The Byzantine Empire was a powerful political unit that lasted for over eight centuries, with its capital in Constantinople. It was founded by Emperor Constantine the Great and officially partitioned from the Western Roman Empire in 395. The empire was able to reconquer the territories of the Western Roman Empire under the reign of Justinian I. The empire distinguished itself from the Western Roman Empire by using Greek as its official language and was eventually divided into the Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The empire faced fatal problems in its last years, including ineffective leaders and constant attacks on Constantinople, and fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1185.
The Byzantine Empire, also known as Byzantium, is a large political unit that comprised the eastern region of what was once known as the Roman Empire. Thus, it is sometimes referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, although historians did not use the aforementioned designations until long after the empire ceased to exist. The Byzantine Empire got its name from its capital, which became better known as Constantinople. Lasting for more than eight centuries, the Byzantine Empire was one of the largest and most powerful economic, political and military powers in the world.
As early as 285, the Roman emperor Diocletian named fellow military officer Maximian co-emperor, and appointed two more within the next decade. Constantine the Great, who was Roman emperor from 306 to 337, is often credited with promoting the concept of the Byzantine Empire when he founded Constantinople in 324. The city was located east of Rome, which was the capital of the empire. Thus, Constantinople became the eastern administrative seat of the empire, or a sort of second Rome.
The foundation of Constantinople set the stage for the eventual official partition of the Roman Empire. Upon his death in 395, Emperor Theodosius I divided the empire between his two sons. Arcadius was left in charge of the East, with Constantinople as his capital. Honorius, meanwhile, took over the West with the capital at Rome.
The West, now referred to as the Western Roman Empire, was on its last legs, though. Weakened largely by encroaching tribes and internal instability, it finally fell in 476. Within a decade, however, the Byzantine Empire was able to reconquer the territories that had belonged to the conquered Western Roman Empire. The most successful emperor in this endeavor was Justinian I, also known as Justinian the Great, who reigned from 527 to 565. The empire’s subsequent control over the western Mediterranean area not only asserted his strength, but made it even richer.
During the reign of Heraclius, from 610 to 641, the Byzantine Empire distinguished its identity in the defunct Western Roman Empire with the use of Greek instead of Latin as the official language. This linguistic shift would be confirmed with the East-West schism of 1054, when the Catholic Church was divided into the Greek Orthodox Church, or Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Western Latin branch, which became the Roman Catholic Church. The 7th century also marked the time when the empire began to shrink and shake due to massive conflicts with groups such as Arabs and Muslims. Some measure of splendor was restored with the Comnenus dynasty from 7 to 1081, but a long succession of ineffective leaders, fragile governmental infrastructure, and constant attacks on Constantinople were some of the fatal problems the empire faced during its last years. The capital finally fell to the army of the Ottoman Empire in 1185, effectively ending the Byzantine Empire.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
