Were the Byzantines Actually Romans?

[kefalonitis]

Yes and no. Yes, they were Romans, but they weren't ethnically Romans since the empire was very multi-ethnic even during the glory days of the Roman empire under Augustus and etc.

Roman was an identity that included many other ethnicities.It was similar to the term ''European'' we use today.

[Petros Houhoulis]

Byzantine Empire = Hellenized Eastern Roman Empire.

Nope. It was Greek speaking since Alexander the Great, not because the Romans Hellenized it.

[Petros Houhoulis]

This. But, today they're ancient Greeks again

We are just Greeks, you are Australopitheki, case closed...

[Petros Houhoulis]

Greeks + Anatolians.
Quite a lot of Armenians and even a few Syrians too.

As per Mango, it was roughly 1/3 Balkanic, 1/3 Anatolian and 1/3 Semitic, at least in the good times...

Greek was the major language in the Balkans and Anatolia, while Syriac was the major language of the Semites.

[War Chef]

As per Mango, it was roughly 1/3 Balkanic, 1/3 Anatolian and 1/3 Semitic, at least in the good times...

Greek was the major language in the Balkans and Anatolia, while Syriac was the major language of the Semites.

[MinervaItalica]

We need Bosniensis to know the answer

For God sake no, please...

I hope he doesn't see this thread.

[MinervaItalica]

They were not Italics for sure.

[catgeorge]

They were not Italics for sure.

No - but records show the Roman army and Italics of high positions migrated to Constantinople when the capitals moved.

[Renekton]

....

[Dianatomia]

For me the Byzantines were quite clearly Greeks.

In fact, all peoples aside from the Greeks which were once part of the Eastern Roman Empire; Armenians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Syriac Christians, Copts etc. All of them at some point seceded from the Eastern Roman empire. They became Arabs Muslims or had their own kings, tzars and kingdoms who sometimes even opposed the Byzantine Empire.

Yet, the Byzantine Empire survived because it was the Greeks who were keeping the empire in check. They were the engine of the empire throughout the ages. And when they slowly lost control, power and influence, the empire fell.

The Byzantine Empire without the Greeks is like a Soviet Union without the Russians. It is not possible. That simple.