Overly and unnecessarily complex; so complex as to be completely beyond understanding. (There is a [[connotation]] that it is not ''worth'' understanding.)
== History ==
The [[Byzantine]] empire was the end result of centuries of [[Roman Empire|Roman]] rule and [[Bureaucracy|bureaucratic]] growth. The end result of the combination of [[aristocracy]], the remnants of the [[Roman republic]], and time was a complex and opaque system of [[government]] that no one who had not grown up inside it had more than a hope of understanding. (And many inside felt they had no hope of understanding.) In fact, it was ''so'' complex that its very complexity became a watchword in surrounding areas and in governments that had to deal with it that the term 'Byzantine complexity' became a general term that was and is used to describe any overly complex system.
