An outline, era by era

Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire, to 1453)

Medieval / Post-Classical Era · ~500 – ~1500 CE

The Byzantine Empire, also called the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman state in the eastern Mediterranean. Its capital was Constantinople, today's Istanbul, dedicated by Constantine I in 330 CE. After the western half of the empire broke up in the fifth century, the eastern half survived for another thousand years, until the Ottoman Turks took Constantinople in 1453. Its people called themselves Romans and spoke mainly Greek. The name Byzantine was applied by later Western writers.

At its height under Justinian I in the sixth century, the empire held Italy, North Africa and parts of Spain as well as the Balkans, Anatolia, Syria and Egypt. Later it lost much of this land to Arab, Slavic, Seljuk and Latin conquerors, and shrank to a small state around Constantinople. It preserved Roman law and Greek learning, shaped Orthodox Christianity, and passed its faith and culture to the Slavic world.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Constantine founds Constantinople

    Event

    What happened

    In 324 CE Constantine I defeats his rival Licinius and rules the whole Roman Empire. He chooses the old Greek city of Byzantium on the Bosporus for a new capital and dedicates it on 11 May 330 as Constantinople. He also favours Christianity and in 325 presides over the Council of Nicaea.

    The rest is history

    The site controlled the route between Europe and Asia and was easy to defend. Later emperors kept the city as their base, and it grew into one of the largest cities of the medieval world. When the western empire fell apart in the fifth century, Constantinople was the secure centre of what remained. Its walls, built under Theodosius II in the 410s and 420s, still stand in parts.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryEusebius of Caesarea. Life of Constantine. Greek biography, c. 337-340 CE.
    2. BookBarnes, Timothy D. Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981.
    3. BookMango, Cyril. Le développement urbain de Constantinople. Paris: De Boccard, 1985.

  2. Justinian, the Nika riots and Hagia Sophia

    Event

    What happened

    In January 532 the Constantinople chariot-racing factions join in the Nika riots against Justinian I, and much of the city burns. Imperial troops under Belisarius and Mundus crush the revolt in the Hippodrome. Justinian then rebuilds the burned church of Hagia Sophia, completed in 537 under the architects Anthemius and Isidore.

    The rest is history

    Justinian went on to send Belisarius against the Vandals in North Africa in 533 and the Ostrogoths in Italy from 535. These wars restored much of the old western empire, but they were long and costly. The Corpus Juris Civilis, his law code compiled in the 530s, became the base of much later European law. Hagia Sophia remained the largest church in Christendom for centuries.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryProcopius of Caesarea. Wars and Buildings. Greek histories, c. 550s CE.
    2. BookMeier, Mischa. Das andere Zeitalter Justinians. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003.
    3. BookMaas, Michael, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

  3. The Arab conquests and the siege of 717-718

    Event

    What happened

    After the long Byzantine-Persian war of 602 to 628, Arab armies conquer Syria, Palestine and Egypt in the 630s and 640s. Byzantium loses its richest provinces. In 717-718 an Arab army and fleet besiege Constantinople, but Emperor Leo III holds the walls and the attackers withdraw.

    The rest is history

    The empire was reduced to Anatolia, parts of the Balkans and outposts in Italy. It reorganised into military districts called themes. The failed siege saved the city and showed that the shrunken state could survive. It remained a Greek-speaking Christian power facing the caliphate for centuries.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryTheophanes the Confessor. Chronographia. Greek chronicle, c. 814 CE.
    2. BookHaldon, John F. Byzantium in the Seventh Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
    3. BookKaegi, Walter E. Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

  4. Basil II and the Byzantine revival

    Event

    What happened

    Basil II rules from 976 to 1025. After years of civil war, he fights the Bulgarian state of Tsar Samuel. At the battle of Kleidion in 1014 the Bulgarians are defeated, and by 1018 Bulgaria is annexed. Basil also expands in the east, in Armenia and Syria.

    The rest is history

    At his death the empire stretched from the Danube to the Euphrates and from southern Italy to Armenia, and was the strongest state in the region. The strength did not last. After Basil, weak succession and neglect of the army left the empire exposed to the Seljuk Turks, who defeated Romanos IV at Manzikert in 1071. Much of Anatolia was lost in the following years.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPsellos, Michael. Chronographia. Greek history, c. 1060s-1070s CE.
    2. BookStephenson, Paul. The Legend of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
    3. BookTreadgold, Warren. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.

  5. The Fourth Crusade and the fall of Constantinople

    Event

    What happened

    In 1203 a Crusader army, financed by Venice, sails to Constantinople to support the claim of the exiled prince Alexios Angelos. After political turmoil in the city, the Crusaders storm it on 12-13 April 1204 and sack it. They set up a Latin Empire, while Byzantine successor states form at Nicaea, Trebizond and Epirus.

    The rest is history

    The Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos recovered Constantinople in 1261. The restored empire was a small and poor state, weakened by civil wars and by rivals such as Serbia, Venice and the Ottomans. Ottoman forces under Mehmed II besieged the city and took it on 29 May 1453, ending the empire.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryVillehardouin, Geoffroy de. Conquest of Constantinople. Old French chronicle, early 13th century.
    2. PrimaryChoniates, Niketas. Historia. Greek chronicle, early 13th century.
    3. BookPhillips, Jonathan. The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople. London: Jonathan Cape, 2004.

  6. Constantine and the vision of the cross

    Origin story

    The legend

    On the eve of the battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, Constantine sees a sign in the sky. In one version, a cross of light appears with the words 'by this, conquer'. In another, Christ tells him in a dream to mark his soldiers' shields. He does so and wins, and the empire turns Christian.

    The rest is history

    Two early accounts differ. Lactantius, writing around 314, mentions a dream and a sign on the shields. Eusebius, in his Life of Constantine written after the emperor's death, says Constantine himself told him of a vision in the sky. Constantine did favour Christians after 312 and, with Licinius, issued the Edict of Milan in 313. He was baptised only on his deathbed in 337. Christianity became the state religion later, under Theodosius I in 380.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryLactantius. On the Deaths of the Persecutors. Latin treatise, c. 314-315 CE.
    2. PrimaryEusebius of Caesarea. Life of Constantine. Greek biography, c. 337-340 CE.
    3. BookOdahl, Charles M. Constantine and the Christian Empire. London: Routledge, 2004.

  7. The Donation of Constantine

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Constantine, cured of leprosy by Pope Sylvester, gives the pope rule over Rome and the western provinces and moves east, leaving the West to the papacy. For centuries this document is cited as proof of papal power.

    The rest is history

    The Donation is a forgery, probably written in Rome in the eighth or ninth century. Lorenzo Valla showed in 1440 that its Latin and its claims could not belong to the fourth century. The real Constantine moved to Constantinople for political reasons and gave the pope no such grant. Nicholas of Cusa had also doubted the document a few years earlier.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryConstitutum Constantini (Donation of Constantine). Latin forged charter, probably 8th-9th century CE.
    2. PrimaryValla, Lorenzo. On the Donation of Constantine. Latin treatise, 1440.
    3. BookFried, Johannes. The Donation of Constantine and Constitutum Constantini. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2007.

  8. The conversion of Prince Vladimir

    Origin story

    The legend

    Prince Vladimir of Kyiv sends envoys to study the faiths of the Bulgars, Germans, Jews and Greeks. At Hagia Sophia the envoys report that they did not know whether they were in heaven or on earth. Vladimir chooses Greek Christianity for his people.

    The rest is history

    This story comes from the Russian Primary Chronicle, compiled in Kyiv in the early twelfth century, more than a century after the event. The real course of events is better documented. Vladimir was baptised around 988 and married Anna, sister of Basil II, in return for sending soldiers to help the emperor against a rebel. The conversion tied Rus' to Byzantine Christianity and culture.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryPrimary Chronicle (Tale of Bygone Years). Old East Slavic chronicle, compiled c. 1113 CE.
    2. BookFranklin, Simon, and Jonathan Shepard. The Emergence of Rus 750-1200. London: Longman, 1996.
    3. BookObolensky, Dimitri. The Byzantine Commonwealth. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971.

  9. Greek fire, the secret weapon

    Popular belief

    The legend

    The Byzantines have a secret fire that burns on water and cannot be put out. Its recipe is known only to the emperors, who guard it so closely that it is later lost. With it they destroy enemy fleets.

    The rest is history

    Greek fire was real. Byzantine sources say it was introduced around 672, traditionally credited to an engineer named Kallinikos, and it was projected from ships through tubes. The Byzantines were used against Arab fleets in the sieges of Constantinople. The emperor Constantine VII advised his son to keep the secret. The exact recipe is unknown, and historians still debate whether it was based on petroleum products such as naphtha, possibly with resins.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryConstantine VII Porphyrogennetos. De administrando imperio. Greek treatise, c. 950 CE.
    2. PrimaryTheophanes the Confessor. Chronographia. Greek chronicle, c. 814 CE.
    3. BookPartington, J. R. A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder. Cambridge: Heffer, 1960.

  10. The last emperor and the marble king

    Folk tale

    The legend

    As the Ottomans enter Constantinople in 1453, an angel rescues Emperor Constantine XI and turns him to marble, hiding him in a cave near the Golden Gate. One day he will wake, take up his sword and win back the city.

    The rest is history

    Constantine XI Palaiologos was a real emperor who died fighting when the walls fell on 29 May 1453. His body was never reliably identified, which helped legends to grow. The tale of the sleeping or marble king is told in Greek folk tradition, and similar stories exist about other lost heroes. Mehmed II made Constantinople his capital, and it was later called Istanbul.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySphrantzes, George. Chronicon. Greek chronicle by an eyewitness, 15th century CE.
    2. BookNicol, Donald M. The Immortal Emperor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
    3. BookRunciman, Steven. The Fall of Constantinople 1453. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965.

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