query: when did the byzantine empire stop being roman

pos: Byzantine Empire Byzantine Empire 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 Antiquity and 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. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. Both

pos: Legacy of the Roman Empire to the point that competing neighbours even acquired its name, such as the Sultanate of Rûm. The designation of the Empire as "Byzantine" is a retrospective idea: it began only in 1557, a century after the fall of Constantinople, when German historian Hieronymus Wolf published his work "Corpus Historiæ Byzantinæ", a collection of Byzantine sources. The term did not come in general use in the Western world before the 19th century, when modern Greece was born. The end of the "continuous" tradition of the Roman Empire is open to debate: the final point was the capture of Constantinople in 1453

pos: Roman army latter foe being the most successful in establishing a foothold in Thrace. The Ottomans swiftly expanded through the Balkans and cut off Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, from the surrounding land. The last decisive battle was fought by the Palaiologan army in 1453, when Constantinople was besieged and fell on 29 May. The last isolated remnants of the Byzantine state were conquered by 1461. Roman army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the terrestrial armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (to c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic

pos: Byzantine Empire under the Angelos dynasty Byzantine Empire under the Angelos dynasty The Byzantine Empire or Byzantium is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the ethnic and Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople. As the direct continuation of the Roman Empire, Byzantium survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire during Late Antiquity, and continued to function until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During this time, many different imperial dynasties ruled over the empire; in the context of Byzantine history, the period c.1185 – c.1204 AD was under the Angeloi dynasty. The

pos: Byzantine Empire 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. 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. The first use of the term "Byzantine" to label the later years of the Roman Empire was in 1557, when the German historian

pos: Decline of the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople in 1453. The process by which the empire waned, and from when its decline can be traced, is a matter of scholarly debate. In some cases, the entire history of the Byzantine Empire has been portrayed as a protracted period of decline of the Roman Empire. This holds especially for Enlightenment era writers such as Edward Gibbon, author of "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, whose view was coloured by pro-western or anti-clerical biases, and tended to see the whole ten-century empire as merely a

pos: Byzantine Empire under the Komnenos dynasty Byzantine Empire under the Komnenos dynasty The Byzantine Empire or Byzantium is a term conventionally used by historians to describe the Greek ethnic and speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople. Having survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire during Late Antiquity, the Byzantine Empire continued to function until its conquest by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. In the context of Byzantine history, the period from about 1081 to about 1185 is often known as the Komnenian or Comnenian period, after the Komnenos dynasty. Together, the five Komnenian emperors (Alexios I, John II,

pos: Byzantine navy dozen at best, and control of the Aegean passed definitively to the Italian and Ottoman navies. The diminished navy, however, continued to be active until the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans in 1453. The Byzantine navy, like the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire itself, was a continuation of the Roman Empire and its institutions. After the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, in the absence of any external threat in the Mediterranean, the Roman navy performed mostly policing and escort duties. Massive sea battles, like those fought in the Punic Wars, no longer occurred, and the Roman

pos: History of the Byzantine Empire History of the Byzantine Empire This history of the Byzantine Empire covers the history of the Eastern Roman Empire from late antiquity until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD. Several events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the transitional period during which the Roman Empire's east and west divided. In 285, the emperor Diocletian (r. 284–305) partitioned the Roman Empire's administration into eastern and western halves. Between 324 and 330, Constantine I (r. 306–337) transferred the main capital from Rome to Byzantium, later known as "Constantinople" ("City of Constantine") and "Nova Roma" ("New Rome"). Under Theodosius I (r.

neg: Buthrotum transformation of the Roman world into the Early Middle Ages. By the 7th century, following the model of classical cities throughout the Mediterranean, Buthrotum had shrunk to a much smaller fortified post and with the collapse of Roman power was briefly controlled by First Bulgarian Empire before being regained by the Byzantine Empire in the 9th century. It remained an outpost of the Byzantine empire fending off assaults from the Normans until 1204 when following the Fourth Crusade, the Byzantine Empire fragmented, Buthrotum falling to the breakaway Despotate of Epirus. In the following centuries, the area was a site of

neg: Roman Empire and local traditions. Several states claimed to be the Roman Empire's successors after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The Holy Roman Empire, an attempt to resurrect the Empire in the West, was established in 800 when Pope Leo III crowned Frankish King Charlemagne as Roman Emperor on Christmas Day, though the empire and the imperial office did not become formalized for some decades. After the fall of Constantinople, the Russian Tsardom, as inheritor of the Byzantine Empire's Orthodox Christian tradition, counted itself the Third Rome (Constantinople having been the second). These concepts are known as Translatio imperii. When

neg: Kyrenia the Roman Martyrology no longer include a mention, as a martyr, of Bishop Theodotus of this see. The Greek Menologium recounts, under 6 May, that under Licinius he was arrested and tortured, before being released when the Edict of Milan of 313, of which Licinius was co-author, mandated toleration of Christians in the Roman Empire. With the division of the Roman Empire into an eastern and a western empire, in 395 Cyprus came under the Byzantine emperors and the Greek Orthodox Church. The Byzantine emperors fortified Kyrenia's Roman castle and in the 10th century, they constructed in its vicinity a

neg: Ruwaished is also a military airport in Ruwaished. It is not known exactly when was the Ruwaished basin first inhibited, however existing Roman water dams, such as the Burqu Dam, indicate that the basin has been used as a traffic stop by the Roman and Byzantine imperial armies, and marked the eastern borders of the Byzantine empire, or was part of the Roman vassal states. During the War on Iraq in 2003, Ruwaished came to world attention, as tens of media correspondents used it as a base for their coverage of the war. The Jordan National Census of 2004 showed that

neg: Byzantine architecture of Constantinople by the Ottomans. Byzantine architecture Byzantine architecture () is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Later Roman or Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantine era is the period after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. Constantinople became known as the Roman capital in 330 AD. Constantinople is what is now present day Istanbul. Byzantine architecture was mostly influenced by Roman and Greek architecture. It began with Constantine the Great when he rebuilt the city of Byzantium and named it Constantinople and continued with his building of churches and the forum of Constantine, as also

neg: Byzantine architecture Byzantine architecture Byzantine architecture () is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Later Roman or Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantine era is the period after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. Constantinople became known as the Roman capital in 330 AD. Constantinople is what is now present day Istanbul. Byzantine architecture was mostly influenced by Roman and Greek architecture. It began with Constantine the Great when he rebuilt the city of Byzantium and named it Constantinople and continued with his building of churches and the forum of Constantine, as also the Church of St. George,

neg: Domesticus (Roman Empire) were the ones that did realize because of their military experiences that it was not possible to sustain the size of the late Roman Empire leading to them continuing Diocletian’s idea to have it separated into the eastern and western halves. This cycle of instability and military rule in the western Roman Empire continued until its fall in 476, and Zeno the last emperor of the eastern Roman Empire and the First Emperor of the Byzantine Empire where he ruled from August in 476 until his death in April 491. As the Byzantine Empire was gaining strength economy, new patterns

neg: Senate of the Roman Empire register that the Senate acclaimed new statues of Emperor Phocas and Empress Leontia in 603. The institution must have vanished by 630 when the Curia was transformed into a church by Pope Honorius I. The Senate did continue to exist in the Eastern Roman Empire's capital Constantinople, however, having been instituted there during the reign of Constantine I. The Byzantine Senate survived until at least the mid-14th century, before the ancient institution finally vanished from history. </div> Senate of the Roman Empire The Senate of the Roman Empire was a political institution in the ancient Roman Empire. After the fall

neg: Byzantine Empire Although the Byzantine Empire had a multi-ethnic character during most of its history and preserved Romano-Hellenistic traditions, it became identified by its western and northern contemporaries with its increasingly predominant Greek element. 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) were also used to separate it from the prestige of the Roman Empire within the new kingdoms of the West. Due to the heartland of the Byzantine Empire being in Greek-speaking areas, Greek

neg: Byzantine military manuals works being written in the Palaiologan era, but with one exception, none survive. Byzantine military manuals This article lists and briefly discusses the most important of a large number of treatises on military science produced in the Byzantine Empire. The Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire was, for much of its history, one of the major powers of the medieval world. Continuing the traditions and institutions of the Roman Empire, throughout its history it was assailed on all sides by various numerically superior enemies. The empire therefore maintained its highly sophisticated military system from antiquity, which relied on discipline, training, knowledge

neg: Plague of Justinian at a critical point, when Justinian's armies had nearly retaken all of Italy and the western Mediterranean coast; the evolving conquest would have reunited the core of the Western Roman Empire with the Eastern Roman Empire. Although the conquest occurred in 554, the reunification did not last long. In 568, the Lombards invaded Northern Italy, defeated the small Byzantine army that had been left behind, and established the Kingdom of the Lombards. The plague may have also contributed to the success of the Arabs a few generations later in the Byzantine-Arab Wars. Some scholars have suggested that the plague facilitated

neg: Tirana by Rome and became an integral part of the Roman Empire following the Illyrian Wars. The heritage of that period is still evident and represented by the Mosaics of Tirana. Further later in the 5th and 6th century, a Paleo Christian basilica was built around this site. When the Roman Empire divided into east and west, its successor the Byzantine Empire took control and included the construction of the Petrelë Castle, under the reign of Justinian I. Until the 20th century, the city did not attain much significance, when the Congress of Lushnjë proclaimed it as the country's capital, after

neg: Ithomi, Messenia people or the geographic unit. The municipal structure always follows the settlement pattern often with some degree of lag. Periodically it needs to be updated. A given structure becomes part of the constitutional structure of government. The structures of ancient Greece yielded to the Roman when Greece (Achaea) became a Roman province and to the Byzantine when the former Eastern Roman Empire became the Byzantine Empire. Leo the Philosopher, a Byzantine emperor, declared the Roman structure abolished in the 9th century. The archaeological concept that the grand city of Messene was constituted as a magnificent but isolated antique show by

neg: History of Istanbul law system called the Codex which was completed in 534. However, Justinian’s reign was the greatest influence of the Byzantine Empire. Starting in the 600’s warfare kept Constantinople’s power flip-flopping between decline and progression. Alliance with Europe slowly began to break away from the Byzantine Empire between the seventh-eighth centuries when the Byzantine and Roman churches disagreed on various subjects. However, the distinguishing gap placed between the two churches involved the use of icons in the church. Icons, being images of Christian holy people such as Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints, to Byzantine Christians were more than

neg: Medieval theatre the earliest of which is the "Whom do you Seek (Quem-Quaeritis)" Easter trope, dating from ca. 925. Liturgical drama was sung responsively by two groups and did not involve actors impersonating characters. However, sometime between 965 and 975, Æthelwold of Winchester composed the "Regularis Concordia (Monastic Agreement)" which contains a playlet complete with directions for performance. As the Western Roman Empire fell into severe decay through the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., the seat of Roman power shifted to Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire, later called the Byzantine Empire. While surviving evidence about Byzantine theatre is slight, existing records

neg: State church of the Roman Empire an outburst of missionary activity among these peoples, who had no direct links with the Eastern Roman Empire, and among Pictic and Celtic peoples who had never been part of the Roman Empire, fostered the idea of a universal church free from association with a particular state. On the contrary, "in the East Roman or Byzantine view, when the Roman Empire became Christian, the perfect world order willed by God had been achieved: one universal empire was sovereign, and coterminous with it was the one universal church"; and the church came, by the time of the demise of the Byzantine

neg: Exarch Exarch The term exarch () comes from the Ancient Greek ἔξαρχος, "exarchos", and designates holders of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical. In the late Roman Empire and early Byzantine Empire, an "exarch" was a governor of a particular territory. Since the end of 3rd century, every Roman diocese was governed by vicarius who was called "exarch" in eastern parts of the Empire, dominated by Greek language and the use of Greek terminology. The office of exarch as a governor with extended political and military authority was later created in Byzantine Empire,

neg: Albania under the Byzantine Empire "Kingdom of Albania", was intended by the dynamic Sicilian ruler, Charles of Anjou, to become the launchpad for an overland invasion of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines however managed to recover most of Albania by 1274, leaving only Valona and Dyrrhachium in Charles' hands. Finally, when Charles launched his much-delayed advance, it was stopped at the Siege of Berat in 1280–1281. Albania would remain largely part of Byzantine empire until the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, when it fell shortly to the hands of the Serbian ruler Stephen Dushan. Albania under the Byzantine Empire In 395, the Roman Empire was

neg: Goumenissa Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western segments ruled from Constantinople and Rome respectively, Goumenissa came under the control of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire). Goumenissa passed out of Byzantine hands in 1204, when Constantinople was captured by the Fourth Crusade and became part of the Kingdom of Thessalonica - the largest fief of the Latin Empire, covering most of north and central Greece. In 1224 it was seized by Theodore Komnenos Doukas, the Greek ruler of Despotate of Epirus. The area was recovered by the Byzantine Empire in 1246. First report with the name Goumenissa we have

neg: Byzantine Empire Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the "Roman Empire", the "Empire of the Romans" (Latin: "Imperium Romanum", "Imperium Romanorum"; Greek: "Basileia tōn Rhōmaiōn", "Archē tōn Rhōmaiōn"), "Romania" (Latin: "Romania"; Greek: "Rhōmania"), the "Roman Republic" (Latin: "Res Publica Romana"; Greek: "Politeia tōn Rhōmaiōn"), and also as "Rhōmais" (Greek: ). The inhabitants called themselves "Romaioi" and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to Modern Greek as "Romaiika" "Romaic." and followers of the Apostles. After 1204 when the Byzantine Empire was mostly confined to its purely Greek provinces the term 'Hellenes' was used instead.

neg: Macedonia (region) war with Rome, his successor Perseus of Macedon (reigned 179-168 BC) did not; having taken Macedon into the Third Macedonian War in (171-168 BC), he lost his kingdom when he was defeated. Macedonia was initially divided into four republics subject to Rome before finally being annexed in 146 BC as a Roman province. Around this time, vulgar Latin was introduced in the Balkans by Latin-speaking colonists and military personnel. With the division of the Roman Empire into west and east in 298 AD, Macedonia came under the rule of Rome's Byzantine successors. The population of the entire region was, however,

neg: Byzantine Blackwood convention Byzantine Blackwood convention Byzantine Blackwood is a bidding in the game of bridge. Devised by Jack Marx, it is a complex version of the (by which a four notrump (4NT) asks about 's holdings). Its premise is that both aces and kings may safely be shown in response to a Blackwood-type 4NT enquiry; provided that such kings are in well-defined "key" or "half-key" suits, there being no more than two such suits. The name was chosen to express the idea that Byzantine Blackwood is a development from Roman Blackwood, by analogy with the Byzantine Empire and the Roman Empire; rather

neg: Marriage Charter of Empress Theophanu to be regarded as one of the most beautiful diplomatic documents of the Middle Ages. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire was the sole successor of the Roman Empire. Charlemagne's imperial coronation in 800 put strain on Western relations with the Byzantine Empire ruled from Constantinople. When Otto I became emperor in February 962, there was contention between him and the Byzantine Empire, and this issue revived in 967 between Otto and Nikephoros II Phokas over the dominion of Italy. On 25 December 967, Pope John XIII anointed Otto II as Otto I's co-emperor. In

neg: Byzantine–Sasanian War of 440 Justinian's war with the Sassanids). These culminated in the Roman-Persian war during the time of Emperor Heraclius who defeated the Sassanid empire at the Battle of Nineveh in 627 CE. Byzantine–Sasanian War of 440 The East Roman–Sassanid War of 440 was a short conflict between the East Roman Empire and the Sassanian Empire. The reason for its short ending was that the southern Roman provinces were being invaded by the Vandals, which forced the East Romans to sue for a quick end to the war to focus on the Vandal invasion. The Sassanians were also paid some money in return

neg: Principality of Hungary The consolidation of the Hungarian state began during the reign of Géza. After the battle of Arcadiopolis, the Byzantine Empire was the main enemy of the Hungarians. The Byzantine expansion threatened the Hungarians, since the subjugated First Bulgarian Empire was in alliance with the Magyars at that time. The situation became more difficult for the principality when the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire made an alliance in 972. In 973, twelve illustrious Magyar envoys, whom Géza had probably appointed, participated in the Diet held by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. Géza established close ties with the Bavarian court,

neg: History of Dalmatia historiography as the Byzantine Empire (although historically it continued to be known as the "Roman Empire" throughout its existence). The collapse of the Western Empire left this region subject to Gothic rulers, Odoacer and Theodoric the Great, from 476 to 535, when it was added by Justinian I to the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire. Around AD 639 the hinterland of Dalmatia fell after the invasion of Avars and Slavs, and the city of Salona was sacked. The majority of the displaced citizens fled by sea to the nearby Adriatic islands. Following the return of Byzantine rule to the area, the Roman

neg: Albania in the Middle Ages all Venetian possessions, except Durrazo which they captured in 1501. Until 1913 the territory of Albania would remain part of the Ottoman Empire. After the region fell to the Romans in 168 BC it became part of Epirus Nova that was in turn part of the Roman province of Macedonia. Later it was part of provinces of the Byzantine empire called "themes". When the Roman Empire was divided into East and West in 395, the territories of modern Albania became part of the Byzantine Empire. Beginning in the first decades of Byzantine rule (until 461), the region suffered devastating raids

neg: Videssos cycle lead to Marcus being granted title and significant position in the empire and his marriage to Alypia. Videssos cycle The Videssos cycle (sometimes also referred to as the Lost Legion series) is a fantasy novel series by Harry Turtledove and set in the Videssos fictional universe. Turtledove uses his knowledge of Byzantine Empire history and military experience extensively within the story. During an encounter with a Celtic force, a Roman legion is magically transported to another world when the two opposing leaders' swords touch. The Roman force and Celtic leader find themselves in an empire called Videssos. This empire hires

neg: Cyprus world. The island was conquered by Alexander the Great in 333 BC. Following his death and the subsequent division of his empire and wars among his successors, Cyprus became part of the Hellenistic empire of Ptolemaic Egypt. It was during this period that the island was fully Hellenized. In 58 BC Cyprus was acquired by the Roman Republic. When the Roman Empire was divided into Eastern and Western parts in 395, Cyprus became part of the East Roman, or Byzantine Empire, and would remain so until the Crusades some 800 years later. Under Byzantine rule, the Greek orientation that had

neg: Bulgaria the region was a battleground for Thracians, Persians, Celts and ancient Macedonians; stability came when the Roman Empire conquered the region in AD 45. The Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire lost some of these territories to an invading Bulgar horde in the late 7th century. The Bulgars founded the First Bulgarian Empire in AD 681, which dominated most of the Balkans and significantly influenced Slavic cultures by developing the Cyrillic script. This state lasted until the early 11th century, when Byzantine emperor Basil II conquered and dismantled it. A successful Bulgarian revolt in 1185 established a Second Bulgarian Empire, which

neg: Albanian art polychromatic mosaic mainly made of multicolored pebbles. It has a marvelous grace of its figure and great excellence of artistic creativity. The Roman period is marked by the production of sculptures presented as symbolic art. Roman sculpture was largely influenced by the sculptures of Greece and the Etruscan civilization whereas impressive examples can be mostly found in the cities of Apollonia and Butrint, which flourished during that period. When the Roman Empire was divided in the fourth century, most of Illyria remained in the Eastern Roman Empire that was conventionally known as the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine art, the art

neg: Western world the Western Roman Empire" and beginning of the Early Middle Ages. The Eastern Roman Empire surviving the fall of the Western, protected Roman legal and cultural traditions, combining them with Greek and Christian elements, for another thousand years. The name Byzantine Empire was used after the Byzantine Empire ended, the inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire continued to call themselves Romans for long time as the term “Roman” was meant to signify all Christians. In the early 4th century (AD 330), Roman Emperor Constantine the Great had established the city of Constantinople (formerly Byzantium) as the capital of the Eastern Roman

neg: Byzantine medicine discoveries made in that period (at a time when Western Europe was in turmoil), the collection of ancient Greek and Roman knowledge, and its dissemination to both Renaissance Italy and the Islamic world. The Byzantine Empire was one of the first empires to have flourishing medical establishments. Prior to the Byzantine Empire the Roman Empire had hospitals specifically for soldiers and slaves. However, none of these establishments were for the public. The hospitals in Byzantium were originally started by the church to act as a place for the poor to have access to basic amenities. Hospitals were usually separated between

neg: Byzantine–Sasanian wars Byzantine–Sasanian wars The Byzantine–Sasanian wars, also known as the Irano-Byzantine wars refers to a series of conflicts between the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and the Sassanian Empire of Persia. A continuation of the Roman–Persian Wars, the conflict involved several smaller campaigns and peace treaties lasting for years at a time. The Roman Empire had reached its greatest extent under the Emperor Trajan. However, before Trajan, the Emperor Augustus set about stabilizing the frontiers of the Empire. As a result, the Romans were more interested in simply defending their territory and consolidating the Empire rather than in attempting to conquer Persia.

neg: Subdivisions of the Byzantine Empire Subdivisions of the Byzantine Empire The East Roman or Byzantine Empire (330–1453) had a developed administrative system, which can be divided into three major periods: the late Roman/early Byzantine, which was a continuation and evolution of the system begun by the emperors Diocletian and Constantine the Great, which gradually evolved into the middle Byzantine, where the theme system predominated alongside a restructured central bureaucracy, and the late Byzantine, where the structure was more varied and decentralized and where feudal elements appeared. The classic Diocletianian/Constantinian model, as exemplified by the "Notitia Dignitatum", divided the Roman Empire into provinces (in Greek επαρχία,

neg: Strandzha Nature Park Republic. However, it kept its independence until 46 BC, when it was annexed by the Roman Empire, forming the province of Thracia. The region remained part of the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. In Roman times, Strandzha was a centre of copper and iron ore mining and metallurgy. In the late 6th and early 7th centuries the Slavs settled in most of the Balkans, including Strandzha. The whole territory of the modern park was included in the Bulgarian Empire for the first time in the aftermath of the Byzantine–Bulgarian war of 894–896. Strandzha remained a contested region

neg: Byzantine navy Byzantine navy The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. Like the empire it served, it was a direct continuation from its Imperial Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defence and survival of the state than its earlier iteration. While the fleets of the unified Roman Empire faced few great naval threats, operating as a policing force vastly inferior in power and prestige to the legions, the sea became vital to the very existence of the Byzantine state, which several historians have called a "maritime empire". The first threat to

neg: Decline of the Byzantine Empire significant factors in the decline of the Byzantine empire. As one of the main institutional strengths of the Byzantine state, the theme system was never replaced by a viable long-term alternative. This left the empire lacking in underlying structural strengths. The result was an empire that depended more than ever before on the strengths of each individual emperor or dynasty. The collapse of imperial power and authority after 1185 revealed the inadequacy of this approach. Decline of the Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire (the Eastern Roman Empire during the medieval period, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire) following

neg: Hermetica a profound impact on alchemy and modern magic as well as influencing philosophers such as Giordano Bruno and Pico della Mirandola, Ficino's student. This influence continued as late as the 17th century with authors such as Sir Thomas Browne. Although the most famous examples of Hermetic literature were products of Greek-speakers under Roman rule, the genre did not suddenly stop with the fall of the Empire but continued to be produced in Coptic, Syriac, Arabic, Armenian and Byzantine Greek. The most famous example of this later Hermetica is the "Emerald Tablet", known from medieval Latin and Arabic manuscripts with a

neg: Byzantine–Sasanian War of 440 Byzantine–Sasanian War of 440 The East Roman–Sassanid War of 440 was a short conflict between the East Roman Empire and the Sassanian Empire. The reason for its short ending was that the southern Roman provinces were being invaded by the Vandals, which forced the East Romans to sue for a quick end to the war to focus on the Vandal invasion. The Sassanians were also paid some money in return for peace. The East Roman and Sassanid empires were frequently at war and this was largely rooted on religion as Persia - where Zoroastrianism prevailed - had been troubled by

neg: Pula by the remains of foundations of a few religious buildings. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city and region were attacked by the Ostrogoths, Pola being virtually destroyed by Odoacer, a Germanic "foederati" general in 476 AD The town was ruled by the Ostrogoths from 493 to 538 AD. When their rule ended, Pola came under the rule of the Exarchate of Ravenna (540–751). During this period Pola prospered and became the major port of the Byzantine fleet and integral part of the Byzantine Empire. The Basilica of Saint Mary Formosa was built in the 6th century.

neg: Lycia later came to the attention of the framers of the United States Constitution, influencing their thoughts. Despite home rule, Lycia was not a sovereign state and had not been since its defeat by the Carians. In 43 AD the Roman emperor Claudius dissolved the league, and Lycia was incorporated into the Roman Empire with provincial status. It became an eparchy of the Eastern, or Byzantine Empire, continuing to speak Greek even after being joined by communities of Turkish language speakers in the early 2nd millennium. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century, Lycia was under the

neg: Komnenian restoration that became known as the Komnenian Byzantine army. Although the empire rapidly disintegrated after the death of the last Komnenoi Emperor, Andronikos I, in 1185, the Komnenian Restoration represented the final apex of the fifteen-hundred year history of the Roman Empire. In the decades before the Komnenoi, the Byzantine Empire had been on a steady decline due to many factors, the most important being the political conflict between the state bureaucracy in Constantinople and the Byzantine military aristocracy. In almost every year since the death of Emperor Basil II, the aristocracy rose up in revolt across the empire, east and

neg: Byzantine–Ottoman wars the Empire 70 years prior. Once again the Byzantines' military power was depleted and Andronicus III was forced into diplomacy as his grandfather was before him; in return for the safety of the remaining Byzantine settlements in Asia Minor, tribute would be paid to the Ottomans. Unfortunately for the Byzantine Empire, this did not stop the Ottomans from laying siege to Nicomedia in 1333; the city finally fell in 1337. Despite these setbacks, Andronicus III was able to score a few successes against his opponents in Greece and Asia Minor; Epirus along with Thessalonika were subjugated. In 1329, the Byzantines

neg: Byzantine studies Byzantine studies Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman Empire. The discipline's founder in Germany is considered to be the philologist Hieronymus Wolf (1516-1580), a Renaissance Humanist. He gave the name "Byzantine" to the Eastern Roman Empire that continued after the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 AD. About 100 years after the final conquest of Byzantium by the Ottomans, Wolf began to collect, edit, and translate the writings of Byzantine philosophers. Other 16th-century humanists introduced Byzantine studies

neg: History of Europe 7th century Byzantine history was greatly affected by the rise of Islam and the Caliphates. Muslim Arabs first invaded historically Roman territory under Abū Bakr, first Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, who entered Roman Syria and Roman Mesopotamia. As the Byzantines and neighboring Sasanids were severely weakened by the time, amongst the most important reason(s) being the protracted, centuries-lasting and frequent Byzantine–Sasanian wars, which included the climactic Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, under Umar, the second Caliph, the Muslims entirely toppled the Sasanid Persian Empire, and decisively conquered Syria and Mesopotamia, as well as Roman Palestine, Roman Egypt, and parts of

neg: Byzantine Empire under the Amorian dynasty Nicholas I challenged Photios' elevation to the patriarchate. During the Second Iconoclasm, the Empire began to see systems resembling feudalism being put in place, with large and local landholders becoming increasingly prominent, receiving lands in return for military service to the central government. Similar systems had been in place in the Roman Empire ever since the reign of Severus Alexander during the third century, when Roman soldiers and their heirs were granted lands on the condition of service to the Emperor. Michael was originally a high-ranking soldier serving under Emperor Michael I Rangabe of the Nikephorian dynasty. He aided Leo

neg: Salit bin 'Amr 'Ala bin Hadrami are being routed everywhere. Likewise, we, the idol worshipers of Arabia, will exterminate you and your religion.". This was the period the Persian King Khusrau Parvez attacked and captured large parts of the territory of the Roman Empire in response to Emperor Phocas deposing and killing Emperor Maurice. The prowess of the Persian Empire had reached a crescendo that it was unbelievable it would crumble in a few years. However, Allah revealed Surat Ar-Rum, informing Muslims, that indeed in a few years the Byzantine (Roman) Empire would claim victory over Persia and in the same time when that happens, the

neg: Byzantine navy more or less tied to the shifting alliances with the Italian maritime republics. When viewing the entire course of Byzantine history, the waxing and waning of the navy's strength closely mirrors the fluctuation of the Empire's fortunes. It is this apparent interrelation that led the French Byzantinist Louis Bréhier to remark: "The epochs of [Byzantium's] dominion are those in which it held control of the sea, and it was when it lost it, that its reverses began." * Byzantine navy The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. Like the empire it served, it

neg: Silistra Theodosius depriving Arian bishops in 383, and took refuge at Milan where he became embroiled in controversy with St Ambrose. The Roman general Flavius Aëtius was born in the town in 396. When the Roman Empire split into the Eastern and Western empires, the town (known as , in Byzantine Greek) became part of the Eastern (Byzantine) Empire. As part of the Bulgarian Empire Durostolon was known as "Drastar" in Medieval times. Around the end of the 7th century, the town was incorporated into the First Bulgarian Empire and the bishop of ( in Bulgarian) was proclaimed the first patriarch

neg: State church of the Roman Empire of these gains, but it held Rome, as part of the Exarchate of Ravenna, until 751, a period known in church history as the Byzantine Papacy. The Muslim conquests of the 7th century would begin a process of converting most of the then-Christian world in West Asia and North Africa to Islam, severely restricting the reach both of the Byzantine Empire and of its church. Missionary activity directed from Constantinople, the Byzantine capital, did not lead to a lasting expansion of the formal link between the church and the Byzantine emperor, since areas outside the empire's political and military control

neg: Yassi Ada this route bypassed Persian land to prevent Byzantine ships from being sunk or attacked. It went from Central Asia through the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea, avoiding all contact with Persia. Some caravans loaded with silk did, however, pass through Persia to reach the Empire. Trade with Persians was risky because of the "frequent wars between Byzantine and Persia ... Roman commerce suffered heavily both through the interpretation of communication and through the raising of the price of raw material". In towns at war with Persia, the price for raw materials was high, and the finished product cost more

neg: Byzantine Empire under the Leonid dynasty of the Western Roman Empire. The dating of the end is somewhat controversial. It is sometimes dated to 476, early in Zeno's reign, when the Germanic Roman general Odoacer deposed the titular Western Emperor Romulus Augustulus, but declined to replace him with another puppet. Odoacer accepted Julius Nepos, the previously deposed Western Emperor supported by Zeno, as his sovereign and acted as his viceroy of Italy. Nepos did not return to Italy but continued to reign as Western Emperor from Dalmatia until his death in 480. After the death of Julius Nepos, Zeno became the sovereign of Odoacer and he

neg: Christianity in the Ottoman Empire Bulgaria and Greece while present-day Albania and Kosovo had larger Muslim populations as a result of Ottoman influence. Ottoman religious tolerance was notable for being a bit better than that which existed elsewhere in other great past or contemporary empires, such as Spain or England . By the Byzantine Empire, apart from during the time of Theodosius, generally did not condemn other religious groups either, there being a mosque built in Constantinople, a Latin Quarter filled with Roman Catholic Churches and even a synagogue. Of course, there were isolated instances of gaps between established policy and its actual practical application,

neg: Arab conquest of the Levant as far north as Gaza before meeting regular Byzantine troops. The 7th century was a time of fast military changes in the Byzantine Empire. The empire was certainly not in a state of collapse when it faced the new challenge from Arabia after being exhausted by recent Roman–Persian Wars, but failed completely to tackle the challenge effectively. Muhammad died in June 632, and Abu Bakr was appointed Caliph and political successor at Medina. Soon after Abu Bakr's succession, several Arab tribes revolted against him in the "Ridda wars" (Arabic for the Wars of Apostasy). The Campaign of the Apostasy was

neg: Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity) a dozen years. In 387, the Kingdom of Armenia was split between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Persian Empire. Western Armenia first became a province of the Roman Empire under the name of Armenia Minor, and later Byzantine Armenia; Eastern Armenia remained a kingdom within Persia until, in 428, the local nobility overthrew the king, and the Sassanids installed a governor in his place, beginning the Marzpanate period over Persian Armenia. Those parts of historical Armenia remained firmly under Persian control until the Muslim conquest of Persia, while the Byzantine parts remained until being conquered, also by invading Arabic

neg: Domesticus (Roman Empire) in governing from how things were in the late Roman Empire, and a growing bureaucracy in the early 500’s under the rule of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius 1 the successor to Zeno the title of Domesticus was evolving and often being used as synonyms of Vicarius and Locoservator. These titles basically translate to ‘vice’ which meant they basically reported to any superior this title wasn’t given to people in charge by the year 504 in the Byzantine Empire. The translation of Domesticus, Vicarious, and Locoservator respectively mean belonging to a house, Vice meaning deputy or substitute for a superior, and

neg: Byzantine army the mortal blow being a knife to his back. There, on the walls of Constantinople, alone and abandoned by his remaining troops, the emperor died. The fall of the Byzantine capital meant the end of the Roman empire. The Byzantine army, the last surviving direct descendant of the Roman legions, was finished. The exact size and composition of the Byzantine army and its units is a matter of considerable debate, due to the scantness and ambiguous nature of the primary sources. The following table contains approximate estimates. All estimates excludes the number of oarsmen, for those estimates see Byzantine navy.

neg: Byzantine–Seljuq wars Empire of Nicaea until the Sultanate itself was taken over by the Mongols, leading to the rise of the ghazis and the conclusive Byzantine–Ottoman wars. The wars' distant origins lay in the formation of the Byzantine Empire from the collapsing Roman Empire in the 4th century. Prior to the formation of the Byzantine realm in the 3rd century AD, the Roman Empire faced a severe military and political crisis; political assassinations and dangerous campaigning led to 32 Emperors seizing and losing power within 50 years of Roman history. Matters were made worse with an economic and demographic problem. The population

neg: Byzantine Empire under the Macedonian dynasty 1018 Bulgaria surrendered and became part of the Byzantine Empire thus restoring the Danube frontier, which had not been held since the days of Heraclius. During this period the Byzantine princess Theophanu, wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, served as regent of the Holy Roman Empire, paving the way for the westward spread of Byzantine culture. Between 800 and 1100 the empire developed a mixed relationship with the new state of Kievan Rus' that emerged to the north across the Black Sea. The Byzantine Empire quickly became a main trading and cultural partner for Kiev. After Christianizing, Rus'

neg: Caesar (title) II recognized Mehmed as successor to the throne. Mehmed also had a blood lineage to the Byzantine Imperial family; his predecessor, Sultan Orhan I had married a Byzantine princess, and Mehmed may have claimed descent from John Tzelepes Komnenos. Ottoman sultans were not the only rulers to claim such a title, as there was the Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, whose emperor, Frederick III, traced his titular lineage from Charlemagne who obtained the title of Roman Emperor when he was crowned by Pope Leo III in 800, although he was never recognized as such by the Byzantine Empire. The

neg: Byzantine Empire under the Heraclian dynasty be reliable, though not unbeatable fighting force for centuries to come. Nonetheless, a native, well-trained army loyal to the state would serve the Empire far more than ill-disciplined mercenaries, whose loyalty to coin could be manipulated and turned against the state itself, as had been exemplified during the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. Heraclius' inability to rule the Empire as his death neared did Byzantium no favors. After Heraclius' death in 641, the former Empress Martina declared herself, her son, Heracleonas, and her stepson, Constantine, co-emperors of the Byzantine Empire. However, the citizens of Constantinople refused to accept this.

neg: Language of the New Testament as Horace gently puts it: "Conquered Greece has conquered the brute victor and brought her arts into rustic Latium" ("Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis intulit agresti Latio".) Roman art and literature were calqued upon Hellenistic models. Koine Greek remained the dominant language in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, extending into the Byzantine Empire as Byzantine Greek. In the city of Rome, Koine Greek was in widespread use among ordinary people, and the elite spoke and wrote Greek as fluently as Latin. Jewish Koine Greek did not exist as a separate dialect, but some Jewish texts in

neg: History of the Balkans indicate a Romanized population in Transylvania by at least the 8th century. By the 7th and 8th centuries, the Roman Empire existed only south of the Danube River in the form of the Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople. In this ethnically diverse closing area of the Roman Empire, Vlachs were recognized as those who spoke Latin, the official language of the Byzantine Empire used only in official documents, until the 6th century when it was changed to the more popular Greek. These original Vlachs probably consisted of a variety of ethnic groups (most notably Thracians, Dacians, Illyrians) who

neg: Byzantine Empire under the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties Byzantine Empire under the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties Byzantium under the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties was the earliest period of the Byzantine history that saw a shift in government from Rome in the west to Constantinople in the East within the Roman Empire under emperor Constantine the Great and his successors. Constantinople, formally named Nova Roma, was created on the site of the old Greek Byzantium, which is the origin of the historiographical name for the Eastern Empire, which self-identified simply as the "Roman Empire". In the 3rd century, the Roman Empire suffered troubling economic difficulties that spread over a

neg: Chariot racing continued activity is documented in inscriptions and in curse tablets. Like many other aspects of the Roman world, chariot racing continued in the Byzantine Empire, although the Byzantines did not keep as many records and statistics as the Romans did. In place of the detailed inscriptions of Roman racing statistics, several short epigrams in verse were composed celebrating some of the more famous Byzantine Charioteers. The six charioteers about whom these laudatory verses were written were Anastasius, Julianus of Tyre, Faustinus, his son, Constantinus, Uranius, and Porphyrius. Although Anastasius's single epigram reveals almost nothing about him, Porphyrius is much better

neg: History of Turkey accelerated under Roman rule, and by the early centuries AD the local Anatolian languages and cultures had become extinct, being largely replaced by ancient Greek language and culture. In 324, Constantine I chose Byzantium to be the new capital of the Roman Empire, renaming it New Rome. Following the death of Theodosius I in 395 and the permanent division of the Roman Empire between his two sons, the city, which would popularly come to be known as Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. This, which would later be branded by historians as the Byzantine Empire, ruled most

neg: Byzantine Empire under the Theodosian dynasty Valens in 378. Gratian would continue to rule the Western Roman Empire until 383. After the deaths of Gratian and his successor Valentinian II, Theodosius became the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire 392-395. Theodosius is also remembered from making a series of decrees (see Edict of Thessalonica) that essentially codified Nicene Christianity as the official state church of the Roman Empire. Theodosius dissolved the order of the Vestal Virgins in Rome, banned the pagan rituals of the Olympics in Ancient Greece and did nor punish nor prevent the destruction

neg: Megali Idea the Eastern Aegean Islands (Treaty of Bucharest (1913)), Western Thrace (Treaty of Neuilly, 1920) and the Dodecanese (Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947), making them Greek territory. The Byzantine Empire was Roman in origin and was called the "Roman Empire" by its inhabitants and the entire world, until some 120 years after its fall, when Hieronymus Wolf coined the usage of "Byzantium". It became Hellenistic with time to the point where Greek replaced Latin as the official language in AD 610, owing to several factors: Its religion, being Christian, with the New Testament written in Greek; its location in the

neg: History of the ancient Levant decline and its heartland was overrun by the Roman Republic in 65 BC. Judah, which had become independent under the Hasmonean dynasty, was annexed by in 63 BC as Iudaea Province. Persian dynasty, the Sassanids, entered in conflicts with Rome, and later with the Byzantine Empire. In 391, the Byzantine era began with the permanent division of the Roman Empire into East and Western halves. Byzantine control over the sites of Israel and Judah and other parts of the Levant lasted until 636, when it was conquered by Arabs and became a part of the Caliphate. The Byzantines reached their

neg: History of Skopje From 395 AD, it passed into the hands of the Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Empire. The first known bishop of the city is Perigorius, present at the Council of Sardica (343). "Scupi" was probably a metropolitan see about the middle of the 5th century (). When the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Skupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople and became an important trading and garrison town for the region. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian (527–65 AD) was born in Tauresium (about 20 km southeast of present-day Skopje) in 483 AD, and after Skupi

neg: Third Rome this day use the double-headed Roman eagle. The city of Toledo, province of Toledo and the province of Zamora are just few of many examples. The Latin Empire (official Empire of Romania) was a Crusader state founded after the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to supplant the Byzantine Empire as the titular Roman Empire in the east, with a Western Roman Catholic emperor enthroned in place of the Eastern Orthodox Roman emperors. James of Baux willed his titular claims to Duke Louis I of Anjou, also claimant to the

neg: Byzantine gardens Byzantine gardens The city of Byzantium in the Byzantine Empire occupies an important place in the history of garden design between eras and cultures (c. 4th century - 10th century CE). The city, later renamed Constantinople and the present day Istanbul, was capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and survived for a thousand years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The gardens of Byzantium were, however, mostly destroyed after the 15th-century Turkish conquest of the city. Byzantine gardens were based largely on Roman ideas emphasizing elaborate mosaic designs, a typical classical feature of formally arrayed trees and built

neg: Subdivisions of the Byzantine Empire of the imperial family, the most famous and long-lasting of which was the Despotate of the Morea. In the Empire of Trebizond, the old "banda" of the theme of Chaldia remained extant, and formed the country's sole administrative subdivision. Subdivisions of the Byzantine Empire The East Roman or Byzantine Empire (330–1453) had a developed administrative system, which can be divided into three major periods: the late Roman/early Byzantine, which was a continuation and evolution of the system begun by the emperors Diocletian and Constantine the Great, which gradually evolved into the middle Byzantine, where the theme system predominated alongside a

neg: Byzantine Greece Byzantine Greece The history of Byzantine Greece mainly coincides with the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire. The Greek peninsula became a Roman protectorate in 146 BC, and the Aegean islands were added to this territory in 133 BC. Athens and other Greek cities revolted in 88 BC, and the peninsula was crushed by the Roman general Sulla. The Roman civil wars devastated the land even further, until Augustus organized the peninsula as the province of Achaea in 27 BC. Greece was a typical eastern province of the Roman Empire. The Romans sent colonists there and contributed new buildings to its

neg: Aeolis it became part of the Roman province of Asia. At the partition of the Roman Empire (395 AD), Aeolis was assigned to the East Roman (Byzantine) empire and remained largely under Byzantine rule until the early 15th century, when the Ottoman Turks occupied the area. Aeolis Aeolis (Ancient Greek: , "Aiolís"), or Aeolia (; , "Aiolía"), was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor, mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands (particularly Lesbos), where the Aeolian Greek city-states were located. Aeolis incorporated the southern parts of Mysia, which bounded it to the north,

neg: History of Roman and Byzantine domes Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Oakland (1960), and Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Atlanta (1967). The use of a large central dome in American Greek Orthodox churches continued in the 1960s and 1970s before moving toward smaller Middle Byzantine domes, or versions of Early Christian basilicas. History of Roman and Byzantine domes The History of Roman and Byzantine domes traces the architecture of domes throughout the ancient Roman Empire and its medieval continuation, today called the Byzantine Empire. Domes were important architectural elements in both periods and had widespread influence on contemporary and later styles, from Russian and Ottoman architecture to

neg: Albania in the Middle Ages Albania in the Middle Ages The Middle Ages in Albania geographically refers to the region that is now Albania in the Byzantine Empire, until their incorporation in the Ottoman Empire. When the Roman Empire divided into east and west in 395, the territories of modern Albania became part of the Byzantine Empire. At the end of the 12th century, the northern part of Albania became part of the Kingdom of Serbia (medieval) succeeded by the Serbian Empire, which took over the entirety of Albania and most of the Balkans by the mid 14th century. When the Serbian Empire began, its

neg: Christian culture non-Orthodox states like the Republic of Venice and the Kingdom of Sicily, which had close ties to the Byzantine Empire despite being in other respects part of western European culture. Art produced by Eastern Orthodox Christians living in the Ottoman Empire is often called "post-Byzantine." Certain artistic traditions that originated in the Byzantine Empire, particularly in regard to icon painting and church architecture, are maintained in Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Russia and other Eastern Orthodox countries to the present day. Roman Catholic art consists of all visual works produced in an attempt to illustrate, supplement and portray in tangible form

neg: Byzantine Empire under the Leonid dynasty Byzantine Empire under the Leonid dynasty The Eastern Roman Empire was ruled by the House of Leo from 457, the accession of Leo I, to 518 AD, the death of Anastasius I. The rule of the Leonid dynasty coincided with the rapid decline, collapse and eventual fall of the Western Roman Empire. Following the end of the Western Empire, Emperor Zeno abolished the position of Western Roman Emperor and declared himself the sole Roman Emperor. The Eastern Roman Empire would come to last for several more centuries, and subsequent dynasties would invest large amounts of resources in attempts to retake

neg: Red or prisoners, and being sent to the cinnabar mines was a virtual death sentence. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, red was adopted as a color of majesty and authority by the Byzantine Empire, the princes of Europe, and the Roman Catholic Church. It also played an important part in the rituals of the Catholic Church – it symbolized the blood of Christ and the Christian martyrs – and it associated the power of the kings with the sacred rituals of the Church. Red was the color of the banner of the Byzantine emperors. In Western Europe, Emperor

neg: Byzantinism term has been criticized by modern scholars for being a generalization that is not very representative of the reality of the Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy. The Byzantine Empire is a modern term applied by Westerners to the Eastern Roman Empire (that survived a thousand years after the western one collapsed in 476) and thus had a complex system of aristocracy and bureaucracy which was derived from earlier Roman systems. At the apex of the pyramid stood the Emperor, sole ruler and divinely ordained, and beneath him a multitude of officials and court functionaries operated the administrative machinery of the state.

neg: History of Islam Granada in 1492. During the low period of the Crusades, the Fourth Crusade was diverted from the Levant and instead took Constantinople, leaving the Eastern Roman Empire (now the Byzantine Empire) further weakened in their long struggle against the Turkish peoples to the east. However, the crusaders did manage to damage Islamic caliphates; according to William of Malmesbury, preventing them from further expansion into Christendom and being targets of the Mamluks and the Mongols. The Ayyubid dynasty was founded by Saladin and centered in Egypt. In 1174, Saladin proclaimed himself Sultan and conquered the Near East region. The Ayyubids ruled

neg: Byzantine–Sasanian wars of Anatolia and a scatter of islands and footholds in the Balkans and Italy. These remaining lands were thoroughly impoverished by frequent attacks, marking the transition from classical urban civilization to a more rural, medieval form of society. However, unlike Persia the Roman Empire (in its medieval form usually termed the Byzantine Empire) ultimately survived the Arab assault, holding onto its residual territories and repulsing two Arab sieges of its capital Constantinople in 674 and 718. Byzantine–Sasanian wars The Byzantine–Sasanian wars, also known as the Irano-Byzantine wars refers to a series of conflicts between the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and

neg: Legacy of the Roman Empire note that she was not the heiress of the Byzantine throne, her brother Andreas, who in fact was). Being the most powerful Orthodox Christian state, the Tsars were thought of in Russia as succeeding the Eastern Roman Empire as the rightful rulers of the Orthodox Christian world. There were also competing Bulgarian, Wallachian and Ottoman claims for legal succession of the Roman Empire, Mehmet II "the Conqueror" claiming the title "Kayser-i Rûm", meaning Caesar of Rome. In the early 20th century, the Italian fascists under their "Duce" Benito Mussolini dreamed of a new Roman Empire as an Italian one, encompassing

neg: Early history of Bosnia and Herzegovina originally speaking a language related to Romanian, the Vlachs are today slavic speaking Christianity had already arrived in the region by the end of the 1st century, and numerous artifacts and objects from the time testify to this. Following events from the years 337 and 395, when the Roman Empire split, Dalmatia and Pannonia were included in the Western Roman Empire. The region was conquered by Huns, and later by the Ostrogoths in 455. The Ostrogoth Kingdom was defeated by Byzantine Empire in the Gothic War (535–553) by the Emperor Justinian I, and the area was re-conquered for the Byzantine

neg: Equal-to-apostles Empire). Nevertheless, even with the advent of Christian emperors, of which Constantine the Great was the first, the sovereign's power maintained a distinctly divine flavour. Indeed, to use Ostrogorsky's more strongly worded phrasing, "the Roman-Hellenistic cult of the sovereign lived on in the Christian Byzantine empire in all its ancient glory." The Greek term for "Equal-to-the-Apostles", "isapóstolos," was used in the late Roman/Byzantine empire to contribute to this divine imperial image. Constantine himself seems to have had this in mind when, according to Eusebius of Caesarea, he designed the Church of the Holy Apostles to be his tomb in Constantinople:

neg: Byzantine Empire under the Theodosian dynasty Byzantine Empire under the Theodosian dynasty The Eastern Roman Empire was ruled by the Theodosian dynasty from 379, the accession of Theodosius I, to 457, the death of Marcian. The rule of the Theodosian dynasty saw the final East-West division of the Roman Empire, between Arcadius and Honorius in 395. Whilst divisions of the Roman Empire had occurred before, the Empire would never again be fully reunited. The reign of the sons of Theodosius I contributed heavily to the crisis that under the fifth century eventually resulted in the complete collapse of Roman control in the West. The Eastern Empire

neg: Birds of Prey (Drake novel) between their various factions and sects - such knowledge of the Imperial society being needed in his professional capacity. When told by Calvus - who knew his future, which was her very ancient history - that a rump of the Roman Empire (i.e., the Byzantine Empire) would endure for a thousand years as a Christian theocracy, Perennius finds that unpalatable - but still prefers a Christian Empire to no Empire at all. Birds of Prey (Drake novel) Birds of Prey is a novel by science fiction / fantasy author David Drake, first published in 1984. It is related as a

neg: Latin Empire Latin Empire The Empire of Romania (), more commonly known in historiography as the Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople, and known to the Byzantines as the "Frankokratia" or the Latin Occupation, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261. The Latin Empire was intended to supplant the Byzantine Empire as the titular Roman Empire in the east, with a Western Roman Catholic emperor enthroned in place of the Eastern Orthodox

neg: Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia to Mesopotamia, and from the Caspian to the Mediterranean. Tigranes invaded as far southeast as the Parthian capital of Ecbatana, located in modern-day western Iran. In 27 BC, the Roman Empire conquered Cilicia and transformed it into one of its eastern provinces. After the 395 AD partition of the Roman Empire into halves, Cilicia became incorporated into the Eastern Roman Empire, also called the Byzantine Empire. In the sixth century AD, Armenian families relocated to Byzantine territories. Many served in the Byzantine army as soldiers or as generals, and rose to prominent imperial positions. Cilicia fell to Arab invasions in