• Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]
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    edit-2
    1 month ago

    Fun fact! The government of the Byzantine Empire was fairly straightforward. Notably, their tax system was a simple flat tax, with additional taxes levied on landowners based on the value of their holdings.

    "Byzantine" became synonymous with excessive complexity because—big surprise incoming—some Anglos just made shit up. Eighteenth century RETVRN bros wanted to trash everything that came after the Roman Empire, and here's where we are today. Neat!

    • BurgerPunk [he/him, comrade/them]
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      edit-2
      1 month ago

      Thanks! 18th century historians making shit the fuck up is not too surprising, but i hadn't heard about this falsehood yet.

      18th century RETVRN bros wanted to trash everything that came after the Roman Empire.

      Yeah everything had to fit the Gibbons-esque take about falling into "decadence" and becoming "soft" and "Eastern" shudder

      It sucks how pervasive that shit is. It sucks that it was still worming around in my head! Lol