The Balkan Of World History - 1518 Words

If one was to ask the experienced historian Andrew Watchtel, author of the book â€Å"The Balkan in World History†, about the most peculiar aspect of East Central Europe, odds are, he would refer to its cultural layering. Watchtel use the term cultural layering to define the collage of cultures that have fused over time in this region. This cultural layering found in East Central Europe is reflected more evidently with the infrastructure, language roots, and religion of the Balkan area. The Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires were the ones that for diverse reasons left a more lasting impression in this area. To be more specific, by means of architecture, the province of Plovdiv, Bulgaria is the perfect example on how these three empires left†¦show more content†¦At last, the Roman set the Danube River as the empire’s limit or natural divisor from the northern European unconquered territories by building limes or fortified borders. As Rome added new provinces to the empire set Greek as the official language of the Eastern part and built infrastructure throughout the region. Before incorporating the Balkan Region into the empire, Latin was the only official language in the empire. However, the language used in the Balkans area was mostly Greek, so Romans decided set Greekas the the official language of the Eastern part of the empire. Jean Sedlar, author of the book, East Central European in Middle Ages, estimated that one reason of doing so may be because the Romans admired for the Greek civilization (Bideleux and Jeffries 1998, 42). Moreover, his conjecture may be correct, due to the fact that the Roman culture was based on Greek background. Therefore, most of the Eastern part of the empire used Greek as the official language, but the Dacia province was the exception where the Romanian developed, a romance or Latin derived language. One of the myriads of examples of Roman architecture can be reflected with the Plovdiv Aqueduct located in present day Plovdiv, Bulgaria or the Ancient Roman province of Thracia. Secondly, the Byzantine Empire, also referred as the Eastern Roman Empire expanded to parts of Eastern Central Europe as a measure of gaining control over the Holy Roman Empire. Byzantium was