Podbit · Lex Fridman Podcast
The Eastern Roman Empire called itself Rome, its subjects called themselves Romans, and its laws were Roman law. The term 'Byzantine' was a political invention by Western Europeans who didn't want to include the Greek-speaking East in their cultural genealogy. Calling it Byzantine is cognitive dissonance on a civilizational scale.
Where this was said
At 9:21 · chapter starts 8:45
The conversation begins with its most provocative claim. Kaldellis insists that calling the Eastern Roman Empire 'Byzantine' is almost a form of cognitive dissonance — 'when you know something is the case, but you carry on as if it's not' [1] — Anthony Kaldellis "The burden of proof is on those who would assert that what we've been calling the Byzantine Empire is something other than the Roman Empire…" 09:21 . The empire never stopped calling itself Rome. Its subjects called themselves Romans. Its legal identity was Roman. The 'Byzantine' label, he explains, was a label applied by Western Europeans who wanted to exclude the Greek-speaking, Orthodox-Christian East from their cultural genealogy — first calling it the 'Empire of the Greeks,' then switching to 'Byzantine' for explicitly political reasons. Now, he argues, the field is moving toward recognizing the long Roman Empire as a single, continuous political entity stretching from antiquity to the 15th century. Lex frames this as a correction long overdue, setting up the chronological overview to follow.
The Roman state lasted from its legendary founding in 753 BC to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD, making it one of the longest-lived political entities in history.
From the kings of 753 BC through the Republic, the Principate, the Crisis of the Third Century, Constantine, and the Arab conquests, Rome never stopped being Rome. The three main crises — Arab conquests in the 630s, Seljuk Turk conquest of Asia Minor in the 1070s, and the Fourth Crusade of 1204 — were each swift and devastating, but most of the empire's history was slow, steady economic and territorial growth.
Kierkegaard lost five of six siblings and his mother before adulthood, grew up under a shame-ridden father, fell in love, proposed, then mailed back the ring and fled to Berlin. His inability to live up to his own most important commitment became the engine of his entire philosophical project.
Casanova escaped from Venice's inquisition prison, met Voltaire, Catherine the Great, Benjamin Franklin, and Mozart — then died completely alone in a Slovak castle, broke, telling stories to children who thought he was a crazy old man. His 2,000-page memoir sat unread for decades. A life full of fireworks that meant nothing.
Factories that replaced coal engines with electric ones in the early 1900s got only 6% efficiency gains. Those that redesigned their entire factory around electricity got a 3x productivity improvement. Swapping AI tools into your existing structure will give you 6%. Rebuilding around AI will give you 10x.
Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.