Byzantine Empire: A Visual History

The Byzantine Empire is the modern name for the Eastern Roman Empire, ruled from Constantinople from 330 (or from the division of 395) until 1453. Its citizens called themselves Romans. Justinian reconquered Italy and North Africa in the sixth century; the Arabs stripped away Egypt and Syria in the seventh; the Macedonian dynasty restored power in the tenth; Manzikert (1071) opened Anatolia to the Turks; the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople in 1204. The restored empire was a shadow, and Mehmed II took the city on 29 May 1453.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Byzantine Empire. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Byzantine territory

Timeline of the Byzantine Empire

1. 330
   Constantinople founded
2. 395
   Empire dividedEast and West.
3. 537
   Hagia Sophia completed
4. 636
   YarmoukSyria lost to the Arabs.
5. 717
   Arab siege repelledGreek fire.
6. 1018
   Basil II conquers Bulgaria
7. 1071
   Manzikert
8. 1204
   Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople
9. 1261
   City recovered
10. 1453
    Fall of Constantinople

Justinian and the Arab shock

Constantine founded Constantinople in 330; after 395 the eastern half of the empire, richer and more urban, survived the fall of the west. Justinian (527-565) codified Roman law, built Hagia Sophia and, through Belisarius and Narses, retook North Africa, Italy and southern Spain, but plague and Persian wars drained the effort. Heraclius destroyed Persia in 628 only to lose Syria, Egypt and North Africa to the Arabs, who besieged Constantinople itself in 674-678 and 717-718.

Recovery and the Macedonian peak

The empire reorganised into military themes and survived the iconoclast controversy (726-843). Under the Macedonian dynasty (867-1056) it recovered Crete, Cyprus, Antioch and Bulgaria; Basil II 'the Bulgar Slayer' left it the strongest state in Europe. Missionaries converted the Slavs, and Vladimir of Kiev in 988. Byzantine gold, silk and ceremony dazzled visitors.

Manzikert, 1204 and 1453

Civil strife and the defeat at Manzikert in 1071 lost Anatolia to the Seljuks; Alexios Komnenos's appeal for help produced the First Crusade. The Komnenoi recovered the coasts, but the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople in 1204 and set up a Latin Empire. Michael VIII retook the city in 1261, but the Palaiologan empire was reduced to Constantinople, Thessaloniki and the Morea, ravaged by civil war and the Black Death, while the Ottomans took the Balkans. After a 53-day siege, Mehmed II's army stormed the walls on 29 May 1453 and the last emperor, Constantine XI, died fighting.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Roman Empire (27 BC to 476)
• Western Roman Empire (395 to 476)
• Sasanian Empire (224 to 651)
• Rashidun Caliphate (632 to 661)
• Umayyad Caliphate (661 to 750)
• Abbasid Caliphate (750 to 1258)
• Bulgarian Empire (681 to 1396)
• Great Seljuk Empire (1037 to 1194)
• Latin Empire of Constantinople (1204 to 1261)
• Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1922)
• Kievan Rus (882 to 1240)

Wars of the same era and region

• Crusades (1096 to 1291)
• Ottoman-Venetian wars (1396 to 1718)
• Reconquista (718 to 1492)
• Hundred Years' War (1337 to 1453)
• Roman-Germanic wars (113 BC to 476)
• Conquests of Timur (1370 to 1405)

8 surprising things about the Byzantine Empire

1. The Byzantines never called themselves Byzantine; the term was coined by a German scholar in 1557. They were Romaioi, Romans.
2. Greek fire, a napalm-like weapon sprayed from ships, saved Constantinople twice; its formula is lost.
3. The Theodosian Walls kept the city safe for a thousand years and were only breached by gunpowder.
4. Basil II reputedly blinded 15,000 Bulgarian prisoners, leaving one in every hundred with one eye to lead them home.
5. Byzantine emperors were rarely secure: about half were deposed, blinded, exiled or murdered.
6. The empire's gold solidus kept its weight for 700 years, the longest-stable currency in history.
7. Cyrillic script descends from the alphabet Byzantine missionaries devised for the Slavs.
8. The last emperor's fate is unknown; the Ottomans never conclusively identified his body.

Sources

• Byzantine Empire Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Byzantine Empire Wikipedia
• Byzantine Empire World History Encyclopedia
• Judith Herrin, Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire (2007) Allen Lane

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