Ancient Rome gets a lot of attention today but the East Roman Empire (Byzantium) faced much tougher opponents and still was the richest state of the middle ages.

Arabs, Slavs, Pechnegs, Bulgarians, Mongols, Persians

They were one of the only states to survive the Arab Invasions of the 7th century. They were waging a 150-year guerilla war in the early days of the Caliphate

Constantinople was constantly under siege for its entire existence.

nitter.moomoo.me/Yung\_Spengler/status/1653614470554427392#m (https://nitter.moomoo.me/Yung_Spengler/status/1653614470554427392#m)

https://nitter.moomoo.me/PaulSkallas/status/1653868075731615751#m