. Because it was so well defended. And in that era, the Byzantine Empire was but a shadow of what it once was. It was a decadent empire and even today, in our social memory, it represents a very powerful force that treated us very badly. They are to us what the original Roman where to the Germans if you see what I mean
 
And the cause of the allegory is that: We can’t really seem to get rid of these people. No matter what we do, they are like olive oil in a glass of water. They always end up on top no matter what. So that wraps the whole thing.

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