Essays on Byzantine Empire

395–1453

Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium

The Byzantine Empire, often called the Eastern Roman Empire or simply Byzantium, was a vast and powerful civilization of the eastern half of the Roman Empire, with its capital founded at Constantinople. Byzantium was a Christian state with Latin as the official language. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe.

"Byzantine Empire" is a term created after the end of the realm, because historians based on the fact that the capital city's first name was Byzantium before it changed to Constantinople. Several events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of disseverance of the Roman Empire's Greek East and Latin West. In 330 AD, Roman Emperor Constantine I chose Byzantium as the site of a “New Rome” with an eponymous capital city, Constantinople. Christianity was the state religion.

Byzantine Empire was ruled by Roman law and Roman political institutions, and its official language was Latin, but Greek was also widely spoken. The borders of the empire changed through several cycles of decline and recovery, as the military successes and failures of individual emperors fluctuated. During the late 10th and early 11th centuries, under the rule of Basil, the Byzantine Empire enjoyed a golden age. By the 12th century, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe.

Christianity became the defining feature of Byzantine culture, profoundly affecting its politics, foreign relations, and art and architecture. Byzantine artists moved away from the naturalism of the Classical tradition towards the more abstract and universal. Byzantine architects continued to employ the Classical orders and took ideas from the Near East. Christian churches, in general, were one of the Byzantine's greatest contributions to architecture.

The Byzantine Empire fell on May 29, 1453, after an Ottoman army stormed Constantinople during the reign of Constantine XI. Emperor died in battle that day, and the Byzantine Empire collapsed, ushering in the long reign of the Ottoman Empire.