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The Emperor Constantine, "Equal to the Apostles:"
he convoked the Council of Nicea, near his home base, which gave us the Nicene Creed. |
One of the greatest achievements of Biblical versions
came from the need of Jews to have the Old Testament studied a common language.
The name Septuagint is often represented by the Roman numeral LXX for 70. No
one knows exactly when it was translated or the exact dates. The translation
probably began around 285 BC, so it was available not only to Jews but to those
who knew Greek.
The glory of Greece was far gone when the Son was born of
the Virgin Mary. However, the language remained in all territories conquered by
Alexander and ruled by his generals afterwards. Rome got into peace-making,
often called occupation, when they were called in to settle the constant
fighting in the Holy Land, around 60 BC. For a time, people teaching the Bible
claimed the New Testament was written in Aramaic, that Jesus taught in Aramaic.
No one has found this proposed Aramaic New Testament, a theory which ignores
how useless a local idiom might be - contrasted to the language used around the
civilized world, Koine Greek, or common Greek. They did not use the same style
of Greek as Homer did centuries earlier but the simplified Greek of conversation,
letters, and commerce.
(Hat tip, Bruce Christian D.D.)
Jesus was born in the pagan Roman Empire, seemingly at
the peak of its size, power, and grandeur. But the decline had started and
rushed to a conclusion a few centuries later, the Western Roman empire
conquered by outsiders. However, the Eastern Roman Empire began with the
Emperor Constantine Christianizing its lands, which lasted a more than 1100
years, 306 – 1453 AD. The Fall of Rome led to the fragments of the Western
Roman Empire – Europe – adopting Latin Bibles while the Eastern Roman Empire -
called Byzantium after its capital city - preserved Greek, Greek literature,
and Greek culture with Christianity the main religious force.
Constantine became Emperor of Rome in 306. He was enough
of a Christian to create a new capital at Byzantium, a small town ideally
placed for trade between the West and Asia. He
wanted a Christian capital and enticed Roman families to move to his new home,
which he dubbed the New Rome. As
a trading city for jade and silk, the city became known as Constantinople. Vast
wealth accumulated and enemies were defeated in their attacks on the city. In
spite of a long and glorious history, from growth to decline and defeat,
historians have given little thought to the Byzantine Empire. As a result, most
people think the Roman Empire collapsed around 400 AD, but that was only the
European part. While Europe seemed divided into little fiefdoms and duchies,
developing new languages, Byzantium preserved the Greek language, Greek art,
and the Greek manuscripts. The tragedy of Constanople’s fall is directly
connected to the Renaissance in Europe, when Greek scholars and manuscripts
made their way into Europe as they escaped.
The Ottoman Empire
After the prophet Mohammed died, in 632 AD, his enemies
rose up to remove his influence from Arabia. Instead, his followers countered
and wiped out all active opposition.
The
Byzantine Empire was protected against invasion until the growth of the Ottoman
Empire in the 1300s. Byzantium did not have a warlike culture, but the Muslims
were active in conquest. By 1453, the Byzantine Empire had been whittled down
to Constantinople alone, and it fell on May 29th. The last emperor
of Constantinople, who died fighting, was named Constantine, just as the last
emperor of Rome was named Romulus and died fighting in 476, which was
considered the end of the Roman Empire.
Constantinople
became Istanbul by combining the Greek words for “into the city.”
The great and golden metropolis was simply called “The City,” just as New York
City is today. A lawyer who worked in New York said to us, “I can do my work in
the suburbs, so I seldom have to go into the City.” He added, “That is how we
tell newcomers from old hands. New York is simply The City.”
The
fall of Constantinople was accompanied by Greek scholars and artists fleeing to
Europe with their treasures, which initiated the Renaissance. Ancient Greek
culture was admired and copied in many ways, and the Greek New Testament came
to replace the Vulgate. Thus the end of the two empires, Rome and Byzantine,
mark the beginning and end of the Middle Ages.
The fall of Rome facilitated the Church
in governing Europe, with its common language – Latin – and its network of
bishops and priests. The struggle began, not the first, but the most effective,
the Gospel versus the Antichrist.
