Anthony Kaldellis

“The label "Byzantine Empire" was invented by later Western historians for political reasons. The Eastern Roman Empire called itself Roman, its citizens called themselves Romans, and its legal and political continuity was unbroken from antiquity through 1453 AD.”

“Imagine if the British at the time of the peak of the empire bestowed British citizenship on everyone, including in India, and suddenly made positions of power in London available to people from India. Like, including the throne.”

“He turns the problem into its own solution. In other words, the problem is too many emperors. There want to be emperors... So what he does is, he deputizes some of his colleagues, people he was on very good terms with from the army.”

“If you look at Constantinople, it is kind of halfway between the Danube frontier and the Euphrates frontier... And Constantinople is right between the Danube and the Euphrates. These are the two major frontiers.”

“I should mention you being a guest multiple times on the excellent The History of Byzantium podcast hosted by Robin Pearson. I highly recommend people listen to it.”