ar-pharazon

Banned
I'd think the ideological rhetoric of the universality of the empire wasn't something that the emperor or really anybody took seriously.

It was just necessary though-for the sake of cohesion and to enhance the pride of the emperor and his subjects.
 
(...) This is despite the snobbish insults Byzantine chroniclers levied toward their enemies (both Latins, Arabs, Sassanids) as being Barbarian; which simply because the Byzantines said so, is not evidence of their superiority, but of their snobbery.

IMHO that's part of the issues, which became apparent after the first crusade. The 'Byzantines' needed the military help of the West, not the other way around. Such an attitude and the memory of such an attitude, surely didn't help them, when they came to beg for help in the 15th century. Look the West did bad things in this relationship too, but this Byzantine attitude was more poisonous than helpful in that process too, especially as they just denied the reality around them, eventually they were surpassed by everyone around them.
 
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