Byzantine’s Exceptionalism in the Early Middle Ages

Byzantine’s Exceptionalism in the Early Middle Ages. The Byzantine Empire modern day Turkey was an empire that was based on its own culture coming out of the Roman Empire. It was a strong Empire that came out of the Roman Empire along with Islam and Europe, each where apart of the Roman Empire, and each survived the fall of the Roman Empire: “By 750 three distinct and nearly separate civilizations- Byzantine, European, and Islamic- crystallized in and around the territory of the old Roman Empire.” . The Byzantine Empire was considered a small country at the time, but even so it was also considered tough. As a result of Byzantine being a part of the Roman Empire before the collapse of the Roman Empire, they represent a break from the old Roman Empire because of their culture, politics and economy. The Byzantine’s Culture was a disjunction from the former Roman Empire because of its Religion. The Byzantine’s religion was that at first they used iconoclast, this was a concept that was made by Emperor Leo II:

The Byzantine Emperor Leo III (r. 717-741) launched the period of iconoclasm, but he treated icons as an abuse, not a heresy. His son Constantine V (r. 741-775), took the next step, calling a church council in 754 to declare the veneration of icons a violation of “the fundamental doctrine of our salvation

This is a fracture from the Roman Empire because the use of icons was becoming an atrocious thing in the view of the Emperor and then later his son, who formed the synod based on this: “After we had carefully examined their decrees under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we found that the unlawful art of painting living creatures blasphemed the fundamental doctrine of our salvation.” This is important for the coming years of the Byzantine Empire because it helps to establish their split from the old Roman Empire because the, Roman Empire used icons in their