The Eagle Has Two Faces

The Double Headed Eagle The Symbol Of The Late Byzantine Empire Speaks Eloquently To The Worldview Of The Byzantines Whose Empire Looked Both To The East And To The West But Never Was-Or Is-Really Part Of Either. At Its Apogee The Byzantine Empire Was The Highest Civilization In Europe-The Center. This Double Headed Eagle Is Cherished By The Balkan Orthodox Successors To Byzantium And Versions Of It Grace The National Flags Of Serbia Montenegro And Even Albania. Encroached Upon By Both The Muslim East And The Catholic West The Byzantine Eagle Succumbed Only To Emerge In A State Of Arrested Development After Several Hundred Years Of Turkish Or Western Catholic Rule. This Stunted Progression Emerges Time And Again In The Civic Culture Architecture Economics And Politics Of The Region And Has Direct Relevance On Political And Economic Issues Today Including GreeceS Present Financial Malaise And The Breakup Of Yugoslavia In The 1990S. Traveling Through This Ex-Byzantine Zone Billinis Offers History Architecture Personal Experiences And Numerous Anecdotes To Expound On Key Central Themes. First That The Balkan Orthodox Nations Form A Common Culture And Virtual Commonwealth While Still Maintaining Ethnic Geographical And Linguistic Diversity. Without Understanding This Common Byzantine Base It Is Impossible To Appreciate And To Understand The Region. Second The Common Experience Of Turkish Rule While Preserving Byzantine Culture And Insulating The Orthodox Religion From Catholic Encroachment Did So By Cutting Off Byzantine Europe From Economic Political Cultural And Civic Development In Progress In Western Europe. The States That Emerged From This Condition Were-And Are-Ill Prepared To Contribute And To Compete In Modern Europe And In A Globalized World. Finally Throughout There Is A Sense That History Rather Than Linear Runs