Evidence receipt / evaluation
Published · transcript-backedAnthony Kaldellis: evaluation
30 Jun 2026 Lex Fridman Podcast #498 – Anthony Kaldellis: Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Rise & Fall of Empires
“Nah, never. So in my view, this is one of those controversies that’s only a few people really, really cared- … about it, and unfortunately, they’re the ones who wrote the sources.”
Source trail
Everything needed to verify it.
- Speaker
- Anthony Kaldellis
- Attribution
- Verified speaker
- Claim type
- evaluation
- Recorded
- 30 Jun 2026
- Publisher
- Lex Fridman Podcast
Transcript context
…Ah. You got it. I could not find… There were, like, a few emperors, and there’s some bishops and abbots and monks. Like, I don’t know, maybe 100, 200 people are, like, seriously invested in this, and they’re going at it. But these are the people who write the texts. But they never mention, for example, that, oh, you know, the, the people of Constantinople, they rose up, and they demanded icons or not icons or anything like that. Nah, never. So in my view, this is one of those controversies that’s only a few people really, really cared- … about it, and unfortunately, they’re the ones who wrote the sources. So you always have to be very careful to consider the sources when you’re reading about anything involving religious events.…
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