My point of view is that history is kind of a spiral. From one perspective it’s lineal, from the other it’s circular. We can’t dismiss either aspect, but clearly it creates a problem. Is it more like a vector or more like a circle? This is where the abstract thinking and human intuition comes in. In every individual situation we must have a combination of the two. But at what ratio? Well… Let’s not pretend like we didn’t all have times when someone asked, “how did you know, what to do?” and we just said, “I don’t know, but it made sense.”. We could smell long before we could tell why. Did the chemical background of scents change because we figured out how it works? I don’t think so. But I also don’t believe that rocks are soft until I touch them or that I can make my cat live forever by locking it into a box and never opening it to check if it’s still alive. So, yes, it is possible that we do have senses we don’t fully understand (yet).

So long story short, it’s magic. Not my magic or your magic. Absolute truth and exact science are not the same thing. Otto von Bismarck was right, and Adolf Hitler was wrong. Even if neither of them lived to see it or could prove their point in their life. What makes someone right does not always depend on whether they can prove it or not. Bismarck could not show scientific proof of the Great War, but it happened exactly how he predicted it decades earlier. I know, I know… Yes, I am talking about “exact” magic. Controversial? To us? Yes. But don’t forget! We consider Sir Isaac Newton the father of modern science, even so he dedicated a significant part of his life to Alchemy. C. S. Lewis even calls magic and science twins.

Historians today are much less afraid of things like alternative history and questions like “what could happen, if” or “why did it happen”. We never get answers to these. But now we start to see them as useful tools to understand what actually happened or how we can make sure that we do it better this time.

So…

NOVUM BYZANTIUM: It is just a bit more than 2000 years ago that the greatest world power at the time lost its original strong republican ways and became a true Empire, only around 1600 years ago that it was split into two. Let’s see what rhymes the poem of history has for us in store!

Do we live under a strong world power with republican background? Well, yes. But history does not repeat itself. Remember? The western world is not the Roman Empire, but it surely rhymes to it. In our case the important part is the dynamics of the Western and Eastern Roman Empire or the Latin and Greek side. Muscle and Mind, Strength and Soul, Power and Philosophy. It would be wrong to think that Latin Rome was only the muscle of the Empire, and that the Greek half was only good for thinking. The Latins were far from stupid, and the Greeks gave a hell of a fight to even the Romans when they were conquered. But it’s not a coincidence that we talk usually about Roman generals and Greek philosophers. The Religion and Philosophy of the empire came mostly from the Greeks, while the Roman army conquered the world and introduced an effective political system.

Then to whom does the Greek side and to whom the Roman one rhyme? Well, who is the republic with the strongest military power in known history? Rome must be the US. And Greece? The side where there is not only one way of governance. Tiny little states going their own ways, but still somehow united (especially when faced with outside threats). Where the beliefs of the whole empire came to life (Hellenism =Ellinismós - Éllines = Greeks). Well, small states, multiple ways of governance, the faith of the western world and most of the core ideas of our beloved empire? UK, France, Italy, Poland, etc., constitutional monarchies, parliamentary and presidential republics, Christianity (most forms), enlightenment, humanism, etc. Geographers call it Europe. I call it Novum Byzantium (sounds better than The Easter-Western World for sure). Europe is the new Eastern Rome or new Byzantium.

What about other parts of Rome? Egypt, Carthage, Syria-Palaestina, Hispania, Britannia, etc.? The Western World is more than Europe and the US. combined. Africa, Southeast Asia, Middle East, South America, the old British colonies (Australia, Canada…). They are not all completely western, but it would be a lie to say they are not connected. See? Rhyme.

What my point is, that the Greeks had their purpose in the empire and so does Europe. It is also a complex topic. But bear with me!

1. I already mentioned the religion and culture question. Americans hate to admit it, but at least the basics of their country are European and Christian. Look at what few things they have left from native cultures or how much closer black Americans are to Europeans than to black Africans if we measure cultural characteristics. And religion? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” says the Declaration of Independence. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” says Amendment XIV of the U.S. Constitution. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” says Saint Paul the Apostle. “Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” says Saint John the Apostle. “Or is it enlightenment and humanism?” First of all, both of those are European ideas anyway. But also, if an idea comes up 17 hundred years earlier, I will not claim them to be original at the later date. Humanism used Christian ethics against corrupt states and churches. Even secularization is an idea that has been present in Christianity since the beginning. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” says Jesus himself.

2. It was the Greeks who introduced their culture to Egypt, Jerusalem, Armenia, Persia, etc. The same way Europe did with Africa, Asia, South America, etc. Alexandria is named after Alexander the Great, not Julius Caesar. And the Great Library of Alexandria is the best example of this second point. I know, I know… colonization is bad and all. But a teacher should be proud not ashamed. Granted, a good teacher learns almost as much from the students as they learn from the teacher. So, if it happens in an open-minded fashion, educating others is a sacred duty. The Greeks or Europeans in our case are way better diplomats. No surprises there. Both are a set of smaller, colorful, little countries. We have to deal with each other every day. Even if we are similar, it is a good first step in understanding diplomacy between different cultures. Rome had to deal with Greek royal families at places like Egypt, the same way the U.S. has to approach ex-colonies almost like they are European (ALMOST).

3. Probably the most important to us is that when the Empire grew too big and was almost impossible to protect as one, it was clear where the second capital should be. Greece. When the west fell the Greek side lasted another thousand years. Keeping the shared culture alive, turning it back a bit more Greek on the way. The only capable people who were also roman enough were the Greeks. The GDP of the U.S. is around 28 trillion dollars, China’s is 18 and the E.U.’s 20. Adding that the E.U. is as western as the U.S. if not more (how Roman is Roman culture and how Greek is it?), it gets clear that when China cries for a multipolar world the best thing for the U.S. to do would be to elect Europe as the second great power. Let’s have a bit more competition between us but keep the barbarians at bay. Figure of speech. Do not get offended!

Then what is Novum Byzantium? It is Europe. Not the continent, not the Union, the Idea. Now, I am a mere man and we “Greeks” like a good conversation. The cold war is over, Europe has to unite, but we should not mess it up with cold war thinking. What we need is an independent, united, strong and proud Europe. So, brothers, sisters, Romans, I invite you to discuss the matter. Dominus Illuminatio Mea, Civis Romanus Sum!

Europe is not the E.U., it’s not liberal, specially not “left wing” and it’s probably not even democratic. We live in such a self-centered world that we can’t look back more than a century. The problem is not that we don’t have the information, but that we don’t care. “Stop living in the past!” Comes the response every time someone tries to understand a situation rather than to pick a simple, sugar-coated answer carefully crafted by so-called politicians with a shitload of diplomas. You can’t start an investigation by pointing at a suspect while leaving the evidence and motives out of the picture. I am aware that it’s way easier and more comfortable to create an image and make everything fit into it, than to look deeper into the truth of the matter, understand and accept what’s actually there, even if it’s not what we wanted to find. If there is racial profiling, then for sure there is also political profiling. We hear people cry that “liberal democracy is under threat and that this will destroy Europe”. First, modern representative democracy is basically the rule of the majority, which they wouldn’t consider liberal anyways, because what about the minorities? (in Europe: LGBT+ 6-14%, Immigrants 14.1%, Non-whites 10%) Okay, second, surly at least they are fine with liberalism. Well… “Liberalism: willingness to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one's own; openness to new ideas.” They do accept it, until the opinion is so-called “far right”. Sadly, their definition of “far right” is the ideas they do not agree with. Not accepting that there are more than two sexes is “far right” while accepting it is center, or so they claim. But what is far left then? Forcing people to genderswap? 

I do know the far right. They are the people who shot tens of thousands of my fellow Hungarians into the Danube in the 40’s or the moron who shouted “Jew!” at me from across the street. (Even though I am not Jewish at all. Turns out I might look like one. L'chaim!) But fire with fire, terror for terror, eye for an eye? I might be optimistic, but I truly believed that we are past this. There was a time when the number of people representing certain groups in universities and positions was limited, mandated. Every time I hear about gender or ethnic quotas, a siren goes off in my head screaming “Numerus Clausus”, which is considered as the first anti-Jewish law in Hungary. I don’t know if it is as overused everywhere as it is in my home, but is still true: the pendulum metaphor. The more you pull it to one side the further it swings on the other. We could learn this from the 20th century. The II. World War could happen because of the cruelty of the “peace” of the Great War, and the III. didn’t because a new shared enemy forced the allies to be open and supportive toward Germany. What I see is a concerning religiousness. I accept that they do believe what they say and that they are actually terrified of their false demons. Without going deeper into the subject, my stand is that it wouldn’t be as bad without a political atmosphere this hostile. The new front lines are not physical. We are expected to be enemies of our own countrymen based on things like sex(gender), sexuality, ethnicity and political sides. These, I’ve always found especially juvenile and dogmatic. Isn’t it just like football fanatism. Pointless flag waving, screaming into people’s faces, marching, group pride, etc.

Anyway… I am getting a bit carried away. I do believe that there is a Europe to die for. But then who are the founders of It and when was It constructed? Constantine the Great, Charlemagne, Otto the Great, Saint Stephen… But also, possibly You, Me, We all, and it is still happening today. Europe is not “finished” yet. The Idea lives and we all build ourselves toward It. What is that Idea? It’s almost impossible to say anything that is not controversial here. We are utterly incapable of seeing clearly. We want Europe to be what we envisioned and don’t care if it shows no signs of it. That’s wrong. As president Kennedy once wisely said, talking about true patriotism: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." A true European is someone who does not try to mold Europe into the shape of the most comfortable bed, most useful tool, most submissive lover or the easiest task, but the one who opens their eyes and mind to see what Europe was, is and will be and serves it well. Another famous quote is the one by Mark Twain: "Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." The message is, stick with your country not with some dumb politician who says what you want to hear. But what do they mean by country? Clearly, they don’t mean a place, political entity and probably not even the people. Countries grow and shrink, borders change so do the political standards, not even talking about how much people can change or even who we consider to be part of the “people” of a nation. We are talking about an Idea here or rather Ideas in Europe’s case. Even what the definition of a country is differs country by country. But the Idea of Europe is something special. If you walked across Europe in medieval times 80% of what people believed in would not change at all based on where you were. We were the driving force of the world when we accepted that there is one unquestionable, undeniable, perfect, exact Truth. The Truth that everyone, everything, always must respect and submit to. The word “everything” is important. We still do believe that something like this exists in cases like science. Everything must obey the rules of mathematics. But if we talk about ethics or arts or politics, etc… Now, there we fall apart. As I said, there were times when we agreed in almost everything throughout Europe and now you only have to walk a few blocks to find people who don’t agree on what a woman is. Let’s leave that to the colonials, please! That’s not how a European thinks. We do know the difference between fact and opinion, the Truth and comfort. In fact, we find comfort in the Truth. We are looking for answers, for a light that shines in all of our minds. So leg 1 of Europe is: Dominus Illuminatio Mea.

Now if we agree that to be a European is to look for the light, as in the light of enlightenment or of God, then what is the means of doing it? There is another side to The European existence. If the first is the philosopher in us, our dreamy side, then this other is the practical one. Now this is probably even more controversial, even though there is less Christianity involved. Europe didn’t bloom only by searching for the light in the dark. And while that first aspect is what gave a constant aim to our existence, there were people thinking like that elsewhere with less success. But in Europe one word comes to mind when it comes to efficient management: Rome. If you think about it, there were at least 4 different entities claiming to be the Roman Empire after Her fall with more or less rightful claims. Now, in most cases they were interested in Her fame and glory. But there is more to being a “roman” than might. Doctors and lawyers still have to learn Latin, and our legal system is still heavily based on Roman law. (The latter also must study this as well.) But why? This Roman way of living and thinking made Europeans able to create a world where hardly anything has nothing to do with Europeans. (Good or bad.) This is what brings things like international law to life. Granted, there is a bit more than a healthy amount of egotism involved in it. That’s why being a European is much more than being a Roman. They were efficient but what for? Conquest? Dominance? I don’t want to get too deep into it and especially don’t want to give them a hard time. But let me put it this way, they had a less dreamy of an image of the word than us Europeans. You might even call them cold in a way. But if I add our thirst for the light, knowledge and rightfulness, I proudly declare the second leg which Europe stands on: Civis Romanus Sum! This declaration was (and maybe is) not just a great honor but also an immense responsibility and duty. And so does being a European. If you want to get a better understanding on it, I highly encourage you to read the wonderful poem: Welcome to Thomas Mann by Attila József. (The Vernon Watkins translation is the slightly better one in my opinion.) And keep in mind that being European is more than having been born in Europe or being white or calling yourself such. 

So, I declare: Dominus Illuminatio Mea, Civis Romanus Sum!