What Anthony Kaldellis has said about Byzantine Empire

Kaldellis argues that the burden of proof lies on those who claim the Byzantine Empire was something other than the Roman Empire, since the sources are clear.

“the burden of proof is on those who would assert that what we've been calling the Byzantine Empire is something other than the Roman Empire”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires (Jun 30, 2026) · Listen from 9:21

Kaldellis, citing a lesson from Machiavelli, contends that East Roman emperors were generally sincere and did what their rhetoric promised.

“So my research suggests that the emperors and the authorities were generally sincere in what they said”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires (Jun 30, 2026) · Listen from 38:19

Kaldellis says that because about 46% of Constantinople's emperors were violently overthrown, every emperor felt insecure and was incentivized to keep subjects content.

“So that's a huge number, which means that every emperor is vulnerable and insecure, and they know it”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires (Jun 30, 2026) · Listen from 44:19

Kaldellis argues the Eastern Roman Empire was not a military dictatorship because emperors very rarely used the army to control the population.

“They almost never, very, very, very rarely use the army as an instrument of social control”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires (Jun 30, 2026) · Listen from 2:34:47

Kaldellis criticizes Justinian's western conquests for stripping the East of armies, allowing the Persians to destroy Antioch.

“I don't think you get a pass for conquering North Africa by surrendering Syria”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires (Jun 30, 2026) · Listen from 2:49:27

Kaldellis attributes the 11th-century crisis mainly to simultaneous attacks by Normans, Pechenegs and Seljuk Turks rather than internal moral decay.

“But no state can medieval or ancient can realistically survive. The simultaneous attack of three very different kinds of enemies”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires (Jun 30, 2026) · Listen from 3:17:59

Kaldellis argues the empire should be defined by its long internally driven recoveries rather than its brief externally caused crises.

“So I see this as a society whose internal organization primes it to stabilize and embark on steady growth”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires (Jun 30, 2026) · Listen from 3:21:52

Kaldellis dates the empire's point of no return to the first half of the 14th century, after the loss of Asia Minor, civil wars, Serbian expansion and the Black Death.

“I would say early 14th century, somewhere between 1300 and 1350. the sources of resilience begin to dry up”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires (Jun 30, 2026) · Listen from 3:28:58

Kaldellis notes that apart from Bulgaria, there were no separatist movements among Roman provincials, which he cites as evidence the empire could have lasted far longer absent invasions.

“But for the rest of the 1,200 years, you don't find provincials wanting to leave this system”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires (Jun 30, 2026) · Listen from 3:32:44

Kaldellis explains the empire's cohesion by the authorities' effort to persuade subjects they ruled on their behalf, combined with a unified Roman and Orthodox identity.

“First is that an extraordinary effort was made by the authorities to persuade their subjects that they were ruling on their behalf”

Lex Fridman Podcast: #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires (Jun 30, 2026) · Listen from 3:36:23