【中英文版】西方伪造“拜占庭”始末

He Xin: 

The Reason and the Whole Story of the Fictitious Name “Byzantium”

 by Western Historiography

【How did the fictitious Byzantium come into existence?】

In 1557, about one hundred years after the Constantinople-based Roman Empire completely perished (1453), the German historian Hieronymus Wolf faked a name “Imperium Byzantium” for the Constantinople Roman Empire—the historical Eastern Roman Empire, during his sorting out and compiling historical data about the Eastern Roman Empire.

Byzantium, referring to a regime title or name, did not actually exist in previous history. No one had ever heard of it, nor was it once used by Constantinople or Eastern Roman Empire. It is a faked name out of pure imagination. To support this fictitious name, Wolf purposely made up a story purportedly originating from Greek mythology. He wrote that before the 7th century BC the Greek from Athens once established their colonies in Asia Minor which was originally called Byzantium. Thereafter, Wolf renamed all the historical data about Eastern Roman Empire in hand with the new name Corpus Historiae Byzantine. This is why subsequent European and American historians called Constantinople-based Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire “Imperium Byzantium”. 

[Notes：Byzantium is an artificially produced name by Wolf. He alleged there was a Greek mythology which recorded a deity person (an integration of deity and human) living in Greek Megara (near Athens) crossed Aegean Sea and landed in Asia Minor where he built the Byzantium city. He also argued that the word “Byzan” originally meant king, and Byzas built his city in the highland beside Chalcedon and named it Byzantium after his own name. This city was the precursor of Constantinople. In other words, it was the king city of the Greek. Just like majorities of Greek historical myths like Troy, this myth is completely based on assumption of Western Europeans, without any historical evidence.]

Wolf is a historian of the Holy Roman Empire, which was founded as a pinchbeck Roman Empire by the Germanic people, called barbarians by the Romans, after the 10th century. Gaul-descendent Voltaire once commented: “It was neither holy nor Roman, nor an empire.” However, since its establishment, the false Germanic Roman Empire had kept declaring that only the western Germanic Roman Empire was the legitimate successor of the Ancient Roman Empire—rather than the Constantinople-based Eastern Empire. This can well explain the reason for Westerners’ systematic forging of the history of ancient Greece and Rome and is also the very reason for Wolf’s renaming Eastern Roman Empire—to fake an empire name and use it for Eastern Roman Empire.

After the 17th century, the preach and repeated use by western scholars during the Age of Enlightenment had made the faked “Imperium Byzantium “acceptable to western European historians and was widely used in western historiography. Thus it gradually replaced the traditional name of Constantinople and Eastern Roman Empire.

The real intention of western academic circle’s consistent use of the coined empire name is to cut off and deny the inherent relationship between Eastern Roman Empire and Ancient Roman Empire with the newly-coined name.

【After the 4th century, the authentic name of the Roman Empire capital was “Nava Roma”—“ Constantinople”】

Constantinople (Kōnstantinoupolis) originated from the name of the Roman Empire emperor that built this city, Constantine I.

In 324 AD, The Roman emperor Constantine the Great ordered to build a new town near Chalcedon, the ancient Persian town in Asia Minor, as the new capital of Roman Empire. After five years of elaborate construction, a huge, luxurious and grand new capital city, Constantine castle, stood up at the Bosphorus bank, where European and Asian continents meet. 

On May 11, 330 AD (Monday), Constantine the Great declared the new capital town of Roman Empire had been officially established and named it Nova Roma, to distinguish it from the old Rome in the Italian Peninsula. With the establishment of this new capital town, the main body of Roman Empire had been moved to the east from the Italian Peninsula.

The subsequent historical time witnessed Roman Empire’s major territory shift from Europe (it had been occupied by the south-advancing barbaric Germanic people) to Asia, namely Asia Minor, West Asia and Egypt. Although the empire had moved to the east, the official empire name Rōmanía, or Imperium Romanorum (Latin), remained unchanged.

Nova Roma adopted a series of preferential policies, in an effort to build a functionally prosperous Constantinople to completely replace the position of the previous Italian Peninsula-based Rome. Constantine the Great ordered the Rome nobles living in the old town to settle in the noble residential community built in the new capital town, free of charge. The senate in Constantinople was also equal to that of Rome in legal status. To reconcile the religious conflicts between the Romans and the easterners, Constantine the Great accepted the Christianity (Eastern Orthodox) emerging in Asia Minor. The series of new policies launched by Constantine the Great had contributed to the rapid development of Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire.

The Mosaic picture in Sophia Cathedral of Constantinople: Constantine the Great presented Constantinople to Jesus

The establishment of Constantinople led to a sharp growth in population. Within just several decades, the number of population in Constantinople rose from the previous 100,000 to more than 500,000, making itself one of the largest cities in the world. In terms of urban size, it is only the Chinese city Chang’an in the Hang Dynasty that is on a par with it.

【The Eastern Roman Empire is a super-stable imperial system—united and lasting for about one thousand years.】

Some people mentioned that the ancient Chinese imperial system was a super-stable system; however, ancient China was not qualified for the authentic super-stable system. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, not a single kingdom managed to extend its imperium for more than 500 years. However, the imperium established by Constantine the Great of the Eastern Roman Empire had been passed down to 11 emperors, lasting for one thousand years. Although there were inevitably many ups and downs, its super-stable system still came as an absolute shock.

Around 370-395 AD the Roman Empire split into Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire.

Western Roman Empire successively founded its capital in Milan and Ravenna (the current Ravenna), while Eastern Roman Empire was headquartered in Constantinople. After repeated attacks and bloodbaths by the barbaric ethnic groups—the Huns and the Germanic people (Goths), the old Rome in the Italian Peninsula became dilapidated.

In 476 A.D, Western Roman Empire completely broke up under the attack of the barbaric Germanic people. The emperor of Western Roman Empire issued abdication edict, declaring the end of the Western Roman Empire and all colonies of the empire could become independent at their will. However, the Constantinople-based Eastern Roman Empire continued to survive as the sole Roman Empire that had inherited the legitimate authority and bloodline of the Ancient Roman Empire.

【Constantinople developed from the Persian Chalcedon】

The Constantinople-based Empire is the authentic heir of Ancient Roman Empire, with Latin as its official language. All the neighbors (the eastern Persian Empire and Arab Empire, the western European countries, northern Russia, and the Chinese in the Far East) called them Romans. However, Asia Minor and West Asia, which came under the rule of Eastern Roman Empire, had developed an exclusively-used geographic name “Hillen” since the ancient time. And it was this name that was later grafted by western historiography circle to Greece of the Balkan Peninsula, and thus the centuries-old ancient civilization of West Asia (e.g. Egypt) and Asia Minor (e.g. Persia and Babylon) had been turned over to Athens and finally attributed to the Germanic people.

But as a matter of fact, the Roman rulers in Constantinople looked down upon the local aboriginals of Asia Minor, and categorized them into the peoples to be conquered and ruled. If someone attempted to call the Romans in Constantinople “Hillen”, they would consider it an insult.

During the later history evolution of the Medieval times, Eastern Roman Empire based its civilization on Asia Minor culture, selected Christianity and Orthodox Eastern Church as the official religions, used Latin as its national language, and introduced Hebrew language, Asia Minor language and ancient Arabic. In this way, it managed to become an empire typical of oriental cultures, distinguishing itself from Ancient Roman Empire and Europe.

The precursor of Constantinople is Chalcedon governed by the Persian Empire, not the so-called Byzantium.

【Crescent served as emblem of Constantinople】

The extant historical data of Eastern Rome Empire show that before 670 BC “crescent” was used as the urban totem and emblem of Chalcedon city. However, the tradition of worshiping crescent and Phospherus (morning star) and using them for emblems originated from Babylon and Egypt. 

In 330 AD after the construction of Constantinople city, Constantine the Great added Phospherus (Virgin Mary’s star) to the flag and decorated it with crescent. Constantinople was the first governing state that used crescent as emblem.

After the Turks had attacked and occupied Constantinople, the flag of the Ottoman Empire continued to use the emblem combining both crescent and phosphorus. This emblem has always been regarded sacred by the Arabians.

何新：西方史学伪造“拜占庭”名号的原因及始末

【拜占庭伪号是怎样出现的】

1557年，在君士坦丁堡罗马帝国彻底亡国（1453年）的百年之后，德意志的历史学家赫罗尼姆斯·沃尔夫（HieronymusWolf）在整理编纂关于东罗马的历史资料时，为君士坦丁堡罗马——即历史中的东方罗马帝国伪造了一个虚构的名号“拜占庭帝国”。

拜占庭这个国号或名称，在此之前并不存在——从来无人知道，也从未被君士坦丁堡或者东罗马帝国使用过，是一个完全子虚乌有的虚构名称。为此，沃尔夫捏造了一个据称来自希腊神话的虚假故事，声称公元前7世纪以前有雅典的希腊人曾在小亚细亚构建殖民地，而拜占庭是那里的古初地名。此后，沃尔夫就把他手中关于东罗马帝国的全部历史资料改名为《历代拜占廷历史学家手稿》（CorpusHistoriaeByzantinae）。这就是后来的欧美历史学把君士坦丁堡罗马和东罗马帝国称为“拜占廷帝国”（ImperiumByzantinum）的由来。

［附注：拜占庭这个称呼是沃尔夫伪造和杜撰的产物。他宣称有一个希腊神话，这个神话说希腊墨伽拉（雅典附近）有一个名叫“拜占”的神性人（半人半神），他横渡爱琴海来到小亚细亚建立了 拜占庭城。又说“拜占”这个词语的本来意思是王者。拜占在卡尔西顿旁边的高地之上建立了他的城市，并以自己的名字命名这个城市为“拜占庭”，这个城市是君士坦丁堡的前身——即希腊人的王者之城。这个神话如同特洛伊等多数历史化的希腊神话一样，完全是出自西欧人编造的没有任何史证的臆说。］

沃尔夫是神圣罗马帝国的历史家。“神圣罗马帝国”是在公元10世纪以后，由罗马人称作野蛮民族的日耳曼人所建立的一个假的罗马帝国。身为高卢人的伏尔泰曾经这样说：“它既不神圣，也非罗马，更不是帝国。”但是，假的日耳曼罗马自建立以后，就一直宣称：罗马帝国的正统继承人只有西方的日耳曼罗马才是——而不是东方的君士坦丁堡罗马；这也就是西方人系统伪造古希腊和古罗马历史的原因，也是沃尔夫为东罗马帝国改名——制造和使用一个伪造国号称呼东方罗马帝国的原因。

17世纪之后，经过启蒙时代西方学者的鼓吹和反复使用，“拜占庭帝国”这个伪国号被西欧历史学家叫习惯了，在西方史学中得到广泛应用，取代了君士坦丁堡以及东罗马帝国的传统名称。

西方学术界一直使用这个伪国号的目的，就是要以这个新名称，来切割和否定东罗马帝国对于古罗马帝国的传承关系。

【4世纪以后罗马帝都的真正名称是“新罗马”——“君士坦丁堡”】

“君士坦丁堡”（Kōnstantinoupolis）一名起源于建立这座都市的罗马帝国皇帝君士坦丁一世。

公元324年，罗马皇帝君士坦丁大帝发布命令，在小亚细亚的波斯古城镇卡尔西顿(Chalcedon)附近兴建一座新城，作为罗马帝国的新首都。经过五年的精心施工，一座规模宏大、豪华壮丽的新都城出现在欧亚两洲交界处的博斯普鲁斯海峡岸边上，这就是君士坦丁城堡。

公元330年5月11日（星期一），君士坦丁大帝宣告罗马帝国定都于这个新城，并命名它为“新罗马”（Nova Roma），以区别于意大利半岛上的旧罗马。从此以后，罗马帝国的主体也就随着这个新都城的建立而由意大利半岛迁移到东方。

此后罗马帝国的主要统治区域即由欧洲部分（当时已被南下的野蛮民族日耳曼各部所占据），转移到亚洲部分即小亚细亚和西亚、埃及。虽然帝国已经迁移到东方，但是帝国的正式名称则仍然是Rōmanía（“罗马”），或帝国罗马 Imperium Romanorum（拉丁语）。

新罗马帝国政府采取了一系列优惠政策，努力使君士坦丁堡在功能上完全取代旧日意大利半岛上那个古罗马的地位。君士坦丁大帝命令原来旧城的罗马贵族，免费迁入新帝都的贵族住宅。君士坦丁堡的 元老院也获得了与罗马的老元老院同等的法律地位。为了调和罗马人与东方人在宗教上的冲突，君士坦丁大帝接受了小亚细亚地区兴起的基督教（东方正教）。君士坦丁大帝的一系列新政策推动了君士坦丁堡和东部帝国的快速发展。

君士坦丁堡索菲亚大教堂的马赛克画：君士坦丁大帝向耶稣献上君士坦丁堡

君士坦丁堡建成后，人口急剧增长，数十年间，君士坦丁堡的人口即由10万人达到了50万以上，成为当时世界上规模最大的城市之一，君士坦丁堡城的规模，当时只有汉朝的长安可以与其相提并论。

【东罗马帝国是超稳定的帝国体系——帝统一而贯之延续千年】

有人说中国古代是千年不变的超稳定体系。殊不知，真正的超稳定帝国体系并非中国。中国秦汉以下的帝国，任何一个皇朝帝统没有延续500年以上的。但是，东罗马帝国的君士坦丁大帝开创的皇朝帝统称号延续11世，竟达千年之久，尽管其间也经历许多变迁，但其超稳定程度才真正惊人！

公元370年—395年左右，罗马帝国分裂为西罗马帝国和东罗马帝国。

西罗马帝国的首府先后在米兰和拉文纳（今拉文纳），东罗马帝国的首都在君士坦丁堡。而意大利半岛的旧罗马城，已经因多次遭受野蛮的蛮族——匈奴人和日耳曼人（哥特人）的攻占和血洗，而成为一片废墟。

公元476年，西罗马帝国在日耳曼蛮族打击下彻底崩溃，西罗马皇帝发出退位诏，宣布西部的罗马帝国不复存在，帝国的所有殖民地均可自行独立。此后君士坦丁堡为中心的东方罗马帝国，即作为继承古罗马帝国法统和正统的惟一罗马帝国而继续存在。

【君士坦丁堡的前身是波斯的卡尔西顿城】

君士坦丁堡帝国是古代罗马帝国的正宗继承人，他们使用的官方语言是拉丁语。他们周围的国家（东方的波斯帝国和阿拉伯帝国，西方的欧洲国家，北方的俄罗斯，以至远东的中国人）， 也都将他们称为罗马人。但是东方罗马所在的小亚细亚和西亚地区，自古就有一个专用地理名称叫“Hillen”（“希伦”）。而就是这个名称，后来被西方史学界移花接木于巴尔干半岛的Greek，从而把西亚（如埃及）和小亚细亚（如波斯、巴比伦）的悠久古代文明嫁接于雅典，再附会到日耳曼民族头上。

但是，实际上君士坦丁堡的罗马统治者看不起小亚细亚的本土原住民，视之为被征服、被统治的民族。因此如有人将君士坦丁堡的罗马人称为“Hillen”（“希伦人”），那么罗马人会认为这是对他们的一种侮辱。

东罗马帝国在后来的中古历史中，以小亚细亚文化为基础，以基督教东正教为国教，以拉丁语为国语，吸收希伯来语、小亚细亚语和古阿拉伯语，从而成为不同于古罗马帝国和欧洲的具有鲜明东方文化特色的帝国。

君士坦丁堡的前身是属于波斯帝国的卡尔西顿城，而不是什么拜占庭。

【新月是君士坦丁堡的徽号】

据存留下的东罗马史料，在公元前670年以前，卡尔西顿城以“新月”作为城市的图腾和徽号。而崇拜新月和启明星（明星），并以之作为象征的传统，则来自巴比伦和埃及。

公元330年，君士坦丁一世大帝在君士坦丁堡建城后，在旗帜上加上启明星——圣母玛利亚之星（Virgin Mary's star）配以新月。君士坦丁堡是第一个以新月作徽号的城市首府（governing state）。

在突厥人攻占君士坦丁堡以后，奥斯曼帝国的旗帜继续沿用了新月与明星的徽号。这个徽号在阿拉伯地区一直被奉为神圣之徽至今。