There are many tv series that show the glory of the Roman Empire, yet there are few which even bother to show anything about the Byzantine Empire. Theodora: Slave Empress was made in 1954 and this is pretty much the only movie that has had any real impact on American audiences. Hollywood and European cinema were big fans of Roman History with many movies being made in the Silent Era and the Early Sound Era. However, the Byzantine Empire was largely ignored with few exceptions by authors and people in the movies.
Netflix’s Vikings Valhalla, one of the streaming service’s few intelligent and thought-provoking series is set to reach its conclusion with the release of this upcoming season in mid-July. While the Vikings Valhalla series has sparked much debate among the fans of the original show, the show is probably the best representation we have had regarding the relations between Christians and Pagans and the Christianization of the Ancient Norse peoples. It is a series that is going to leave a mark on how people think about how the Vikings are portrayed in historical dramas. It is important to remember that the Vikings series was immensely successful on the History Channel and Valhalla is its own way creating its own identity while paying homage to the style of the older series.
This season will have some of our main characters in the Queen of Cities, Constantinople. It was one of the greatest cities in Europe and indeed the whole globe at the time, probably only having competitors in Song China. The trailer is not telling us much about what our characters will doing in Constantinople, however, it can be clear that some of them will be within the court of Emperor Romanos II who ruled after the passing of Emperor Constantine VIII who was brother to the great Byzantine conqueror, Basil II.
This is a very interesting era in Byzantine History.
As I have stated before on this blog, the people who came after Basil II were not very competent at their jobs. As Basil II had not been able to secure the succession with a son as he swore off even having intimate relationships with women, a bunch of Emperors came to the throne who were not able to bring passion and skills to the position. With the Sejiuk Turks moving in on the Empire and taking the areas around Lake Van and increasing their presence within the interior of Anatolia, this is an important era of Byzantine history that is an important inflection in which the Greek culture in Anatolia would go through the process of what is said to be Turkification and would alter the area’s orientation towards the Islamic culture rather than Christian culture.
Constantinople as depicted in the era after Basil II is quite rare. With this series being on Netflix, I do not expect much historical accuracy. The series already put in black Jarl in the series and was relying heavily on tropes when they were talking about Alexander the Great. This streaming service rarely gets its history correct. However, Vikings Valhalla, excluding some really questionable choices, is one of the best historical series I have seen in a while.
Being able to show the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire is great responsibility. I hope that they are up to the challenge and give us something that is going to be amazing and truly educational and gives people the chance to learn something about the Byzantines.
Byzantine-Empire.com 