>>24237172
I believe he was. Although I think it would be better to call it a Culture, if anything.
The reason why is laid out in his book, but I'll try to resume it. The Byzantine empire shared with Persia, Islam, and Judaism the following features:
>Emperor was the leader of the church, much like in Zoroastrian Persia, the Caliphate, maybe Himyarite Yemen.
>Religious architecture was enclosed and cave like, no visible windows to the outside. Domes that look like vaults, Columns to simulate enclosed spaces. Much like mosques and Synagogues. While no Zoroastrian temples remain intact from that age. It can be assumed that they follow the same pattern.
>All follow prophetic monotheistic (in essence, if not always appearance) religions.
>Ethnicity based on orthodoxy instead of land: A Jew is a Jew wether in Ethiopia or in Constantinople. A Monophysite Christian in Cyrenaica is one in the same with one in Bukhara.
>>24237841
Yo forget that Bulgaria (in the early 19th century travelers often remarke dof the many mosques in Sofia) and the Balkans in general abounded with Turks who were not Turkish by blood. But instead had converted to Islam and began to speak and dress like Turks, in effect they became Turkish, much like how the Anatolian Greek Christians had once upon a time had become Turkish. This reveals a shared conception of what ethnicity is. A muslim converting to Christianity becomes a Greek. A Jew joining Mazdaism (back when that was possible) would become Aryan. And Jewish mystics sometimes teach that a convert was already a Jew in soul: In effect, he was always a Jew.
But I will grant you that the shared civilization has been swept away in the centuries since. Now, I consider the Slavic Balkans (and Romania) to be simply just primitive peoples who will probably be absorbed by the Russian culture whenever that one is born.
Also: No he is not blind in the way he appraises Rome. Westerners just love the thing too much to be honest about it.
>>24238178
Yeah. Although the actual kingdoms and such don't really matter to him as much as the religion. He couldn't care less about the kingdom of Judah, what he cares about is the Book of Daniel. In so far as the Magian pre-culture is concerned. The politics are unimportant to him, the religious developments paramount.

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>the byzantine empire belongs to the same civilization as the jewish and islamic cultureswas he right? if so, why?

>the byzantine empire belongs to the same civilization as the jewish and islamic cultures
was he right? if so, why?