How did chariot racing factions shape Byzantine politics?

In the Roman and Byzantine empires, chariot racing teams known as demes evolved far beyond sports leagues into powerful social and political forces. The dominant factions, the Blues and the Greens, commanded private militias, participated in religious and political conflicts, and even made and unmade emperors. Although their political power waned after the seventh century, they retained ceremonial duties in imperial coronations for centuries.

What we know

• The demes originated in the Principate era as chariot racing factions, with the Blues and the Greens being the dominant two groups and exercising patronage over the Whites and the Reds respectively. [2]
• Between the fifth and eighth centuries, the demes grew powerful enough to maintain official militias and archives, participate in political and religious conflicts, and make and unmake emperors. [2]
• The demes participated in imperial coronations, starting with the coronation of Justin I in 518, as recorded in the tenth-century treatise De Ceremoniis. [2]
• The demes caused massive violence in Constantinople, most notably during the Nika riots against Emperor Justinian I in 532 AD. [2, 5]

Still open

• There is scholarly debate over the exact extent to which the demes remained mere sporting factions versus how much they morphed into political parties and wielded political power.

Where to go next

• what caused itWhat caused the destructive Nika riots in 532 AD?
• how it workedHow did the Demarchos evolve from a deme leader to a mayor?
• how we knowWhat can we learn from the tenth-century treatise De Ceremoniis?
• the bigger pictureHow did ancient Greek demes function in Athens?
• compared withHow did the Blues and Greens compare to modern political parties?
• an unexpected connectionHow did ancient Athenian land subdivisions share a name with Byzantine racing mobs?Both ancient Athenian civic subdivisions and Byzantine chariot racing factions were called demes, even though one originated as a foundational land and citizen reform under Cleisthenes and the other as sports fan leagues.

Sources

• [1]racing factions (Wikidata Q205980) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Demes in the Byzantine Empire · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Deme · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Demarchos · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Nika riots · CC BY-SA 4.0