TEXT: An e23 Sourcebook for GURPS
  ®
  STEVE JACKSON GAMES
  Stock #37-0661
  Version 1.0 – August 2012
  ®
  Written by MATT RIGGSBY
  Edited by NIKOLA VRTIS
  Cartography by MATT RIGGSBY
  Hot Spots:
  CONSTANTINOPLE
  527-1204 A.D.
  TM
  TM
  
  Reviewers: Phil Masters, David L. Pulver, and William Stoddard
  GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid, Hot Spots, “Constantinople, 527-1204 A.D.,” e23, and
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  CONTENTS
  2
  CONTENTS
  INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . 3
  Matters of Language. . . . . . . . . . . . 3
  Publication History. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
  About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
  About GURPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
  1. GEOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . 5
  BETWEEN MARMARA
  AND THE GOLDEN HORN . . . . . 5
  THE CITY ITSELF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
  The Landward View . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
  Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
  Adventure Seed:
  Plugging the Holes . . . . . . . . . . . 7
  The Seaward View . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
  The Inside View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
  MAP OF CONSTANTINOPLE . . . . . . . . . . 8
  2. HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . 9
  FOUNDATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
  Constantinople (537 A.D.). . . . . . . 10
  GLORY AND COLLAPSE . . . . . . . . . 10
  Constantinople (750 A.D.). . . . . . . 11
  REVIVAL AND CRUSADES. . . . . . . . 12
  Constantinople (1100 A.D.) . . . . . 13
  TO THE END . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
  3. THE APPARATUS
  OF POWER. . . . . . . . . 15
  GOVERNMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
  The Emperor
  and His Household . . . . . . . . . 15
  Eunuchs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
  Imperial Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
  Office Hours. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
  Civic Officials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
  Job Titles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
  Crime and Punishment . . . . . . . . 18
  Church and State . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
  The Provinces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
  THE MILITARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
  Troops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
  Mercenaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
  Arms and Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
  Byzantine War and Peace . . . . . . 20
  Using GURPS
  Mass Combat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  THE CHURCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
  Orthodox Practice. . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
  Controversy and Heresy. . . . . . . . 23
  Other Religions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
  Non-Orthodox Characters . . . . . . . 23
  Monasticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
  Monk Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
  Relics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
  RANK, SPECTACLE,
  AND CEREMONY. . . . . . . . . . . 25
  Spare No Expense . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
  Adventure Seed:
  The Laundry Chase. . . . . . . . . . 26
  Help With Hierarchical
  Classifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
  10th-Century Title Table. . . . . . . . . 27
  ECONOMY AND COMMERCE . . . . . 28
  Prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
  Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
  Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
  Weird Science and Industry . . . . . 29
  4. NOTABLE PEOPLE . . . . 30
  RULERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
  Justinian and Theodora . . . . . . . . 30
  Heraclius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
  Irene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
  Basil I the Macedonian . . . . . . . . 32
  Alexius I Comnenus . . . . . . . . . . . 32
  OTHER INTERESTING PEOPLE. . . . 32
  John Chrysostom . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
  Leo the Mathematician . . . . . . . . 33
  Kassia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
  Adventure Seed:
  The Forest for the Trees . . . . . . 33
  Anna Comnena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
  5. DAILY LIFE. . . . . . . . . 34
  DOMESTIC LIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
  Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
  Family and Names . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
  Clothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
  Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
  Cultural Familiarity. . . . . . . . . . . . 35
  LIFE OF THE MIND. . . . . . . . . . . . 36
  Education and Literature. . . . . . . 36
  The Price of Literature. . . . . . . . . . 36
  Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
  Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
  Adventure Seed:
  Walk Through the Fire . . . . . . . 37
  SPECTACLES
  AND AMUSEMENTS. . . . . . . . . 38
  The Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  Chariot Racing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  Re-Creating the Races . . . . . . . . . . 38
  Other Amusements. . . . . . . . . . . . 38
  NOTABLE LOCATIONS . . . . . . . . . . 39
  The Wall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
  Hagia Sophia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
  Language Differences. . . . . . . . . . . 40
  The Palace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  The Hippodrome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  Basilica Cistern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
  6. CAMPAIGNS. . . . . . . . . 41
  Constantinople
  as Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
  Constantinople
  as Destination . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
  The Moral Dimension . . . . . . . . . 41
  CROSSOVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
  Banestorm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
  Crusades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
  Dungeon Fantasy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
  Fantasy-Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
  Live in the Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
  Horror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
  Infinite Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  Centrum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  Martial Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  Thaumatology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
  BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . 45
  Primary Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
  Secondary Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
  Fiction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
  Discography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
  INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
  
  INTRODUCTION
  3
  Popular knowledge about history goes something like this:
  The Romans built a huge empire. It became decadent and was
  invaded by barbarians. The empire collapsed, and then the
  Dark Ages engulfed Europe, followed at some point by the rest
  of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the modern age.
  As with many beliefs about history, these are half-truths.
  Certainly, Rome fell, slowly and painfully, to barbarians and
  its own internal problems, but Rome was not the empire, nor
  the whole of Europe. Half of the empire, west of the Adriatic,
  collapsed into an impoverished collection of successor states.
  After a period of political chaos and economic depression,
  these small states became the nations of Western Europe that
  we know today. The eastern half of the empire, though, sur-
  vived. Initially stretching from the Balkans to Iraq and from
  north of the Danube to well south down the Nile, this half
  lasted through the Dark Ages and the Crusades up to the very
  dawn of the Renaissance.
  Although the inhabitants of this empire thought of them-
  selves as Roman, modern people call them and their empire
  by a different name: Byzantine. Though now half-forgotten in
  the West, that empire was Europe’s medieval superpower.
  Byzantine armies blocked Islam from sweeping through the
  Near East and across Europe. Byzantine scholars preserved
  the works of classical poets, philosophers, and politicians
  while the West was collapsing. Along with their Muslim
  neighbors, the Byzantines kept them safe until the Renais-
  sance. Byzantine missionaries spread Christianity into East-
  ern Europe and Russia, inventing in passing the Cyrillic
  alphabet used in those areas to this day and establishing the
  Orthodoxy that still flourishes there. Byzantine emperors
  commissioned grand public works that served as a challenge
  and an inspiration to the architects who would one day build
  the great Gothic cathedrals.
  The Byzantine empire had a unique culture, drawing from
  classical roots but developing in a very different direction
  from its predecessor. The foundation of Byzantine law and
  government were Roman. However, the empire’s language
  was Greek, and it partook of more Eastern cultural tradi-
  tions. Like the West, it was Christian, but it followed a form
  of Christianity increasingly different from that practiced in
  areas that fell into Rome’s orbit. It was ultimately its own dis-
  tinct society, neither a Western medieval kingdom writ large,
  nor a preserved piece of classical antiquity with a more
  advanced date on the calendar.
  For more than a thousand years, from its adoption as a new
  capital to its fall to the Ottoman Turks, Constantinople was the
  undisputed center of it all. It was the leading city of Europe:
  capital of empire, center of trade, and bastion of Christendom.
  It was a metropolis of as many as three-quarters of a million
  souls, decorated with the grandest churches in the world, the
  most lavish palace on the continent, and the most formidable
  fortifications of any city in the world ever.
  This supplement describes the city of Constantinople
  through the Middle Ages. It concentrates on a period book-
  ended by an era of victories and a moment of defeat. The time
  frame starts with the reign of Justinian (r. 527-565), which
  marks the city’s high point and a significant step in the transi-
  tion from its ancient to medieval form. It closes with the Fourth
  Crusade (more specifically, the siege of 1204), which ended in
  the catastrophic, if temporary, conquest of the city, and
  changed the empire from a major power to a feeble domain
  that could only dream of its illustrious past. Constantinople can
  serve as the model for an imperial capital in your own fantasy
  game or, of course, appear in a medieval historical game.
  MATTERS OF LANGUAGE
  The official language of the Byzantine empire was a form of
  Greek that constitutes a bridge between modern and ancient
  forms of the language. This supplement transliterates Greek
  terms into the Roman alphabet, but that does leave some lin-
  gering issues. Furthermore, changes in terminology through
  time can confuse the unprepared.
  Pronunciation
  In Greek words used in this book, consonants are translit-
  erated as unambiguously as possible. The letter “C” is only
  used in digraphs such as “ch” rather than in contexts where it
  might cause confusion between “S” and “K” sounds. “G” is
  always a hard G, as in “gallon” rather than “giant.”
  Stress always goes on one of the last three syllables of a word.
  It frequently but does not always go as close to the beginning of
  the word as possible within that constraint. For example, the
  noble title sebastos is stressed on the final syllable (se-bas-tos),
  but several variants on that title are stressed on “se” (for exam-
  ple, pro-to-se-bas-tos and pan-hy-per-se-bas-tos). The 10th-
  Century Title Table (p. 27) lists a number of examples.
  INTRODUCTION
  Our entry into Constantinople the
  Great was made about noon or a little
  later, and they rang their bells until the
  very skies shook with the mingling of
  their sounds.
  – Ibn Battuta
  GURPS System Design T STEVE JACKSON
  GURPS Line Editor T SEAN PUNCH
  Managing Editor T PHILIP REED
  Assistant GURPS Line Editor T –––
  JASON “PK” LEVINE
  Art Director T SAMUEL MITSCHKE
  Assistant Art Director T BRIDGET WESTERMAN
  Production Artist & Indexer T NIKOLA VRTIS
  Prepress Checker T MONICA STEPHENS
  Page Design T PHIL REED and JUSTIN DE WITT
  e23 Manager T STEVEN MARSH
  Marketing Director T MONICA VALENTINELLI
  Director of Sales T ROSS JEPSON
  GURPS FAQ Maintainer T –––––––
  VICKY “MOLOKH” KOLENKO
  
  Didn’t Catch the Name
  The word “Byzantine” in reference to the medieval, Ortho-
  dox, and officially Greek-speaking phase of the eastern part
  of the Roman empire was first used by Western scholars in
  the 16th century, and it didn’t come to predominate for some
  centuries thereafter. A novel name was justified on geographi-
  cal and cultural grounds, though some champions of “Byzan-
  tine” may have had political motives as well. The legacy of the
  Roman empire was an important prop in Western law and pol-
  itics, including ecclesiastical politics. Westerners working with
  Roman law, Western rulers calling themselves emperors, and
  clergy defending Western religious establishments had to be
  careful not to attribute too much of the Roman legacy to
  another culture.
  Indeed, because of Westerners’ many differences with their
  eastern cousins, the word Byzantine has taken on distinctly
  pejorative overtones. It has become synonymous with treach-
  ery and baffling complexity, particularly in a bureaucracy or
  other organization, but that’s largely unfair. Though bigger
  and more complex than Western governments of its time, the
  Byzantine bureaucracy was smaller than the government of
  any modern nation of similar size. Likewise, no reason exists
  to suggest that the Byzantine empire was any crueler than any
  other major empire, such as that of the Romans or the Chinese,
  though that may be setting a very low bar.
  Despite having a distinct modern label, no clear line divides
  “Byzantine” from “Roman.” Rather, it was a slow transition
  starting in the third century and lasting until perhaps the sixth.
  Some scholars draw a line at the seventh and a few even go so
  far as to refuse to make a distinction and use “Roman,” or “east
  Roman,” throughout.
  When they needed to indicate nationality, the Byzantines
  called themselves Romans, which they could justify by conti-
  nuity of ancient Roman imperial rule. However, they tended to
  think of themselves first as Christians (or more specifically
  Orthodox Christians), and anything else a distant second.
  Their neighbors to the west usually called them Greeks,
  since they were Greek-speakers with their capital in Greece
  and ruling for the most part traditionally culturally Greek
  regions. Westerners reserved “Roman” for matters in some
  way connected to the Italian city, though the name “Romania”
  was occasionally used for the eastern empire.
  The empire’s other neighbors (Arabs, Turks, Slavs, etc.),
  being much less concerned with the city of Rome and the legit-
  imacy of Roman law, usually called them Romans (or some-
  thing derived from “Rome” or “Roman”; the word “Rhum” is
  common), though some called them Greeks. They were also
  nearly as likely as the Byzantines themselves to call them
  Christians, making little distinction between members of the
  religion and the state that claimed authority over them. The
  city itself was usually referred to as Constantinople. Even so,
  some occasionally said Byzantium; Scandinavians called it
  Miklagarth; the Russians identified it as Tsargrad; and the
  Turks styled it Stambul or Istanbul.
  PUBLICATION HISTORY
  This supplement covers topics touched on in some of the
  biographies in GURPS Who’s Who I and the Pyramid (Volume
  2) articles “Constantinople” (June 29, 2001) and “Sailing to
  Byzantium” (November 2, 2001).
  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  Matt Riggsby holds degrees in anthropology and archaeol-
  ogy. His master’s thesis was a statistical analysis of late
  Roman/early Byzantine bronze coin circulation in the eastern
  Mediterranean, a subject so tedious even he found it slow
  going. He now works for a company that has grown large
  enough to require separate parallel bureaucracies to adminis-
  ter large geographical regions. He lives with his pious and vir-
  tuous wife, a son who is his likely successor, and several dogs
  that are ineligible to reach the throne.
  INTRODUCTION
  4
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  gamers, visit our forums at forums.sjgames.com. The
  GURPS Hot Spots: Constantinople, 527-1204 A.D. web
  page is gurps.sjgames.com/constantinople.
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  liographies, and we’re putting them online – with links to
  let you buy the resources that interest you! Go to each
  book’s web page and look for the “Bibliography” link.
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  GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. Page references that begin
  with B refer to that book, not this one.
  About GURPS
  
  GEOGRAPHY
  5
  “My lord, we’re nearly there.” Brother Emile’s voice woke the
  napping lord instantly. Between the ache from his healing leg and
  the lumpy floor of the wagon in which he was traveling, Count
  Gervais could hardly be said to have been sleeping. Sitting up
  slowly, he saw that the mist and rain of the early part of the day
  had given way to sun and blue skies. He frowned back along the
  road by which the wagon had come.
  “Is this it?” Gervais asked, a trifle indignant. He gestured at
  the scattered structures around him and back along the road
  down which the cart had come. “I’ll grant that it looks well-made,
  but this is hardly bigger than Lyons.”
  “No, lord,” Emile gently corrected, pointing. “That way.”
  Gervais turned toward the direction in which the cart was
  traveling, craning his neck around until he saw the wall. His eyes
  widened, and he crossed himself.
  The land on which Constantinople was built was itself unre-
  markable. However, the geopolitical value of the site was
  tremendous. The city was ideally situated for the capital of an
  empire: It was built at the passage between two seas, and where
  continents touch.
  CHAPTER ONE
  GEOGRAPHY
  Constantinople occupies the end of a tapering peninsula at
  the extreme southeastern corner of what is now the European
  part of Turkey, about 65 miles from the modern border with
  Greece. The peninsula is on the northern shores of the Sea of
  Marmara, the body of water between the Mediterranean and
  the Black Sea, and where Europe meets Asia Minor. The
  roughly triangular peninsula has the Sea of Marmara to the
  south; the Golden Horn, a narrow and winding inlet, to the
  north; and the rest of Europe to the west. The Bosporus, a
  strait connecting the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea (about
  19 miles to the north), passes to the east. The Bosporus is nar-
  row, about two miles wide at Constantinople itself and under
  1/2 mile across in some places, so the Asian side is easily visi-
  ble from the city. The suburb of Galata (also called Pera in
  some sources) lies across the Golden Horn less than 1/2 mile
  from the city’s east end.
  Though the land’s productivity and natural resources are
  nothing special, this position has enormous strategic value. It
  sits at the heart of the wealthy, densely populated Greek-speak-
  ing world. Moreover, it controls land-based trade moving east
  and west and sea-borne trade moving north and south. Conse-
  quently, Constantinople is a focal point for travel and trade
  between Europe, Russia, and the Near East, and has indirect
  links to India and China via the Silk Road and sea routes, and to
  Scandinavia by way of Russia’s major rivers.
  The climate is in a transitional zone between Mediter-
  ranean and temperate regions. Summers are hot and humid,
  and the temperature occasionally dips below freezing in the
  winter, accompanied by snow. However, the climate did vary
  somewhat through the period in question here. It was a bit
  warmer in the sixth century, becoming cooler and dryer in the
  next few centuries.
  Earthquakes are frequent in the region. In fact, the fault
  line between the Anatolian and Eurasian plates passes through
  the middle of the Sea of Marmara. Over the centuries covered
  in this supplement, the city experienced several severe earth-
  quakes that destroyed private buildings and seriously damaged
  many monumental structures.
  The land around the city is unremarkable farmland, home
  to vineyards and fields of grain. The immediate vicinity is
  mostly low hills, with a few streams and low vegetation, even
  some stands of trees, but no major rivers. (The land is some-
  what hillier to the north and the east.) Beyond the city walls,
  during the time frame under consideration, settlements and
  military camps thinned to scattered houses and villages within
  sight of one another for a considerable distance, including lux-
  urious villas belonging to the city’s notables (such as the impe-
  rial family) and a great number of monasteries.
  Surrounding settlements kept the city well-supplied. The
  great medieval traveler Ibn Battuta, visiting in the 13th cen-
  tury, identified Constantinople along with its suburbs in
  Galata as a single vast city divided by a great river. Constan-
  tinople was over 60 miles away from the nearest separate city
  of any size, Nicomedia to the southeast. Although smaller
  towns were to the west, the nearest large city in that direction
  was Thessalonica, over 360 miles away.
  BETWEEN MARMARA
  AND THE GOLDEN HORN
  How great is that noble and beautiful
  city! How many wonders there are to be
  seen in the squares and in the different
  parts of the city!
  – Fulcher of Chartres
  
  From the late fourth century onward, Constantinople was a
  stubby, lopsided triangle somewhat larger north to south than
  east to west, covering around 11 square miles. It was built on a
  region of low hills and small areas of level fields. A small river –
  the Lykos – cut through the southwestern corner, though large
  parts of it were paved over, particularly as it approached the sea.
  THE LANDWARD VIEW
  Once past any suburbs, the first thing a visitor saw
  approaching from the landward side was the imposing defen-
  sive wall. (During the city’s most populated eras, very substan-
  tial settlements may have developed outside the walls, but their
  precise extent is unclear.) This structure was a complex set of
  two walls and cleared areas around them; see The Wall (p. 39).
  The wall stretched over four miles, bulging slightly outward
  along most of its course and hugging the higher ground as
  much as possible. It was made from alternating bands of stone
  and brick, a common Byzantine style of construction that
  improved its resistance to impact and earthquakes. After the
  construction of the wall, many writers pointed out that, like
  Rome, Constantinople contained seven hills. Some were very
  low to the point of being scarcely distinguishable from the sur-
  rounding terrain, but the symbolism was important as part of
  the effort to frame Constantinople as a second Rome.
  Ignoring small, fortified posterns in the outer wall’s towers
  (which were usually kept closed), the wall had nine sets of
  gates along its length, each protected by drawbridges and pairs
  of towers at both the inner and outer wall. The southernmost,
  the Golden Gate, was reserved for important ceremonial use,
  such as the entrance of the emperor after an absence or the
  arrival of particularly important foreign dignitaries. For exam-
  ple, the pope, during those rare times when relations between
  Rome and Constantinople were friendly, would use it. Most
  other visitors, though, would have to use a different entrance.
  Once inside the city, the visitor might have seen less than
  he’d expect. The immense area encompassed by the walls
  ensured that, even at its height, Constantinople would never be
  as densely populated as most other major cities of the period.
  In times of prosperity, residents established gardens and scat-
  tered homes, while during periods of decline, large patches of
  territory were left open. Several visitors to Constantinople near
  the end of the empire remarked that the area enclosed by the
  walls contained several scattered villages. Nonetheless, even
  during thriving periods, the west end of the city was typically
  more open than the east.
  The residents of the west end tended to be relatively
  wealthy, setting up small palaces with substantial patches of
  land around them. The most notable case was the neighbor-
  hood of Blachernae. Located at the northwestern corner of the
  city, Blachernae was initially outside the Theodosian wall.
  However, starting in the 11th century, emperors of the Com-
  nenid dynasty moved from the sprawling palace complex
  established by earlier emperors into a new residence there. Not
  long thereafter, the course of the city wall was altered, adding
  a bulge of substantial but relatively inferior fortifications to the
  northwestern part of the city.
  Heading east, the streets from the gates either comprised or
  eventually led to the forked Mese (literally, middle or central),
  Constantinople’s main street. The Mese was very wide by
  medieval standards (about 80’) and paved with marble accord-
  ing to some accounts. Long sections of it were flanked with
  colonnaded porticoes, particularly along the southern branch,
  which started at the Golden Gate. This branch also had two large
  markets, the Forum of Arcadius and the Forum of the Ox.
  About 2/3 of a mile into the city were the remnants of the old
  city wall built by Constantine. Although no longer a significant
  fortification by the time of Justinian, the Constantinian wall
  traditionally marked the beginning of much denser occupa-
  tion. This part of the city was mostly lower and middle class.
  However, a scattering of wealthier homes and the significant
  churches and monasteries they supported clustered around the
  Mese and the Aqueduct of Valens. The Mese was lined with an
  unbroken series of porticoes and shops for the rest of its length.
  On a hill overlooking the Mese’s northern branch sat the
  Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople’s second-most
  important place of worship; it was home to both important
  relics (see Relics, p. 24) and the tombs of most emperors up to
  the 11th century.
  The branches of the Mese joined not far before the Forum
  of Theodosius. This area was typical of the city’s important
  public spaces. It was surrounded by two-story colonnades
  and lavishly decorated with statuary. The forum contained a
  monument to Theodosius I that was something between a
  column and a very narrow tower. Decorated with carvings
  spiraling up its length, the 120’ pillar had an internal staircase
  leading all the way to the top. It once held a statue of the
  emperor, though it fell down a few decades after Theodosius’
  death and was replaced by a simple cross.
  A few hundred yards past the Forum of Theodosius, the
  Mese crossed the Makros Embolos (“Great Portico”), a major
  street running from north to south from one shore to the other.
  GEOGRAPHY
  6
  THE CITY ITSELF
  Population
  For various reasons, the population of Constantinople
  varied by more than an order of magnitude over its exis-
  tence. This table indicates the approximate population at
  various dates through the city’s lifetime.
  Year
  Population
  530
  500,000 to 750,000
  700
  70,000
  1050
  375,000
  1200
  450,000
  1453
  30,000
  The city’s population mirrored the fortunes of the
  empire as a whole. The city’s height in the 530s reflected the
  empire’s reach across the Mediterranean, while its fall into
  the eighth century mirrored the empire’s near-total collapse
  during that period due to invasion and plague. The empire’s
  revival under the Macedonian dynasty set the capital to
  expanding again, but the trend reached an end on the eve
  of the Fourth Crusade, leading to another collapse and a
  twilight age that lasted until the Ottoman conquest.
  
  Like the Mese, the Makros Embolos was colonnaded and well-
  paved. It was home to a number of important mercantile con-
  cerns. The intersection was decorated with a tetrapylon (a set
  of four ornamental columns, one at each corner).
  A few hundred yards farther on was the circular Forum of
  Constantine, located just outside the line of Byzantium’s origi-
  nal walls. Like the Forum of Theodosius, colonnades sur-
  rounded it. It also had ceremonial gates at the east and west
  and a commemorative column in the center.
  In the eastern end of the city, the Mese ended at the heart
  of the city and the empire. The road formally stopped at the
  Augustaion, a lavishly decorated public square. It was sur-
  rounded by the Hagia Sophia, the empire’s greatest church;
  the Hippodrome, the city’s most important public space; and
  the imperial palace. (See Notable Locations, pp. 39-40, for
  more detailed descriptions of all three.) In addition to the
  core buildings of the church and government, the east end of
  the city also featured several important industrial centers, a
  number of other large churches and, on the slopes of the east-
  ern shore, a great many small monasteries.
  THE SEAWARD VIEW
  The visitor coming in from the sea got a different view. Con-
  stantinople had defensive walls extending around the seaward
  sides of the city, which, though nowhere near as strong as the
  landward wall, were certainly strong enough for most pur-
  poses. The gentle slope of the land meant that the shore had
  many patches of marshy ground. Several of the harbor districts
  were created by walling off swampy areas of shoreline and
  either dredging them to provide harborage or selectively filling
  them in to create level ground sheltering deeper areas. The
  more active harbors on the Golden Horn were closer to the east
  end than the west, so new visitors who landed at Constantino-
  ple proper (rather than at Galata, as some might) could head
  south to the spectacle of the palace district. By the ninth cen-
  tury, in addition to port facilities, the north shore of the city
  was home to small colonies of foreign merchants, especially to
  the east of the Makros Embolos. These included groups of mer-
  chants from Amalfi, Pisa, and Venice, with merchants from
  Syria and Genoa granted colonies there later. The Genoese
  were eventually ceded a large neighborhood in Galata, which
  they fortified in the 14th century. This area was probably also
  home to most of the city’s Jewish population; see Other Reli-
  gions, pp. 23-24.
  Although the city was surrounded on two of its three sides
  by water and it was in a region with direct access to two major
  seas, not everywhere was appropriate for landing. The current
  coming out of the Bosporus was swift, and the sea around the
  south of the city was choppy in many places. A few landings
  were along the southern shore (notably one attached to the
  imperial palace), but most of the city’s harbors were to the
  north, facing the calm waters of the Golden Horn. In times of
  war, the mouth of the Golden Horn was protected by a heavy
  chain supported by wooden floats running between towers on
  the shore of either side, preventing ships from entering.
  THE INSIDE VIEW
  Though the city’s public face was very carefully constructed,
  the back areas developed in a less controlled way. Through the
  city’s history, some attempts were made at the construction of a
  square street grid. However, the city’s topography and, probably
  more importantly, its long history of growth and contraction
  caused it to drift from that pattern into a more organic layout.
  This was particularly the case in the typically more sparsely pop-
  ulated western part of the city. Though the grand ceremonial
  avenues were broad, paved, and lavishly decorated (mostly the
  Mese and some major streets leading off of it), the back alleys in
  poorer neighborhoods were probably made of dirt and could be
  very narrow, as little as two or three yards across. This was par-
  ticularly the case during the city’s most densely populated eras,
  around the reign of Justinian and in the century or two leading
  up to the Crusades. In a particularly built-up neighborhood,
  where buildings were more than a story or two tall, there might
  be streets in near-perpetual shadow. Some back streets were
  stepped, carved into the rock of the low hillsides.
  Many shops and other business concerns were located along
  the broader streets and on the lower stories of buildings along
  the side streets. Retail stores were likely small affairs, single-
  room alcoves on the ground floor facing the streets. Granaries,
  bakers, and other sources of staple foods appear to have been
  concentrated in the center of the city between the Constantinian
  wall and the monumental east end. Merchants would have been
  more drawn to the areas along the shore; warehouses were nat-
  urally located as close as possible to harbors.
  GEOGRAPHY
  7
  As formidable as it clearly was, the wall still had a few
  weaknesses. For example, the rebuilt walls on the north-
  ern end weren’t as thick as those farther south, and the
  relatively steep slope of the land it sat on made it difficult
  to establish a moat. More subtle ways also could be
  found to get into the city, specifically, the various aque-
  duct pipes providing the city with its water. An army
  couldn’t get through them, but some were big enough to
  insert a few chosen people. (In 705, the deposed Justin-
  ian II did just that, entering the city with a small strike
  force and driving off his successor.) Over generations,
  aqueducts came in and out of use, and older ones could
  be forgotten.
  A cautious bureaucracy engages the PCs to perform a
  survey of the walls to locate and report on possible weak-
  nesses, notably forgotten or hidden passages. (If no PCs are
  qualified to do any actual surveying, then part of the job
  becomes to find people who are and closely supervise them.)
  They will have to deal with uncomfortable working condi-
  tions doing close physical inspections of wall foundations on
  slopes or partly flooded sections of ditch, figure out how to
  find hidden passages, and deal with angry homeowners who
  have built structures up against the inner wall. If they actu-
  ally find anything, they may have to deal with angry smug-
  glers, spy rings, or even creatures from the underworld
  whose tunnels connect to old passages in the walls.
  Adventure Seed: Plugging the Holes
  
  GEOGRAPHY
  8
  MAP OF CONSTANTINOPLE (CIRCA 1150)
  Key
  1. Forum of Arcadius
  3. Holy Apostles Church
  5. Forum of Constantine
  7. Augustaion
  9. Hagia Sophia
  2. Forum of the Ox
  4. Forum of Theodosius
  6. Basilica Cistern
  8. Hippodrome
  0
  0.5 miles
  1 mile
  1
  Sea of Marmara
  Golden Horn
  2
  4
  3
  5
  7
  6
  99
  8
  
  “That one?” Gervais asked. Emile exchanged some words
  with the guide, sent along with them by the abbot of the
  monastery where they had been assigned lodgings.
  “The emperor Justinian, my lord.”
  “And that?”
  “The emperor Constantine.”
  “That doesn’t look any thing like . . .”
  “A different emperor Constantine, my lord. This is the first
  one.”
  “And . . . stop!” Gervais gestured impatiently to the litter bear-
  ers. They knew no French, and he an equal amount of Greek, but
  they made sense of his vigorous signs. “Who in the name of
  Christ are they?”
  “Goddesses of the pagans, my lord.”
  Gervais stared at the statues, amazed. “They look like they
  could come off their pedestals and walk away.”
  “I doubt that, my lord,” Emile sniffed. Nevertheless, Gervais
  could tell how tightly the priest was clutching his crucifix.
  The history of Constantinople is, in many ways, the history
  of the empire. Being the chief and by far the largest and most
  important city of the empire, most of what made the empire go
  happened in Constantinople. As the empire grew and pros-
  pered, the population of the city expanded and its wealthy and
  powerful paid to remake the city in whatever way pleased
  them. As the empire shrank and grew poorer, so did its capital.
  HISTORY
  9
  The city that would become Constantinople was founded
  in the seventh century B.C. in what would later become the
  expanded city’s extreme eastern end. It was a colony estab-
  lished by Megara in Attica. According to legend, the leader of
  the colonization effort was a man named Byzas, from whom
  the city took the name Byzantion, later Latinized to Byzan-
  tium. Though the site’s natural advantages were as obvious to
  its founders as to anyone else and it became reasonably
  wealthy, it was never a leading city either in its own right or
  when it became a Roman possession, probably during the
  first century A.D.
  By the end of the third century A.D., the Roman empire was
  struggling under a tremendous burden of barbarian invasion,
  agricultural collapse, debased currency, and an endless string of
  rebellious generals with ambitions for the throne. In order to
  reestablish firm control, the emperor Diocletian put into place
  a series of administrative reforms. In a typically conservative
  Roman fashion, where very little was ever actually done away
  with, he essentially duplicated the existing government. The
  empire was divided in two, with the split in Europe in the
  vicinity of modern Yugoslavia and Bosnia, and the split in
  Africa running through the middle of modern Libya. Each half
  had its own emperor, who was supposed to operate in conjunc-
  tion with his counterpart but focus on his own area, allowing
  him to give full attention to a smaller region than that which
  had preoccupied earlier emperors. Each emperor (an augus-
  tus) was to nominate a “junior” emperor (a caesar) as well, to
  set up a clear line of succession, and avoid the devastating wars
  that often followed the death of a ruler.
  Unsurprisingly, this system didn’t work as well as intended.
  Revolts and succession wars continued, and periods still
  occurred with sole emperors. However, it did establish the
  precedent for a division of parallel administrations in east and
  west, and it detached the administration of the empire from the
  city of Rome. It was the need to set up an eastern headquarters
  that led the emperor Constantine to establish himself in
  Byzantium in 324. He instituted a massive building program to
  enlarge and improve the city. He commissioned the construc-
  tion of a new wall that more than doubled the city’s area. He also
  had a variety of lavishly decorated public buildings (including
  Christian churches) erected. On May 11, 330, the city was for-
  mally consecrated with its new name: Constantinople.
  The rebuilt city quickly accumulated many of the official
  trappings of Rome. It had a native senate (composed of aristo-
  crats selected by Constantine, making them more compliant
  than Rome’s own), a similar number of administrative divi-
  sions, and a large-scale grain dole. In the ceremonial square
  (the Augustaion), a new milion was established, a central
  marker from which road distances would be measured in the
  eastern half of the empire.
  FOUNDATION
  CHAPTER TWO
  HISTORY
  With His Army and Just
  Force, He Has Saved the
  Republic From Tyranny and 
  All Its Factions.
  – Inscription to
  Constantine I
  
  While the West declined through the next few centuries,
  the eastern capital became larger and more important. A net-
  work of canals and aqueducts, probably the largest public
  works project in Europe up to that point, was constructed to
  bring much-needed water in from Thrace, over 60 miles to
  the west. The emperor Theodosius II built the city’s final wall
  early in the fifth century, with a number of significant addi-
  tions around 450. After the reign of the fiscally talented
  emperor Anastasius early in the sixth century, the imperial
  treasury was filled with immense sums of money, paving the
  way for the reign of Justinian and the golden age of the
  Byzantine empire.
  HISTORY
  10
  By 527, Constantinople had obtained several of its lasting
  features, but hadn’t quite taken on its full medieval form. In
  that year, the emperor Justinian ascended the throne. With the
  empire prosperous and the borders relatively secure, the
  empire set about expanding its authority again. The most
  notable efforts were to the west. At the beginning of Justinian’s
  reign, the empire held its traditional western boundary in the
  Balkans. After a long series of military campaigns, it recovered
  the rest of the Adriatic coast, Italy, southern Spain as far north
  as Cordoba, and most of Northern Africa.
  More locally, Justinian was responsible for a great deal of the
  medieval shape of the city. This is partly because, with the
  empire’s immense wealth and reach, a considerable amount of
  money could be spent to make further improvements to the city.
  Moreover, man-made disaster aided Justinian’s city-building.
  By 532, Justinian was facing unrest because of the high
  taxes he needed to fund the imperial war machine. Because of
  this, some sections of the aristocracy were considering ways to
  replace him with a descendant of one of his predecessors.
  Against this background, Justinian was about to have two
  members of popular racing factions (see Chariot Racing, p. 38)
  executed for deaths caused by recent riots. In a nigh-unprece-
  dented maneuver, the racing factions united against him and,
  on January 11, revolted at the end of a day of chariot racing,
  forcing the emperor to flee to the palace. Indeed, the Nika
  revolt, (so called because of the rebels’ rallying cry of
  “Victory!”) nearly drove him from the city. According to tradi-
  tion, he would have fled the city if not for his wife’s scolding.
  During a week of rioting, many were killed and much of
  the city burned. After the rebels appointed as emperor a
  nephew of Anastasius, Justinian used bribery to split the tem-
  porarily allied factions apart. He also called on his general
  Belisarius, who had been largely responsible for retaking
  Italy and North Africa, to overwhelm those who remained.
  Thousands died, the would-be usurper was executed, and
  Justinian was left with something very much like a blank
  slate to build on. In addition to considerable private con-
  struction during this period, Justinian expanded the palace,
  excavated a massive new reservoir, and ordered the erection
  of the third (and still standing) Hagia Sophia.
  The reign of Justinian marks the high point of Constan-
  tinople’s history in terms of wealth, population, power, and
  artistic activity. Soon thereafter, the city began to decline. The
  first significant blow was a terrible plague late in Justinian’s
  reign, which may have killed a third of the city’s population.
  GLORY AND COLLAPSE
  Population: 750,000 (Search +3)
  Physical and Magical Environment
  Terrain: Plains
  Appearance: Very Beautiful (+4)
  Hygiene: -1
  No Mana (No Enchantment)
  Culture and Economy
  Language: Greek
  Literacy: Accented
  TL: 3
  Wealth: Comfortable (¥2)
  Status: -1 to 8
  Political Environment
  Government: Dictatorship, Municipality
  CR: 4 (Corruption -1)
  Military Resources: $52.5M
  Defense Bonus: +8
  Notes
  Constantinople is home to a huge number of govern-
  mental offices and Orthodox churches and monasteries
  (+3 to search rolls). It’s also a significant producer of silk
  and importer of goods from the Near East and beyond (+2
  to search rolls), and preserves significant numbers of clas-
  sical texts (+1 to search rolls).
  At its height, the city inside the Constantinian wall is
  densely packed with people and buildings, and even the
  area between the Constantinian and Theodosian walls is
  reasonably well-populated with monasteries, churches,
  shops, and homes lining the major streets. In poorer neigh-
  borhoods, the skyline is crowded with tall apartment build-
  ings. Though things have begun to change, there are still
  many aspects of classical civic life. Associations of unre-
  lated people such as craft guilds and circus factions are
  active or at their height, and many public amusements still
  occur. Because the empire covers large parts of Europe,
  the Near East and Middle East, and North Africa, visitors
  to Constantinople are multi-ethnic, but most residents
  think of themselves as Roman.
  Constantinople (537 A.D.)
  
  This was just the first of a series of plagues that recurred over
  the next two centuries. Later plagues were less devastating, but
  they continued to sap the strength of the empire.
  Moreover, politically and militarily, the empire was overex-
  tended. Despite an active program of building fortifications,
  many of the early sixth century conquests were short-lived.
  Most of the western territories, notably Spain and North
  Africa, were organized into exarchates and remained nominally
  under Byzantine control but, without a great deal of material
  support, were essentially abandoned. The Spanish possessions,
  under pressure from the Spanish Vandal kingdom, were lost by
  the end of the sixth century. The North African kingdoms, also
  threatened by Vandals, were ultimately overrun by the Muslim
  expansion of the late seventh century.
  Closer to home, the Byzantine frontier on the Danube was
  under constant threat from Slavs and Avars (a confederation of
  nomadic groups from the Balkans through central Asia). The
  eastern border with the Persians also saw frequent conflict.
  The emperor Phocas, who gained the throne in 602 by assassi-
  nating his predecessor Maurice, immediately became the sub-
  ject of overthrow attempts himself and actual civil war. The
  internal conflict led to weakened borders, which in turn led to
  attacks on every front. The Byzantine policy of diplomacy-by-
  bribery with occasional resort to warfare (see Byzantine War
  and Peace, pp. 20-21) collapsed thereafter. Persians overran
  the eastern frontier, taking Egypt, Syria, and large parts of
  Anatolia. Constantinople was itself attacked in 626 by a joint
  force of Avars and Persians. The city’s placement on important
  shipping lanes made it relatively easy to attack the city by sea.
  However, although the defenders were significantly outnum-
  bered, the Theodosian walls proved impregnable. The invaders
  were driven off with heavy losses, while the emperor Heraclius,
  who had overthrown Phocas in 610, took advantage of the sit-
  uation to regain the lost eastern provinces.
  The Byzantines had earned some peace, but the respite
  proved to be a brief one. By 634, Byzantine provinces in the
  Near East had begun to fall to armies rallying around the new
  banner of Islam. Heraclius and his immediate successors man-
  aged to hold some sort of line in Anatolia, though Arab raids
  into Byzantine territory became a regular occurrence.
  Moreover, the Byzantine position in the west deteriorated
  quickly as resources were drawn away to defend the east. The
  Byzantines lost Egypt and Syria again, this time for good.
  Carthage was lost for the last time in 697. Byzantine influence
  in Italy was reduced to areas around Ravenna, Rome, and
  Napoli. Meanwhile, Slavic rulers expanded their territory
  across the Danube and through the Balkan peninsula, eventu-
  ally taking most of Greece itself.
  Constantinople was subject to Arab attacks in 672 to 678,
  and yet again in 717, though all of these attacks were thor-
  oughly unsuccessful because of Byzantine technological and
  diplomatic superiority. The heavy walls proved impervious
  despite the great lengths that had to be defended and the pres-
  ence of a relatively small defensive force. The use of Greek fire
  (see GURPS Low-Tech, p. 84) forced attackers to keep their
  ships well away from the seaward walls. (This in turn allowed
  supplies to reach the city, essentially dooming any siege.) In
  the siege of 717, a force of Slavic allies attacking the besieging
  force from the rear further aided the Byzantines. After each
  siege, the Arabs were forced to retreat after taking very heavy
  losses. Still, the advantages of the capital itself weren’t suffi-
  cient to put the empire on the offensive.
  During these years, the population of the city plummeted.
  Partly caused by the plagues, the shrinking and increasingly
  impoverished empire also no longer needed such a huge gov-
  ernmental apparatus, nor could such a large, concentrated
  population be maintained. By the early eighth century, the
  population was perhaps a tenth of what it was under Justinian.
  HISTORY
  11
  Population: 70,000 (Search +2)
  Physical and Magical Environment
  Terrain: Plains
  Appearance: Beautiful (+3)
  Hygiene: -1
  No Mana (No Enchantment)
  Culture and Economy
  Language: Greek
  Literacy: Broken
  TL: 3
  Wealth: Average (¥1)
  Status: -1 to 8
  Political Environment
  Government: Dictatorship, Municipality
  CR: 4 (Corruption -1)
  Military Resources: $2.45M
  Defense Bonus: +8
  Notes
  In its reduced circumstances, Constantinople only gives
  an additional +2 to search rolls for governmental offices
  and +1 for Orthodox religious institutions.
  Outside of the ceremonial and governmental core
  around the palace and the Hagia Sophia, Constantinople
  looks more like a collection of villages, fields, and freestand-
  ing churches and monasteries than a city. Most homes are
  no more than two stories tall. The remaining churches and
  monuments appear all the more prominent because of their
  sparse surroundings. Penniless visitors will have no trouble
  finding vacant (if possibly dangerously decrepit) buildings
  to sleep in, either freestanding or on the fringes of occupied
  areas. Even the palace is in decline, with some sections
  closed off due to lack of maintenance, and even some sec-
  tions still in use visibly crumbling. The city’s mood is
  notably more somber than in earlier decades. Much of clas-
  sical civic life has faded away to be replaced by an internal,
  domestic focus in most people’s lives. However, the Byzan-
  tines, though serious and reserved at first, aren’t completely
  glum. A lively discussion on religious topics is easy to start,
  and large crowds always gather to view notables and relics
  in procession. A greater gap has developed between natives
  and foreigners. The shrunken empire is less multi-ethnic
  and multi-lingual, so a clearer division exists between Greek
  natives and non-Greek outsiders.
  Constantinople (750 A.D.)
  
  The aqueduct completed under Valens was knocked out of
  commission during one of the sieges, but the city’s need for
  fresh water had declined with it sufficiently that it was not
  restored for over a century (until 756). Sizable areas within the
  walls became uninhabited. Though still a respectable city by
  the standards of the time, the walls encompassed an area sev-
  eral times bigger than was needed. Large parts of the city
  reverted to cultivated land and scattered clusters of homes, like
  small agricultural villages.
  The city probably “hollowed out” during the period of
  decline, maintaining its most important ceremonial areas but
  emptying out back streets. The most luxurious parts of the city,
  notably the eastern tip around the palace complex and the major
  streets, remained relatively well-populated, though vacancies
  and empty spots could be found there as well. Less accessible
  areas were a different story. Without ongoing maintenance,
  most abandoned buildings quickly fell into disrepair and col-
  lapsed into rubble, were looted for useful stone and brick, or just
  burned down. Neighbors reclaimed the vacant land to use as
  gardens and orchards. Densely populated areas became less so
  with small cultivated areas springing up. Sparsely populated
  neighborhoods became isolated houses or clusters of houses
  surrounded by worked fields. Isolated houses passed away to
  areas of open parkland. What remained were the administrative
  and commercial core and a scattering of suburb-like clusters of
  buildings trailing away to the west.
  During this period, many aspects of Byzantine society shifted
  away from their classical form and into something more
  medieval. Latin finally died as one of two official languages dur-
  ing the reign of Heraclius, to be completely replaced by Greek.
  Popular recreations such as public baths and theatrical pro-
  ductions started to drift out of fashion. The focus of people’s
  lives turned inward and to family and close associates, away
  from an overarching concept of civic life. (The kinds of polit-
  ical involvement outlined in GURPS Greece had long since
  passed away.)
  Although the loss of territory slowed in the early eighth cen-
  tury, the domestic situation was about to get worse. Tradition
  has it that the conflict over iconoclasm (see p. 23) started
  around 726, when the emperor Leo III ordered that an image of
  Christ that hung over an important entrance to the palace be
  replaced with a simple cross. That act was followed up a few
  years later by an official move against icons in general. Whatever
  incident may have caused the theological debate to emerge into
  a popular one, it occupied a great deal of the empire’s internal
  energies as iconoclasts (more or less rallying around the impe-
  rial family and household) fought with iconophiles (more or less
  centered around monasteries). This resulted in riots, deaths, the
  destruction of countless works of art, the dissolution of monas-
  teries on a scale that would not be seen again until the Tudor
  period in England, and ecumenical councils widely rejected for
  being rigged in favor of the iconoclast position.
  HISTORY
  12
  After 50 years, the battle over iconoclasm quieted; it passed
  from the forefront of the social and political scene, at least for a
  while. The empire had reached a low point. Only fragments
  remained of Justinian’s conquests in the west, Slavs had taken
  almost all of the Balkan peninsula, and Arabs had moved signif-
  icantly into Anatolia. Though weakened from its height, the
  empire did enjoy a few advantages. The remaining territory was
  culturally and linguistically more homogenous than Justinian’s
  far-flung empire. With less territory to defend, troops did not
  have to be sent great distances at similarly great cost. The loss of
  the eastern and African provinces, strongholds of Monophysite
  and other heresies, meant that authorities could spend less time
  maintaining delicate religious compromises.
  With these few relative advantages and the lucky appearance
  of a number of better than average rulers, the empire began to
  do something quite unusual for an old state: grow. This hap-
  pened very much by fits and starts – lasting territorial expansion
  was made in some places while ground was lost in others. For
  example, in the middle of the ninth century, Basil I regained a
  great deal of land in the southern Balkans and southern Italy.
  The Byzantines then lost ground in the Balkans at the end of the
  ninth century. They recaptured it and more in the late 10th and
  early 11th centuries, notably under Basil II, who earned the epi-
  thet “the Bulgar-killer.” Acquisitions in Italy and several islands
  in the eastern Mediterranean were accompanied by the loss of
  Sicily to North African Muslims. The eastern border continued
  to fluctuate and suffer from regular incursions. However, the
  empire managed to improve internal security to reduce the
  impact of raiding, and push south as far as Tripoli in Lebanon
  and east into Armenia and Mesopotamia. Additionally, through-
  out the period, the city itself was subject to periodic raids by
  fast-moving forces, including a Bulgar army in 813 and Rus
  fleets in 860 and the 940s.
  As the empire revived, Constantinople began to grow as well.
  The population rose back into the hundreds of thousands, old
  buildings were repaired, and empty spaces were filled in. This
  period saw extensive revisions to the imperial residence. The
  palace complex expanded north to encompass the Magnaura,
  the meeting place of the Byzantine senate. The new throne room
  was equipped with nigh-legendary automata, including artificial
  trees filled with singing mechanical birds, a mechanical lion that
  sat up and roared, and a throne on a rising platform, all believed
  to be powered by a complex hydraulic mechanism. Even so, the
  imperial family came to prefer new lodgings at Blachernae (a
  neighborhood just outside the northern end of the Theodosian
  wall) not long before the First Crusade.
  The good fortune seemed to end in 1071. This year was
  marked by two military catastrophes from which the empire
  never fully recovered. In Italy, the remaining Byzantine posses-
  sions had been eroding for years, taken over by local Lombard
  lords and Norman mercenaries who eventually set themselves
  up in local domains. In that year, the city of Bari, the last
  Byzantine-ruled city on the peninsula, fell, permanently ending
  the Byzantine presence in the West. Worse yet, the Byzantines
  lost a major battle at Manzikert in eastern Anatolia to the Seljuk
  Turks, and the emperor Romanos IV was himself captured. He
  was released shortly thereafter, having made a number of con-
  cessions. However, he had already made himself unpopular, and
  was deposed not long after his release. This led to another cycle
  of civil war; the Turks took advantage of the confusion, expand-
  ing into Anatolia over the next 20 years until almost nothing was
  left to the empire but a number of coastal territories.
  REVIVAL AND CRUSADES
  
  The emperor Alexius I, who came to
  power in 1081, ended internal strife after
  another bout of civil war. He also halted
  attempts by Slavs and Normans to move into
  the Balkans. However, he had insufficient
  resources to take on the Seljuks. Without
  enough troops of his own, he looked for
  allies. After a few years of patient diplomacy,
  in 1095, he proposed to Pope Urban II that
  Western nations send troops to help push
  back the infidel Turks. What he wanted were
  a few foreign mercenaries. What he got was
  something very close to another invasion,
  and possibly the largest conflict of the Mid-
  dle Ages to boot. Urban turned Alexius’
  request for assistance into a grand, stirring
  call to reclaim the Holy Land for Christen-
  dom: the Crusades. (GURPS Crusades and
  GURPS Arabian Nights cover this era in
  detail from different viewpoints, and
  GURPS Middle Ages 1 briefly addresses
  what the Crusades looked like from the Eng-
  lish perspective.)
  By 1096, the baffled Byzantines found
  swarms of unexpected Westerners moving
  into the empire. The bureaucracy had to
  respond quickly to mobilize supplies for the
  tens of thousands of Crusaders passing
  through to keep them from looting the coun-
  tryside, as well as transportation and guides
  along the imperial roads to move them into
  hostile territory as quickly as possible.
  The Crusaders’ lack of strong organiza-
  tion may have worked in Alexius’ favor. As
  each new army reached Constantinople,
  Alexius welcomed its leader and subjected
  him to intense personal attention and the full
  ceremonial power of the Byzantine court. 
  It was enough to get each of the supreme
  Crusader leaders to agree that any land
  retaken by the Crusader armies would belong to the empire.
  With that agreement, the army would be shipped across the
  Bosporus and on to Muslim-held Nicaea.
  However, the relationship between the Byzantines and the
  Crusaders was never smooth, and it soon collapsed completely.
  In 1098, the Crusader armies – united in the victorious siege of
  Antioch and the subsequent massacre of its in habitants –
  broke with the empire due a heated dispute over the question
  of Byzantine support and participation in the war. Any lands
  the Crusaders gained, they now would keep for themselves.
  Nevertheless, as a great outpost of Christendom command-
  ing important east-west routes, Constantinople became a
  notable stop along the way for armies heading east to the new
  Crusader kingdoms and the Muslim lands beyond or west to
  return home. Almost uniformly stunned by the city’s grandeur,
  Western returnees brought with them ideas preserved or
  invented by the Byzantines.
  Though the Byzantines regained vastly less ground than
  they would have hoped, the Crusaders’ invasion of the Levant
  took a great deal of pressure off them. With peace restored to
  some extent, Constantinople continued to grow, reaching a
  respectable fraction of its size under Justinian.
  As ever, though, this short period of success and expansion
  was brought to another tragic end: the Fourth Crusade. By the
  end of the 12th century, the reigning Angelos dynasty had
  become involved in a complex conflict over succession. Mean-
  while, a largely Frankish army had contracted with the Vene-
  tians to carry them to Egypt, which was seen at the time as the
  center of Muslim power and the key to recovering the Levant.
  When the Franks had difficulty paying for their passage, they
  agreed to provide Venice with military support in certain con-
  flicts in which they had become involved. The most important of
  those was support of one branch of the Angelos dynasty. The
  deal was sweetened for the Franks by additional promises made
  by the Venetians’ candidate for the throne. Just as the Franks
  had made commitments to the Venetians they couldn’t keep, so
  Alexius Angelos couldn’t keep his obligations to the Franks. In
  1204, an angry Frankish army supported by Venetian ships laid
  siege to a weakened and underdefended Constantinople. After a
  considerable struggle, they took the city by finding weak spots
  along the sea walls. They did extensive damage to the city and
  brought centuries worth of carefully preserved art and other
  riches with them back to the West. For the first time in over a
  thousand years, Constantinople itself fell under the domination
  of foreign rulers.
  HISTORY
  13
  Constantinople (1100 A.D.)
  Population: 400,000 (Search +3)
  Physical and Magical Environment
  Terrain: Plains
  Appearance: Very Beautiful (+4)
  Hygiene: -1
  No Mana (No Enchantment)
  Culture and Economy
  Language: Greek
  Literacy: Accented
  TL: 3
  Wealth: Comfortable (¥2)
  Status: -1 to 8
  Political Environment
  Government: Dictatorship, Municipality
  CR: 4 (Corruption -1)
  Military Resources: $28M
  Defense Bonus: +8
  Notes
  Growing back to close to its height, Constantinople in this period again
  gives +3 to search rolls to find government offices and Orthodox institutions.
  It also gives +1 to rolls to find silk, Eastern imports, and classical texts.
  The city has regained something of the crowds of the age of Justinian, but
  their character is somewhat different. Churches and monuments remain the
  most prominent features of the skyline. The city inside the Constantinian
  wall is as densely packed with buildings as ever, but they’re much lower than
  in the sixth century. Residents remain focused on their families and spiritual
  lives, but the city is a much noisier, busier place than during the eight cen-
  tury. Between Crusaders, Scandinavian and Russian merchants, and perma-
  nent trading colonies from the Italian city-states, the city has probably never
  seen so many foreign visitors. This causes occasional tension as natives and
  foreigners clash over differences in religion and legal perquisites. The Byzan-
  tines are nevertheless generally a more cosmopolitan people than anyone vis-
  iting their city, more likely to be unawed by the unusual antics of outsiders.
  
  HISTORY
  14
  The Fourth Crusade shattered the empire. The new rulers of
  Constantinople, who came to be called the Latin emperors, only
  controlled the city itself and the lands around the Sea of Mar-
  mara. Some Byzantine territory, mostly eastern Greece and the
  islands of the Aegean, was chopped up and handed over to
  Venice or to other Western lords who owed at least theoretical
  allegiance to the emperor in Constantinople. Byzantine despots
  remained in power in western Greece and parts of Anatolia. The
  city’s new Western lords established Catholic bishops, but they
  had essentially no effect on the Orthodox faithful.
  Still, the Latin empire was by no means secure. The Byzan-
  tine successor states all wanted to retake the capital, and the
  Bulgars were as much a threat to the Latin empire as they had
  been to the Greek one. Indeed, there was a joint siege of the
  city by the Bulgars and the Byzantine territory of Nicaea in
  1235. Much of the city withered away during this period, with
  the increasingly desperate Latin emperors selling any valuable
  material they could find in order to support their defense.
  The Latin empire came to a sudden, unexpected end in
  1261. A Nicean general with a small force sent to gather intel-
  ligence on the state of Constantinople’s defense discovered that
  it had none. The city’s garrison and fleet were away on a cam-
  paign. The Nicean troops walked in and, after a brief fight with
  the Latin emperor’s skeleton force, retook the city, restoring it
  to native rule.
  The empire was now just a small, weak remnant of what it
  had been before. The new Paeleologos dynasty got off to a 
  reasonably good start and managed to unite the Nicean and
  western Greek territories, which had been under separate
  administrations during the years of Latin rule. It also recov-
  ered much of Thrace (the successor state of Trebizond on the
  southeastern shore of the Black Sea remained independent).
  Then that territory began to shrink away.
  The empire’s administration for the final two
  centuries was heavily Westernized, with feudally
  tinged regional magnates ruling inherited per-
  sonal domains rather than appointed governors
  administering imperial territories. New decora-
  tion in buildings was painted fresco rather 
  than expensive mosaic. Imperial coronations
  were accompanied by ritual displays of glass and
  fine ceramics because the traditional gold and sil-
  ver were long gone. The capital’s population
  shrank to a few tens of thousands. Several Byzan-
  tine scholars fled to nearby Italy, taking with
  them a number of texts long-forgotten there and
  helping to spark the Renaissance (see GURPS
  Hot Spots: Renaissance Florence for some dis-
  cussion). By the 14th century, the city had become
  a series of scattered villages occupying a vast
  walled enclosure. In 1422, the city again came
  under siege, though the walls held up yet again.
  At last, in 1453, the newly installed Ottoman
  sultan Mehmet II decided to establish a reputa-
  tion by finally conquering the long-hated Greeks.
  He laid siege to Constantinople with a huge army
  and massive cannon (see GURPS Low-Tech
  Companion 2, p. 31 for the armament). Despite
  an inadequate defense of native troops supple-
  mented by a smattering of foreign mercenaries,
  the millennium-old walls withstood steady batter-
  ing by the age’s heaviest artillery for two months.
  By May 29, a large enough breech was opened
  south of the Gate of Charisius, the northernmost
  of the nine gates in the Theodosian wall. Mehmet
  now could send his Janissaries directly into the
  city. The last emperor, Constantine XI, is believed
  to have died in the fighting. Many of the city’s res-
  idents were killed or enslaved. What wealth
  remained in the city was looted. Constantinople
  and the Byzantine empire had ceased to be, but
  the city would go on as an imperial capital under
  a new name: Istanbul.
  TO THE END
  Timeline
  Seventh century B.C. – Byzantium founded.
  330 – Constantinople officially dedicated.
  413 – Theodosian walls completed.
  498 – Anastasius I reforms Byzantine coinage.
  527 – Justinian becomes emperor.
  532 – Nika riots.
  558 – Major earthquake destroys many buildings and damages the
  wall and the Hagia Sophia.
  610 – Heraclius becomes emperor.
  626 – Constantinople attacked by Avars and Persians.
  672 – Constantinople attacked by Arabs.
  717 – Another Arab siege; first use of Greek fire.
  730 – Icons officially forbidden.
  787 – Second council of Nicaea rehabilitates icons.
  797 – Irene becomes empress.
  813 – Bulgar raid on Constantinople.
  815 – Iconoclasm returns under Leo V.
  821 – Siege led by former followers of the late Leo V, interrupted by
  Bulgar attack.
  842 – Iconoclasm dies out again under Michael III.
  859 – Major fire damages large parts of the city, including the Hagia
  Sophia.
  860 – First Rus raids.
  897 – Basil I becomes emperor, inaugurating Macedonian dynasty.
  941 – Second Rus raids.
  1039 – Major earthquake.
  1047 – Siege during rebellion against Constantine IX.
  1054 – “Great Schism” ends communication between Catholic and
  Orthodox churches.
  1071 – Catastrophes at Manzikert and Bari.
  1081 – Alexius I Comnenus becomes emperor.
  1096 – First Crusade begins.
  1204 – Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople.
  1261 – Nicaeans recover Constantinople.
  1453 – Constantinople falls to Ottoman Turks.
  
  Gervais thought he had never seen a man more richly dressed,
  not even when he had attended the royal court, but he understood
  that the beardless man with the peculiar high voice was not really
  a nobleman. Indeed, according to Emile, he was hardly a man at
  all. The beardless man was all smiles, but Gervais had the impres-
  sion of being treated like a prized but not very well trained animal.
  Mikos, whom he understood to be a sort of knight and clerk
  at the same time, and was also dressed more richly than a king,
  stood easily next to him. He slipped a small bun from his sleeve
  and offered it to Gervais, who shook his head. There was some-
  thing about how the chant from the chamber on the other side of
  the curtain resounded that made his bones shake and stomach
  shrink. Mikos shrugged and wolfed it down.
  The choral chanting stopped, and he could hear a single voice
  from the room beyond. Something was about to happen, and
  Gervais knew it was about to happen to him. The beardless man
  beckoned them forward. Mikos took Gervais gently by the arm,
  and the lord, a bit surprised to find himself trembling, limped for-
  ward with his cane.
  With a flourish, the beardless man whisked the silk curtain
  aside, and Gervais was dazzled by a sight that could only 
  be heaven.
  A city as large as Constantinople couldn’t survive without
  an extensive social and economic infrastructure to support it.
  Not only did Constantinople have its own governing mecha-
  nisms, it was also home to the bulk of the imperial bureau-
  cracy, making governing its primary business. Moreover, when
  the empire worked well, the imperial administration was sup-
  ported by a Church that held the hearts and minds of the peo-
  ple; defended by Europe’s only standing army of the age; and
  paid for by a thriving economy.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  15
  CHAPTER THREE
  THE APPARATUS
  OF POWER
  The Byzantine government started out using Roman forms
  and mostly Latin terminology. However, it began to shift to
  something uniquely Byzantine in the years that followed
  Constantine’s establishment of the new capital, culminating in
  a large-scale reorganization and renaming of officials around
  the time of Heraclius. That structure would remain in place up
  to the Fourth Crusade, and parts of it to the end of the empire.
  THE EMPEROR
  AND HIS HOUSEHOLD
  At the top of the list was the emperor himself, the basileus
  autokrator (the Greek title replaced the earlier augustus). 
  The emperor was, at least in theory, something very close to an
  absolute monarch backed by both ancient legal tradition and
  divine sanction. Legal scholars noted that, although the
  emperor’s powers did not extend to ordering his subjects to
  undertake the impossible or the suicidal, his word was other-
  wise law. Of course, his powers were limited in practice by the
  ability and willingness of his subjects to obey or enforce his
  orders. Most Byzantines were typically compliant, but spo-
  radic localized revolts and lesser forms of resistance occurred,
  notably when it came to interfering with religious doctrine.
  Ideally, a new emperor was selected in advance by his pred-
  ecessor. Following the precedent set by Diocletian, an emperor
  would often appoint his designated successor as a junior
  emperor (simply, basileus). Succession was not strictly heredi-
  tary, but the intended successor was usually a close family
  member of some kind. If not already related by blood or mar-
  riage, adoptions or convenient marriages would often be
  arranged. There were a number of peaceful successions, but
  many emperors were forcibly deposed, or their successors
  pushed aside by other aspirants to the throne. Several genera-
  tions of residents of Constantinople, if they lived to a reason-
  ably old age, could expect to see at least one assassination,
  revolt, or other contested succession during their lifetime,
  sometimes with rebel armies approaching the city.
  GOVERNMENT
  [Alexius] seemed to be a blaze
  of lightning, such irresistible
  radiance shone from his face.
  – Anna Comnena, Alexiad
  
  Although the sitting emperor had broad discretion in
  appointing his successor, there was a notable restriction: The
  new emperor had to be a “whole man.” That is, the emperor had
  to be male and without notable physical defects. Eunuchs were
  prohibited, for example, as were the blind, the disfigured, and so
  on. An unsavory consequence of this policy was that rulers who
  wished to permanently put down rivals often had them muti-
  lated. Deposed emperors and other significant threats to the new
  ruler might have their noses slit in the middle if they were lucky,
  or be blinded or have their tongues cut out if they were not. 
  As unpleasant as it may be, such treatment was regarded as
  more humane than killing the subject outright. Very fortunate
  rivals might be forced into monasteries or the priesthood, since
  clergy were likewise disqualified from the throne; very unfortu-
  nate rivals might be forced into a monastery, then mutilated,
  and then murdered, just to be sure.
  Nevertheless, even theoretically disqualified candidates
  for the throne could gain power if they had enough support.
  Notable examples include the empresses Irene, Zoe, and
  Theodora (each of whom ruled as sole monarch) and the
  blinded Isaac II on the eve of the Fourth Crusade, though he
  was essentially a figurehead. Even those who didn’t or couldn’t
  become emperors themselves could become a court favorite and
  rule in all but name.
  Figureheads and rulers from behind the throne were quite
  common because of the power collected around the imperial
  household. The emperor’s personal wealth and property was
  often put to official use; the palace itself was an office complex
  and factory as much as a residence (see The Palace, p. 40). Close
  proximity to the emperor himself was a path to positions of
  power and influence, so the imperial household was essentially
  as much a division of government as any official ministry. These
  are some of the more prominent household officials.
  Chartoularios tou vestiariou: Keeper of the vestarion, or
  imperial wardrobe. Given the importance and enormous lux-
  ury of the emperor’s official wardrobe, the chartoularios com-
  manded a vast budget. By the seventh century, the office had
  become the head of a substantial part of the treasury, with
  responsibility for minting coinage. Indeed, during the
  Crusades, the vestarion became essentially the treasury.
  Koubikoularios: Personal servant attached to the imperial
  bedchamber. Generally eunuchs, but empresses would also be
  served by female koubikoularia.
  Parakoimomenos: Initially (in the sixth or seventh century)
  simply a sort of “on-call” koubikoularios. However, by the ninth
  century, the office had become the head chamberlain, with day-
  to-day control over the organization and enormous finances of
  the imperial household. During the Crusades, this position
  changed from an office with specific functions reserved for
  eunuchs to a noble title that could be awarded to anyone.
  Praipositos: From the early years of the empire, the head
  chamberlain, a position similar to the parakoimomenos at its
  height but eventually becoming subordinate to it. As the
  parakoimomenos assumed increased financial functions, the
  praipositos retained control of koubikoularioi.
  Protovestarios: Keeper of the private wardrobe. Though of
  lesser importance than the chartoularios tou vestiariou, the pro-
  tovestarios filled a similar but more private role. The protoves-
  tarios served as a treasurer of the emperor’s private wealth, as
  opposed to the public treasury overseen by the chartoularios.
  IMPERIAL OFFICIALS
  Beyond the imperial household itself, ministers called logo-
  thetes oversaw much of the work of the government. The closest
  analogy to logothetes in modern governments may be Cabinet-
  level officials in the United States or similar ministers in parlia-
  mentary systems, though more logothetes with more specific
  duties existed than typically found in more modern systems.
  These ministries included paying soldiers, building fortifica-
  tions, maintaining waterways, overseeing imperial factories,
  maintaining tax records, and other functions of government.
  One of the most important logothetes was the head of the
  dromos, or imperial postal system. Though it sounds unspec-
  tacular, the postal system was essentially the
  empire’s nervous system, providing information to
  the central organs of government in Constantino-
  ple and coordinating commands sent out into the
  provinces. Consequently, an effective postal system
  – and therefore, a powerful, capable postmaster –
  was as important to the empire as an effective army
  was. The dromos held primary responsibility for
  transporting messages and important people within
  the empire. This extended to messages to foreign
  heads of state and visits by foreign dignitaries.
  Thus, the dromos also made a significant impact on
  foreign affairs. The dromos was further supported
  by another department, the agelon, which provided
  it with vital riding animals and beasts of burden.
  Between the considerable value of the animals it
  controlled and that of the land it required to feed
  those animals, the agelon was a powerful depart-
  ment in its own right.
  However, the foreign affairs role was not exclu-
  sive to one department. As was typical in Byzantine
  government (and many other ancient govern-
  ments), functions (finance, defense, etc.) that
  might be collected under one ministry in a political
  system were instead divided over several officials.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  16
  Eunuchs
  As in a number of ancient empires, many officials in the imperial
  household were eunuchs. The Byzantines thought that eunuchs were
  inherently loyal, and that their condition prevented them from want-
  ing power because they had no descendents to pass things on to. As
  in other empires, though, eunuchs appear to have been no more loyal
  than average, and some became effective rulers of the empire, using
  someone else as a figurehead. Additionally, while eunuchs were typ-
  ically purchased as slaves in the empire’s earlier days, the career
  opportunities it provided led some surprisingly prominent families
  to produce their own eunuchs in order to insert a relative into the
  imperial household. Despite their reputation for being soft, flighty,
  and otherwise “feminine,” they nevertheless served in just about
  every important office in the empire. Eunuchs could be found lead-
  ing armies or serving as clergy; some even became patriarch.
  In the empire, being a eunuch is a -5 point Social Stigma. Though
  eunuchs are sterile, they do not necessarily have the Sexless quirk.
  Depending on technical details of their castration, they may be sub-
  ject to seduction.
  
  In the case of foreign affairs, the protasekretis (the chancellor)
  also played a major role. While the dromos delivered mes-
  sages, the protasekretis and his ministry was largely respon-
  sible for composing them; they might be regarded as a
  combination secretarial pool and department of consulting
  lawyers. This made it another of the government’s most
  important departments.
  A similar split of functions was found in the treasury.
  Rather than having a single treasury department, some treas-
  ury functions were invested in household offices (see p. 16).
  Others were invested in the several logothetes of the genikon, a
  ministry that concerned itself with a number of tasks related to
  collecting taxes and duties, and running mines.
  Though not formally organized into a cabinet or similar
  organization, the various logothetes were at least partially under
  the supervision of the sakellarios, a comptroller whose responsi-
  bilities included performing economic surveys and auditing
  other departments. The sakellarios was, at various times, 
  superior or subordinate to the chartoularios tou vestiariou
  (p. 16). Alexius I made more formal arrangements, appointing
  a logothetes ton sekreton to oversee all other logothetes. This
  position was later renamed megas logothetes, or “grand logo-
  thete”; “prime minister” is a reasonable equivalent.
  Under the executive control of the logothetes, more-specific
  functions within a ministry were overseen by a chartoularios,
  who in turn commanded a variety of clerks and officials with
  supporting duties. (An individual clerk or secretary was a
  grammatikos.) Large departments – such as the genikon of the
  10th century  – might have a megas chartoularios as a sort of
  chief of staff.
  CIVIC OFFICIALS
  Most of the empire’s offices and organizations, though both
  powerful and based in Constantinople, had little direct power
  over Constantinople. While they were largely administrative
  figures rather than rulers, the city did have its own purely local
  government machinery.
  In addition to the emperor, one of the institutions that sur-
  vived from the Roman period was Constantinople’s own sen-
  ate. It had as many as 2,000 members in the early days of
  Constantinople, with a structure similar to the Roman senate
  (see GURPS Imperial Rome). Those numbers declined over
  time, particularly after the plagues of the sixth century, and it
  was powerless by the seventh century. Despite having no leg-
  islative function (it could only pass symbolic resolutions and
  confirm nominees for civic offices), it served as a distinction
  for aristocrats, a body of more-or-less qualified civilians ready
  to serve various governmental functions, and a springboard for
  higher offices.
  An official called the eparchos oversaw the day-to-day
  administration of the city and its immediate surroundings. He
  was responsible for overseeing guilds, nominally presided over
  the Senate, regulated trade, managed public grain supplies,
  enforced law and order, and supervised a number of lesser offi-
  cials. Some of those that the eparchos oversaw were:
  Boullotes: Goods inspector.
  Elaioparochos: Customs officer.
  Geitoniarches: Subadministrators responsible for specific
  districts of Constantinople.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  17
  Though not necessarily known for their customer serv-
  ice, officials across ancient governments did generally
  make themselves available to the public. However,
  administrative assistants and day planners wouldn’t be
  invented for centuries – to say nothing of accurate clocks.
  Thus, anyone who wants to talk to officials can’t just
  make an appointment or otherwise go through (not yet
  created) channels designed to guarantee contact between
  an official and the public. Even orderly queues aren’t in
  regular use. If one does not already have access to offi-
  cials through personal acquaintances, a few ways exist to
  deal with that.
  One is to attempt to attract the official’s attention in
  person. The petitioners must show up at the official’s head-
  quarters (probably a large chamber filled with clerks rather
  than a secluded private office). Then, they hope that the
  official has the time and inclination to talk to visitors.
  Because this is the standard way of contacting officials in
  many historical societies, adventurers will find themselves
  part of a crowd in the vestibule of a government building
  or outside a palace along with other petitioners. Civic
  judges and similar low-level officials deal with a steady
  flow of supplicants, so it’s simply be a matter of time before
  it’s the PCs’ turn. Higher officials, though, typically employ
  gatekeepers (GURPS Social Engineering, p. 48) – some-
  times multiple levels of them. In addition to talking their
  way around gatekeepers, the visitors may find themselves
  competing against other petitioners to get themselves
  heard first.
  Another way is by correspondence. People may send let-
  ters to officials they wish to influence if they’re far away, or
  deliver requests directly to the official’s office if they’re in
  Constantinople itself. See Social Engineering (p. 33) for
  special considerations about using text media. High offi-
  cials (definitely including the emperor) have gatekeepers
  for written as well as personal contact.
  Finally, a person may ask for help. Patrons, Contacts,
  and Allies may be able to provide introductions to impor-
  tant officials. Failing that, paid middlemen may be
  induced to connect someone with people in government
  he needs to talk to.
  Ultimately, solicitants may have to talk their way up the
  ladder to get what they want. Though it would take time,
  the best chance to speak with, say, the megas logothetes
  might be to start with the epi (see Job Titles, p. 18) of some-
  thing trivial, get a referral to a chartoularios from him, and
  use the chartoularios to introduce them to a logothetes.
  From there, they must campaign for an introduction to
  their ultimate target. If the GM adopts the stereotype of the
  Byzantine government as being composed of feuding social
  climbers, PCs might manipulate that by forming their own
  alliances in favor of some officials and against others.
  Office Hours
  
  Krites: Civic judge; the eparchos was himself the senior
  magistrate.
  Koiaistor: A guardian of public morality.
  Legatarios: Overseer of resident merchants. (The legatarios
  must periodically approve long-term residence by foreigners in
  Constantinople, so his office may be particularly important to
  visiting PCs.)
  Logothetes tou praitoriou: A sort of prison warden.
  Meteres: Keeper of weights and measures.
  Praitor ton demon: A combination police chief and fire
  marshal.
  Symponos: Overseer of guild activities.
  Contacting a civic official is often like getting in touch with
  an imperial official  – show up outside his office and wait.
  However, some of these officials (notably police, and goods
  and customs officers) actively seek out and investigate those
  who fall into their purview.
  CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
  The inevitable companion to life in a large city, which offers
  the anonymity of crowds, is petty (and not so petty) crime. At
  night, the streets of Constantinople were dark, mostly deserted,
  and notoriously unsafe. Thieves and the desperate poor lurked
  in the shadows, waiting to rob the unwary. Late-
  night pedestrians were well-advised to travel in
  groups and carrying light. Naturally, the city
  required law enforcement.
  When they weren’t in the field, Constantino-
  ple’s infantry garrisons acted as beat cops and
  were available to put down large civil distur-
  bances. The praitor ton demon also commanded
  the kerketon, a force of no more than a few tens
  of men. Likely just glorified watchmen, it’s possi-
  ble that they constituted a more specialized, pro-
  fessional police force.
  Once apprehended, accused criminals might be
  held temporarily in the city’s prison before being
  taken before a judge to hear their case. Judicial tri-
  bunals were sometimes called to decide cases of
  official corruption, but jury trials were not in use.
  Since judges were political appointees, many had
  only sketchy legal training and employed sym-
  ponoi (or legal experts) to advise then. For those
  found guilty, long-term imprisonment was rarely a
  practical penalty or, indeed, regarded as much of a
  penalty at all; incarceration was a safeguard for
  others rather than punishment for a crime. Rather,
  punishments typically consisted of one or more of fines, corpo-
  ral punishment, and the same kinds of mutilation found in
  imperial politics (see p. 16). Given the Byzantine aversion to
  killing, capital punishment was rarely used. A few emperors
  even boasted of having no executions during their reigns.
  CHURCH AND STATE
  In a devoutly religious society like the Byzantine empire,
  naturally interaction happened between the religious and civil
  hierarchies (see The Church, pp. 21-24), and the government
  was justified at least partly in theological terms. Once
  Constantine decided to protect Christianity, Christian scholars
  put the emperor into a scheme where he was the viceroy of
  God, whose authority on earth mirrored God’s over the uni-
  verse. The Byzantine empire followed a doctrine that has come
  to be called caesaropapism. The emperor was held to be high-
  est temporal authority, and could not be overruled or
  deposed by the clergy. (The Catholic West tended toward
  the opposite position, papocaesarism, though not without
  numerous conflicts and exceptions.) The emperor also
  could call ecumenical councils to resolve doctrinal issues.
  The emperor’s power as a Christian ruler even
  extended internationally. The rulers of Persia regarded
  the emperor as the sovereign of any Christians in their
  territory. Thus, their treatment was subject to treaty nego-
  tiations with the Byzantines.
  However, the emperor was not himself a priest.
  Though he could attempt to influence doctrine and activ-
  ities of the Church, he could not dictate them. This did
  not stop the emperors from trying. Iconoclasm, forceful
  deposition of patriarchs, stacking ecumenical councils in
  favor of particular theological positions, and so on were all
  attempted, but most ultimately failed. Even in the face of the
  final Turkish onslaught, the people of Constantinople rejected
  attempts negotiated by the emperor to move toward Catholic
  doctrine in return for Western aid. “Better a Turkish turban,”
  one determined Orthodox said, “than a papal tiara.”
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  18
  The Provinces
  All of the offices and ministries detailed here are either based in
  or directly concerned with the administration of Constantinople.
  Day-to-day administration of outlying regions was on a different
  basis. Up to the seventh century, the empire was divided into a large
  number of provinces, organized into a smaller number of prefectures.
  In this system, military and civil authorities were kept separate, with
  each region having its own generals for local troops and governors
  for civil affairs.
  The distinction became blurred by Justinian’s establishment of
  exarchates, which blended civil and military authority. In the sev-
  enth century, the empire started to be reorganized into themes, in
  which a local strategos become responsible for both civil and military
  affairs. In time, this system began to devolve again into one splitting
  civil and military authority. Though not directly important to life in
  the capital, the thematic armies were a source for troops recruited by
  elite units stationed in the capital. Additionally, an up-and-coming
  figure in the administration might spend some time governing a
  more remote area.
  Job Titles
  Many officials had titles involving the word epi (literally,
  “for”). In the context of offices, it means something like “the
  person in charge of.” For example, the epi ton deeseon was a
  middle-ranked functionary who handled petitions on behalf
  of the emperor. Similarly, the epi tou kanikleiou was a senior
  clerk, nominally in charge of the emperor’s inkstand and its
  specially restricted red ink but also a significant player in the
  drafting of imperial documents.
  
  Nevertheless, the relationship between civil and religious
  authorities was usually at least a functional one and often
  quite amicable. The head of the Church, the patriarch, was
  typically a close advisor to the emperor. Some patriarchs
  assumed responsibility for educating the emperor’s children.
  A few served as regent in Constantinople for emperors in the
  field during wartime. Churchmen were also used as agents of
  diplomacy. Missionaries were among the most determined to
  reach their intended destinations by whatever means avail-
  able. As holy men, even if peculiar foreign ones, they were
  generally regarded as respectable, so they made good letter-
  carriers or spokesmen for the empire.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  19
  Surrounded by potential enemies, the empire naturally
  maintained powerful defenses. The empire’s first impulse was
  to use diplomacy, which included bribery on a massive scale,
  wherever possible. When diplomacy didn’t work, armies were
  pressed into service.
  TROOPS
  At least into the seventh century, the bulk of the army’s
  manpower was provided theoretically by limitanei. Peasant
  soldiers, they were granted a plot of land sufficient to support
  them and necessary expenses for military service. These land
  grants were both hereditary and inalienable (that is, they
  could not be sold). To the extent that these restrictions were
  enforced, this prevented wealthy rural landlords from accumu-
  lating vast estates (for example, by granting loans to peasants
  and taking their land if they could not repay them). It also
  ensured that the empire would have a reservoir of armed men
  to draw on in wartime.
  However, despite outnumbering regular troops by two to
  one, the limitanei constituted little more than a permanent part-
  time militia, suitable for defending territory they knew well but
  not available for long campaigns and not particularly good on
  offense. As time passed, their land tenures were allowed to
  erode; their importance declined in favor of increased spending
  on more-mobile professional troops. Given the great territorial
  fluctuations of the age, a permanent resident militia would have
  been difficult to maintain anyway.
  Two types of troops carried out the bulk of serious fight-
  ing: thematic armies and the elite regiments (tagma) of
  the capital. Each theme maintained a small body of pro-
  fessional troops, either indigenous soldiers or mercenar-
  ies. The best of the thematic troops and highly skilled
  mercenaries were recruited for the imperial tagma
  mostly clustered in and around Constantinople, often
  serving as bodyguard units for the emperor.
  There were several notable tagma, appearing from the
  early years of the empire to the 10th century: the
  Candidati, the Excubitors (among the oldest units in the
  capital), the Hicanati, the Immortals, the Optimates
  (downgraded to an infantry unit after Heraclius), the Scholae,
  and the Varangian Guard. The empire generally classified
  them as cavalry units.
  Though some of them went through periods of being largely
  ceremonial troops who served for political advantage, most
  were made up of skilled and versatile troops who could fight
  mounted or on foot. Their exact strength was ill-defined and
  varied considerably through time. Estimates range from 500 to
  6,000 men each, with more recent estimates trending toward
  the low end.
  The number of troops in Constantinople likewise fluctuated
  over time. Generally, when not in the field, the tagma were
  located in garrisons within a few miles of city. Only a fraction
  was stationed in the city proper. Some had barracks in the
  palace, while others were stationed in buildings around the
  city or in temporary camps between the Theodosian and Con-
  stantinian walls.
  Most of the tagma were commanded by an officer called a
  domestikos. Of those, the commander of the Scholae rose to
  particular prominence. (His title translates as the distinctly
  unmilitary-sounding “domestic of schools”). In the ninth cen-
  tury, he became a supreme commander of military forces. The
  position was later renamed the megas domestikos (“great
  domestic”), and later still, split into two domestics, each cover-
  ing half of the empire.
  The tagma were a mix of native and foreign troops. The
  Excubitors, for example, started out as predominantly German,
  though they became largely native by the time of Justinian. The
  most famous foreign unit was the Varangian Guard. Late in the
  10th century, emperors distrustful of native troops started hiring
  Scandinavian mercenaries to serve as bodyguards. They were
  joined by other northern Europeans, notably Danes and Anglo-
  Saxons. They had a reputation for being loyal to the throne and
  exceptionally dangerous on the battlefield. A career as a
  Varangian could be very lucrative, so the position attracted no
  end of eager recruits. (See GURPS Russia and GURPS Vikings
  for more about the Scandinavians and their Russian cousins
  from whom the Varangians were first drawn, and GURPS
  Middle Ages 1 for their English successors.)
  In addition to the prestigious cavalry tagma, Constantino-
  ple also had several infantry garrison units: the Numera, the
  Walls, and eventually the Optimates. Each probably had
  around 2,000 troops each. They were responsible for day-to-
  day monitoring of the walls and gates, which were also pro-
  tected by siege engines. The Byzantines used a full range of
  stone- and bolt-throwing artillery operated by auxiliary units,
  from crossbow-like scorpions descended from Roman designs
  to counterweight-operated trebuchets, which were in use pos-
  sibly as early as the sixth century.
  THE MILITARY
  Mercenaries
  Hiring foreigners for important positions was a common
  trick through history. Without a local power base, foreign-
  born troops and officials would have no backing if they
  attempted to revolt; excellent pay helped keep them loyal.
  
  Although maritime themes maintained some military ves-
  sels, Constantinople was home to by far the largest part of the
  imperial fleet. While numbers fluctuated through time and
  depending on the interests of the emperor of the moment, it
  had up to 100 galleys. (See GURPS Low-Tech Companion 2,
  p. 34, for more on the Byzantine place in naval warfare.)
  However, for many periods, this seems to have been less
  strength than the empire needed, so the Byzantines employed
  mercenary vessels and the navies of client states, particularly
  the Venetians.
  Through this period, imperial armies had an elaborate
  command structure. Though it varied in details over time, the
  system as it stood in the ninth century is representative. The
  largest stable unit was a thema of around 4,000 men, under
  the authority of a patrikos. (“Thema” was probably used orig-
  inally to mean a military unit and later became associated
  with its underlying administrative district.) These were
  divided into two turmai of 2,000 men each under a tourmar-
  chos. These were in turn divided into two drouggoi (each
  under a chiliarchos) of 1,000 men, which were composed of 5
  banda (200 men) under a komes. These were further subdi-
  vided into smaller groups of 100 men (under a kentarchos), 
  50 (under a pentakontarchos), 10 (under a dekarchos), and
  five (under a pentarchos).
  Many units varied from the ideal, and quite possibly on pur-
  pose: One bit of advice given in a Byzantine military strategy
  manual was to vary the number of men between units so that
  enemies couldn’t accurately estimate the size of one’s force
  simply by counting unit standards.
  ARMS AND ARMOR
  The Byzantines put a much greater reliance on cavalry
  (particularly heavy cavalry) and bows than their Roman
  predecessors did. Indeed, Byzantine cavalry doubled as shock
  troops and mounted archers. A well-equipped cavalryman
  wore a helmet and a long mail or scale armor shirt reaching
  at least to the knee. He also carried a small shield. He was
  armed with lance, sword (often a single-edged saber), and
  bow (probably recurved or otherwise adapted to use on
  horseback). However, only a minority had such equipment,
  and they were destined to be in the front ranks of any charge.
  Lighter cavalry made do with leather or quilted jackets and
  javelins. Likewise, a minority of horses equipped to lead
  charges wore a bit of frontal armor and had solid plates on
  their hooves to protect from caltrops. Most horses were unar-
  mored for greater speed.
  A similar split appeared in infantry. A well-equipped, front-
  rank footman might have a helmet, long mail shirt, greaves, a
  tall shield, long spear, and sword, possibly with an axe or mace
  instead of or in addition to the blade. The great majority, who
  made up the ranks farther back, had much lighter armor (cloth
  caps, leather or quilted coats). Many had long spears similar to
  those in the front ranks or possibly resembling pikes, while
  others had missile weapons: slings, javelins, or bows similar to
  those used by the cavalry.
  The following equivalents can be used to represent
  Byzantine arms and armor.
  Weapon
  GURPS Equivalent
  Cavalry sword
  Thrusting broadsword
  Cavalry bow
  Reflex bow (Low-Tech, p. 76)
  Quilted coats
  Cloth armor
  Infantry helmet
  Typically a pot-helm, but any other 
  helmet is possible
  Tall infantry shield
  Large shield
  Greaves
  Any shin armor (Low-Tech, p. 100)
  Other items are as listed in the Basic Set and Low-Tech.
  For example, the long spear used by the infantry is the long
  spear on Low-Tech (p. 69).
  Although the general types of arms and armor remained
  fairly consistent for Byzantine troops through this period, the
  empire’s typically declining wealth during the last few cen-
  turies before the Fourth Crusade meant that lighter infantry
  became much more common and the quality of gear was
  much lower among thematic troops. The tagmatic units,
  meanwhile, were consistently well-equipped. They tended to
  be heavily armed, and most were particularly feared for their
  use of maces. Foreigners, both mercenary units and those
  recruited into tagmatic forces, often fought with their own
  native weapons, and some units had their own distinctive
  gear. For example, the Varangians were noted for using long
  axes and rhomphaia, a long-bladed polearm resembling a
  naginata (p. B272).
  BYZANTINE WAR AND PEACE
  The Byzantine attitude toward warfare was ambivalent rel-
  ative to that of some of its neighbors. On one hand, the
  Byzantines acknowledged the emperor’s duty to defend the
  empire and Christianity. They respected military prowess –
  even expected it from their rulers. On the other, they were sen-
  sitive to the economic and human costs of warfare, and had
  trouble reconciling warfare with religious dictates against
  killing and in favor of peace. Unlike the Catholics to the west
  (who invented Crusades) and the Muslims to the east (who had
  militarized aspects of jihad), the Byzantines did not have holy
  war as such. Though the Byzantines had no fondness for infi-
  dels and generally believed God was on their side, religion
  alone was never sufficient reason to declare war.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  20
  When the Greeks saw them retreating . . . they mounted the
  walls and let down their clouts and showed them their backsides.
  – Robert of Clari, The Contest of Constantinople
  
  Consequently, the Byzantine approach to
  war was to fight when they had to, but use
  other tactics to gain peace wherever possible.
  They relied on alliances with more warlike
  nations (whose allegiance was often pur-
  chased), foreign mercenaries, and even
  directly buying off enemies. To the Byzantine
  mind, a purchased peace was still peace, and
  the notion of “millions for defense, not a
  penny for tribute” would have struck them as
  short-sighted, leading to greater bloodshed.
  At least during the early years of the
  empire, this attitude may have made the
  empire more patient and more inclined to
  master defensive warfare. The borders, for
  example, were not particularly strongly
  defended; there were no long walls such as the
  Romans had built along the Danube or the
  Scottish border. Rather, a network of small
  forts distributed across the countryside pro-
  tected the frontiers. They could shelter the
  population in the short term, and they housed
  limitanei and thematic troops who were very
  good at small-unit tactics and guerilla warfare.
  Rather than seek out climactic battles, the
  Byzantines followed a “rope-a-dope” strategy,
  absorbing small losses, denying the enemy access to supplies,
  and letting attackers wear themselves out until Byzantine rein-
  forcements arrived or a diplomatic settlement could be reached.
  The grand strategy shifted in later years. After the reigns of
  more aggressive emperors such as Basil I and Basil II, it was on
  a more offensive footing, with fewer reserves of defensive
  troops and larger mobile armies (mercenaries, professional
  troops associated with administrative districts or, as the Cru-
  sades progressed, soldiers personally loyal to important aristo-
  crats). This also meant that, in times of war, when troops were
  massed for attack on one front, other regions, even the capital
  itself, were ill-prepared for an attack from another angle.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  21
  Using GURPS Mass Combat
  Byzantine troops cover a wide range of types with similarly varying
  equipment and troop quality. Limitanei are levies, consisting of mostly
  Light Infantry, but they may have a few Bowmen and even Medium
  Infantry. Their equipment is typically Basic and their quality Average;
  however, experienced border limitanei can be of higher quality.
  Most infantry are a mix of Heavy Infantry (for the front line troops),
  Medium Infantry, and Bowmen; a few Pikemen might be included as well.
  Their equipment is Basic to Good (typically declining thorough time) and
  their quality Average to Good.
  Though the Byzantines employ some Light Cavalry, their horse troops
  are overwhelmingly Medium Cavalry. Thematic and other regional forces
  have Basic to Good equipment (or Fine in a few cases) and are Average to
  Good quality, while the tagmatic forces have Fine to Very Fine equipment
  and are at least Good quality and typically Elite.
  The Byzantines had a range of artillery (both Light Artillery and Heavy
  Artillery) of Average or better quality and with Good or better equipment.
  Byzantine ships are galleys of various sizes of Average to Good quality
  with Good or Fine equipment. Land units equipped with Greek fire are
  Heavy Artillery with Very Fine equipment. Naval units with Greek fire
  likewise have Very Fine equipment.
  It is hard to overstate the place of religion in Byzantine
  life. Though the empire was not a theocracy, religious
  thought and terminology permeated government and every-
  day life, and the people set their lives’ expectations in terms
  of reaching heaven. Indeed, in several periods, a general con-
  viction that the end of the world was at hand made prepara-
  tion for eternity doubly important.
  Orthodox Christianity can be confusing to many Westerners,
  perhaps because it combines familiar aspects of Western Chris-
  tianity with some that seem to select from across sectarian divi-
  sions and others that are unique to Orthodoxy. For example,
  Orthodox buildings have something of the deliberate grandeur
  of Roman Catholicism, but the Church shares a similarity to
  some Protestant denominations in functioning with less central
  direction. Above all, the history of Orthodoxy is filled with vehe-
  ment, even violent, arguments over points of theology that can
  seem utterly obscure to outsiders, but that did a great deal to
  shape the history and culture of the empire.
  HISTORY
  By the time of Diocletian, a sizable community of Christians
  lived across the Roman empire, but the early Church as a 
  body was fragmented. Local congregations might be reasonably
  well-organized, with a bishop overseeing a number of nearby
  clergy with their parishes. However, at a “national” level, uneven
  communication and vigorous discussion occurred rather than
  hierarchy and order. Doctrinal disputes were rife, and any num-
  ber of local practices in one area were at variance with those
  elsewhere. The organization of the early Church was made all
  the more difficult by the fact that the practice of Christianity was
  illegal. Periodic rounds of persecution could subject Christians
  with penalties up to and including death.
  By the end of the third century, the size and power of the
  Christian community had become such that officials became
  disinclined to continue with persecutions. Constantine (with
  his co-emperor) issued the Edict of Milan in 313, putting an
  end to criminal penalties for being a Christian. Constantine
  himself made a number of friendly gestures toward the reli-
  gion, including building Christian places of worship and
  adopting Christian symbols.
  What the empire sought now was order. Between the
  decriminalization of Christianity and official sponsorship of
  important councils, a widespread organization of Christian
  parishes and doctrine started to solidify. The first ecumenical
  council, convened by the emperor at Nicaea in 325, is gener-
  ally recognized as being the foremost large-scale attempt 
  to assemble consensus on doctrine across Christendom.
  THE CHURCH
  
  Among other resolutions, it produced the first version of the
  Nicene creed (a fundamental statement on what character-
  izes Christianity), established a formula for calculating the
  date of Easter, and made a definitive statement on the nature
  of Christ. Despite the pronouncements of the council,
  whether Christ was solely divine, solely human even if spe-
  cially inspired and gifted, or a combination of the human and
  divine was to prove a contentious issue within the Orthodox
  world for centuries thereafter.
  Later councils and decisions reached by less formal processes
  continued to refine and shape doctrine and organization. By the
  fifth century, most churches came into general agreement on the
  contents of the Bible, though some regional differences per-
  sisted. The primacy of several bishoprics was recognized. Ini-
  tially, these were Alexandria, Antioch, and Rome; that list grew
  to include Constantinople and Jerusalem in 451. In the seventh
  century, Alexandria and Jerusalem fell to the Muslims, and the
  importance of Antioch declined, leaving the bishop of Constan-
  tinople (called the patriarch) and the bishop of Rome (that is,
  the pope) as the two foremost leaders of the Church.
  The Church also expanded beyond
  the boundaries of the empire. Mission-
  aries attached to Rome spread their
  religion north into Germany, Scandi-
  navia, and the British Isles (firming up
  contact with the Celtic Christian com-
  munity, which persisted from the end
  of the Roman imperial era; see GURPS
  Middle Ages 1 for more details).
  Byzantine missionaries had exception-
  ally good luck through the Balkans into
  Eastern Europe and Russia. The most
  notable figure of this movement was
  the ninth-century missionary St. Cyril,
  who invented an alphabet (based heav-
  ily on the Greek alphabet) so that the
  Bible could be translated into Slavic
  languages, which had no written form
  up to that point. This alphabet,
  Glagolitic, in turn became the basis of
  the Cyrillic alphabet still used in Russia
  and parts of Eastern Europe. (GURPS
  Russia goes into greater detail on the
  spread of Christianity in the East.)
  Nevertheless, hoped-for Christian
  unity failed to emerge. For example,
  the Orthodox Church recognizes seven
  ecumenical councils; the last was at
  Nicaea again in 787 to put an end to
  iconoclasm. However, these councils became less influential as
  time went by, particularly for Churches outside of Byzantine
  control. Churches in Mesopotamia and North Africa refused to
  recognize councils after the third, and the Roman Catholic
  Church started its own series of councils in 869.
  The relationship between the Orthodox and the Catholics
  became particularly fraught with difficulty. In addition to a
  number of doctrinal issues, such as the precise wording of the
  Nicene creed, a significant political issue existed in the relative
  primacy of the pope and the patriarch. The popes saw them-
  selves as supreme leaders of Christendom, while the patriarchs
  saw them as first among equals but not rulers. The two became
  increasingly estranged until, in 1054, a delegation of bishops
  sent by Pope Leo IX to Constantinople to make demands on
  the Patriarch Cerularius ended up angrily excommunicating
  Cerularius while Cerularius excommunicated the papal delega-
  tion. Although this event, which has come to be known as the
  Great Schism, didn’t formally separate the two Churches, it
  does mark the point at which the two faith traditions finally
  stopped serious efforts at cooperation. A few tentative moves
  were made to reunite the two Churches after the Fourth Cru-
  sade (mostly attempts by Byzantine emperors trying to gain
  Western aid against the encroaching Turks), but the Orthodox
  rank-and-file resoundingly rejected them. The body of the
  Orthodox Church remained adamant in its refusal to compro-
  mise its doctrines to the end of the empire and beyond.
  ORTHODOX PRACTICE
  Orthodox hierarchy and ceremonies resemble those of many
  other Christian sects, particularly Roman Catholicism. For
  example, most clergy are subject to the authority of a bishop.
  New Christians are initiated by baptism with water. Communal
  services are celebrated on Sun-
  day with hymns, readings, and
  a priest officiating, who deliv-
  ers sermons and distributes
  consecrated wine and bread.
  The religious calendar is
  organized around saints’ days.
  People cross themselves when
  they pray.
  However, in addition to
  numerous theological differ-
  ences of greater or lesser sub-
  tlety, some unique aspects
  were present in Orthodox
  practice and custom. While
  both East and West had a
  hierarchy of clergy (deacons
  and assorted lesser func-
  tionaries, priests, bishops,
  archbishops and metropoli-
  tan bishops, pope or patri-
  arch), the Orthodox didn’t
  recognize differences in theo-
  logical
  authority between
  types of bishop. To them, the
  difference in ranks was essen-
  tially administrative. Ortho-
  doxy also had a tendency
  toward asceticism, teaching
  denial of the flesh more enthusiastically than its Western
  cousin. Nevertheless, while the West moved toward complete
  clerical celibacy, men might be admitted to the Orthodox
  priesthood or lesser positions if they were married before tak-
  ing their vows, though bishops were required to be celibate.
  Priests were bearded in the East, but clean-shaven in the West.
  Nonetheless, though Orthodoxy was fairly permissive in some
  details of worship (services in the local language rather than
  Latin or Greek were entirely acceptable), it was also exception-
  ally conservative on matters of doctrine, becoming increas-
  ingly inclined to reject many of the West’s theological
  innovations, particularly in the late Middle Ages.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  22
  
  Icons
  The best-known and most obvious physical manifestations
  of Orthodoxy were icons, paintings of holy people. The stated
  purpose of icons was to provide a “window into heaven,” illus-
  trating blessed individuals and important principles to a
  largely illiterate audience through a complex visual language
  (see Iconography in GURPS Low-Tech Companion 1, p. 13).
  Many Orthodox homes had at least one icon, kept in a place of
  honor. Those who could afford them would have several.
  Places of worship might have scores of them.
  According to Orthodox doctrine, icons may be venerated,
  but not worshiped. That is, the Orthodox believe that icons
  might be treated with respect (for example, greeted or bowed
  to on entering a room, kissed as part of prayer, and otherwise
  treated with the highest regard). Some also believe that notable
  icons may even provide supernatural benefit. However, the
  images do not themselves embody anything divine. Icons, and
  Orthodox art in general, are prohibited from using more than
  shallow relief carving to avoid prohibitions on graven images,
  which is taken to mean fully three-dimensional statues. Of
  course, the line between veneration and worship seemed a very
  thin one to some.
  Buildings
  The oldest Byzantine churches were similar to other Late
  Roman administrative buildings. They were long rectangular
  buildings with a main entrance on one narrow end and a semi-
  circular apse on the other. Larger ones might have three or five
  aisles separated by rows of columns supporting vaulted ceil-
  ings down their lengths. Byzantine architects later experi-
  mented with other shapes. After the construction of the Hagia
  Sophia, churches were more often built on square or nearly
  square cruciform plans. Domes at the center and half-domes
  around the sides were also common.
  CONTROVERSY AND HERESY
  Orthodoxy translates as “correct belief,” so in claiming the
  epithet, the Church sets out a definite position on the impor-
  tance of getting theological details exactly right. For example,
  an important recurring issue in Orthodox history was the
  relationship of the human and the divine in Christ. Many
  asked whether Christ was human, divine, or something else.
  Orthodox trinitarian doctrine stated that Christ had both a
  divine and a human nature, which were united in his per-
  son. That is, he was at once God and man. However, not
  everyone agreed, nor did those who agreed on the premise
  agree on the details of how that was accomplished. These
  are just a few notable heresies.
  Arianism held that Christ was created by God, making
  him separate and inferior. (Named after a theologian
  named Arius, it should not to be confused with Aryan racial
  mythologies.)
  Monophysitism maintained that Christ contained a
  divine nature that completely subsumed his humanity.
  Monotheletism held that Christ had human and divine
  natures but one will.
  Nestorianism held that Christ possessed both a human
  nature (Jesus himself) and a divine nature (the Son of God),
  which were separate but contained in the same body.
  Though suppressed within the empire, Nestorian missionaries
  were the earliest Christians to penetrate deeply into Asia,
  reaching China by the seventh century.
  Countless other heresies involved other variations on the
  theme, suggesting many novel linkages between the human
  and the divine. The emperor Alexius I, for example, is recorded
  as having lectured a heretic on how Christ’s divine and human
  natures were united, rather than conjoined or commingled.
  One of the other significant theological controversies was
  iconoclasm. For most of its history, the Orthodox Church has
  supported the veneration of icons (see above). However, for a
  period in the eight century and briefly again in the ninth, a furi-
  ous conflict erupted in the Orthodox world between supporters
  of the use of icons (iconophiles or iconodules) and those who
  regarded any representation of holy persons as inherently hereti-
  cal or even blasphemous (iconoclasts). The objections of the
  iconoclasts ranged from a fairly obvious resistance to depictions
  of sacred persons violating the commandment on images (a
  complaint leveled by later Protestants against Catholics) to more
  sophisticated arguments going back to the recurring theme of
  the relationship of the human and divine in Christ and the diffi-
  culty of presenting that relationship in art. Iconodules
  responded that their fondness for icons was not worship. Some
  accused also the iconoclasts of being unduly influenced by other
  religions. Notably, the iconoclasts’ objections to sacred images
  were very close to those offered by many Muslims.
  Like any other kind of dispute, though, these arguments
  went beyond the purely intellectual. Many of them had a
  regional or political tone as well. For example, the Mono-
  physites were concentrated in Egypt, while the Nestorians pre-
  dominated in eastern areas. Emperors and the army were the
  leading iconoclasts, while monasteries were centers of
  iconophile sentiment.
  OTHER RELIGIONS
  The empire tolerated the presence of a limited number of
  non-Christians. During the earlier years of the empire, many
  visitors, particularly those from Scandinavia and the Slavic
  world, would have been various flavors of pagan. A few thou-
  sand Jews lived in Constantinople. Despite the occasional
  move by emperors to bring them into the Orthodox fold, the
  Church actively resisted the idea of forced conversion.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  23
  Non-Orthodox Characters
  Being a Muslim, Jew, or foreigner of any religion
  besides Orthodoxy in the Byzantine empire is good for a -5
  or -10 point Social Stigma depending on the tenor of the
  times. Such a person may not be particularly liked or
  trusted, but will be tolerated. Being a known native Byzan-
  tine heretic, pagan, or convert to another religion is at least
  a -15 Social Stigma. The heretic may also be punished by
  social rejection, fines, or mutilation, represented by other
  disadvantages, such as reduced Wealth, Enemies, physical
  disadvantages like One Hand and One Eye, or Unnatural
  Feature to represent a slit nose or branding with warning
  symbols. Most heretics have a Secret instead (minimum -10
  points for utter rejection).
  
  The imperial palace had lodgings for Muslim diplomats and
  important Muslim captives as early as the eighth century.
  Syrian merchants had a district along the northern shore by
  the 11th. One of those areas, likely the one at the palace, had a
  mosque by the 10th century. It was destroyed during general
  riots on the eve of the Fourth Crusade, but a new one was built
  shortly after the end of the Latin empire.
  However, the general feeling was that other religions were
  things practiced by foreigners, and anyone who wasn’t
  Orthodox didn’t completely belong in the empire. For example,
  although repression of Jews never reached the heights of
  Western Europe’s later Medieval expulsions and
  pogroms, a consistent thread of anti-Semitism
  can be seen throughout the empire’s history.
  Though they could live in the empire, Jews were
  subject to increased taxes and exclusion from
  offices and the military as well as unofficial
  harassment. Actively expressing heretical but still
  Christian views might lead to official persecution
  and even mob violence, to the point where partic-
  ularly oppressed heretics might support invaders
  of a different religion in hopes of better treat-
  ment. Though old religious customs may have
  survived in places in the form of superstitious ritual
  and folk magic, actively practicing old Greco-Roman style
  paganism would likely result in imprisonment and severe pun-
  ishment, up to and including death.
  MONASTICISM
  Like the Catholics, the Orthodox had a strong monastic tra-
  dition, but of a different character. The basic idea is common
  among many religious traditions – people choose to take them-
  selves out of secular society to live among others who have
  dedicated themselves to a life of humility, work, and prayer.
  Byzantine monks left their homes, donated their worldly goods
  to their monastery, took vows, lived in segregated communi-
  ties, and spent most of the time when they weren’t working (in
  fields or on useful trades) in prayer.
  However, the details of Byzantine monasticism were,
  unsurprisingly, different from Western monastic life. Notably,
  the Orthodox did not have monastic orders. With a few minor
  exceptions, every monastery was an independent foundation
  rather than part of a larger organization. They also weren’t
  enthusiastic about cloistering (the practice of isolating monks
  entirely within their religious community without contact with
  the outside world). Byzantine monks were generally able to go
  out into the secular community when they needed to do so.
  Some monks did live in extreme isolation, but they sensibly
  moved into the wilderness, where running into other people
  wasn’t an issue; no hermits resided in Constantinople.
  Just about anybody could enter a monastery, even eunuchs.
  However, no one was allowed to enter a monastery in order to
  escape from a marriage, military service, or other obligations.
  Monasteries also served as political prisons for deposed rulers
  and their relatives. It was even easy to found a new monastery,
  so long as someone could raise sufficient funds and get a few
  other people to join in. The technical minimum was three peo-
  ple, but at least eight was more practical.
  Constantinople was home to a great many monasteries,
  supported by the monks’ own labors and frequently by private
  donations. A given monastery also might require a significant
  donation to ensure the new monk’s upkeep. The members
  often did charitable work, providing for the poor in various
  ways or giving lodging to travelers.
  Most monasteries were small residential compounds, much
  like any other multi-residential dwelling (see Homes, p. 34),
  with a small chapel attached. While the biggest Orthodox
  monasteries in areas where they had room to grow (notably
  the Megisti Lavra on Mt. Athos) might have nearly 1,000
  monks under their jurisdiction, even the largest inside the city
  held less 100 residents, and most included much less than 50.
  RELICS
  Like their Western cousins, the Orthodox were very fond of
  relics – the physical remains and possessions of holy people.
  Constantinople was filled with such tokens (over 3,500 by one
  count), including countless saints’ bones and various bits of
  clothing and furniture belonging to Biblical characters, such as
  the table at which the Last Supper was eaten. Relics were
  thought to have extraordinary powers, usually for healing, pro-
  tection, and converting sinners and heathens. They were also
  used to seal oaths.
  As in the West, relics were kept in elaborate containers
  called reliquaries, ranging in size from small pendants to large
  cabinets. Reliquaries were often richly decorated with precious
  metals and gems. They could be quite valuable themselves (and
  subject to theft by non-Christian or simply not-very-devout
  thieves), although not nearly so valuable as their contents.
  One of the most prized of all relics was allegedly in Byzantine
  hands: the True Cross. According to tradition, the Cross was dis-
  covered by Constantine’s mother and kept in Jerusalem. In the
  seventh century, however, a large part was moved to Constan-
  tinople, where it remained until the 14th century.
  Two of the more popular relics of Constantinople were asso-
  ciated with the Virgin Mary, generally called by her epithet
  Theotokos, “the one who bears God.” One was the Hodegetria, an
  icon of Mary holding the infant Christ, said to have been painted
  by St. Luke (author of the eponymous Gospel) and stored in a
  monastery specially built for that purpose. The other was the
  Maphorion, a robe or shawl she was believed to have worn. Both
  were regarded as signs of a special relationship between Mary
  and the city. When the city was attacked, they were often
  paraded around the walls to encourage the troops.
  Other notable relics included the crown of thorns Christ
  wore when he was crucified (stored in the palace) and the bod-
  ies of the evangelist Luke and the apostle Andrew at Holy
  Apostles Church. A number of patriarchs and emperors going
  back to Constantine himself, several of them saints themselves,
  were also buried there.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  24
  Monk Characters
  Byzantine monks generally have either the Ritualism or Monasti-
  cism versions of Disciplines of Faith. Even those with only Monasticism
  are unlikely to have more than Average wealth. A few monks have
  Asceticism, but those would be stylites and other very dedicated her-
  mits who would not be found in the city.
  
  As strange as it may seem to people in an age of sober, cyn-
  ical realpolitik, a great deal of Byzantine power was grounded
  not just in the empire’s ability to mobilize money and military
  force, but in its ability to impress people with appearances.
  Ceremony and spectacle were vital tools of state. Constantino-
  ple, as the center of wealth and power, was the sharpest tool in
  that particular box.
  The remarkable effect of exposure to official spectacle is illus-
  trated by an incident around the First Crusade. A Viking ruler
  visiting Alexius I was received at the harbor and taken on a car-
  peted route to the palace. He and his party were then treated
  to a feast where gold and other gifts were lavishly distributed,
  followed by an athletic exhibition at the Hippodrome. The
  king was so impressed that he gave the emperor several of the
  ships he had brought with him. As it happened, the foreign
  dignitary didn’t need them anymore; most of his followers
  elected to stay in Constantinople and work for the Byzantines
  instead! Although the Vikings’ response is extreme, it’s still
  similar to the reaction of other visitors. Ambassadors from
  the Abbassid caliphate at its height – no strangers to large and
  well-decorated cities such as Baghdad – found it impressive.
  Visitors from the North and West found it breathtaking
  (where a settlement of 50,000 souls could be considered large,
  and paved streets might be a novelty, to say nothing of com-
  pletely carpeted floors).
  The general character of the described reception is rep-
  resentative of how the city treated people it wanted to
  impress, natives and visitors alike. Ceremonies were, if not
  always exactly public (though many were), then at least
  well-attended. Part of the point of a ceremony, after all, was
  to make a show out of what’s happening. In the case of grand
  ceremonial processions, par for the course whenever impor-
  tant foreign dignitaries visited or when the emperor went any-
  where at all, a crowd could be counted on to turn out. Even
  relatively private official ceremonies were well-attended by
  crowds of prominent spectators. For example, promotion cer-
  emonies for officials involved a sizable number of other offi-
  cials who attended to welcome their colleague into his new
  position. High administrators together received their salaries
  in gold and silk annually from the emperor in a great ceremony
  every Good Friday.
  Gifts were frequently part of Byzantine ceremonies. The
  highest-grade silks and a few other extremely expensive goods
  whose trade was prohibited by the empire were only available
  as official gifts. That Viking who visited Alexius was given a
  robe that he could have obtained in no other way. Even in
  smaller ceremonies, just about anyone directly involved
  received at least a small gift, and official parades were often
  accompanied by functionaries tossing coins to the crowd. The
  practice of distributing money to onlookers ensured a large
  and enthusiastic turnout.
  Processional routes and chambers where ceremonies were
  to be held were elaborately decorated. Streets might be strewn
  with flowers or perfume-scented sawdust, and other surfaces
  ornamented with banners and various other decorations.
  Although often done at governmental expense, shopkeepers
  along processional routes frequently would undertake that
  expense themselves to curry favor with imperial officials and
  advertise goods.
  During ceremonies, theatrical devices were integrated into
  the proceedings. The emperor was often hidden behind a cur-
  tain, which was pulled back to reveal him dramatically at the
  appropriate moment. Some locations, notably the Magnaura
  palace, contained automata and hydraulic mechanisms such
  as a rising throne to overawe the visitor.
  A more subtle use of spectacle was to win over long-term
  visitors slowly. A number of foreign rulers were allowed or
  required to place relatives in and around the imperial court.
  These people may have been ambassadors, leaders of semi-per-
  manent trade missions, children married into the Byzantine
  aristocracy, or simply hostages exchanged according to treaty
  in order to ensure peace. Once in Constantinople, they were
  encouraged to become used to the luxurious lifestyle of the
  capital. This usually had the effect of making such visitors
  markedly more sympathetic to the Byzantine viewpoint when
  they returned home. Even if they didn’t become rulers in their
  own right, they gave a voice to Byzantine concerns in their
  native lands.
  Although Constantinople’s monumental architecture pro-
  vided an unmatched backdrop to these goings-on, a great deal
  of work had to be coordinated by official masters of ceremony:
  Prepare the site of the ceremony. Ensure that each participant
  knew his proper place. Decide how to get to the site (depend-
  ing on circumstances, the most important people in the cere-
  mony might travel on foot, on horseback, by chariot, or on a
  litter). Make sure the appropriate items of imperial regalia
  were available and in good repair. Plan a menu for a banquet.
  Recruit athletes or musicians for entertainment. And that’s
  only the basics!
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  25
  Spare No Expense
  In GURPS terms, all of this pomp constitutes using
  direct bribery, Appearance modifiers (based on the appear-
  ance of the city and ceremonial sites!), and a diverse range
  of complementary skills (see GURPS Social Engineering,
  p. 21) in support of bonuses to reaction rolls and Influence
  rolls based on Diplomacy skill. Using the rules for luxury
  pricing and decorated equipment in GURPS Low-Tech
  (p. 37), any item handed out by the emperor has a mini-
  mum CF of +5. Often, it was worth more as necessary to
  make it at least commensurate with the Status of the recip-
  ient of the gift. Influence on diplomatic hostages can be
  treated as a case of ongoing relationships, with the Byzan-
  tine diplomatic machine working very hard to accumulate
  bonuses to loyalty checks.
  RANK, SPECTACLE, 
  AND CEREMONY
  
  Since the emperor just going to church meant arranging a
  parade, the amount of preparation necessary for all of these
  ceremonies led naturally to a rigorous and busy schedule for
  the emperor and many officials. It also meant extensive docu-
  mentation specifying the precise procedure for a wide range of
  ceremonies, down to ceremonial pleasantries, where and how
  many times someone approaching the emperor prostrates
  himself, wardrobe for participants and important spectators,
  and so on. For example, several pages were written on exactly
  how the emperor should ask various ambassadors “How are
  you, and how’s everybody back home?”
  The need for organization played into an elaborate system
  of honorary titles, which came in a distinct order. The follow-
  ing example list covers titles in use in and around the 10th cen-
  tury, in descending order of precedence.
  • Basileus Autokrator.
  • Basileus.
  • Magistros.
  • Vestes.
  • Anthypatos.
  • Patrikios.
  • Protospatharios.
  • Dishypatos.
  • Spatharokandidatos.
  • Spatharios.
  • Hypatos.
  • Kandidatos.
  • Basilikos Mandator.
  • Vestetor.
  • Silentiarios.
  • Stratelates.
  Most honors grant or recognize Status, though particularly
  lowly ones may simply count as Courtesy Rank. They were
  usually awarded to officials and members of the aristocracy.
  (Although almost no titles were hereditary during the period in
  question, just about any member of a politically connected
  family could count on acquiring some during his life.) They
  might also be awarded to foreigners, depending on the esteem
  in which the emperor held them or their nations. The overall
  order was also punctuated with titles reserved for eunuchs
  (which had some overlap with the main list) and women (most
  of which were simply feminine forms of the main list).
  However, the list changed over time. A process of “rank
  inflation” caused some titles to be overused, requiring new and
  better titles to be created while others fell down the list and
  into disuse. For example, hypatos (con-
  sul), a title that had survived from the
  Roman period, was used so much that
  dishypatos (double-consul) had to be
  invented. Both became so overused
  that they lost all distinction and fell out
  of favor by the later Crusades. The
  emperor Alexius I introduced no less
  than four high-ranking titles based on
  sebastos (venerable), including panhy-
  persebastos (venerable over all), proto-
  sebastos (first of the venerable), and
  sebastokrator (venerable lord), in order
  to give new distinctions to the aristo-
  crats with whom he needed to curry
  favor. Even as the empire shrank during
  its final days, the list of honors grew. The Paeleologan period
  had at least 32 ranked court titles.
  The order of precedence was followed in arranging partici-
  pants and official spectators at ceremonies. For example, a
  protospatharios would get better seating than a dishypatos,
  who would get a better place than a spatharios, who would in
  turn get a better place than a hypatos. To complicate matters,
  noble titles were only loosely linked to governmental offices,
  which had their own hierarchy. Both were separate from mili-
  tary ranks. Inevitably, ranks and titles didn’t line up (a logo-
  thete, for example, was also a protospatharios, but not always),
  so the masters of ceremony had to sort out details of priority.
  An organizer might need a Professional Skill (Master of Cere-
  monies) skill to resolve the details and Savoir-Faire to smooth
  any feathers ruffled over quibbles about precedence!
  It’s possible that ceremonial experts assisted with the
  details. Someone being presented to the emperor was often
  accompanied by a functionary who led him around. Those
  functionaries may have been trained in the appropriate cere-
  monial choreography, allowing them to prompt or even speak
  for less-prepared foreigners and other participants. This took
  the burden of remembering exactly what to do and when to do
  it off of the subject of the ceremony so that everything could
  go as smoothly and impressively as intended.
  Still, practicality did win out from time to time. Notably, a
  great deal of this order went by the wayside during times of
  war. Processions continued (or, indeed, intensified) when the
  city was under direct attack as a morale-building tool. How-
  ever, if the emperor were in the field, the main reason for all
  of those ceremonies was no longer present, so the city had a
  break from the constant spectacles.
  HELP WITH HIERARCHICAL
  CLASSIFICATIONS
  The 10th-Century Title Table (p. 27) lists offices, honors, and
  other hierarchical classifications mentioned in this supple-
  ment, along with their pronunciation and a Rank or Status
  associated with them, calibrated for the 10th century and for
  use in the city of Constantinople. A great many more titles
  existed for offices and honors outside the city and in other peri-
  ods, and many minor titles were in use during the period but
  are difficult to classify. 
  The Byzantine system of titles and honors is extensive enough
  to require more than the typical 8 levels of Rank or Status.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  26
  Adventure Seed: The Laundry Chase
  The adventurers, employed by an imperial functionary, have been sent early
  one morning to pick up a bundle of red-dyed tunics from the tailor who has just
  finished making them. They arrive to find the tailor distraught. His shop has
  been burgled in the night. Worse yet, the fine tunics are gone! That’s bad for the
  tailor, who would like to get paid but can’t until the garments are delivered, but
  it’s even worse for the PCs, who need to have the tunics by the evening for a cer-
  emony to formally receive an important ambassador. They must track down the
  thief, find the garments, and deliver them unblemished to the palace (because
  there won’t be time to wash and dry them) in the course of the day or face a
  diplomatic disaster.
  
  Thus, some of the positions here include fractional Rank or
  Status (a concept introduced in Social Engineering), where
  the extra 0.5 costs 2 points. (For example, a dekarchos pays a
  total of 7 points for his Rank 1.5.) The extra 0.5 serves as a
  “tiebreaker” for determining who outranks whom, and ensures
  a minimum +1 reaction from those below you; e.g., a pentar-
  chos reacts at +1 to a dekarchos or a pentakontarchos. For all
  other purposes, ignore this fraction.
  Officials often, but do not always, have an honorific title
  and Status commensurate with their Rank. “Epi” titles (see
  p. 18) are highly varied and used by everyone, from otherwise
  nameless clerks with Administrative Status 1 to subsidiary des-
  ignations specifying the duties of high officials; for example,
  the epi tou kanikleiou was typically a chartoularios.
  10th-Century Title Table
  Name
  Pronunciation
  Level
  Notes
  Army (Military Rank)
  Patrikos
  pat-ri-kos
  7
  Tourmarchos
  to-ur-mar-chos
  6
  Chiliarchos
  chi-li-ar-chos
  5
  Komes
  ko-mes
  4
  Kentarchos
  ken-tar-chos
  3
  Pentakontarchos
  pen-ta-kon-tar-chos
  2
  Dekarchos
  dek-ar-chos
  1.5
  Pentarchos
  pent-ar-chos
  1
  Clergy (Clerical Rank)
  Patriarkos (patriarch) pa-tri-ar-kos
  8
  Episkopos 
  e-pis-ko-pos 
  7
  Metropolitikos
  me-tro-po-li-ti-kos
  (metropolitan bishop)
  Archiepiskopos
  ar-chie-pis-ko-pos
  6
  (archbishop)
  Episkopos (bishop)
  e-pis-ko-pos
  5
  Presbyteros (priest)
  pres-by-te-ros
  4
  Diakonos (deacon)
  dia-ko-nos
  3
  Hypodiakonos 
  hy-po-di-a-ko-nos
  2
  (subdeacon)
  Anagnostes
  an-ag-nos-tes
  1
  (reader or lector)
  Psaltes (cantor)
  psal-tes
  0.5
  Name
  Pronunciation
  Level
  Notes
  Government Officials (Administrative Rank)
  Eparchos
  e-par-kos
  6
  Sakellarios
  sa-kel-la-ri-os
  6
  Praitor ton Demon
  prai-tor ton de-mon
  5
  Protasekretis
  pro-ta-se-kre-tis
  6
  Koiaistor
  koi-a-is-tor
  5
  Legatarios
  le-ga-ta-ri-os
  5
  Logothetes
  lo-go-the-tes
  4-6
  [1]
  Chartoularios
  char-tou-la-ri-os
  3-5
  [2]
  Geitoniarches
  gei-to-ni-ar-ches
  4
  Krites
  kri-tes
  3
  Logothetes 
  lo-go-the-tes 
  3
  tou Praitoriou
  tou prai-to-ri-ou
  Symponos
  sym-po-nos
  3
  Boullotes
  boul-lo-tes
  2
  Elaioparchos
  e-lai-op-ar-chos
  2
  Meteres
  met-er-es
  2
  Grammatikos
  gram-mat-i-kos
  1
  Household Officials (Administrative Rank)
  Parakoimomenos
  pa-ra-koi-mo-me-nos
  7
  [3]
  Chartoularios 
  char-tou-la-ri-os 
  6
  tou Vestiariou
  tou ves-ti-a-ri-ou
  Praipositos
  prai-po-si-tos
  6
  Protovestarios
  pro-to-ves-ta-ri-os
  5
  Koubikoularios
  kou-bi-kou-la-ri-os
  –
  [3]
  Honors (Status)
  Basileus Autokrator
  ba-si-leus au-to-kra-tor
  8
  Basileus
  ba-si-leus
  7.5
  Magistros
  ma-gis-tros
  7
  Vestes
  ves-tes
  6.5
  Anthypatos
  an-thyp-a-tos
  6
  Patrikios
  pa-tri-ki-os
  5.5
  Protospatharios
  pro-to-spa-tha-ri-os
  5
  Dishypatos
  dis-hyp-a-tos
  4.5
  Spatharokandidatos
  spa-tha-ro-kan-di-da-tos
  4
  Spatharios
  spa-tha-ri-os
  3.5
  Hypatos
  hyp-a-tos
  3
  Kandidatos
  kan-di-da-tos
  2.5
  Basilikos Mandator
  ba-si-li-kos man-da-tor
  2
  Vestetor
  ves-te-tor
  1.5
  Silentiarios
  si-len-ti-a-ri-os
  1
  Stratelates
  stra-te-la-tes
  0.5
  Notes
  [1] Logothetes have greater or lesser rank depending on the
  importance of their department.
  [2] A chartoularios has Administrative Rank one level
  lower than the logothetes he serves. A megas chartoularios, if
  one exists in a given ministry, has Administrative Rank a half-
  level lower.
  [3] The parakoimomenos, as head of the imperial house-
  hold, also supervises a staff of koubikoularioi (domestic ser-
  vants) of varying Servant Rank (not Administrative Rank).
  Those who clean, carry, and so on directly for the imperial
  family have Servant Rank 4-6; lesser servants who essentially
  never have contact with the emperor have Rank as low as 1.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  27
  
  Like any other nation of its level of technology, the Byzan-
  tine economy was based mostly on agricultural production.
  Though the empire lost the rich territories of Egypt and Syria
  in the seventh century, its remaining territories had a good
  deal of reasonably good farmland, particularly through Anato-
  lia. It had lucrative vineyards and olive groves. Additionally, a
  number of small deposits of iron, silver, and other metals were
  scattered through the empire.
  Constantinople was a trade hub. Next to no restrictions
  were placed on what could be imported into the empire or
  traded internally. However, some export restrictions existed.
  Gold was at the top of the list. The longer the precious metal
  stayed in circulation within the empire, the more opportunities
  came up for it to be captured in taxation and added to the
  imperial treasury for diplomatic or military use. Also restricted
  were weapons, staple foods, and the finest silks (again reserv-
  ing their use outside the empire for high-value bribes and
  impressive diplomatic gifts).
  Constantinople was also an important pilgrimage site.
  Although it didn’t have direct biblical associations, the city’s
  hundreds of churches contained thousands of relics (see Relics,
  p. 24). The city’s sacred associations, combined with its rela-
  tive security, made Constantinople a major Christian tourist
  attraction. (Most biblical sites were usually either in war-torn
  locations or occupied by Muslims.)
  Constantinople’s primary enterprise, though, was arguably
  government. It was home to the imperial household, the
  empire’s leading church, and a great deal of administrative
  apparatus. It was, therefore, home to a disproportionately large
  number of wealthy households and a government that put an
  emphasis on overawing visitors with physical symbols and cere-
  monies. This, in turn, pumped cash brought in via taxation back
  into circulation.
  MONEY
  The Byzantine economy in general and that of Constantino-
  ple in particular was very monetized. Most commercial transac-
  tions and, by the 10th century, almost all taxes were in cash
  rather than in kind. Therefore, the economy naturally required
  hard currency. Although the empire had many short-lived mints
  in various places, Constantinople was by far the most important
  mint throughout the empire’s existence, and the only one for
  many periods. (During the sixth and seventh centuries, some
  small mints to supply the exarchates in Italy and Africa.)
  The first true Byzantine coinage was issued under Anasta-
  sius at the end of the fifth century. Most transactions were car-
  ried out with currency based on the copper nummus
  (meaning, simply, “coin”), a tiny, sequin-like disk no more than
  1/2” across. The nummus was the penny of the day, so most
  meaningful transactions were carried out with a variety of
  denominations of copper coins.
  Coin
  Value (nummi)
  Value ($)
  Nummus
  1
  0.20
  Pentannumium
  5
  1
  Decannumium
  10
  2
  Half-follis
  20
  4
  Follis
  40
  8
  “Follis” means “purse,” reflecting an earlier practice of
  transacting business with sealed pouches of small-value coins.
  The values above are appropriate for the sixth century, but all
  coins shrank significantly during the seventh century, with
  commensurate impact on their values.
  Very large transactions were carried out with gold coins.
  The gold coin of the early Byzantine period was the solidus or
  nomisma, a coin under an inch in diameter and worth between
  6,000 and 24,000 nummi depending on the cumulative effects
  of various currency reforms, or a uniform value of $1,200. The
  solidus was consistently high-quality into the 11th century,
  maintaining its weight and a gold content of 95% or above.
  This made it a remarkably influential currency. During the
  early Middle Ages, countries in Western Europe that
  weren’t wealthy enough to mint their own gold coins
  used the solidus in their monetary systems. Not only
  were Byzantine coins the most common gold coins
  in Western Europe up to the 13th century, they influ-
  enced the naming of coins. The Byzantine solidus,
  for example, became the French sou, while medieval
  Western Europeans would often refer to gold coins
  as “byzants” or “bessants” (from “Byzantium”), a
  term that made its way into heraldry.
  Silver coins were quite rare, perhaps because
  gold sufficed to fill the high-value coinage role. The
  silver hexagram was issued for less than 100 years
  starting in the late seventh century, and the silver
  miliaresion appeared from the ninth to the 11th.
  Neither achieved the importance of the copper and
  gold coins.
  Although aspects of the Anastasian currency
  remained very stable through some very bad times,
  Byzantine coinage as a whole became thoroughly
  debased in the 11th century. By the reign of Alexius I, coins
  smaller than the half-follis had vanished, the remaining copper
  coins had shrunk significantly, and the solidus contained a frac-
  tion of its original gold content. Alexius replaced the old cur-
  rency with a new series of coins.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  28
  ECONOMY AND COMMERCE
  Prices
  Few absolute restrictions were put on prices. However, a mer-
  chant was limited in how much profit he could make in the city.
  Those limits, though, only applied to middlemen. Producers could
  usually charge what the market would bear. Craftsmen could sell
  their own goods for whatever they liked without direct constraints.
  Likewise, farmers sold their grain onto a more-or-less open mar-
  ket. However, the government exercised indirect control over the
  price of grain by stockpiling it in good years and selling it in bad
  ones, keeping the supply and therefore prices relatively stable. For
  some years after Constantinople was established as a capital, a free
  grain dole for the poor was in place, mirroring that of Rome. That
  would have had an impact on local prices, but it was discontinued
  when the Syrian and Egyptian provinces were lost to the Persians.
  
  Coin
  Material
  Value
  noummioi
  $
  Half-tetareron
  copper
  0.5
  0.58
  Tetareron noummion
  copper
  1
  1.15
  Tetareron noummion
  billon
  3
  3.45
  Aspron trachi
  billon
  18
  20.70
  Aspron trachi
  electrum
  288
  331.20
  Hyperpyron
  gold
  864
  1,000
  In addition to making significant use of the alloys billon
  (copper and silver) and electrum (silver and gold), the scheme
  was complicated by having different versions of the same
  denominations made in different materials, so two coins of the
  same name could have different values. The hyperpyron, while
  the same weight as the solidus and reasonably stable up to the
  Fourth Crusade, was not quite as pure as the earlier gold coin,
  hence less valuable. Many of these coins were slightly cup-
  shaped, making it easier to stack them.
  The Alexian currency continued even after the Fourth
  Crusade, but declined in quality. After more reforms to fit a
  diminished economy, gold currency was discontinued in the
  14th century, leaving only poor silver and copper coinage until
  the end.
  INDUSTRY
  Cities were centers of industrial production in the Byzan-
  tine empire, and Constantinople was the center of a great deal
  of particularly high-end work. Smiths working in copper and
  bronze were likely concentrated to the north of the palace dis-
  trict, in a neighborhood that obtained its name from them:
  Chalkoprateia. Glass production – for vessels, windows, and
  mosaic tesserae – was carried out in the Strategion neighbor-
  hood in the northwestern part of the city. There is evidence of
  a significant leather industry, though the foul smells associated
  with leather tanning may have kept production facilities out-
  side of the city proper.
  Constantinople is believed to be the source of a glazed,
  white-bodied pottery found through the empire, but actual
  production facilities may have been in Galata and other spots
  very close to but technically outside of the city. The white-ware
  also served as a basis for a high-quality multicolored painted
  ware, which was likewise produced in or around the city.
  Naturally, Constantinople was a center of luxury trades.
  Factories and workshops for the production of jewelry, fine
  silk, and other imperial monopolies or near-monopolies were
  located in or around the palace. Nearby, practical items of
  strategic importance – arms and armor – were made.
  Not only were Constantinople’s craft products traded
  around the empire and beyond, so were its craftsmen. Skilled
  artisans were occasionally loaned to foreign rulers to produce
  artworks and buildings for them. A Byzantine mosaic artist was
  considered a particular prize.
  Many craftsmen were organized into guilds, though cer-
  tainly not all and possibly not the majority. Numerous guilds
  were highly specialized. For example, separate and mutually
  exclusive guilds existed for importing silk, processing raw silk,
  and dyeing and weaving silk. These were all in turn separate
  from textile retailers and tailors.
  As in the West, the guilds in Constantinople were useful for
  mutual support, product regulation, and assigning civic tasks.
  The guilds were often responsible for contributions to particu-
  lar events and ceremonies. In emergencies, they could be
  called on as an auxiliary militia.
  THE APPARATUS OF POWER
  29
  The Byzantine Empire was certainly technologically
  advanced for its time. If legends of its heritage can be
  believed, it could be even more so. Though only a handful
  of marvels are attributed directly to the Byzantines, the
  empire’s dusty libraries could hold countless secrets of the
  ancients. (See Technology, pp. 36-37, for the real devices,
  and Fantasy-Tech, p. 43, for ideas on where to go with
  imaginary technologies). Of course, if the Byzantines have
  this knowledge, it raises the question of why its practical
  products weren’t widely available.
  First, Byzantine high-tech leans strongly toward exotic
  luxuries for use by the imperial administration, with a par-
  ticular eye to diplomacy: hydraulic and mechanical won-
  ders, elaborate mosaic, fine silk, and so on. Greek fire,
  terrifying though it is, is an exception. The Byzantines, to
  some extent like their Roman forebears, simply weren’t
  interested in technology for its own sake. They valued sta-
  bility over progress, and the ability to sway hearts and
  minds over the power to till fields and destroy armies.
  Second, where they did use unusual technologies, the
  Byzantines were very interested in controlling their unique
  resources. Anything that the empire knew how to make
  and others didn’t was treated as something approaching a
  national treasure, to be provided only to close allies or
  those who require the most expensive bribes. Technicians
  who could make them were closely watched. Moreover,
  getting to own or even use, say, Archimedes’ reflective heat
  ray was as much a political act as anything else – or the
  subject of a concerted campaign of scholarship and indus-
  trial espionage . . .
  Weird Science and Industry
  He who has bread 
  has many problems. 
  He who has no bread
  has only one.
  – Byzantine proverb
  
  “What was he like?” Emile asked.
  Gervais stretched his leg, sore even from the few minutes of
  standing, out on the couch. “The emperor? He seemed . . . tall.
  And he had a beard.”
  “What did he say?”
  “Didn’t understand a word he said.”
  “Did you say anything to him?”
  Gervais frowned into space. “I think I swore fealty to him.”
  NOTABLE PEOPLE
  30
  CHAPTER FOUR
  NOTABLE
  PEOPLE
  As in many periods, the best-documented people are the
  rulers. The Byzantine emperors were a varied lot, ranging from
  peasants to those born in the imperial palace. These are some
  of the more interesting ones.
  JUSTINIAN (482-565, 
  R. 527-565) AND
  THEODORA (C. 497-548)
  Both Justinian and Theodora came from relatively humble
  origins. Justinian’s family were peasants who lived near modern
  Serbia. However, his uncle was able to come up through the
  ranks of the army to become the emperor Justin I. Justinian was
  one of Justin’s closest advisors and became his designated heir
  shortly before the elderly emperor’s death. Theodora came from
  an even lower social stratum. She was the daughter of an animal
  trainer in the Hippodrome and a dancer, and entered show busi-
  ness herself at an early age. She became acquainted with many
  high officials while having an affair with a governor of Libya,
  and eventually encountered Justinian. They were married after
  a law preventing actresses from marrying officials was repealed
  specifically for that purpose.
  Once they reached the throne, they pushed the empire to a
  height it would never regain. They spent vast sums expanding
  the empire to the West, stopping formidable enemies in the
  East, rebuilding the city after the Nika riots, and making at
  least a temporary peace in some conflicts within the Church.
  Although not brilliant administrators, Justinian and Theodora
  had a talent for gathering skilled agents and advisors, allowing
  them to execute their policies with considerable success. They
  also established the Byzantine tradition of elaborate ceremony
  at court (see Rank, Spectacle, and Ceremony, pp. 25-27).
  Though his territorial gains were short-lived, Justinian
  ensured his ongoing influence in a round of legal reforms
  embodied in the Corpus Juris Civilis, also known as the Codex
  Justinianus. One of the empire’s last major texts to be pub-
  lished in Latin, this massive work was a compilation of exist-
  ing laws and interpretations, intended to serve as the sole
  source of law going forward from its publication. It retained
  considerable importance within the empire and became a fun-
  damental legal text in the West in later centuries, both directly
  and as a model for new legal codes. Justinian’s reforms also
  included notable expansions of rights for women, probably
  due to Theodora’s influence.
  If encountered, Justinian is pleasant, with a ruddy complex-
  ion, a round face, and an easy manner. Short, pale Theodora
  has left at least part of her theatrical past behind her, bearing
  herself with great dignity. Their enemies represented them
  respectively as a dissolute demon in human form and a vicious
  shrew with a past as an enthusiastic sexual deviant. Though
  that characterization is unlikely, it can be useful if the GM
  wants to present the Byzantine empire as an evil dictatorship.
  HERACLIUS
  (C. 575-641, R. 610-641)
  Heraclius was born into a military family. His father, of the
  same name, was a prominent general fighting the Persians in
  the early 590s, after which he as appointed exarch of Africa. In
  608, Heraclius, his father, and a cousin revolted against the
  unpopular emperor Phocas. Heraclius himself took
  Constantinople without an appreciable fight, thanks to the
  sudden defection of an imperial bodyguard unit. According to
  tradition, he executed Phocas himself.
  Having achieved the throne, Heraclius spent most of his
  reign either at war or preparing for it. Beset by Avars in the
  Balkans and Persians rampaging through the empire’s 
  eastern possessions – coming within sight of Constantinople
  on the far side of the Bosporus – he had to buy off his pow-
  erful enemies to gain some time. In 622, he launched a
  years-long, multi-lateral counterattack against the Persians.
  RULERS
  
  Persian and Avar armies managed to besiege Constantinople,
  but they were unable to penetrate the city’s defenses. At the
  same time, Heraclius was able to strike into Mesopotamia to
  much greater effect, sacking major cities and making it about
  as far as the future site of Baghdad before the Persians surren-
  dered in 629.
  However, his gains were short-
  lived. Within five years, the empire
  suffered an onslaught of Muslim
  armies. Heraclius would lose what
  he had regained from the Persians
  by the time of his death. He did not
  take the field during their advance,
  probably because of age and declin-
  ing health, and he could not find
  generals to match his own skill.
  Many of his domestic efforts
  were passing as well. His attempts
  to integrate Monophysites with
  Orthodoxy via novel theological
  ploys were roundly rejected. How-
  ever, his reign did have a few last-
  ing impacts, notably the final
  abandonment of Latin in favor of
  Greek as an official language.
  Oddly, Heraclius was widely
  respected by Muslim historians, who
  regarded him as a wise, just, and
  pious ruler. Some wrote that he had
  personally accepted Islam but had
  been unable to convert the empire.
  However, there’s nothing in Byzan-
  tine sources to suggest that Heraclius
  had ever encountered any Muslims or,
  indeed, had the faintest idea what Islam was.
  If encountered, Heraclius is a classic leader of warriors,
  able to withstand the rigors of the field as well as any soldier in
  his earlier days, but probably suffering from either physical
  debilities or something like post-traumatic stress as an older
  man. He is also, if not a deeply inspirational leader, at least a
  highly competent one, whom circumstances robbed of lasting
  success. He doesn’t have fanatical followers, but he can consis-
  tently convince people to do what he needs them to. His wife,
  Martina, frequently accompanies him. Martina is his niece,
  and the marriage is deeply unpopular, but Heraclius is very
  fond of her.
  IRENE
  (C. 750-803, R. 797-802)
  Irene was born into an aristocratic family in Athens. She was
  an orphan, raised by her uncle, the regional governor of Greece.
  She was brought to Constantinople while hardly out of her
  teens. In short order, she was married to the man who would
  become the emperor Leo IV. When Leo died on campaign
  against the Bulgars in 780, Irene became regent in the name of
  their son (the future Constantine VI) until he reached majority.
  Although Leo had been an iconoclast, Irene was a semi-
  secret iconophile. She maneuvered for a sympathetic patriarch
  to be elected in 784. In 787, she called an ecumenical council
  at Nicaea to formally endorse the use of icons, ending icono-
  clasm for the moment despite opposition from the military.
  Irene oversaw some important moments in stabilizing the
  empire’s territorial erosion. Notably, she supported efforts to
  defeat the Slavs occupying Greece by 782, and she reached
  arrangements to pay off the 
  legendary caliph Haroun al-
  Raschid in return for a tempo-
  rary end to Arab raids on
  Anatolia. She also flirted with
  the possibility of uniting East-
  ern and Western Europe’s great
  powers. She allegedly consid-
  ered a marriage between Con-
  stantine and a daughter of
  Charlemagne, or perhaps even
  Charlemagne and herself.
  However, 
  considerable
  resistance to her ambitions
  arose from many opponents,
  not the least of whom was her
  son. Constantine was declared
  emperor in 790, though Irene
  stayed on as a co-ruler. They
  warily plotted against one
  another until, in 797, Irene had
  him 
  seized 
  and 
  blinded.
  Constantine died shortly there-
  after, leaving Irene in control
  of the empire. After eight cen-
  turies of Roman and Byzantine
  imperial continuity, she was
  the first woman to be sole offi-
  cial ruler of the empire. She
  reigned for a few years more, until she was herself overthrown
  in 802 and imprisoned in a convent on an island in the Aegean,
  dying the next year.
  Although her reign was an important moment in restoring
  the traditional Orthodox position on icons and the territorial
  integrity of the empire, it also contributed to a further wors-
  ening of relations between the Byzantine empire and the
  papacy, despite considerable efforts to improve relations with
  Rome. According to tradition, only men were allowed to be
  emperor. Irene managed to overcome that limitation as a
  practical matter, but outside the empire, her accession was
  not so well regarded. One of the pretexts used by Pope Leo III
  in crowning Charlemagne emperor on Christmas of the year
  800 was that the imperial throne had become vacant. Essen-
  tially, he argued that Irene wasn’t a legitimate ruler and it
  therefore fell to him to appoint one who was. This was but
  one more grievance that contributed to the ultimate split
  between Eastern and Western Churches.
  In later depictions, Irene is very tall and very thin. (Irene
  was revered for restoring icons, so she ended up on some of
  them herself.) She may have been selected during a bridal
  show, a custom in which large numbers of women were
  paraded past the young heir to the throne until he picked one
  as a wife, so she may have been quite attractive as well. How-
  ever, she clearly played the dangerous game of Byzantine poli-
  tics well. She was very good at keeping secrets until the last
  minute, and capable of acting without mercy or pity.
  NOTABLE PEOPLE
  31
  
  BASIL I THE MACEDONIAN
  (C. 830-886, R. 867-886)
  The emperor Basil I is the Byzantine empire’s great rags-to-
  riches story. Although of Armenian descent, Basil was born
  into a peasant family in Macedonia in the early 830s. As a
  young man, he managed to find a job in the stables of a distant
  relative of the emperor Michael III, which started him up a
  remarkably tall ladder. While still in that position, he is said to
  have been the lover of an exceptionally rich widow who
  endowed him with considerable wealth. He eventually caught
  the emperor’s attention in a wrestling match where he defeated
  a noted Bulgarian athlete. The impressed emperor made Basil
  a bodyguard and, eventually, parakoimomenos. This was an
  unusual honor since Basil was emphatically not a eunuch, as
  was customary for that position. By 866, Basil had eliminated
  his major rivals for influence at the palace and been appointed
  a junior emperor. The next year, Basil had Michael killed and
  ascended the throne himself.
  For a former peasant who still spoke Greek with a thick
  accent, Basil proved an able administrator and a wildly suc-
  cessful emperor, kicking the restoration of Byzantine territory
  into high gear. Still, his personal life was not necessarily the
  best. After becoming Michael’s bodyguard, he was ordered to
  divorce his first wife (and mother of his first two children) 
  and marry Eudokia Ingerina, a mistress of Michael’s. This gave
  Michael a means of keeping Eudokia around without having to
  divorce his own wife. Although Eudokia and Basil stayed mar-
  ried until her death, Basil considered divorcing her in favor of
  a marriage alliance with the Carolingians, while Eudokia had
  at least one significant affair. Moreover, because of the circum-
  stances of their relationship, many believed that their second
  son (who would eventually become the emperor Leo VI) was
  actually fathered by Michael. Basil himself probably thought
  as much, too.
  Basil’s eventful life ended at a relatively early age. He died
  in 886, as the result of complications following injuries sus-
  tained from a hunting accident.
  If encountered, Basil may be unrefined, but he’s extremely
  intelligent and physically fit, with formidable combat skills.
  He’s also utterly ruthless if he believes himself threatened.
  ALEXIUS I COMNENUS
  (C. 1050-1118, 
  R. 1081-1118)
  Alexius came from an established noble family. Like Justinian,
  his uncle (Isaac I) had been an emperor, though his uncle’s reign
  was brief and there were several other emperors separating Alex-
  ius from his uncle’s reign. Alexius had a long military career start-
  ing in the 1070s, but even at an early age, he showed a gift for
  diplomacy. He had a knack for either settling conflicts peaceably
  or fighting enemies with other people’s armies – Turks against
  Turks; Cumans against Pechenegs. However, he may have over-
  reached himself by setting Franks against Muslims in the Cru-
  sades. Despite the flow of Western armies rapidly growing out of
  control, Alexius still performed remarkable feats of diplomacy by
  getting the Crusader lords to return recovered land to the empire,
  even if the various agreements were eventually breached.
  Alexius was also well-versed in plotting and counter-plotting.
  His near-bloodless overthrow of Nikephoros III involved quietly
  drawing together significant military support and bribing guards
  to allow troops loyal to him into the city. He likewise foiled better
  than a dozen attempts to depose him. He counteracted some and
  headed off others before they started by forging strong alliances
  with various important families, granting them important offices.
  Though this gave the empire much-needed stability, it also set a
  precedent of limiting social mobility within the empire.
  Through his life, Alexius received particularly important
  support from the women around him. For example, his mother
  manipulated public opinion in the capital in order to prevent
  any action Nikephoros III, who suspected a brewing revolt,
  might take against her son. She continued to advise him well
  into his reign, and often served as regent while Alexius was
  away from Constantinople.
  If encountered, Alexius is dark, with deep-set eyes and a
  neat beard. He is patient, polite, and erudite. He makes full use
  of the accumulated centuries of Byzantine ceremony and
  grandeur. He was a reasonably good fighter during his younger
  days, but if encountered during the Crusades, his fighting skills
  are likely rusty. Despite his formidable social skills, he has a
  faint stammer, which he probably puts to use as a way of mod-
  ulating the formidable imperial presence.
  NOTABLE PEOPLE
  32
  The best-documented people in the Byzantine empire (or,
  indeed, just about anywhere) were supported or thwarted by
  countless others. Here are a few of the more interesting people
  who resided in Constantinople about whom modern scholars
  know enough to say something.
  JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
  (C. 350-407)
  There is some question as to whether or not John
  Chrysostom (Gold-Tongued) was born a Christian, but he
  more than made up for any deficiencies by becoming one of
  the most venerated churchmen of all time. His early education
  in his home town of Antioch included both classical and
  Christian sources, and he became deeply involved in religion.
  In the 370s, he dabbled in asceticism, even spending a few
  years living alone in the wilderness. However, his health suf-
  fered, so he returned to Antioch to enter the clergy. Once he
  became a priest, he became known for a captivating style of
  preaching. In 398, he was appointed bishop of Constantinople.
  Though the bishopric of Constantinople had not yet
  achieved its greatest importance, it was still an influential
  post. Chrysostom came into office as a reformer, clamping
  down foremost on ecclesiastical extravagance and laxity, but
  also on vanity and luxury in general. Naturally, this made
  him numerous enemies in high places, though he also spoke
  up for the poor, giving him considerable popular support.
  OTHER INTERESTING PEOPLE
  
  After a series of attempts to drive him out, Chrysostom was
  finally deposed in 404. He was exiled to rural eastern Anatolia,
  fell ill, and died a few years later. Declared a saint, his bones
  were returned to Constantinople in 438.
  Chrysostom wasn’t one of the Church’s deep thinkers and
  was never much involved in abstract theoretical arguments.
  His gift was in preaching; hundreds of his sermons survive,
  explaining long passages of the Bible verse-by-verse in clear,
  vivid language. This made him a model for many later scholars
  and preachers; indeed, the form of everyday Orthodox cere-
  mony is attributed to Chrysostom. He also set a hostile moral-
  izing tone against many earthly pleasures and other religions.
  He set in motion the death of many aspects of classical culture
  in the Byzantine empire, such as the theater, and expressed a
  vicious anti-Semitism.
  LEO THE MATHEMATICIAN
  (C. 790-C. 870)
  Leo (or Leon) was born in western Greece to a prominent
  family of Armenian extraction, which eventually became more
  prominent still; in 837, his cousin of about the same age
  became the patriarch John the Grammarian, an iconoclast
  known for his extensive learning. Leo, though devout
  himself, was less dedicated to the Church and more
  dedicated to learning; he read a huge variety of
  ancient sources. He eventually settled in Constantino-
  ple to work as a teacher. He rose to prominence as a
  mathematician and philosopher, gaining a reputation
  as the smartest man in the empire and the honor of
  being able to teach at the Magnaura palace. He indi-
  cated iconoclastic leanings early in his career, which,
  along with his family connection to the patriarch,
  briefly won him a post as bishop of Thessalonica in
  840. However, he appears to have switched sides as
  iconoclasm finally collapsed and was able to continue
  his career as teacher and friend of emperors.
  The most practical of Leo’s inventions was a system
  of beacons stretching from the Byzantine-Arab border in
  southeastern Anatolia to the capital, allowing news of Arab
  incursions to travel around 600 miles in the course of hours
  rather than the days required even by fast-horse relays. He may
  have been responsible for a similar system in Greece. His best-
  known inventions, however, were the automata at Magnaura:
  birds, lions, and other artificial animals made to act like living
  creatures. Leo’s achievements draw a picture of Byzantine sci-
  ence as a derivative thing. Setting up an efficient set of beacons
  requires a working knowledge of the curvature of the Earth,
  which the ancient Greeks had, while the automata of Magnaura
  are described in terms similar to theatrical automata invented in
  the last few centuries B.C. However, while they may involve lit-
  tle that is truly novel, they do indicate a full and refined under-
  standing of what came before.
  KASSIA (C. 805-865)
  Kassia was born into an aristocratic family in Constan-
  tinople. She grew to be both attractive and very well-edu-
  cated. According to tradition, her attributes and connections
  were such that she was considered for marriage to a young
  bachelor who would, in 829, become the emperor Theophilos.
  Perhaps to gauge her intellect, he remarked to her that the
  worst things in the world had come through a woman, a ref-
  erence to Eve and original sin. Kassia rebutted by saying the
  best things in the world had come through a woman, a refer-
  ence to Mary and the birth of Christ. Theophilos married
  someone else.
  Although legend states that Theophilos later regretted not
  marrying Kassia, it was probably just as well. While Theophi-
  los went on to briefly revive iconoclasm, Kassia eventually
  founded a convent in the western part of Constantinople,
  became its abbess, and spoke out as an ardent iconodule. She
  also became a prominent poet and musician. She produced a
  large body of religious verse, composed hymns, and per-
  formed her work in public to great acclaim, drawing large
  crowds to services where she sang. Though Kassia was
  oppressed and even tortured during this period, she outlived
  both Theophilos and iconoclasm. She was canonized after
  her death, and her works have become a traditional part of
  the liturgy of Holy Week.
  If encountered, Kassia is a woman of striking appearance,
  definite opinions, and a sharp intelligence, but also significant
  compassion for the oppressed. She was suspected of hiding
  notorious iconodules from the emperor, so she might appear
  in adventures as a sort of Orthodox Harriet Tubman.
  ANNA COMNENA
  (1083-1153)
  Any extended account of the emperor Alexius I would be
  incomplete without a mention of another woman who made a
  significant contribution to his place in history. Alexius, his
  doings, and a great deal about the Byzantine perspective on the
  First Crusade were documented in a substantial biography, the
  Alexiad, written by his daughter, Anna.
  Anna, born in 1083, was well-educated and not inclined to
  accept obstacles to her considerable ambitions. For example,
  as a girl, she was forbidden to study ancient poetry because of
  its libidinous content, but she managed to read it secretly on
  her own. She also strongly resented her younger brother John’s
  claim to the throne, regarding herself as the rightful heir. She
  plotted to usurp her brother’s position after Alexius died, but
  her plot was unsuccessful. Her husband, the prominent noble-
  man Nikephoros Bryennios, refused to support her, and she
  was exiled to a convent. After Nikephoros died, she combined
  notes he had taken on recent history with her own recollec-
  tions to compose the Alexiad, making her the first prominent
  female European historian.
  NOTABLE PEOPLE
  33
  Adventure Seed: The Forest for the Trees
  The automata are truly self-moving. Metal birds are roosting in
  the Magnaura palace and the Hagia Sophia, pecking anyone who
  happens by with needle-sharp beaks. Metal lions prowl the streets
  by night. Metal trees are growing beyond the Magnaura to make
  a bronze forest of the Augustaion. Leo has done his work too well,
  and now a metal plague threatens to consume the capital and per-
  haps the world. The PCs must find out what has gone wrong and
  how to stop it before it is too late.
  
  Emile pushed his way closer to the table. “My lord,” he called
  out, “how did you get here?”
  Gervais and Mikos, their faces gone ruddy from drink, looked
  up. Gervais indicated the nobleman, now in several layers of col-
  orfully woven clothes, but at least not looking quite so much like
  a king. “This chap came by for some wine. I got across the idea
  that I wanted to get away from those monks for a bit. Looks like
  inns are the same all over!”
  “They certainly are,” Emile observed, frowning at a girl pouring
  wine at a nearby table and chatting familiarly with the men there.
  “They even play . . .” Gervais gestured at an arrangement of
  stones on the table next to a small pile of coins. “ . . . can’t make
  out what they call it, but it’s nine-man morris!”
  “Is it, my lord?” Emile said, a bit frostily.
  “Try some of the wine,” Gervais suggested. “That one tastes
  like turpentine, but this . . . what was it? Commandaria? I think
  it’s from an island. Fit for a king, it is.”
  Life in the capital wasn’t all mutilation and theology. Con-
  stantinople was full of people to whom emperors and patri-
  archs were but distant figures at the center of a crowd. They
  had their own pursuits, interests, and amusements. These are
  some of them.
  DAILY LIFE
  34
  Though the Church informed most Byzantines’ aspirations
  for the future, the simple pleasures and obligations of home
  and family were the center of everyday routine.
  HOMES
  Not surprisingly, Byzantine homes bore a strong resem-
  blance to Greek and Roman predecessors and Mediterranean
  homes in general. Residences were generally constructed as a set
  of rooms and walls around a central courtyard with limited
  access to the street. This provided a mix of privacy, ventilation,
  natural lighting, areas of shade throughout the day, and security.
  Though almost all structures were approximately rectangu-
  lar, many upper-class dwellings had a rotunda, apsidal room,
  or semi-circular courtyard. Where possible, houses were
  divided into a “public” section near the front door, where (usu-
  ally male) guests might be received and entertained, and a “pri-
  vate” section in the back of the house where women were
  supposed to stay out of view.
  During its most densely populated era around the reign of
  Justinian, the city held a number of Roman-style insulae,
  apartment blocks up to seven stories tall (the description of
  insulae in GURPS Imperial Rome is close). Despite the climb,
  upper-story apartments were apparently preferred, possibly for
  the view and to get away from the noise and dust of the streets.
  These largely vanished in the general decline of the seventh
  and eighth centuries. In later periods, poorer people lived in
  somewhat smaller aulai, common courtyards around which
  were arranged individual rooms or small groups of rooms.
  These might be a few stories tall, but smaller than the earlier
  towering blocks. Wealthier people in any period would live in
  an oikos, a complex of rooms up to three stories tall built
  around a small central courtyard. Some even had their own
  grain mill. The line between aulai and oikos could be blurry.
  For example, an oikos could be converted into an aulai simply
  by subdividing it and renting or selling individual rooms.
  Burglary was a significant problem in the densely popu-
  lated city. Consequently, buildings had very few externally fac-
  ing windows, and those typically only on upper stories. They
  also often had only one or two doors to the street, providing
  very controlled ingress. Street-level shops naturally had wide-
  open entrances, but almost never provided access to the rest of
  the building they were attached to.
  Brick was the predominant material, with some stone used,
  particularly in houses that are more expensive. However, wood
  became much more common after the Fourth Crusade. Roofs
  were probably flat or lightly peaked. Though earthen tile was
  the preferred roofing material, some homes had wood or
  thatch instead. Between that and wooden structural members,
  large fires were a constant danger.
  FAMILY AND NAMES
  Most households in Constantinople were composed of a
  nuclear rather than extended family. That is, a home would
  contain a married couple and any unmarried children (two or
  perhaps three). Homes with more generations or more broth-
  ers, sisters, and assorted cousins and in-laws were relatively
  uncommon, particularly among the lower classes. However,
  close relationships with relatives were also the rule, with fam-
  ily members frequently visiting and taking an active interest in
  one another’s lives. Widowed parents might go to live with
  adult children, though retiring to a monastery was a popular
  option for those who could afford it.
  DOMESTIC LIFE
  CHAPTER FIVE
  DAILY LIFE
  The city offers exciting races,
  fine dining, and lively conversation. 
  
  While women were often in a subordinate position in fami-
  lies (though they had more rights than in Rome), a woman
  achieved a large measure of independence if she became a
  widow, gaining control of her husband’s estate. One remar-
  riage was allowed, but more were prohibited; the Church held
  that if someone lost two spouses, that was a divine sign that
  person really shouldn’t be married.
  Byzantine personal names were similar to modern Greek
  names with a strong lean toward biblical names. For further
  identification, the father’s name might be included; for exam-
  ple, Stephanos Georgiou, or “Stephen, son of George.” For
  broader use, an occupation, place of origin, or distinguishing
  feature might be used instead: Diogenes of Athens, Petros the
  Miller, Michael Psellos (“psellos” means “stutterer”). Family
  names as such were rarely used in the empire’s earlier years,
  though they reemerged in the later Middle Ages.
  CLOTHING
  Like architecture, Byzantine clothing began with a Greco-
  Roman model. Most people wore tunics, knee- to ankle-length
  and often long-sleeved. In warmer weather, the hem of the
  tunic might be pulled up and tucked into a belt. In cooler
  weather, or simply to show off one’s wealth, multiple layers of
  clothing might be worn, notably additional shorter tunics.
  Semicircular capes fastened at the shoulder were common.
  The lower classes regularly wore trousers under the tunic; they
  were rarely worn by the wealthy, who associated them with
  barbarians. Though men rarely wore headgear, women often
  wore a turban or other soft head covering, possibly including
  face-covering veils. Footgear for the lower and middle classes
  included practical sandals and ankle-length boots, while the
  wealthy would wear comfortable slippers.
  Embroidered and elaborately woven patterned cloth was
  popular among the upper classes, while the poor made do with
  block printing and resist dyeing (a process of masking sections
  of fabric during parts of a multiple dyeing process to produce
  patterns of contrasting colors). Like their classical predeces-
  sors, the Byzantines were fond of vivid colors and elaborate
  patterns. Some colors, though, had specific meanings: Racing
  factions (p. 38) were associated with specific colors, and pur-
  ple was reserved for the emperor.
  FOOD
  The Byzantine diet was similar to diets elsewhere in
  Europe: lots of grain in the form of breads and biscuit, sup-
  plemented by legumes (generally shipped in from the coun-
  tryside), vegetables and herbs (often fresh from kitchen
  gardens), fish, meat, eggs, and cheese. (Biscuit was twice-
  baked, hard bread, soaked or cooked in liquid to soften it
  for eating.) Better bread was made from wheat, while the
  lower classes ate dense barley cakes. Most supplements to
  grain had a distinctly Mediterranean slant, including a
  great deal of seafood (fresh and preserved), olives and olive
  oil, nuts, and orchard fruits. Those who could afford them
  enjoyed lamb and beef. The Eastern Mediterranean is good
  country for sheep, and the city itself was quite wealthy, so
  the residents of Constantinople appear to have dined on
  more meat and cheese than other contemporary peoples,
  mostly mutton and sheep’s-milk cheese. Pork was eaten,
  but regarded as somewhat lower class.
  The Byzantines consumed a variety of drinks, including
  diluted, flavored vinegar as a summer refresher; and a version
  of retsina, wine spiced with pine resin, then as now very much
  an acquired taste. Countless variations on the popular Roman
  condiment garum (a fermented fish sauce, similar to modern
  nam pla) continued to be used regularly. The wealthy con-
  sumed exotic foods such as wild gazelle and imported spices,
  while the poor replaced meat with cheese, eggs, and nuts. The
  poor also ate a great deal of dried food, which didn’t require
  sometimes-expensive firewood for cooking. Alternatively, they
  had cheap meals in tavernas (see Other Amusements, pp. 38-
  39). Rice was available perhaps as early as the 10th century,
  though it had to be imported at considerable cost. Sugar was
  available for import by the ninth century and produced in
  Byzantine territory, notably the island of Cyprus, by the 10th.
  The Byzantines enjoyed a number of foods recognized these
  days as Greek. They were among the first in Europe to con-
  sume eggplant and citrus fruits in quantity. They probably first
  produced modern-style dolma (using grape leaves rather than
  fig leaves as classical Greek cooks had done), moussaka, and
  keftedes (seasoned meatballs bulked up with crushed grain;
  very popular through the eastern Mediterranean under a vari-
  ety of similar names). Salads made from chopped, dressed veg-
  etables were popular. The vegetables were typically lightly
  cooked but allowed to cool before serving; the prospect of eat-
  ing raw vegetables would have been only somewhat less repul-
  sive than the idea of eating raw meat. However, although the
  Byzantines enjoyed candied fruit made with honey or eventu-
  ally sugar – a delicacy that is still popular in Greece – baklava
  and other flaky pastries currently attributed to Greek cuisine
  appear to be post-Byzantine inventions.
  In the early days of the empire, classical manners were in
  use. By preference, diners reclined on couches around a table
  and ate with their hands. By the 12th century, however, sitting
  in chairs replaced lying on couches, and at least the wealthy
  started using forks along with earlier knives and spoons. (The
  Byzantines eventually exported fork use to the West.)
  Predictably, religion had an impact on diet. The Orthodox
  calendar prescribed days of fasting of greater or lesser severity.
  For example, meat might be prohibited on some days, all ani-
  mal products on others; other foods might be added on for spe-
  cial observances. As in the West, restrictions were particularly
  severe during Lent, but where the Catholic world had a tradi-
  tion of Carnival feasts and processions leading up to it, most of
  the Orthodox world started fasting a few days early.
  DAILY LIFE
  35
  Cultural Familiarity
  At the accession of Justinian, Eastern and Western Europe
  are at a significant point in the transition from Roman to sep-
  arate Western and Orthodox civilizations. However, they’re still
  quite similar, and at least at the beginning of the period, East
  and West are still in close contact with one another. Adventur-
  ers may take Cultural Familiarity (Orthodox) or Cultural
  Familiarity (Western), but someone with Cultural Familiarity
  (Orthodox) only suffers a -1 penalty to relevant skills in West-
  ern areas and vice versa. The penalty increases to -2 at the
  beginning of the ninth century and a full -3 in the mid-eleventh
  century, around the time of the “Great Schism” between the
  Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
  
  Though perhaps not as intellectually creative as some prior
  periods, the Byzantine empire was a highly literate and, for its
  time, technologically advanced society. It also had a huge store
  of earlier wisdom and an active interest in certain scholarly
  areas. Constantinople was the center of a great deal of its intel-
  lectual activity.
  EDUCATION AND LITERATURE
  The empire had a much higher literacy rate than the rest of
  Europe. A rate of 30% for the empire as a whole has been sug-
  gested (better than most of 17th century Western Europe). With
  the capital’s many merchants, officials, clergy, and wealthier-
  than-average residents, the rate would have been significantly
  higher there. Groups of parents often hired teachers to provide
  basic literacy instruction to their children in the home, with the
  Bible and Homer as common texts. Some went on to secondary
  education offered by the state or the Church. Particularly
  advanced students could get the equivalent of a university-level
  education from private teachers or small university-like schools.
  Constantinople also had a state-sponsored university, the Pandi-
  dakterion, based in the Magnaura palace. The exact level of spon-
  sorship varied with the fortunes of the empire, of course.
  Without the printing press, producing a manuscript was no
  cheaper in the Byzantine empire than in the medieval West or
  anywhere else. Still, the sheer amount of wealth in the capital
  made books more common there. Small private libraries were
  somewhat common in the city, and the emperor, churches,
  and monasteries had their own collections.
  Many of the texts found in these collections were more com-
  pact than in earlier years. By the time of Justinian, miniscule
  (lower-case) cursive writing had been developed. This was a
  break from the upper-case-only writing of the classical age.
  Miniscule was appropriate for private reading where a book was
  held close to the reader’s eyes, as opposed to all-caps writing,
  which was more suitable for inscriptions and reading aloud
  from a lectern. The smaller form of writing was yet another
  development that led to lifestyles that were more solitary.
  Codices were in common use, though they were vellum,
  papyrus, or sometimes parchment early on, mostly moving
  over to paper later, with appropriate adjustments to weight
  and shelf space. Most volumes fell into two categories.
  One was preserved classical texts – the great Greek philoso-
  phers, Roman legal texts, pagan epic poems, plays (though
  drama in performance essentially vanished), and so on. The
  Byzantines had an ambiguous relationship with their pagan
  past. They actively preserved and proudly read a great many
  pre-Christian works, but a number of scholars who worked too
  hard on them sometimes had to defend themselves from
  charges of becoming pagans themselves.
  The other category was religious literature – Bibles and
  excerpts from Bibles, collections of sermons, theological essays,
  and so on. This category formed the overwhelming majority 
  of original Byzantine literature. Hagiography (biographies of
  saints) was an extremely important genre.
  Additionally, the Byzantines wrote secular works. There were
  poems, satires, and a few very early novels. The most notable
  genre of popular literature was the “Akritic songs,” poems and
  stories about the warriors who guarded the empire’s eastern
  frontiers. The best known was the epic of Digenis Akritas, which
  translates roughly as “border soldier of two peoples.” Basil, the
  soldier of the title, was the son of an Arab emir who converted
  to Christianity for the love of a Byzantine noblewoman. His
  story addresses his origins and his feats of strength and bravery
  during his career. He defeats bandits, fights various monsters
  ranging from wild animals to a dragon, sleeps with an Amazon
  queen, and eventually lives happily ever after. The epic favors
  plain, vivid language over sophisticated style, making it
  Byzantine pulp fiction after a fashion.
  A large selection of histories and similar “nonfiction” works
  were likewise created. Authors around the imperial court pro-
  duced useful manuals for governing, ranging from advice on
  generalship to foreign affairs to court protocol. For example,
  Maurice’s Strategikon arguably sets out the first description of
  a combined arms strategy, noting how different types of troops
  can be used to support one another.
  A great deal of formal Byzantine literature was written in a
  deliberately archaic style, recalling the Greek of either the great
  pagan philosophers and poets or the Church fathers of the first
  century or two after Christ. Although not a distinct language, it
  was notably different from the spoken language of the time, like
  someone in the modern-era writing English in emulation of
  Shakespeare and the King James Bible.
  Meanwhile, contemporary language
  appeared in works aimed at general
  audiences, such as the Akritic songs and
  popular hagiographies. Someone learn-
  ing to read Byzantine Greek may learn
  Literary Byzantine Greek or Contempo-
  rary Byzantine Greek. Each defaults to
  the other at one level of fluency lower.
  For example, someone who reads Liter-
  ary Byzantine Greek at an accented level
  has broken fluency in Contemporary
  Byzantine Greek, and vice versa.
  TECHNOLOGY
  At least in its early years, the Byzantine empire was the most
  technologically advanced nation west of India, though in large
  part on the strength of retaining what its western neighbors had
  lost. It compared well with civilizations that were more distant.
  DAILY LIFE
  36
  The Price of Literature
  Using the book-production rules in GURPS Low-Tech Companion 1 (p. 33),
  multiply a library’s cost by 10 and weight by 4 for being handwritten. After the
  development of miniscule characters, books could be written as densely as a
  mechanically printed page, but they weren’t always for a number of reasons,
  including legibility. A library handwritten entirely in miniscule is twice the
  weight and space of a printed library, but costs 15 times as much. A scribe 
  writing in miniscule is at -3 to Artist (Calligraphy) or Professional Skill (Scribe).
  LIFE OF THE MIND
  
  The Byzantines were capable of producing large buildings with
  ambitious features, such as the Hagia Sophia (pp. 39-40) and its
  “floating” dome; and large works of civil engineering, such as the
  network of canals and aqueducts that supplied the capital with
  water. They also developed the pointed or broken arch as early
  as the sixth century, though they appear not to have used it
  extensively. (This was to become a vital element in Gothic archi-
  tecture.) They had a highly developed industry for glass manu-
  facture and related trades (see The Arts, p. 38). The Byzantines
  also retained a large body of medical knowledge, covering
  herbalism, surgery, and other medical practices.
  The Byzantines sustained and developed the water power
  and hydraulic gear invented by their Greco-Roman ancestors.
  However, Constantinople lacked sufficient rivers and streams to
  harness significant water power within the city itself. Though
  canals and aqueducts can be used to power waterwheels, there
  appears to have been little effort to harness that energy in and
  around the city. While waterwheels were put to practical use in
  the countryside, hydraulics in the capital were used for elaborate
  displays, such as the throne room at Magnaura.
  The early empire had a monopoly or near-monopoly on two
  technologies. One was silk production. According to tradition,
  silkworms were smuggled into the empire by a pair of monks
  during the reign of Justinian. Just as importantly, they brought
  information about how to cultivate silkworms and turn the
  cocoons into thread. The other was the incendiary Greek fire,
  invented around 670. Though useful in siege warfare, it gave the
  Byzantine fleet a particular advantage against other naval forces.
  Byzantine technological superiority declined over time.
  Both the silk monopoly and the secret of Greek fire were lost
  no later than the Fourth Crusade. By the end of the Latin
  empire, if not significantly earlier, the empire was, technologi-
  cally speaking, just one more country among others.
  MAGIC
  Like many peoples, the Byzantines had a lively belief in the
  supernatural, accepting the idea of friendly and malign spirits
  and their ability to mobilize magical forces in their own interests.
  One of the major concerns was avoiding the evil eye, a common
  Mediterranean conviction in the ability of the gaze of enemies to
  cause bad luck, infertility, disease, and other problems. To ward
  off this evil force, many people carried charms, such as brass
  rings and small colored glass amulets inscribed with magical
  signs and formulas, as well as old coins. Coins minted under
  Alexander the Great, still in circulation as curios, were thought
  particularly effective. Such amulets were also used to protect a
  person’s health, make childbirth less dangerous and painful, and
  otherwise ease everyday tasks and important life events.
  It was thought that a few individuals could perform more
  powerful magic, such as averting natural disasters, withstand-
  ing extreme hardship, rapid or instantaneous travel, divina-
  tion, and magical seduction. However, such abilities were only
  accessible by people of exceptional faith or those who partook
  of particularly dark magic.
  A range of magical or otherwise supernaturally active items
  could be found around Constantinople. A statue of Aphrodite
  was said to be able to detect adulteresses by making their skirts
  blow up as they passed by (according to legend, it was removed
  by a very angry empress). A statue in the Hippodrome could
  indicate to arguing merchants when a fair bargain had been
  struck. Of course, a variety of supernatural abilities, notably
  healing and granting victory in battle, were attributed to relics
  and famous icons.
  The perceived nature of magic changed over time. Early on,
  many regarded magical power as being held in people and
  objects. By the Crusades, however, magical theory had shifted
  to something more definitely Christian: “Good” miracles came
  from divine power through holy people and sacred objects,
  while “bad” magic ultimately came from demons and devils.
  This change was reflected in the form of amulets. Early in the
  empire, they might be inscribed with all manner of magical
  signs, whereas by the Crusades, they contained almost entirely
  Christian symbolism. Crosses, for example, came to replace
  most other amulets. Nonetheless, a sort of black market in
  black magic developed, where inscriptions on paper still con-
  tained non-Christian symbolism.
  Emperors were not above manipulating the people’s belief
  in magic and prophetic signs. For example, the emperor Leo
  IV, a prolific author, recommended that generals in the field
  fabricate omens and favorable astrological interpretations.
  This was intended as a means of improving morale by con-
  vincing the troops of upcoming victory. It is therefore deeply
  ironic that Leo gained a powerful reputation in later years as
  a magician and seer, whose philosophical works contained
  extensive prophecies.
  DAILY LIFE
  37
  The year is 717, and the newly crowned emperor Leo III
  has failed to conclude an alliance with the Bulgars to relieve
  the Arab siege of Constantinople. No assistance is coming,
  and a growing Arab navy has started to threaten Byzantine
  shipping. The PCs may be Byzantine soldiers, employees of
  an important official, or agents of an interested third party.
  They have been entrusted with a miraculous weapon from a
  dying engineer who assisted in the workshop of Kallinikos,
  the legendary inventor of Greek fire.
  However, several obstacles lie in their path. First, they
  have to get past the blockade by sea or siege lines by land
  with a wagon heavily loaded with supplies. Second, they
  have to get into the city; nobody knows they’re coming, so
  why should the defenders let them in? Third, they have to
  assemble and use the device. There are directions, but
  they’re written in code to prevent them from use in the
  wrong hands. Besides, the PCs aren’t sure what the device
  is. Explosive bombs that can rain deadly shrapnel on the
  enemy while terrifying them with smoke, fire, and a clap
  of thunder? A high-pressure Greek fire siphon with a
  range of 100 yards or more? An invulnerable automaton
  fueled by fire and steam, which can crush any invaders?
  They may have the ultimate weapon, but no idea how to
  use it.
  Adventure Seed: Walk Through the Fire
  
  Generally, the answer to the question “what do you do for a
  good time in Constantinople?” was “not much.” However, the
  city had a few recreations.
  THE ARTS
  Byzantine music sounded like something between Western
  European music of its time and the music of the Muslim
  world. Secular music might include harps, drums, valveless
  horns, flutes, and some bowed instruments. For unsurprisingly
  theological reasons, most liturgical music was a capella. Choral
  music in the Church resembled Gregorian chant. It was mono-
  phonic, with a single melodic line sung by a soloist or the
  entire choir. By the middle years of the empire, Byzantine
  chant came to include an ison, a sort of droning bass line. The
  resonance makes a Byzantine choir sound a bit like the vocal
  equivalent of a bagpipe or sitar. Byzantine music also made
  use of quarter-tones and other fractional tones, giving it a dis-
  tinctly “Eastern” sound.
  Musical notation consisted of a scheme of diacritical marks
  written along with a text to be chanted or sung. The marks
  indicated a starting note, where and how far to raise or lower
  tones, and where and how long to hold notes. Over time, this
  notation became sufficiently elaborate that only skilled profes-
  sional musicians could effectively use it. Musicians may buy a
  Sight Reading (Byzantine Notation) technique for any musical
  skill (GURPS Low-Tech Companion 1, p. 19).
  Where there is music, there is often dance, and the Byzan-
  tine empire was no exception. Dance performances by profes-
  sionals were another amusement of antiquity that faded away
  through the Middle Ages, though they probably did not die out
  entirely. Dances were also a part of both public and private cel-
  ebrations. Public dancing was typically segregated by sex. Line
  dances and circle dances were popular, likely resembling mod-
  ern Greek and Middle Eastern folk dances.
  The visual arts were, not surprisingly, often loaded with
  religious significance. Icons, usually painted on thin
  wooden planks, were present just about everywhere, save
  during the years of iconoclasm. (During that time, many
  artworks were destroyed, and most of the remainder kept
  hidden.) Illuminated manuscripts similar to those in the
  West were also produced. Encaustic painting was fre-
  quently used in the early years of the empire, but it was
  mostly supplanted by tempera well before the Crusades (see
  GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3, p. 31). At least partly for
  religious reasons, sculpture was not a major Byzantine art,
  but relief carving was still practiced. Carved ivory was par-
  ticularly well-developed.
  Glass formed the basis of some of the empire’s most mem-
  orable art. At least up to the Fourth Crusade, the Byzantines
  continued to work in mosaic, making glass tesserae in a wide
  range of colors, even laminating gold leaf between thin layers
  of glass for particularly rich artworks. The Byzantines also
  developed advanced techniques for enameled metalwork,
  notably in the century or two before the First Crusade. Combin-
  ing glass with fluxes and metallic oxides for color, they produced
  elaborate, colorful decoration for personal items and architec-
  tural fixtures.
  CHARIOT RACING
  Although many ancient sports vanished during the Byzan-
  tine period, chariot racing remained a popular sport. (Theo-
  dosius I put an end to the Olympics, and gladiatorial contests
  faded away by the reign of Justinian.) Typically, races
  involved two- or four-horse chariots, racing individually or in
  teams of two or three vehicles where the team with the first
  chariot to do a certain number of laps won. As in modern
  vehicle racing, participants contended for better positions,
  but the team element complicated strategy, letting some
  members of the team try to block opponents while another
  simply tried to get ahead.
  Racing was glamorous but extremely dangerous. Colliding
  with an opponent was technically prohibited but nevertheless
  common. Fast and lightweight chariots could easily overturn
  and spill their drivers to be dragged and trampled, particularly
  on turns. Rowdy fans sometimes hurl rocks and even nail-
  spiked missiles at opposing teams.
  Partisan spectators were a notable part of chariot racing.
  When the Hippodrome was constructed, the city didn’t just
  bring in professional racing. It inherited a culture of sports fan-
  dom present across the Roman world. Most charioteers
  belonged to teams identified by the colors they wore, and which
  their fans adopted – originally white, red, green, and blue. (The
  first two of these colors had vanished by the time of Justinian.)
  These teams had large, avid followings, which took on more
  than mere fannish interests. They were sometimes used as a
  mouthpiece for political and even theological causes, although
  they usually expressed populist dissatisfaction with the status
  quo rather than consistent ideological or policy stances.
  Racing was immensely popular in the early days of the
  empire and was still enjoyed up to the Fourth Crusade. How-
  ever, it declined through the period under attacks from Chris-
  tian writers. The influence of the fans declined with it.
  OTHER AMUSEMENTS
  Despite efforts by the Church to stamp it out, gambling was
  no less widespread in Constantinople than in any other society.
  In addition to chariot racing, wrestling and foot races survived
  as spectator sports and provided fodder for wagering.
  DAILY LIFE
  38
  Re-Creating the Races
  Though gladiatorial games faded away over the Byzan-
  tine period, some of the organization of such games was
  very similar to that of chariot racing. Many of the support-
  ing roles in GURPS Martial Arts: Gladiators (p. 32) are
  suitable to charioteering: animal handlers, harenii, musi-
  cians, physicians, and referees could be found working
  around the Hippodrome. The charioteers themselves 
  may resemble the gladiator template (Gladiators, p. 28),
  but with Driver (Chariot), Games (Byzantine Chariot Rac-
  ing), and more DX replacing Games (Roman Gladiator)
  and any points spent on a gladiator combat style.
  SPECTACLES AND AMUSEMENTS
  
  Common games involved dice and variants of backgammon
  and dominoes. Games involving pure skill were played as well.
  Six-sided dice were reasonably common. Checkers and nine-
  man-morris (popular across Medieval Europe) were well-
  known, with chess appearing around the Crusades. Game
  boards might be portable or scratched into benches and tables
  when convenient.
  People in search of a good time in Constantinople would
  probably end up most often in the city’s many tavernas, which
  were almost stereotypical bar/restaurant establishments.
  Often open late into the night, public houses provided inex-
  pensive meals and cheap wine to the masses. They also served
  as gathering places for those people who didn’t have anywhere
  better to go, though they rarely provided lodging. Such spots
  might also host small musical, dance, and mime perform-
  ances, the shrunken remnant of ancient theatrical traditions.
  Prostitution was frowned on but legal, to the point where the
  Corpus Juris Civilis exempted women working in tavernas
  from prosecution for adultery, such services being regarded as
  a traditional and legitimate part of the business.
  Nevertheless, Constantinople was very light on public recre-
  ations, particularly for a city of its size. Byzantine society had
  a strong tendency to look inward. Reading quietly on one’s
  own replaced the classical custom of reading aloud to others,
  and personal celebrations were usually held privately in the
  home with relatives rather than in public spaces.
  DAILY LIFE
  39
  Aside from the palaces of emperors and other notables, the
  city was full of grand landmarks that dominated the everyday
  landscape.
  THE WALL
  In its finished state, the wall started by the emperor
  Theodosius II was the most formidable fortification of the
  Middle Ages. Though the city fell to attackers a few times dur-
  ing the next thousand years, it did so due to treachery or rup-
  ture of the lesser sea walls. The Theodosian wall itself would
  not be breached by force until confronted with weaponry of
  the early Renaissance.
  The wall was a complex set of defenses. Going from the out-
  side in, there were a dry moat at least 20’ deep and 60’ across;
  a terrace of similar width raised 6’ above ground level on the
  opposite side of the ditch; an outer wall 26’ high with a thick-
  ness of 6’; 45’ of open space behind the outer wall; and a 40’
  inner wall behind that. Narrow causeways crossed the moat at
  intervals; these provided at least a theoretical capability for
  sections of the moat to be flooded. The outer wall had nearly
  100 small square or pentagonal towers that were only a few
  feet taller than the wall itself. The inner wall had a similar
  number of towers reaching as high as 65’. Several towers in the
  outer wall had posterns, through which small bodies of troops
  could enter and exit, while the inner towers were typically fit-
  ted with a variety of siege engines. Fortress-like gatehouses and
  drawbridges protected roads leading to the wall’s nine gates.
  All of these taken together provided frightening defense in
  depth. Approaching attackers would be slowed by the ditch
  and the raised terrace beyond, which likewise made it difficult
  to bring up heavy equipment such as battering rams. If the
  attackers did manage to scale the outer wall, the defenses 
  of the flanking towers would prevent them from sweeping
  along the parapet. The attackers would still be exposed to fire
  from the monumentally large inner wall.
  HAGIA SOPHIA
  As the wealthy capital of an enthusiastically Christian
  empire, Constantinople was naturally loaded with churches.
  Any number of them were large and well-decorated enough to
  serve as the central house of worship for any city of its day, but
  none was more grand than the Hagia Sophia.
  The structure that stood through most of the Middle Ages
  and to the current day is actually the third church of that name
  on that same site. The first was built in the middle of the fourth
  century. It was replaced by a slightly larger version in the early
  fifth century. That church burned down in the Nika riots, leav-
  ing the way clear for Justinian to put up the biggest church the
  world had ever seen. Indeed, it was the largest church anyone
  would see until the Renaissance. It was, in certain ways, the
  template for sacred architecture for two religions. The build-
  ing’s scope was an important influence on the scale of cathe-
  drals of the Gothic period, while the domed structure had a
  significant effect on the design of many mosques.
  The floor plan of the brick and stone structure is close to
  square, about 80 by 90 yards, divided into three aisles by rows
  of columns. At the center of the church, among the rows of
  columns, are four massive stone piers describing the corners
  of a square about 100’on each side. A huge dome, with its top
  180’ above the floor, rests on top of the columns. Scallop-
  shaped windows surround its base, letting light into the cen-
  ter of the church and making it appear as if it is floating in
  space unsupported.
  The side aisles are divided into two levels: a ground level
  with a ceiling over 50’ high and a gallery above it. The main
  dome is surrounded by much smaller half-domes, one on
  each of the church’s four sides (the towers now at the
  church’s corners were a later Turkish addition). The whole
  structure is lavishly decorated with stone columns, facings of
  marble and porphyry, a 50’ silver iconostasis, and extensive
  mosaics ranging from simple geometrical motifs to elaborate
  scenes involving emperors and a variety of holy persons. 
  NOTABLE LOCATIONS
  Of the [Hagia Sophia] I
  can only describe the exterior,
  for I did not see its interior.
  – Ibn Battuta
  
  The central dome is decorated with a grand image of Christ
  looking down on the world below. Less decorated areas of the
  church grew more ornate over time as successive donors
  installed new works of art.
  The Hagia Sophia was home to the patriarch of Constan-
  tinople and the preferred venue for religious ceremonies
  involving the emperor. This made it the central church of
  Orthodox Christendom, a major tourist attraction, and gener-
  ally a very busy place. It was also a factor in a number of
  political disputes. Those fearing persecution, notably rivals of
  the emperor, could flee to the church and claim sanctuary.
  They could do so at any church, really, but claiming sanctuary
  at the Hagia Sophia was a very visible public act, making it
  politically very difficult (though not impossible) for the author-
  ities to do anything to the person seeking protection. It could
  be a last-ditch effort for someone involved in high-level
  intrigues, but it was often a useful means of buying time and
  public sympathy while allies negotiated a settlement or gath-
  ered their own forces.
  THE PALACE
  When speaking of “the palace,” most people really meant
  the palace district. The palace was a set of residences, work-
  shops, reception areas, pleasure gardens, and other facilities
  that was home not just to the emperor, but in many ways to the
  imperial administration. The palace covered a large area on
  the southeastern shore of the city. The northern section of the
  palace was a more public area. A visitor entered at the Chalke,
  a grand ceremonial gateway and vestibule opposite the milion
  at the Augustaion. It was topped with gilded tiles and lavishly
  decorated with mosaics and statues. Barracks for several of the
  imperial bodyguard units were nearby. The official apartments
  of the imperial family were farther south (attached to the
  imperial box at the Hippodrome), along with courtyards; a
  variety of workshops for luxury goods such as jewelry and
  high-grade silks; dining and reception rooms of varying levels
  of decoration and formality; and so on.
  The palace expanded over time. To the south, it gained the
  Chrysotriklinos shortly after Justinian’s reign, a huge octago-
  nal throne room used for the largest and grandest receptions.
  That and other construction knit the palace together with the
  slightly older Bucoleon palace on the city’s southern shore.
  This residence had, among other things, a private walled har-
  bor and a special purple-stone-faced building, the Porphyros,
  in which select empresses gave birth. Slightly later, it also
  absorbed the legendary Magnaura. By at least the middle
  period of the empire, multiple palaces had become favored res-
  idences, notably at Blachernae. During difficult periods, parts
  of the palace went out of use and were allowed to decay.
  However, the district remained a center of administration and
  important ceremonies even if the emperor was no longer in
  full-time residence.
  THE HIPPODROME
  Originally constructed in 203, the Hippodrome was perhaps
  Constantinople’s most persistent remnant of antiquity, both by
  itself and in its incorporation of a range of older sculptures and
  monuments. This ancient race track was shaped like an elon-
  gated U, about 490 yards long by 143 yards wide, with the open
  end facing northeast. Stone seats with an estimated capacity of
  100,000 lined the track. A shaded colonnade along the top of
  the seating sections adorned the area. A two-story private box
  for the emperor, the Kathisma, was located half-way along the
  long southeastern side. The track was decorated with
  an array of remarkable objects that was impressive
  even by Constantinople’s standards. These included
  an Egyptian obelisk dating to around 1500 B.C., a
  serpent-shaped column made in celebration of the
  Greek victory over the Persians at Platea in 479 B.C.,
  and a variety of other statues ranging from classical
  survivals to contemporary memorials of famous
  charioteers. Among the best known are four Greek
  or Roman bronze statues of horses. (These were
  looted during the Fourth Crusade and taken to
  Venice, where they are now prominently displayed
  at the San Marco.)
  Though its primary purpose was chariot-racing,
  the Hippodrome served as an all-purpose public
  venue. Plays were performed there until drama fell
  out of fashion, and other athletic events were held there. It
  also served as a place where the emperor could address the
  people, or the populace could acclaim a new emperor.
  Though it definitely became worse for wear during some
  periods, it was in use for almost all of the Roman and Byzan-
  tine periods and was even maintained by the Ottomans at
  least into the 18th century.
  BASILICA CISTERN
  Several emperors built reservoirs to supply the city’s needs
  for water. Most of the largest ones, found near the western end
  of the city, were simply sizable, deep pools. Some others,
  notably a few closer to the city’s east end, were completely
  enclosed. The largest was Justinian’s Basilica cistern, located a
  little to the northwest of the palace. It was an underground
  structure, 150 by 70 yards, with a 30’ ceiling. When completely
  full, the structure could contain in excess of 21 million gallons
  of water. What made this structure particularly striking was
  not its overall dimensions but its internal support. Like many
  other large stone structures of its day, the vaulted ceiling was
  supported by vast rows of stone columns, in this case placed
  five or six yards apart from one another. When partially full,
  someone could take a small boat and row across it as though
  it was a vast flooded cathedral. (Indeed, many modern tourists
  did this until walkways were recently installed).
  DAILY LIFE
  40
  Language Differences
  “Hagia Sophia” is sometimes mistranslated as “Saint Sophia,”
  since hagia/hagios, meaning “sacred” or “blessed,” is the usual
  epithet applied to saints. In most cases, that’s suitable. (For exam-
  ple, Hagios Stephanos does in fact mean “Saint Stephen.”) In this
  case, “Sophia,” which means “wisdom” or “knowledge,” is meant
  quite literally – the church is named for sacred wisdom. This fact
  confuses modern tourists, and it may have puzzled historical vis-
  itors as well and baffled attempts to find icons of a holy woman
  named Sophia.
  
  “Leg, he is good now?” Mikos asked in broken French.
  “A little stiff,” Gervais confirmed, “I’ll feel it when the weather
  turns, but good enough to fight on.” When he saw Mikos smiling
  blankly, he drew his sword, swung it this way and that, and said,
  “Leg is good.”
  Mikos’s smile grew to something more heartfelt, and he drew
  his own sword as he guided Gervais in the direction of a large,
  iron-bound door that several servants were attacking methodi-
  cally with crowbars. The sound echoed along the broad aisles
  and domed ceiling of the deserted church along with the rattle
  of their mail.
  “No fear,” Gervais said, “We’ve the power of Christ and two
  good knights. What could stand against us?”
  “I would most sincerely not wish to learn,” Emile managed.
  The servants called out to Mikos, who signaled them to pause.
  He nodded at Gervais, who clapped Emile on the shoulder and
  took his sword in a two-handed grip. Mikos signaled the servants
  for one final blow. The doors flew open with a thunderous noise.
  Emile shouted a prayer in Latin as Mikos and Gervais charged
  the erupting demon.
  Constantinople may be used in a number of ways. For exam-
  ple, it can be dropped as-is into a purely fact-based campaign, or
  with minor modifications into a fantasy-tinged but mostly his-
  torical campaign. With names changed and a few extra features
  grafted on, it could appear in a pseudo-medieval fantasy cam-
  paign. Of course, the precise usage requires particular consider-
  ations depending on the genre and the tone of the campaign.
  CONSTANTINOPLE AS HOME
  Constantinople approaches the Platonic ideal of a location
  for political scheming and social climbing. Complex plots and
  dark intrigues are practically named after the empire! Up to
  the last few decades before the Fourth Crusade, sufficient
  social mobility makes the idea of starting out as nothing and
  moving up to high offices, even the imperial throne, feasible.
  Justin I and Basil I are both inspirational examples. It can also
  be the site of more “street-level” urban adventuring, with PCs
  taking the roles of a criminal gang or of police officials and
  watchmen tasked with keeping people safe.
  It can serve simply as a home and base of operations.
  Despite periods of civil unrest, it’s a fairly safe place to live;
  that is, although street crime is a problem for the poor, as it
  is in any city, the residents of Constantinople were rarely sub-
  ject to invasion. Internal conflicts involved one would-be
  ruler trying to depose another rather than wholesale murder
  and looting. Housing to fit any budget can be found, and
  necessities and luxuries are available in quantity. There’s no
  end of Patrons and Contacts to get briefings and support
  from before heading out on adventures. Protagonists could
  be diplomats, spies, or other agents of the powerful, taking
  orders from the palace and resting up in their own luxury
  oikos before heading out for more missions.
  CONSTANTINOPLE
  AS DESTINATION
  Whether or not one would want to live there, Constantino-
  ple is a great place to visit. It is the place to go in medieval
  Christendom for lost knowledge, the finest and most expensive
  luxury goods, sacred relics, and so on, whether they are to be
  obtained legitimately or otherwise. (It’s also not a bad place for
  anyone seeking information who’s coming out of the Dar al-
  Islam.) For people from the Slavic and Scandinavian North
  and Catholic West, it’s an impressive and exotic location, but
  still accessible. For people from the Muslim south and east, it’s
  an opponent, but a respectable and civilized one that can be
  dealt with diplomatically with rather than just fight, unlike the
  barbarous Franks.
  However, a traveler does not simply walk into Constantino-
  ple. Or rather, one may, but a larger group may have issues.
  Depending on patronage, affiliation with allied powers, or
  other prior arrangements, visitors (particularly those from
  outside the empire) may be required to enter the city unarmed
  and in small groups. Advantages such as Patron and Claim to
  Hospitality are useful for regular foreign travelers to the city.
  Tour guides are available for hire, though. In fact, a number
  of visitors strongly recommended them, opining that there
  was no way a foreigner could find his way around the vast city
  without one. Just navigating side streets may be a small
  adventure in itself.
  THE MORAL DIMENSION
  Another aspect to consider is whether Constantinople is a
  good or bad place. In the West, the Byzantine empire has long
  had a reputation as an evil empire – if not actively evil, then at
  least cruel, perverse, decadent, and in a constant state of
  decline. Passing over for the moment the improbable marvel
  of spending over a thousand years in decline, many Western-
  ers saw a lot to dislike in the Byzantine empire. The Crusaders
  viewed the Byzantines as a bit slippery at best and at times
  downright treacherous. Early Crusaders cited the empire’s
  perceived lack of promised support and their willingness to
  deal peacefully with infidels. (This was a constant problem for
  new arrivals from Europe, though Crusaders who settled
  down in the Holy Land came to adopt similar attitudes when
  they realized that the Muslims wouldn’t simply go away.) Con-
  stant religious disputes couldn’t have helped, and blaming 
  the Byzantines for treachery certainly would have allowed
  Westerners to justify keeping newly taken land for themselves.
  CAMPAIGNS
  41
  CHAPTER SIX
  CAMPAIGNS
  
  Later scholars noticed the Crusaders’ characterizations of the
  Byzantine empire, and were likewise horrified at the constant
  descriptions of blindings, dismemberments, and other grue-
  some items of the empire’s history. To them, Constantinople
  was the black heart of a corrupt society.
  This is in stark contrast to how the Byzantines themselves
  and many other Orthodox (and many other early Christians,
  depending on the period) saw the city. To them,
  Constantinople was a downright sacred place. It was the global
  capital of Christendom, stuffed to bursting with churches,
  monasteries, and holy relics. As if that weren’t enough, the
  impregnability of its defenses were, to them, an obvious sign of
  divine favor. After all, if God didn’t regard Constantinople as a
  special place, why would he preserve it?
  In play, the city could easily be either, neither (that is, just
  another city without unusual moral gifts or turpitude), or both
  (possibly with a corrupt political establishment kept in check
  by a sacred nature). Regardless of the facts on the ground, vis-
  itors and residents alike will have their own feelings on the
  subject, and may reach very different conclusions about the
  same things.
  CAMPAIGNS
  42
  Constantinople can play a starring role in a range of cam-
  paign types, and can be dropped into campaigns based on a
  variety of other GURPS supplements.
  BANESTORM
  The city of Megalos, capital of the empire of the same name,
  bears more than a passing resemblance to Constantinople, par-
  ticularly Constantinople around the Crusades. Both are the
  capitals of large, autocratic, Christian, TL3 realms suspected to
  be ripe for a fall. Both are port cities that have multiple sets of
  defensive walls. Both have populations in the hundreds of
  thousands. Both are capitals of multi-ethnic empires (though
  Megalos’ ethnic picture is further complicated by the presence
  of multiple species). Both have rulers with bodyguard units
  made from racial or ethnic minorities. Indeed, Megalos’ impe-
  rial palace is even just inside a recently built set of walls, just
  like the Blachernae palace. A GM wanting to add more detail
  to Megalos could lift many physical features of Constantinople
  with little or no modification. Names might be changed from
  Greek to something more Latinate, as Yrth’s humans lean
  toward Western languages. In addition, Megalos won’t have
  remnants of classical culture. However, perhaps the city is
  home to pre-human sculptures and architectural elements fill-
  ing that particular slot.
  Of course, many of the social aspects are different. Notably,
  the Church on Yrth is different from the Orthodox Church, and
  attitudes toward magic are entirely different. However, a bit of
  Justinianic-era gossip is accurate on Yrth: In one of his more
  petulant moods, the historian Procopius accused the emperor
  of being a demon in human form. In Procopius’ case, it was
  politically motivated hyperbole. In Megalos, it’s true.
  CRUSADES
  Just about any campaign that relates to the Crusades is
  likely to pass through Constantinople at some point. The city
  was a particularly notable and dazzling stop for Westerners on
  their way to the Holy Land. It was an especially important des-
  tination during the First Crusade, when Alexius Comnenus
  embarked on his campaign of rapid-fire diplomacy with the
  major Western lords.
  Though the empire was less directly involved with the Cru-
  sades once the Western lords started establishing their own
  domains, Constantinople was still an important stop, repre-
  senting the last major secure outpost of Christendom before
  entering the war zone. (Crusaders sometimes bypassed it 
  by sailing directly to the Holy Land from Italian ports.) The
  empire’s involvement could also be a significant strategic issue.
  Byzantine armies saved King Fulk in the 1130s, while Byzantine
  recalcitrance (and covert cooperation with Saladin) slowed
  Frederick Barbarosa during the early days of the Third Crusade.
  Whatever the situation, relevant participants that might be
  found in Constantinople include:
  • French, German, and English travelers of all sorts
  (lords, knights, men-at-arms, clergy, religious pilgrims, and
  their servants).
  • Byzantine soldiers and functionaries trying to win back
  old territory while keeping their erstwhile allies at arm’s length.
  • Muslim diplomats trying to reach a separate peace with
  the Byzantines and shut off the flow of Frankish troops to the
  Levant.
  • Italian merchants, whose increasing interest in the East
  leads them to trading enclaves in the easternmost safe port
  available to them.
  • Russians and Scandinavians may become involved
  directly in the Crusades, or appear as Varangian Guards or
  simply merchants who have come to take advantage of
  increased commerce.
  CROSSOVERS
  I and many of my
  position never believed
  that they were really 
  two human beings, 
  but evil demons.
  – Procopius, 
  Secret History
  
  Several additional books can be very useful here. GURPS
  Arabian Nights, GURPS Middle Ages 1, GURPS Russia, and
  GURPS Vikings all give snapshots of related regions around
  the time of the Crusades and can build up both an interna-
  tional picture and international sets of characters.
  DUNGEON FANTASY
  In addition to being something close to the ultimate
  town, Constantinople provides numerous opportunities
  for employment and adventure for Dungeon Fantasy
  characters. Fighters may look for employment in the
  imperial tagma. To qualify for the Varangians, being a
  dangerous-looking stranger who just rolled into town is
  downright advantageous. Intellectuals have numerous
  rare texts to track down. The city’s tall buildings, crowded
  markets, and twisted back streets give ample scope for
  thieves, while its convoluted politics may provide endless
  employment for ninja. Bards and innkeepers are in their
  natural element in a densely populated city.
  Dungeon-like locations in the city are surely full of
  monsters and treasure in a Dungeon Fantasy campaign.
  The vast underground cisterns provide an eerie setting for
  hunting aquatic monsters. The various palace complexes
  might shelter pesky Things Man Was Not Meant To
  Know, possibly summoned by decadent dabblers in mag-
  ical arts who should know better but don’t really care.
  Older churches and monasteries might be subject to
  hauntings. Even if gladiatorial combat has been outlawed
  (which, in a Dungeon Fantasy world, seems unlikely),
  adventurers might try their hand at racing chariots in the
  Hippodrome pulled by teams of giant lizards, dire wolves,
  and other exotic and dangerous beasts.
  FANTASY-TECH
  Constantinople is an outstanding location for historical
  weird science. It brought together both an overwhelming
  amount of classical scholarship to survive to the Middle Ages,
  and enough money and interest to do something about it.
  Byzantine sages demonstrated a thorough understanding of
  the pioneering work of their ancestors. If anyone were to
  attempt to reproduce the weapons of Archimedes or the wings
  of Daedalus, it would be them. Indeed, the automata of the
  Magnaura palace and Greek fire are themselves close to real-
  world weird science. Various existing technologies might be
  combined and refined. Industrial-scale rutways might span the
  Anatolian plains. Steam- or water-driven war engines might
  take the battlefield. Crude internal combustion engines based
  on igniting tiny sprays of Greek fire and other noisy, clanking
  devices might mechanize Byzantine society before the rest of
  the world is ready for it. Moreover, if petroleum becomes the
  fuel of choice, it could kick off oil crises a millennium early and
  make the Crusades that much more complicated.
  The Byzantines were also close enough to the Muslim world
  that they could notice innovations there. There were also
  wealthy and advanced enough to have a good shot at duplicat-
  ing contemporary developments from the East. Nonetheless,
  they might not want to. For example, although some Byzantines
  worked in astrology, the Church frowned on it; it wasn’t
  regarded as respectable a discipline as it was farther east. This
  might lead to a technology gap between the two civilizations:
  Byzantine scholars and engineers try to recover devices only
  hinted at in their classical sources, while Muslim astrological
  advisors cast horoscope after horoscope in an attempt to predict
  their Orthodox rivals’ next move.
  HORROR
  A campaign set in Constantinople has a lot of scope for super-
  natural horror. Most residents believed in the evil eye, an effect
  that grants considerable power to people purely because of mali-
  ciousness. Combined with the subtlety of Byzantine politics or
  simply the crowded streets of the city, adventurers face hidden
  threats not just to their position, but to their well-being, and no
  poisons or daggers will give away their true enemies. Those who
  might seem too eager to intentionally cultivate the ability to
  curse people at a glance might be reminded of its drawbacks:
  The evil eye can be indiscriminate, harming occasionally vexing
  allies as well as enemies. Truly good and holy authorities have
  access to powerful countermeasures. Worse, its use qualifies as
  witchcraft, punishable by death.
  There was also a widespread belief in the existence of dev-
  ils and potentially harmful powers contained in pagan relics.
  While the power of Christ and various relics could counteract
  such powers, it’s certainly reasonable to limit their use to the
  truly faithful, a category into which most PCs won’t fall.
  Constantinople has room for purely mundane terror. Byzan-
  tine politics and criminal justice – with its blindings, dismem-
  berments, and other mutilations – presents the possibility of
  body-horror themes. Likewise, given frequent anxiety that the
  end of the world was approaching, it’s easy to imagine a 
  scenario where regular society breaks down in the face of a
  feared apocalypse. Will the wicked, convinced that they have no
  hope of heaven, decide to go out in one last great burst of sin? 
  CAMPAIGNS
  43
  Live in the Now
  Like Rome (and Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, and several
  others), Constantinople is an eternal city, with large chunks of
  antiquity surviving to the present day. The Hagia Sophia, con-
  verted to a mosque for several centuries, is now a museum. A
  number of other Byzantine structures – such as the Basilica cis-
  tern, the Aqueduct of Valens, and parts of the Theodosian wall –
  are preserved as historical monuments and tourist attractions.
  Those and other parts of the past may poke through into the
  present for more contemporary adventures.
  Trivially, these preserved locations may serve as backdrops
  for modern adventures. Maps, pictures, and detailed descrip-
  tions of the Hagia Sophia in particular are readily available.
  More interestingly, Byzantine topics may arise to complicate
  things for today’s adventurers. In a campaign with ancient con-
  spiracies, the dense, complex symbolism of Byzantine plotters
  would make the Templars look like they were standing on street
  corners and handing out pamphlets explaining their plans. Like-
  wise, many opportunities exist for ancient horrors to become
  known. The accumulated trauma of centuries of horrific mutila-
  tions may have caused zones of intense psychic disturbance or
  led to hauntings by legions of particularly distressed ghosts.
  Trapped demons may have been held back for over a thousand
  years by Byzantine talismans that have now been disturbed or
  destroyed; only similar devices can trap them again.
  
  Will the righteous feel compelled to cleanse the world of those
  not as pure as themselves? Even if the evil eye doesn’t actually
  exist, belief in it may lead to adventurers being accused of witch-
  craft (a capital crime) if harm comes to their rivals.
  INFINITE WORLDS
  The Byzantine empire was the remnant of orderly civiliza-
  tion in Europe during the early Middle Ages. It kept the very
  idea of European civilization from vanishing under waves of
  barbarians and rival civilizations alike. Constantinople was the
  lynchpin of the empire, making it potentially a major player in
  alternate histories. A weaker Byzantine empire during the
  early years might fall to Germanic invaders, much as the west-
  ern part of the empire did. The Balkans and Near East would
  be left a complex of Gothic-influenced successor states reach-
  ing equilibrium with a Persian empire trying to expand to the
  west. Without the empire holding the eastern end of Europe,
  Islam might spread into Europe from the east rather than
  going the long way around through North Africa and into
  Spain before petering out in southern France. Alternatively, a
  cascade of minor changes coming from the collapse of the
  empire might head off the development of Islam. Depending
  on the specific course of history, Mohammed might not be
  born, or Islam could rise less explosively in a stronger, more
  settled Persian empire much as Christianity developed within
  the Roman empire.
  A more powerful empire, meanwhile, could shift the course
  of Europe’s post-Dark Age recovery in an entirely different
  direction. If Justinian had more skilled successors, if Heraclius
  were up to the challenge of defending his southern territories,
  or if the early years of Islam didn’t involve political and mili-
  tary as well as religious expansion, Byzantine gains could be
  solidified and serve as the basis for more sustained expansion.
  From a Mediterranean core, the revived empire reestablishes
  Roman rule (though partly Hellenized and thoroughly Chris-
  tianized) across Europe and the Near East. It also brings the
  continent to the same level of technology and sophistication as
  the Renaissance at least 500 years earlier, if not more. It could
  shift the development of Christianity away from Roman
  Catholicism and toward Orthodoxy, possibly radically altering
  or preventing the Protestant Reformation.
  In either case, given the strength of the central government,
  the easiest way to influence the empire as a whole is to do it in
  Constantinople itself. An assassination here, a potential
  favorite aided there, even the placement of a few bureaucrats
  with just the right skills and motivations could put the empire
  on a much better or worse footing, depending on the inclina-
  tions of the agents in question.
  MARTIAL ARTS
  Where there’s fighting, there are martial arts, and
  Constantinople was around long enough to see a lot of fighting.
  A great many warriors passed through its gates. Quite a few
  tried to breach them.
  Though Armatura might be available during the empire’s
  earliest years, it had been replaced by Sword-and-Shield Fight-
  ing as the dominant style of swordplay by the time of Justin-
  ian. Since long spears were the primary infantry weapons for
  Byzantine armies, footmen would also have used styles similar
  to Heroic Spear Fighting, Hoplomachia, and Viking Spear
  Fighting, with Foot Archery for some infantry. Armatura
  Equestris was the dominant fighting style among Byzantine
  cavalry well into the Crusades. Wrestling survived as both
  sport and combat discipline, so Combat Wrestling, something
  resembling Greco-Roman Wrestling, and possibly even descen-
  dents of Pakration are available.
  In addition to native styles, given the vast number of foreign
  mercenaries, traveling Crusaders, East European and West
  Asian attackers, and merchants and pilgrims of every stripe,
  Constantinople eventually saw representatives of just about
  every fighting style practiced from Scandinavia and the British
  Isles through the whole of Europe and the Near East into
  Persia and possibly as far east as India. These would have
  included any number of variations on Furusiyya, the latest ver-
  sion of Knightly Mounted Combat, and Sword-and-Buckler
  Play. Viking Spear Fighting would be suitable for Russians and
  Vikings, particularly with Axe/Mace or Broadsword taken from
  the optional skills. The Byzantines often faced, and were
  strongly influenced by, horsed archers from central Asia, so
  styles resembling Bajitsu and Kyujutsu would be well-known
  (see Archery, GURPS Martial Arts, p. 181, for particular con-
  siderations). In short, if there’s a medieval way of beating peo-
  ple up devised west of the Ganges and north of the Sudan, it’ll
  probably be found in or around Constantinople.
  THAUMATOLOGY
  Constantinople is an obvious choice as a repository of mys-
  tical knowledge for any fantasy-flavored campaign (hidden
  works by Leo IV “the Wise” would be a great prize for any
  magician). It’s equally possible to construct a more specifically
  Byzantine-flavored type of magic. By the empire’s middle
  period, the Byzantines considered benevolent supernatural
  forces as usually a matter of divine intervention. They came
  either because of a person’s virtuousness and piety winning
  divine favor, or by using amulets and relics (see Material Magic
  in GURPS Thaumatology, pp. 95-120). Malevolent supernatu-
  ral forces were a consequence of negotia-
  tion with Satan and other demons or of
  force of personality (notably when it
  comes to the evil eye, which often
  requires no conscious effort to inflict
  malign effects on another; see GURPS
  Thaumatology, p. 201). Only rarely were
  magical effects the result of the deliber-
  ate working of spells. The supernaturally
  powerful become so because of who they
  are or who they deal with rather than
  what they know.
  CAMPAIGNS
  44
  Centrum
  Centrum is probably conflicted about the Byzantines. On one hand, they’re
  the closest thing the region has to an orderly state. On the other, Byzantine
  thought is profoundly, even stubbornly, religious and mystical. Centrum may
  have factions that disagree about what to do about the Byzantine empire in
  worlds where it’s in play, which other crosstime players may be able to take
  advantage of.
  
  Literature in English on the Byzantine empire is quite poor
  relative to that of any Western European nation. Many impor-
  tant Byzantine sources have yet to be translated into English.
  For example, The Book of Ceremonies, the best single source on
  Byzantine court procedures, only exists in English in frag-
  ments, and the most recent French translation dates to the
  1930s. Moreover, where there are few primary sources, good
  secondary works are relatively scarce. Nevertheless, a wealth of
  information is still available.
  PRIMARY SOURCES
  Anna Comnena (E.R.A. Sewter, translator). The Alexiad of
  Anna Comnena (Penguin, 1979). Though extremely generous
  in its treatment of its subject for obvious reasons, this book
  contains a huge amount of important and useful information
  around the First Crusade.
  Constantine Porphyrigenitus (Gyula Moravscik, editor, and
  Romilly J.H. Jenkins, translator). De Administrando Imperio
  (Dumbarton Oaks, 1967). A handbook on Byzantine foreign
  policy, written by, or at least in the voice of, an emperor for the
  benefit of his successor. The manuscript for this translation
  nearly fell afoul of international relations itself, surviving the
  Second World War in a besieged city in eastern Europe before
  the translation could be completed.
  Ibn Battuta (H.A.R. Gibb, translator). The Travels of Ibn
  Battuta (Cambridge University Press and Haklyut Society,
  1971; Goodword Books, 2000). The greatest traveler of the
  medieval world mostly confined himself to Muslim lands, but
  he did make a side trip to Constantinople, where he met the
  emperor Andronicus III.
  Jeffries, Elizabeth (translator). Digenes Akritas: The
  Grottaferrata and Escorial Versions (Cambridge University
  Press, 1998). A translation of two versions of the Byzantine
  epic poem.
  Maurice (George T. Dennis, translator). Maurice’s
  Strategikon: Handbook of Byzantine Military Strategy
  (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001). This handbook of
  military operations and strategy describes in detail Byzantine
  arms, armaments, capabilities, and day-to-day operations in
  the seventh century.
  Procopius (H.B. Dewing, translator). History of the Wars:
  The Persian War (Dodo Press, 2007); History of the Wars: The
  Vandalic War (Dodo Press, 2007); History of the Wars: The
  Gothic War (Dodo Press, 2008); and The Secret History
  (Anthony Kaledellis, translator, Hackett, 2010). These works,
  in addition to being fundamental sources on the age of
  Justinian, illustrate the extremes of historiography in the
  works of a single author. The History of the Wars, published
  during Procopius’ lifetime, is as sober and responsibly factual
  as one could hope for, including descriptions of a number of
  events Procopius himself witnessed. The Secret History, not
  published until long after his death, is full of shocking and
  mostly fabricated accusations about Justinian and Theodora –
  he was a shape-changing demon, she was an underage erotic
  performer, and so forth.
  Theophanes (Cyril Mango, Roger Scott, and Geoffrey
  Greatrex, translators). The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor:
  Byzantine and Near Eastern History, AD 284-813. (Oxford
  University Press, 1997). Despite being probably the most impor-
  tant single source in Byzantine history for the period from
  Heraclius to Irene, this is the first full translation into English.
  SECONDARY WORKS
  Crawford, J. Stephens. The Byzantine Shops at Sardis
  (Harvard University Press, 1991). Although not in
  Constantinople itself, the bath house and retail complex of this
  central-west Anatolian city was probably typical of early
  Byzantine public spaces.
  Evans, Helen and Wixom, William. The Glory of Byzantium:
  Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261
  (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000). This lavishly illustrated
  catalog from an exhibition of Byzantine artifacts is an excellent
  resource for low-tech treasures.
  Haldon, John. Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine
  World, 565-1204 (Routledge, 1999). An overview of Byzantine
  military matters, ranging from equipment to operations and
  strategy to attitudes toward warfare.
  Harris, Jonathan. Constantinople, Capital of Byzantium
  (Continuum, 2009). A survey of Constantinople, focusing on
  the year 1200.
  Hendy, Michael. Studies in the Byzantine Monetary
  Economy, c. 300-1450 (Cambridge University Press, 1985).
  Very technical, but a fundamentally important work for
  Byzantine coinage and fiscal history.
  Kazhdan, Alexander p. Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
  (Oxford University Press, 1991). A three-volume encyclopedia
  of Byzantine topics. It’s excellent as a quick reference for just
  about any subject the reader might have a question about.
  Expensive and hard to find for sale, look for it at a good uni-
  versity library.
  Laiou, Angeliki E. and Morrisson, Cécile. The Byzantine
  Economy (Cambridge University Press, 2007). A general work,
  this book is perhaps more valuable for the footnotes than for
  the text itself.
  BIBLIOGRAPHY
  45
  BIBLIOGRAPHY
  You wanna brush up 
  on your Greek, Jamison.
  Well, get a Greek and brush
  up on him.
  – Groucho Marx,
  Animal Crackers
  
  Norwich, John Julius. Byzantium: The Early Centuries
  (Knopf, 1989); Byzantium: The Apogee (Knopf, 1992); and
  Byzantium: The Decline and Fall (Knopf, 1995). Norwich writes
  in an engaging, accessible style, though he considers himself a
  popular historian rather than a dedicated scholar.
  Ostrogorsky, George. History of the Byzantine State (Rutgers
  University Press, 1969). Fairly dated, but for a long time the
  standard English-language textbook for Byzantine history (and
  therefore often available at a reasonable price from used book
  sellers). It’s still a good all-in-one-volume for factual informa-
  tion, if not for interpretation.
  Rautman, Marcus. Daily Life in the Byzantine Empire
  (Greenwood Press, 2006). If the interested nonspecialist were
  to read one book about Byzantine society, this should be it. In
  addition to treatment of a vast range of topics from the
  Byzantine worldview to agricultural practice to burial cus-
  toms, the annotated bibliography contains pointers to a wealth
  of other useful works, including electronic resources.
  Treadgold, Warren. A History of the Byzantine State and
  Society (Stanford University Press, 1997). This is a more recent
  attempt to provide a comprehensive single-volume treatment
  of the empire as a whole. How well he succeeded is a matter of
  some debate, but it’s still a good resource for the casual reader.
  Treadgold, Warren. The Byzantine Revival, 780-842
  (Stanford University Press, 1988). A very interesting overview
  of a critical period of Byzantine history, investigating how a
  country on the verge of collapse managed to turn itself around
  and return to prominence.
  FICTION
  Eco, Umberto. Baudolino (Mariner Books, 2003). This novel
  by the world’s most famous semiotician involves a journey into
  a legendary Far East, with a framing story set in Constantino-
  ple during the Fourth Crusade.
  From Russia With Love (Terrence Young, 1963). James
  Bond hits a few important Byzantine sites. In addition to a ren-
  dezvous at the Hagia Sophia, the film includes a boat-ride
  through the Basilica cistern.
  Graves, Robert. Count Belisarius (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux,
  1982). In the style of his novelized treatment of the Roman
  emperor Claudius, Graves produced a fictionalized biography of
  Justinian’s general Belisarius, purportedly written by a servant
  who followed him through a series of foreign wars.
  Mitchison, Naomi. Anna Comnena (Kennedy and Boyd,
  2009). A fictionalized account of Anna Comnena and her
  world, written by a prolific novelist, important feminist politi-
  cian, peer, and friend of J.R.R. Tolkien.
  Turtledove, Harry. The Misplaced Legion (Del Rey, 1987)
  and other books in the Videssos series. Turtledove, an historian
  and author, has written a great many alternate-history and fan-
  tasy-flavored works touching on Byzantine topics. The
  Videssos stories are his most extensive, a dozen fantasy novels
  set in a very lightly disguised Byzantine empire. The Tale of
  Krispos novels, for example, are essentially a retelling of the
  story of Basil I.
  DISCOGRAPHY
  In addition to the works cited here, Orthodox liturgical music
  is available on the internet. A search for “Byzantine chant” on
  any major video web site will turn up many good examples.
  Capella Romana. Byzantium: 330-1453 (Capella Romana,
  2008). This is a survey of Byzantine music compiled in con-
  junction with an exhibition of Byzantine art at the Royal
  Academy of Arts. The selection leans toward later and religious
  works (not surprising, given the available selection), but it does
  have a few tracks from as early as the sixth century.
  Halaris, Christodulous. Anthology of Byzantine
  Secular Music, Volume I and II (Cultural Action –
  Emse, 2008). Halaris has been criticized for making
  extensive reconstructions from what is sometimes
  extremely sketchy evidence, and some of it sounds
  suspiciously modern. However, he’s one of the few
  people to seriously attempt to reconstruct the sort of
  Byzantine music that might have been heard on the
  streets and in the taverns.
  Huelgas Ensemble. Cypriot Advent Antiphons
  (DHM, 1991). In the course of the Middle Ages,
  Cyprus was subject to many different influences. At
  various times, it was under Byzantine, Muslim, and
  Crusader rule. At one point, it was even jointly
  administered by Byzantine and Arab governors.
  Many of those influences are present in this music,
  though it’s in Latin rather than Greek.
  McKennitt, Loreena. An Ancient Muse (Verve,
  2006). Though entirely modern, McKennitt’s work
  has long combined traditional Celtic music with
  Middle Eastern elements. This album in particular
  features inspiration from Greece and Anatolia, com-
  bining Eastern and Western sounds to create what might
  be regarded as a Byzantine mood in ways that may be more
  accessible to the modern listener than more challenging if more
  authentic music. The track “Kecharitomene” (“Full of Grace”) is
  named for the convent in which Anna Comnena ended her days.
  VocaMe. Kassia: Byzantine Hymns of the First Female
  Composer (Christophorus, 2009). Though the title overstates
  the case, Kassia is among the earliest female composers whose
  works are sufficiently well-documented that they can be per-
  formed with any confidence. This album demonstrates reli-
  gious music with female voices, more common in Orthodox
  practice than the West.
  BIBLIOGRAPHY
  46
  
  Administrative Rank advantage, 27.
  Adventure seeds, 7, 26, 33, 37; see also
  Campaigns.
  Agelon, 16.
  Alexius I Comnenus, 13, 23, 25, 28, 32;
  offices made by, 17, 26.
  Amusements, 38-39.
  Anna Comnena, 33.
  Aqueduct of Valens, 6, 12.
  Arcadius, forum of, 6.
  Architecture, see Buildings.
  Arianism, 23.
  Armor, 20.
  Arms, 20.
  Augustaion, 7, 9.
  Basil I the Macedonian, 12, 32.
  Basileus autokrator, 15, 27, see also
  Emperor.
  Basilica cistern, 40.
  Bibliography, 45-46.
  Blacherae, 6.
  Books, 36; cost, 36.
  Boullotes, 17, 27.
  Buildings, 37; church, 23; domestic, 34.
  Byzantine, origin of name, 4.
  Campaigns, 41-44; adventure seeds, 7, 26,
  33, 37; crossovers, 42-44; modern, 43;
  morality of empire, 41-42.
  Centrum, 44.
  Ceremonies, 25-26; order of precedence, 26.
  Chalkoprateia, 29.
  Characters, charioteer, 38; eunuchs, 16;
  monk, 24; non-Orthodox, 23.
  Chariot racing, 10, 38, 40.
  Charms, 37.
  Chartoularios, 17; tou vestiariou, 16, 27.
  Church, 21-24; buildings, 23; clerical
  hierarchy, 22, 27; controversy and
  heresy, 23; history, 21-22; monasticism,
  24; other religions and, 23; political
  influence, 18-19; practice, 22-23; 
  Rank and, 27; relationship with 
  Roman Catholic, 14, 18, 22; relics, 24;
  see also Icons.
  Church of the Holy Apostles, 6, 24.
  City stats, 10, 11, 13.
  Clerical Rank advantage, 27.
  Climate, 5.
  Clothing, 35.
  Codex Justinianus, 30.
  Commerce, 28-29.
  Constantine I, 9, 21, 24; forum of, 7.
  Constantinople, as destination, 41; as
  home, 41; map, 8; name, 4; notable
  locations, 39-40; notable people, 30-33;
  overview, 6-7; visiting, 6-7, 41; see also
  Empire, specific topics.
  Corpus Juris Civilis, 30.
  Courtesy Rank, 26.
  Crime, 18.
  Crusades, 13, 42-43.
  Cultural Familiarity advantage, 35.
  Dance, 38.
  Domestic life, 34-35.
  Dronos, 16.
  Economy, 10, 11, 13, 28-29; export
  restrictions, 28.
  Education, 36.
  Elaioparochos, 17, 27.
  Emperors, history, 9-14; notable, 30-32;
  powers, 15; qualifications, 16;
  successors, 15; title, 15.
  Empire, administration of provinces, 18;
  influence of Church, 18-19; morality of,
  4, 18, 41-42; name of, 4; overview, 3; 
  see also Constantinople.
  Empresses, 16, 31.
  Eparchos, 17, 27.
  Epi title, 18, 27.
  Eunuchs, 16.
  Evil eye, 37.
  Family, 34-35.
  Food, 35.
  Foreigners, 7, 23-24.
  Forum, of Arcadius, 6; of Constantine, 7; 
  of the Ox, 6; of Theodosius, 6.
  Galata, 5, 7, 29.
  Gambling, 38-39.
  Games, 39.
  Geitoniarches, 17, 27.
  Genikon, 17.
  Geography, 5.
  Gifts, 25.
  Glass, 29, 38.
  Golden Gate, 6.
  Golden Horn, 5, 7.
  Government, 4, 15-19; see also Officials.
  Grammatikos, 17, 27.
  Great Schism, 14, 22.
  Greek terms, 3, 40.
  Guilds, 29.
  GURPS, 20, 25; Arabian Nights, 13, 43;
  Banestorm, 42; Basic Set, 20;
  Crusades, 13, 42-43; Dungeon
  Fantasy, 43; Fantasy-Tech, 43; Greece,
  12; Horror, 43-44; Hot Spots:
  Renaissance Florence, 14; Imperial
  Rome, 17, 34; Infinite Worlds, 44;
  Low-Tech, 11, 20, 25; Low-Tech
  Companion 1: Philosophers and
  Kings, 23, 36, 38; Low-Tech
  Companion 2: Weapons and
  Warriors, 14, 20; Low-Tech
  Companion 3: Daily Life and
  Economics, 38; Martial Arts, 44;
  Martial Arts: Gladiators, 38; 
  Mass Combat, 21; Middle Ages 1,
  13, 19, 22, 43; Russia, 19, 22, 43;
  Social Engineering, 17, 25, 26;
  Thaumatology, 44; Vikings, 19, 43;
  Who’s Who I, 4.
  Hagia Sophia, 14, 39-40, 43.
  Heraclius, 11, 30-31.
  Hippodrome, 40.
  History, early middle, 10-12; end, 14;
  founding, 9-10; late middle, 12-13;
  overview, 10, 11, 13; timeline, 14.
  Holy Apostles Church, 24.
  Homes, 34.
  Honors, 26, 27.
  Horses, armor, 20.
  Iconoclasm, 12, 14, 31, 33.
  Icons, 23, 24, 38; controversy, 12, 14, 31,
  33; magic and, 37.
  Imperial fleet, 20.
  Industry, see Technology.
  Irene, 31.
  Jews, 23.
  John Chrysostom, 32-33.
  Justinian I, 10, 30.
  Kassia, 33.
  Kerketon, 18.
  Koiaistor, 18, 27.
  Koubikoularios, 16, 27.
  Krites, 18, 27.
  Language, 3-4, 12.
  Legatarios, 18, 27.
  Leo the Mathematician, 33.
  Limitanei, 19.
  Literature, 36.
  Logothetes, 16, 27; ton sekreton, 17; 
  tou praitoriou, 18, 27.
  Lykos river, 6.
  Magic, 37; campaigns, 43, 44.
  Makros Embolos, 6-7.
  Marmara sea, 5. 
  Martial arts, 38, 44.
  Masters of ceremony, 25, 26.
  Megas logothetes, 17.
  Mehnet II, 14.
  Mercenaries, 19.
  Merchant colonies, 7.
  Mese, 6-7.
  Meteres, 18, 27.
  Military Rank advantage, 27.
  Military, 19-21; 10th-century titles, 27; 
  see also Troops.
  Missionaries, 22.
  Money, 28-29.
  Monks, 24; characters, 24.
  Monophysitism, 23.
  Monotheletism, 23.
  Mosaic, 38.
  Music, 38, 46.
  INDEX
  47
  INDEX
  
  Muslims, 23, 24.
  Names, 34-35.
  Nestorianism, 23.
  Nicaea, Council of, 21-22.
  Nomisma, 28.
  Nummus, 28.
  Officials, 10th-century titles, 27; civic,
  17-18; household, 16, 27; imperial,
  16-17; meeting with, 17; payment, 25;
  Rank and, 27; see also Emperors.
  Orthodox Church, see Church.
  Ox, forum of, 6.
  Pagans, 23, 24.
  Palace, 7, 40.
  Parakoimomenos, 16, 27.
  Pera, see Galata.
  Population, 6.
  Praipositos, 16, 27.
  Praitor ton demon, 18, 27.
  Prices, 28, 36.
  Pronunciation, 3.
  Prostitution, 39.
  Protasekretis, 17, 27.
  Protovestarios, 16, 27.
  Punishment, 18.
  Pyramid magazine, 4.
  Rank advantage, 26-27.
  Relics, 24; magic and, 37.
  Rulers, notable, 30-32.
  Sakellarios, 17, 27.
  Senate, 17.
  Silk, 28, 29, 37; as gift, 25.
  Solidus, 28.
  Sports, 39.
  Status advantage, 26-27.
  Strategion, 29.
  Strategos, 18.
  Symponos, 18, 27.
  Tables, 10th-century titles, 27; arms and
  armor, 20; currency, 28.
  Tagma, 19.
  Tavernas, 39.
  Technology, 29, 36-37; weird science and,
  29, 43.
  Thematic armies, 19, 20.
  Themes (regions), 18.
  Theodora, 30.
  Theodosius I, forum of, 6.
  Timeline, 14.
  Titles, 18, 26-27.
  Troops, 19-20; command structure,
  20; land, 19, 20; sea, 20; titles, 19, 
  20, 27.
  Varangian Guard, 19, 20; campaigns, 42,
  43.
  Visual arts, 38.
  Walls (city), 6, 39; adventure, 7.
  Warfare, attitude toward, 20-21; see also
  Troops.
  Weapons, 20.
  INDEX
  48
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