The conversation
Why White Supremacists and QAnon Enthusiasts Are Obsessed – But Very Wrong – About the Byzantine Empire
Inspiration for a crowd of angry white men? Getty Images From the Charlottesville to the Capitol, medieval images have been repeatedly seen on performances and riots on the right in recent times. Exhibitions of crusader shields and tattoos derived from Norwegian and Celtic symbols are of little surprise to medieval historians like me, who have long documented the appropriation of the Middle Ages by the far right of today. But amid all the expected Viking images and nods for the Crusaders, there was another dormant “medieval” that had yet to be fully acknowledged in reporting on both the far-right and conspiracy-theoretical movements: the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium – or better, the medieval Roman Empire – controlled most of the Mediterranean in the middle of the sixth century. The capital of Constantinople, centered in present-day Istanbul from 330 to 1453, was a thriving intellectual, political, and military power. One of his most important achievements, the church of Hagia Sophia, is a testament to the architectural and artistic prowess of the empire. The Hagia Sofia is a testament to the achievements of Byzantium. Salvator Barki / Getty Images But in the Western world, the Byzantine Empire was largely overlooked and forgotten. High school students in the United States are likely to know little about the empire. And nowadays the word “Byzantine” simply means complicated, secret and bureaucratic. Lowering its status is not entirely a new process. As early as 1776, the English historian Edward Gibbon derogatory referred to the inhabitants of the empire as ‘the intoxicated and slight Greeks of Byzantium’. A ‘New Byzantium’ Despite this modern contempt for Byzantium in the West, it has recently served as inspiration for various factions of the far right. In September 2017, Jason Kessler, an American neo-Nazi who helped organize the “Unite the Right” trek in Charlottesville, Virginia, inaugurated a new supremacist group called “The New Byzantium” project. The new Byzantium is described by Kessler as a leading organization for pro-white advocacy in the 21st century, and is based on the misrepresentation of the white leader of history. His premise is that when Rome fell, the Byzantine Empire preserved a white European civilization. It is not true. In fact, the empire consists of various peoples who have walked through the streets of its capital, from as far away as Nubia, Ethiopia, Syria and North Africa. Temporary sources have noticed – sometimes with contempt – the racial and ethnic diversity of both Constantinople and the emperors of the empire. But Kessler’s “New Byzantium” is intended to maintain white dominance after what he calls “the inevitable collapse of the American Empire.” The organization has been working under the radar with little online footprint since 2017. The original ‘deep state’ Kessler is not the only one to appropriate the empire. Through my research, I monitored references to Byzantium in online forums. Reports of Byzantium are spread across the message boards visited by both white supremacists and QAnon enthusiasts – who express conspiracy theories about a deep-seated cabal of Satan-worshiping, blood-drinking pedophiles who rule the world. On the 8kun and other online platforms I checked, the Byzantine Empire is discussed as the legacy of Rome continued after it was, according to their understanding, “destroyed by the Jews” or that it was the only true empire, with Rome only a historical myth . created to break down the power and importance of Byzantium. The latter story emerges in a QAnon thread about ‘Baking’ – that is, the connecting and interweaving of drops (messages) by the enigmatic Q. One post says: ‘It all makes sense if you learn that the books of the bible plagiarized copies of the chronology of Byzantium, and so also the mythical Roman Empire, which never existed in Italy but was in fact centered in Constantinople. Other QAnon commentators in the message boards and Twitter spoke of the ‘banished throne of Byzantium’, noting: ‘the Empire never disappeared, it just became occult.’ They exclaim: “Long live Byzantium” and ask for a “return to Byzantium” to save people from the satanists. Oddly enough, although some consider the Byzantine Empire to be at the forefront of white supremacy, a smaller group of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists regard it as ‘the original Deep State’. In some interpretations, Byzantium, through some hazy illumination compounds, is the origin of the ‘deep state’ – the myth of an underground cabal of elites who secretly rule the world. It has remained a secret since the fall of Constantinople, either trading in eunuchs on the clandestine market or maintaining whiteness and Christianity, depending on the negative or positive outlook on the empire. Reclaiming Hagia Sophia For many on the far right, the talk of Byzantium is shrouded in Islamophobia – both online and in tragic real-life events. A white supremaker who killed more than 50 worshipers at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019 has been hailed in a 74-page manifesto against the Turks and the conquest of Constantinople. ‘We’re coming to Constantinople, and we’ll destroy every mosque and minaret in the city. The Hagia Sophia will be free of minarets and Constantinople will again be rightfully in Christian possession, ‘the shooter wrote. During the QAnon message boards, the reconquest of Hagia Sophia is indicative of the destruction of Islam and the restoration of a mythical white Byzantium. One report said: “If we liberate Constantinople and the Hagia Sophia, maybe we can talk.” ‘Third Rome’ This ‘reconquest’ of Constantinople has even been linked in some online reports to the presidency of Donald Trump, with images circulated online, which apparently predicted it would happen during his tenure. One image shows Trump congratulating Russian President Vladimir Putin “on the conquest of Constantinople” and shaking hands with what is believed to be the Hagia Sophia, although it is actually the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque. Putin himself does not want to use the symbolism of Byzantium. The Russian state has long tried to position itself as the rightful successor of the Byzantine Empire, with Moscow as the “Third Rome”. It forms part of a religious and political doctrine linked to Russian territorial expansion that can be traced back to the late 15th century. The far-right appropriation of Byzantium in the USA seems to have been influenced by this Russian interpretation. Indeed, Russian proponents of the “Third Rome” doctrine are cited as influences by prominent figures on the American right. Regardless of the origins of the recent interest in Byzantium from America’s white supremacists and conspiracy theorists, one thing is clear: it is based on a very warped idea of the Byzantine Empire that arose from the important place of the empire in our history. , caught between ancient and medieval, spirituality and bureaucracy. [Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world. Sign up today.]This article was published from The Conversation, a non-profit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Roland Betancourt, University of California, Irvine. Read more: Why Hagia Sophia remains a powerful symbol of spiritual and political authority Holy violence is not yet an ancient history – beating will take human action, not divine intervention. Roland Betancourt does not work, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that benefits from this article, and that has not disclosed any relevant commitments other than their academic appointment.