The Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire book cover — EMPIRES IN THE MIDDLE AGES THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE Britannica Educational Publishing IN ASSOCIATION WITH ROSEN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES Edited by Carolyn DeCarlo

The Byzantine Empire — page 1 — INTRODUCTION One of the most brilliant medieval civilizations was the Byzantine Empire In 395 CE the Roman Empire was divided into two parts The Western half ruled from Rome fell to the tribal Germanic peoples known as barbarians barbarians in the fifth century But the Eastern half now known as the Byzantine Empire lasted for more than one thousand years In fact the Byzantine Empire maintained its position as one of the leading civilizations civilizations in the world until its decline began in the mid-eleventh century In 324 CE Constantine the first Christian emperor became sole ruler of the Roman Empire He set up his Eastern headquarters in the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium in 330 The city was renamed Constantinople in his honor and became known as the new Rome After the Roman Empire was formally divided sixty-five years later Constantinople became the capital of the Byzantine Empire Constantinople was located on the shore of the Bosporus midway between the Aegean and Black seas in what is now Turkey The city brought together people from the lands of Europe and Asia In 1453 when the Ottoman Turks conquered the

The Byzantine Empire — page 2 — Byzantine Empire Constantinople Constantinople became the capital of the new Ottoman Ottoman Empire The city’s name was changed to Istanbul in 1930 In their own time the citizens of the Byzantine Byzantine Empire were known as Romaioi or In Romans their eyes they remained firmly part of the Roman Empire despite the fact that as early as the eighth century state and society in the East differed significantly significantly from their earlier earlier Roman forms The Byzantine Romans were distinct from the Western Western Romans in two key ways they spoke primarily primarily Greek instead of Latin and they practiced Eastern Orthodox Christianity rather than Roman Catholic Christianity In an effort to recognize that distinction seventeenth-century scholars renamed them and their empire Byzantine A colossal marble head of Constantine the Great 7 9 feet 2 41 meters high c 313 CE Originally it was part of a giant statue in the Basilica of Constantine in the Roman Forum 5 IntroductIon

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