Byzantine Empire

This article is about the medieval Roman empire. For other uses, see Byzantine (disambiguation).

Byzantine Empire

Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων
Basileía Rhōmaíōna
Imperium Romanum

395–1453b

Tremissis with the image of Justinian the Great

(r. 527–565) (see Byzantine insignia)

The Empire at its greatest extent in AD 555 under

Justinian the Great (its vassals in pink)

Capital Constantinoplec
(330–1204, 1261–1453)

Languages  Latin (official until 610)

 Greek (official after 610)

Religion Christianity (Eastern Orthodox)

(tolerated after the Edict of
Milan in 313; state religion after
 380)

Government Republican monarchy[1]

Notable
emperors

• 395–408 Arcadius

• 527–565 Justinian I

• 610–641 Heraclius

• 717–741 Leo III

• 976–1025 Basil II

• 1081–1118 Alexios I Komnenos

• 1259–1282 Michael VIII Palaiologos

• 1449–1453 Constantine XI

Historical era Late Antiquity to Late Middle Ages

• First division of
the Roman
Empire(diarchy) 1 May 285

• Founding of
Constantinople 11 May 330

• Final East–West
division after
the death
of Theodosius I 17 Jan 395

• Nominal end of 4 Sep 476

the Western
 Roman Empire

• Fourth Crusade;
establishment
of Latin Empire 12 Apr 1204

• Reconquest of
Constantinople
by Palaiologos 25 Jul 1261

• Fall of
Constantinople 29 May 1453

• Fall
of Trebizond 15 August 1461

Population

• 457 AD est. 16,000,000d

• 565 AD est. 19,000,000

• 775 AD est. 7,000,000

• 1025 AD est. 12,000,000

• 1320 AD est. 2,000,000

Currency Solidus, histamenonand hyperpyron

Preceded by Succeeded by

Roman Empire Ottoman

Empire

a. ^ Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων may be transliterated in Latin as Basileia

Rhōmaiōn, meaning Roman Empire.

b. ^ Between 1204 and 1261 there was an interregnum when the

Empire was divided into the Empire of Nicaea, the Empire of
 Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus, which were all contenders
for rule of the Empire. The Empire of Nicaea is considered the
legitimate continuation of the Byzantine Empire because they
managed to re-take Constantinople.

c. ^ Constantinople became the capital of the (united) empire in

330. Theodosius Iwas the last emperor to rule over both the Eastern
and Western Roman Empire. He died in 395 AD, dividing the
empire in western and eastern halves.

d. ^ See Population of the Byzantine Empire for more detailed figures

taken provided by McEvedy and Jones, Atlas of World Population
History, 1978, as well as Angeliki E. Laiou, The Economic History
of Byzantium, 2002.

The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire and Byzantium,
was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquityand
the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, which had
been founded as Byzantium). It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman
Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it
fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.[2] During most of its existence, the empire was the most
powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. Both "Byzantine Empire" and
"Eastern Roman Empire" are historiographical terms created after the end of the realm; its
citizens continued to refer to their empire as the Roman Empire (Greek: Βασιλεία τῶν
Ῥωμαίων, tr. Basileia tôn Rhōmaiōn; Latin: Imperium Romanum),[3] or Romania (Ῥωμανία),
and to themselves as "Romans."[4]
Several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which
the Roman Empire's Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I (r. 324–337)
reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, and legalised Christianity.
Under Theodosius I (r. 379–395), Christianity became the Empire's official state
religionand other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius (r.
610–641), the Empire's military and administration were restructured and adopted Greek for
official use instead of Latin.[5] Thus, although the Roman state continued and its traditions
were maintained, modern historians distinguish Byzantium from ancient Romeinsofar as it
was centred on Constantinople, oriented towards Greek rather than Latin culture, and
characterised by Orthodox Christianity.[4]
The borders of the empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several
cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Justinian I (r. 527–565), the Empire
reached its greatest extent after reconquering much of the historically Roman
western Mediterranean coast, including North Africa, Italy, and Rome itself, which it held for
two more centuries. During the reign of Maurice (r. 582–602), the Empire's eastern frontier
was expanded and the north stabilised. However, his assassination caused the Byzantine–
Sasanian War of 602–628, which exhausted the empire's resources and contributed to major
territorial losses during the Early Muslim conquests of the seventh century. In a matter of
years the empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs.[6] During
the Macedonian dynasty (10th–11th centuries), the empire again expanded and experienced
the two-century long Macedonian Renaissance, which came to an end with the loss of much
of Asia Minor to the Seljuk Turks after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. This battle opened
the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia.
The empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century
Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city.[7] However, it was delivered a
mortal blow during the Fourth Crusade, when Constantinople was sacked in 1204 and the
territories that the empire formerly governed were divided into competing Byzantine Greek
and Latin realms. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine
Empire remained only one of several small rival states in the area for the final two centuries
of its existence. Its remaining territories were progressively annexed by the Ottomans over
the 14th and 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally
ended the Byzantine Empire.[8] The last of the imperial Byzantine successor states,
the Empire of Trebizond, would be conquered by the Ottomans eight years later in the
1461 Siege of Trebizond.[9]
Contents
Nomenclature
See also: Names of the Greeks

The first use of the term "Byzantine" to label the later years of the Roman Empire was in
1557, when the German historian Hieronymus Wolf published his work Corpus Historiæ
Byzantinæ, a collection of historical sources. The term comes from "Byzantium", the name of
the city of Constantinople before it became Constantine's capital. This older name of the city
would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The
publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre (Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae),
and in 1680 of Du Cange's Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of "Byzantine"
among French authors, such as Montesquieu.[10] However, it was not until the mid-19th
century that the term came into general use in the Western world.[11]
The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the "Roman Empire", the "Empire of
the Romans" (Latin: Imperium Romanum, Imperium Romanorum; Greek: Βασιλεία τῶν
Ῥωμαίων Basileia tōn Rhōmaiōn, Ἀρχὴ τῶν Ῥωμαίων Archē tōn Rhōmaiōn), "Romania"
(Latin: Romania; Greek: Ῥωμανία Rhōmania),[n 1] the "Roman Republic" (Latin: Res Publica
Romana; Greek: Πολιτεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων Politeia tōn Rhōmaiōn), "Graecia"
(Greek: Γραικία),[14] and also as "Rhōmais" (Greek: Ῥωμαΐς).[15] The inhabitants called
themselves Romaioi and Graikoi,[16] and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically
referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika.
Although the Byzantine Empire had a multi-ethnic character during most of its history[17]and
preserved Romano-Hellenistic traditions,[18] it became identified by its western and northern
contemporaries with its increasingly predominant Greek element.[19] The occasional use of
the term "Empire of the Greeks" (Latin: Imperium Graecorum) in the West to refer to the
Eastern Roman Empire and of the Byzantine Emperor as Imperator Graecorum (Emperor of
the Greeks)[20] were also used to separate it from the prestige of the Roman Empire within
the new kingdoms of the West.[21] Due to the heartland of the Byzantine empire being in
Greek-speaking areas, Greek was the official language.[22]However, it would be wrong to see
the empire solely as a Greek empire: other languages, such as Armenian and various Slavic
languages, were also widely spoken.[22]
The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by
the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800.
Needing Charlemagne's support in his struggle against his enemies in Rome, Leo used the
lack of a male occupant of the throne of the Roman Empire at the time to claim that it was
vacant and that he could therefore crown a new Emperor himself.[23]
No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more
straightforwardly seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the
Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm.[24] The name millet-i Rûm, or "Roman nation,"
was used by the Ottomans through the 20th century to refer to the former subjects of the
Byzantine Empire, that is, the Orthodox Christian community within Ottoman realms.
History
Main article: History of the Byzantine Empire

Early history

The Baptism of Constantine painted by Raphael's pupils (1520–1524, fresco, Vatican City, Apostolic
Palace); Eusebius of Caesarea records that (as was common among converts of early Christianity) Constantine
delayed receiving baptism until shortly before his death[25]

The Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean
region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were
home to many different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations.
Generally speaking, the eastern Mediterranean provinces were more urbanised than the
western, having previously been united under the Macedonian Empireand Hellenised by the
influence of Greek culture.[26]
The West also suffered more heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD. This
distinction between the established Hellenised East and the younger Latinised West persisted
and became increasingly important in later centuries, leading to a gradual estrangement of the
two worlds.[26]
Decentralization of power
See also: Byzantium under the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties

To maintain control and improve administration, various schemes to divide the work of the
Roman Emperor by sharing it between individuals were tried between 285 and 324, from 337
to 350, from 364 to 392, and again between 395 and 480. Although the administrative
subdivisions varied, they generally involved a division of labour between East and West.
Each division was a form of power-sharing (or even job-sharing), for the
ultimate imperium was not divisible and therefore the empire remained legally one state—
although the co-emperors often saw each other as rivals or enemies.
In 293, emperor Diocletian created a new administrative system (the tetrarchy), to guarantee
security in all endangered regions of his Empire. He associated himself with a co-emperor
(Augustus), and each co-emperor then adopted a young colleague given the title of Caesar, to
share in their rule and eventually to succeed the senior partner. The tetrarchy collapsed,
however, in 313 and a few years later Constantine I reunited the two administrative divisions
of the Empire as sole Augustus.[27]