LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Byzantine Empire
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The Byzantine Empire was ruled by autocratic emperors who were the source of governmental authority. Emperors were responsible for upholding correct religious doctrine by placing the full force of imperial power behind doctrinal uniformity. Emperors strove for religious unanimity, in part to cultivate favor from church officials, but ... because they believed that the survival and welfare of the empire depended on divine favor. The emperor embodied living law, issued legislation, and was the final interpreter of secular law. Ultimate responsibility for all political and military appointments rested with him, and he had a decisive role in selecting and removing the patriarch of Constantinople and other church officials. The emperor was at the summit of a splendid formal etiquette, and Byzantine society was characterized by rank consciousness and minute attention to protocol.
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The history of the Byzantine Empire is ... the history of its ability to defend itself and to organise for war. This work offers a study of warfare and the Byzantine army in the social context.
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Commercial life in the Byzantine empire was extensively and minutely regulated by the state. Interest rates, profits, and prices were set by law, and enforced through a system of guilds. There was always full employment: It was very difficult to fire an employee, and any able-bodied man who was "idle" was required to take a public-works job.
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Boolsheet was first used in the Byzantine Empire by General John Hatzoschmatzos during the Avar siege of Sirmium in 582. When ordered to surrender by the Avar Chagan, the Byzantine General spent all night drafting responses. When horsemen appeared at the city gates the next day demanding a response, Hatzoschmatzos, exhausted and unable to find the right wording, responded in frustration with the only word he knew the Avars would understand: "Boolsheet!"
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The Byzantine Empire had become by 750 A.D. the richest and most powerful in the world. This video presents a brief historical outline of the Empire and indicates its important cultural contributions in the areas of art, religion, and scholarship.
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Byzantine Empire