1204: The Revival of Rome

In 1261, Roman Emperor Ioannes Komnenos passed away. His eulogy reads:

What fitting title should I find for you?

Should I call you the Savior of New Rome?

Yet the city was not all you saved.

Fifty-seven years ago, when Venetian sails darkened the Golden Horn and usurpers who had seized the purple robe fought for power, you entered the Hagia Sophia at the people's urging and donned the crown no one else dared pick up.

In those days, people only asked you to lead them in defending a narrow stretch of walls.

Now we have come from the vast provinces across the sea to attend your funeral.

Should I call you the Successor of Basil?

But could Mount Haemus alone bear witness to your victories? The Danube was but one corner of your empire.

If we praised only your glory in defeating the Mongols in the north, the cities of the East would reproach us: did the emperor's armies not water their horses at Lake Van and wash their spears in the Persian Sea?

Should I call you the Restorer of Asia Minor?

Then where are Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria?

The Latin lords who guarded the Holy Land surrendered their city keys to Rome, and the Copts governed Egypt by your decree.

Should I call you the New Heraclius?

For centuries, in the paintings in Ravenna's churches, Emperor Justinian had seen only a false emperor pass by, begging the Bishop of Rome for a coronation.

Now he has finally seen a true Roman emperor.

Without you, perhaps today we could know Rome's greatness only through ancient books.

Without you, how could the children of Asia Minor grow up to call themselves Romans?

Let the provinces call you the Restorer of the World.

Let the Romans call you Father.