emperor theodosius i remained the head of the church in the eastern roman empire.
emperor theodosius i remained the head of the church in the eastern roman empire.
who remained the head of the church in the eastern roman empire?
emperor theodosius i
it appears, however, that direct trade with the sogdians remained limited in light of the small amount of roman and byzantine coins found in central asian and chinese archaeological sites belonging to this era. although roman embassies apparently reached han china from 166 ad onwards, and the ancient romans imported han chinese silk while the han-dynasty chinese imported roman glasswares as discovered in their tombs, valerie hansen (2012) wrote that no roman coins from the roman republic (507–27 bc) or the principate (27 bc – 330 ad) era of the roman empire have been found in china. however, warwick ball (2016) upends this notion by pointing to a hoard of sixteen roman coins found at xi'an, china (formerly chang'an), dated to the reigns of various emperors from tiberius (14–37 ad) to aurelian (270–275 ad). the earliest gold "solidus" coins from the eastern roman empire found in china date to the reign of byzantine emperor theodosius ii (r. 408–450) and altogether only forty-eight of them have been found (compared to thirteen-hundred silver coins) in xinjiang and the rest of china. the use of silver coins in turfan persisted long after the tang campaign against karakhoja and chinese conquest of 640, with a gradual adoption of chinese bronze coinage over the course of the 7th century. the fact that these eastern roman coins were almost always found with sasanian persian silver coins and eastern roman gold coins were used more as ceremonial objects like talismans confirms the pre-eminent importance of greater iran in chinese silk road commerce of central asia compared to eastern rome.
sogdia
during most of the middle ages, the byzantine greeks self-identified as "rhōmaîoi" (, "romans", meaning citizens of the roman empire), a term which in the greek language had become synonymous with christian greeks. the latinizing term "graikoí" (γραικοί, "greeks") was also used, though its use was less common, and nonexistent in official byzantine political correspondence, prior to the fourth crusade of 1204. the eastern roman empire (today conventionally named the "byzantine empire", a name not used during its own time) became increasingly influenced by greek culture after the 7th century when emperor heraclius ( 610–641 ad) decided to make greek the empire's official language. although the catholic church recognized the eastern empire's claim to the roman legacy for several centuries, after pope leo iii crowned charlemagne, king of the franks, as the "roman emperor" on 25 december 800, an act which eventually led to the formation of the holy roman empire, the latin west started to favour the franks and began to refer to the eastern roman empire largely as the "empire of the greeks" ("imperium graecorum"). in the eastern roman empire the use of the latinizing term "graikoí" (γραικοί, "greeks") was uncommon and nonexistent in official byzantine political correspondence, prior to the fourth crusade of 1204. while this latin term for the ancient "hellenes" could be used neutrally, its use by westerners from the 9th century onwards in order to challenge byzantine claims to ancient roman heritage rendered it a derogatory exonym for the byzantines who barely used it, mostly in contexts relating to the west, such as texts relating to the council of florence, to present the western viewpoint.
greeks