Myrelaion of Romanos Lekapenos
Some of the Imperial Sarcophagi (Istanbul Archeological Museum)
We discuss Byzantine funeral practices and the burial places of Emperors.
Period: 913-1025
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The History of Byzantium 
Hi Robin – I had two questions for the end of the century episodes:
(1) Were slaves actually used in Byzantium or were the Byzantines mere facilitators of slavers’ trade? What did the Church had to say about slavery? Surely slavery contradicted some of the most basic Christian principles.
(2) Did the great families of Byzantium have their own banners or family words similarly to the great feudal lords of Western Europe?
Thanks and please continue with your great job on the podcast, I enjoy it very much.
There were lots of slaves in the Byzantine empire. Some historians have hypothesized that the word “slave” derives from “Slav,” and there were many Slavic slaves in the empire. From my cursory reading, it seems outright condemnations of slavery are pretty rare among church fathers. In the east the best known example was Saint Gregory of Nyssa (4th century) who, in a commentary on Ecclesiastes, launches into a strident denunciation of slavery. So the idea that slavery was wrong was “out there” but not very influential it seems, and most Christians accepted it as a fact of life.
It’s been almost a month. I’m jonesing for my THoB fix ;(