The Byzantine Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern, Greek speaking provinces after the fall of the western half in the fifth century CE, governed from its capital at Constantinople until the city fell to the Ottomans in 1453. Byzantine emperors continued to call themselves Roman, and the empire preserved Roman law, in the form of Justinian's sixth century legal code, alongside Greek language and culture and, from its earliest centuries, Orthodox Christianity as the state religion. At its height under Justinian in the sixth century it briefly reconquered much of the western Mediterranean, and for centuries afterward it remained one of the wealthiest and most sophisticated states in the world, a major center of trade, learning and religious art whose preservation of ancient Greek texts later helped fuel the Renaissance in western Europe. Repeated wars with Persia, the Arab caliphates, the Seljuk Turks, western Crusaders, who sacked Constantinople itself in 1204, and finally the Ottomans steadily reduced its territory until only the city of Constantinople and its immediate surroundings remained by the fifteenth century.
Facts
Disputed
Start Year330 CE, when Constantine founded Constantinople, is a common starting point, though some historians instead date the Byzantine Empire's distinct identity to 395 CE, the permanent administrative division of the Roman Empire, or even to 476 CE, the fall of the west. Government TypeAutocratic empire under a Roman style emperor 1 Government type (class) Classification
Status (Extant or Former) Connections
Associated With
The Crusades, Events Byzantium's 1095 appeal to the West for military help against the Seljuk Turks was part of the occasion for the First Crusade, and the 1204 sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade struck the Byzantine Empire itself rather than a Muslim power.
Source God's War: A New History of the CrusadesChristopher Tyerman
In Era
Source The Cambridge Medieval History
Ruled By
Source The Cambridge Medieval History
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Law Atlas: Peter the Patrician, nationals include there.
- Also in Society and Culture Atlas: Empire, government type there.
Sources
1. The Cambridge Medieval History
Cambridge University PressThe Byzantine Empire: Status
The Byzantine Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern, Greek speaking provinces after the fall of the western half in the fifth century CE, governed from its capital at Constantinople until the city fell to the Ottomans in 1453.
- In Era: The Post-Classical and Medieval Period
- Ruled By: Justinian I
God's War: A New History of the Crusades
Christopher Tyerman, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006Associated With: The Crusades
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did the Byzantine Empire call itself Roman?
It continued the Roman Empire in the east, and its emperors kept the Roman name and preserved Roman law.
It was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern, Greek speaking provinces after the fall of the western half in the fifth century CE, and its emperors continued to call themselves Roman. The empire preserved Roman law, in the form of Justinian's sixth century legal code, alongside Greek language and culture and Orthodox Christianity as the state religion.
How did the Byzantine Empire come to an end?
Centuries of wars steadily shrank its territory, and Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453.
Repeated wars with Persia, the Arab caliphates, the Seljuk Turks, western Crusaders, who sacked Constantinople itself in 1204, and finally the Ottomans steadily reduced its territory until only the city of Constantinople and its immediate surroundings remained by the fifteenth century. The city fell to the Ottomans in 1453.
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