Why is ‘Byzantine’ used to describe excessive bureaucracy? Was Byzantium really an administrative mess?

Question

Why is ‘Byzantine’ used to describe excessive bureaucracy? Was Byzantium really an administrative mess?

In: Other

Answer 1

I’ve been an english translator for years now and this is my first encounter with “Byzantine” as “excessively bureaucratic”.

I’m curious as to where this is commonly used. Granted most of my work is re-translating stuff from broken english so I might have missed significant cultural avenues, but I’m impressed that I’ve never even heard of it or seen it in any of the pop-culture I’ve consumed over the last 30 years.