Byzantine Dark Ages is a

historiographical Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

term for the period in the history of the

Eastern Roman The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

(Byzantine) Empire, from around c. 630 to the 760s, which marks the transition between the

late antique Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodization has since been wide ...

early Byzantine period and the "medieval" middle Byzantine era. The "Dark Ages" are characterized by widespread upheavals and transformation of the Byzantine state and society, resulting in a paucity of primary historical sources.

Collapse

The 7th century was a watershed in the history of the Byzantine Empire. At its beginning, the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

still controlled most of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

Basin's shores and faced the

Sassania The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

n Empire as its main eastern rival. The

Fall of the Western Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

had eroded this traditional order, and despite Emperor

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

's wars of reconquest in the 6th century, many of his gains in Italy and Spain were quickly undone. But it was still recognizably the

world dominated by the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, with the Mediterranean ''

mare nostrum In the Roman Empire, () was a term that referred to the Mediterranean Sea. Meaning "Our Sea" in Latin, it denoted the body of water in the context of borders and policy; Ancient Rome, Rome remains the only state in history to have controlled th ...

'' as its center of gravity and cities as the main social and economic unit. The final Byzantine-Sassanid War weakened this world, but the

Muslim conquests The Muslim conquests, Muslim invasions, Islamic conquests, including Arab conquests, Arab Islamic conquests, also Iranian Muslim conquests, Turkic Muslim conquests etc. *Early Muslim conquests ** Ridda Wars **Muslim conquest of Persia *** Muslim co ...

of the 7th century shattered it for good. The emergent

caliphate A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

was not only far more powerful and threatening than Persia had ever been, but it also shattered the political unity of the Mediterranean world and moved the center of power east, first to

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

and then to

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

. Byzantium was left territorially crippled, reduced to the status of a peripheral power, and on a permanent defensive against invaders from all sides.

Transformation

This crisis led to a profound transformation in the nature and culture of the Byzantine state, that was not completed until the 9th century, when the Muslim pressure on the Empire slackened. The Byzantine state that emerged "was an empire and culture focused on emperor and capital." It was also much more militarized: The civilian late-antiquity administrative structure, put in place by

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

and his successors, was replaced by the themes, each governed by a military commander (, "general"). The rigid distinction between civilian and military hierarchies, which was a hallmark of the late antique system, was thus abolished. With the territorial losses reducing the Empire to its core territories in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

and parts of the Balkans, the administration was streamlined, with the central government essentially absorbing the old provincial administration of the

praetorian prefecture The praetorian prefecture (; in Ancient Greek, Greek variously named ) was the largest administrative division of the Late Antiquity, late Roman Empire, above the mid-level Roman diocese, dioceses and the low-level Roman province, provinces. Praeto ...

s into a centralized, court-centered hierarchy. In the process, the handful of great departments of late antiquity were replaced by a series of smaller, more narrowly focused fiscal bureaus, all of roughly equal status. Another change was that Greek also finally replaced Latin as the language of administration during this period. The Muslim conquests, coupled with the

Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe Early Slavs began mass migrating to Southeastern Europe between the first half of the 6th and 7th century in the Early Middle Ages. The rapid demographic spread of the Slavs was followed by a population exchange, mixing and language shift to and ...

around the same time, resulted in the breakdown of the late-antiquity social order. In some instances, cities were reduced to small fortified settlements, notable mainly as defensive bastions and market centers; the Byzantine capital,

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, remained highly populated. The provincial aristocracy declined; offices such as the decurions of the cities disappeared and with them the political functions of the landed aristocracy. The great landholders of late antiquity were ruined by the constant invasions, and those who survived appear to have left the cities to fortified country estates. Many of the provincial aristocracy during this period managed to retain — or gain — their positions through holding offices in the themes, and gradually, they too became militarized. Education suffered a severe blow during this period. Some form of higher education was still available in the capital; albeit, there too few figures of prominence are known, and private education was still available for the wealthy, but acquiring it was much more difficult. In particular, education in

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

, which had been the basis for a public career, suffered an abrupt decline, aided by the fact that legal teaching had traditionally been in the hands of a small group of mostly pagan professors. The numerical and qualitative decline of the educated classes had, as a result, the decline in the number of philological works produced, as the remaining audience for such works was small and diminishing with every passing year. Art and architecture followed suit, with many quarries being abandoned. Apart from fortifications —often quite hastily executed — almost all building activity ceased during this period.

Historical sources

Examining this crucial period in Byzantine history has posed many difficulties to modern scholars, as the Byzantine historical sources about it are few and mostly originated later than the period itself. No Byzantine historical source is known from the end of the last great Byzantine–Sassanid war around 630 until the late 8th century, when

Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople Nikephoros I (; – 5 April 828) was a Byzantine writer and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 12 April 806 to 13 March 815. Life He was born in Constantinople as the son of Theodore and Eudokia, of a strictly Orthodox family, whi ...

wrote his ''Brief History'', followed a few decades later by the ''Chronicle'' of

Theophanes the Confessor Theophanes the Confessor (; 759 – 817 or 818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became a monk and chronicler. He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking up the religious life. Theophanes attended the Second C ...

. Administrative and legal sources are also scarce, with the "

Farmer's Law Byzantine law was essentially a continuation of Roman law with increased Orthodox Christian and Hellenistic influence. Most sources define ''Byzantine law'' as the Roman legal traditions starting after the reign of Justinian I in the 6th century ...

" and the "

Rhodian Sea Law Byzantine law was essentially a continuation of Roman law with increased Orthodox Christian and Hellenistic influence. Most sources define ''Byzantine law'' as the Roman legal traditions starting after the reign of Justinian I in the 6th century ...

" the only exceptions. Much of the information for this period is thus derived from non-Byzantine sources, such as the

Arab historian Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

s, as well as

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

and

Syriac Syriac may refer to: * Suret, a Neo-Aramaic language * Syriac alphabet, a writing system primarily used to write the Syriac language ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Syriac Christianity, a branch of Eastern Christianity * Syriac la ...

sources from the Empire's periphery, although many of them are of a later date as well.

Theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

works are an exception to this scarcity of sources, but again, due to the decline of the educated classes in Byzantium itself, most of these were written in the Empire's periphery or indeed in lands controlled by the caliphate, while works from Constantinople are almost entirely absent. Active theologians include

Maximus the Confessor Maximus the Confessor (), also spelled Maximos, otherwise known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople ( – 13 August 662), was a Christianity, Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, Maximus was a civil se ...

and

Germanus I of Constantinople Germanus I of Constantinople (, Greek: Γερμανός; 634 – 742) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 715 to 730. He is regarded as a saint by both the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, with a feast day of 12 May. He had bee ...

, while scholars such as

John of Damascus John of Damascus or John Damascene, born Yūḥana ibn Manṣūr ibn Sarjūn, was an Arab Christian monk, priest, hymnographer, and apologist. He was born and raised in Damascus or AD 676; the precise date and place of his death is not know ...

were active in Syria after the

early Muslim conquests The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabian Peninsula, Arabia that ...

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