Du Huan's "Jing Xing Ji" and "Two Tang Books" and "The Western Regions" have detailed records of the products, architecture, folk customs, etc. of the Fulin Kingdom. However, it is believed that some of the records in the Two Tang Books were derived from the situation in Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty. In

In the Tang Dynasty, there were frequent envoys and business trips between Chang'an and Fulin, as well as between the Western Turkic Khanate and Fulin, especially the Western Turks who had united with them to fight against the Sasanian dynasty of Persia. Nestorianism (Christian Nestorian)

Lipai) should come from that place.

Volume 134 of "Yuan Shi" Aixue Chuan has "Fulin" and "Fu Lin", and Dai Liang's "Jiuling Shanfang Collection" Volume 9 has "Fu Lin". According to textual research, this "Fu Lin" should be Farang.

The transliteration of the word is the name given to Europe by Arabs and Persians, that is, Folangji in the "History of the Ming Dynasty", not Fulong in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Sui and Tang Dynasties.

History

The name Byzantium comes from an ancient Greek immigrant city near the sea. In 324 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine I selected this city as the emperor's residence and renamed it Constantinople New Rome (tianpolisnovaoralteraRoma). Constantinople

(Istanbul) is located in the Bosporus Strait, a strategic waterway connecting the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea. It restricts sea and land commercial routes and has a very advantageous geographical location.

In 395 AD, the huge Roman Empire was invaded by various barbarians. For the convenience of administration, the empire was divided into two parts. The eastern empire had Constantinople as its capital, so the Eastern Roman Empire was also called the Byzantine Empire. In 476 AD

The Western Roman Empire finally breathed its last breath after experiencing repeated attacks by the Huns and many Germanic tribes, and Byzantium became the only Roman empire - in fact, they have always claimed to be of pure Roman origin.

Rome divided

In the late 3rd century, Roman Emperor Diocletian introduced the Tetrarchy system to manage the vast Roman Empire more effectively. He divided the entire empire into two parts, establishing an emperor (called Augustus) in Italy and Greece.

, each of them had a deputy emperor (called Caesar) to assist them. This division lasted until the 4th century.

Emperor Constantine reestablished himself as the sole emperor of the entire empire in 324. Constantine decided to build a new capital, and he chose Byzantium (today's Istanbul). In 330, the capital was built, and Constantine

Called New Rome (NovaRoma). But most people call it Constantinople (ople, meaning the city of Constantine). This new capital became the center of his administrative organization. Constantine was also the first

An emperor who believed in Christianity. Although the empire was not the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Constantine, Christianity was a characteristic of the Byzantine Empire and was the dividing line between it and the Roman Empire that believed in polytheism.

Another dividing line is the Battle of Hadrianople (also translated as the Battle of Adrianople) in 378. This defeat and the death of Emperor Valens can be seen as the time when the ancient empire and the medieval empire separated. Valens

Theodosius I, the successor of Lens, divided the entire empire again. In 395 he gave the two parts to his two sons Arcadius and Honorius. Arcadius became

The ruler of the east, Honorius, became the ruler of the west, with his capital being Milan. From this time on the empire in the east was generally called the Eastern Roman Empire, or the Byzantine Empire.

The dominant culture of the Eastern Roman Empire was Greek culture. Greek was not only a daily language, but also a common language for church, literature and commerce. For the Romans at that time, today's "Latin Empire in the West" and "Greek Empire in the East"

” distinction, and the emphasis today that the Eastern Empire was not the “real” Roman Empire, are not important. The Roman Empire was a multilingual empire, and Eastern Rome was no exception. But Greek culture evolved from the cities of the empire such as the Kings

Thantinople, Antioch, Ephesus, Thessaloniki, and Alexandria spread throughout the country. Although it was not obvious at the time, the Eastern Roman Empire developed them under the influence of its scholars such as John Guessuston

Your own style of Christianity.

The Eastern Roman Empire basically avoided the difficulties that the Western Roman Empire encountered in the 3rd and 4th centuries. There are many reasons for this. First, the urban culture here has been quite mature, and secondly, the invasion during the Great Migration was mainly attracted by the wealth of Rome. 5

The Western Roman Empire was conquered many times in the middle of the century, and the Eastern Roman Empire could at most avoid suffering by paying a contribution. Theodosius II strengthened the walls of Constantinople, making the city vulnerable to attack by "barbarians"

An unbreakable city.

When the Western Roman Empire fell in 476, Leo I of the Eastern Roman Empire negotiated with the Goths. He ended the Gothic threat to the Eastern Empire, but he no longer planned to reconquer the territory of the Western Roman Empire.

The main enemies of Eastern Rome in the 6th century were its traditional old enemies: the Persians, Slavs and Bulgars. Theological disputes, such as the debate over Monophysites, were also important topics in the empire. But the Eastern Empire did not forget

It had its roots in the west. Under Justinian I and his brilliant general Belisarius the Eastern Empire even regained some of the provinces it had lost in the west: most of Italy, North Africa and Spain. Justinian

Dinny re-edited the laws of ancient Rome and formulated the "Civil Code". It is worth noting that this code was written in Latin. At that time, Latin was considered an ancient language, and even many writers

Neither of them speak this language very well.

In 532, construction began on the Hagia Sophia (its original name was HagiaSophia, which means Holy Truth). This church would become the center of Byzantine religious life and Orthodox Christianity.

Justinian I left an empty treasury to his successors, who were unable to deal with the sudden appearance of new enemies on all frontiers: the Lombards in northern Italy and the Slavs in the Balkans.

For the most part, the Persians invaded and occupied the eastern provinces. Heraclius (i.e. Heraclius) recaptured these eastern provinces, but the sudden appearance of the Arabs, who had just been unified under Islam at that time, was Heraclius.
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