The emperor is the oldest monarchy in European history.
On January 17, 395, the Roman emperor Theodosius I (346-395) died. Before dying, he inherited the eastern and western parts of the empire from his two sons. [1] Among them, the Eastern Roman Empire lasted for nearly a thousand years. During this period, it was generally referred to as the "Imperial Roman".
The Eastern Roman Empire, originally the eastern half of the Roman Empire, worshipped Greek culture. After splitting from the Western Roman Empire, it gradually developed into a country based on Greek culture, Greek and the later Orthodox Eastern Church. Greece was the core component of the Byzantine Empire, shaping the cultural identity of modern Greece, and spreading the Greek tradition to the Orthodox world.
In 620, Emperor Heraclius replaced Latin with Greek for the first time as the official language of the empire, making the Eastern Roman Empire a different country from ancient Rome and the Western Roman Empire.
Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, was founded on the basis of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium. At first, its territory included the Balkans, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Mesopotamia and a part of the Transcaucasus. When the emperor Justinian was in power, he incorporated the west of North Africa, Italy and the southeast of Spain into the territory. [1] In 554, the Byzantine Empire reached its peak by defeating the Frank Kingdom.
In 1204, Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, was captured by the Fourth Crusade until it was recovered in 1261. On May 29, 1453, the Sultan Mohammed II of the Ottoman Empire led his army to attack Constantinople (now Istanbul), and the Byzantine Empire was officially destroyed.

Western address
Banners of Byzantine Empire
Banners of Byzantine Empire in different periods (3)
The official name of the Byzantine Empire is "Rome", or "Roman Empire". In order to distinguish it from the Holy Roman Empire, which also called itself the Roman Empire, after the collapse of the Empire in 1453, Western Europeans called it the "Byzantine Empire".
In the 11 centuries from 330 to 1453, the "Byzantine Empire" has never become the official or informal name of this country, and its subjects have never called themselves "Byzantine", or the capital New Rome "Byzantine". Until the 17th century, "Roman Empire" was the official title of the empire by western historians. In 1557, the German historian Heronius Wolff introduced the term "Byzantine Empire" in his "Manuscript of Byzantine Historians of the Past Dynasties", in order to distinguish the classical Greek documents before the Roman era from the Greek documents of the medieval Byzantine Empire. This name comes from the ancient Greek colony of Byzantine City, the predecessor of its capital, Constantinople (Istanbul).
After the 17th century, with the use of Montesquieu and others, this title was gradually widely used by Western European historians to distinguish (actually quite different) the eastern half of the ancient Roman Empire from the medieval and Hellenized Byzantine Empire.
Chinese literature
Byzantine double-headed eagle crest
Byzantine double-headed eagle crest (2 pieces)
"Fu" is the title of the Byzantine Empire in the ancient Chinese history books. [2-3] In ancient times, it was also called Daqin or Haixi. [4] According to different historical periods, this name sometimes also refers to the eastern Mediterranean region such as Taragu (today's Syria). [5] In the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it was also called Asia Minor under the rule of the Seljuk Turks. This name is used as "Pulan" in "Wei Shu · Gaozong Ji" and "Xianzu Ji". [6-7] The Northern History · The Western Regions Biography is called "Voluni". [8] The Western countries attached to Xuanzang's "Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty, Volume 11, the Polas National Regulations", [9] the Taoist "Fayuan Zhulin", Volume 39, and the cited "Liang Zhi Gong Tu", Huichao's "Biography of the Five Kingdoms", and Du Huan's "Journey to the Five Kingdoms", "Sui Shu", and "Old Tang Shu", all of which are "Fu Lin". Purum is found in the 8th century Turkic Bhagakhan tablet found in the Mongolian plateau at the end of the 19th century.
There are "Flynn" and "Flynn" in "History of the Yuan Dynasty, Volume 134, Biography of Love for Xue". The ninth volume of Dai Liang's "Jiuling Mountain House Collection" has "brush the forest". According to textual research, this "Fulin" should be a transliteration of the word Farang, which is the title of the Arabs and Persians to Europe, that is, the Buddha's machine in the History of the Ming Dynasty, not Fulin in the Northern Wei, Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Rome split
The division of the Roman Empire
The division of the Roman Empire
The name of Byzantine derives from an ancient Greek immigrant city near the sea. In 324 AD, the Roman emperor Constantine I elected it as the emperor's residence and renamed it Constantinople. [10] Constantinople (Istanbul) is located in the Bosporus Strait, a strategic waterway connecting the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, which controls the main commercial routes on land and sea. Its geographical location is very advantageous.
In the late third century, the Roman Emperor Diocleus introduced the four-headed system to manage the huge Roman Empire more effectively. He divided the whole empire into two parts, and set up an emperor (called Augustus) in Italy and Greece, and a deputy emperor (called Caesar) to assist them. This split lasted until the 4th century.
Constantine the Great re-established himself as the only emperor of the entire empire in 324. Constantine decided to establish a new capital. He chose Byzantine (now Istanbul). The capital was built in 330, and Constantine called it Nova Rome. However, it is generally called Constantinople (meaning the city of Constantine). The new capital became the center of his governing body. Constantine was also the first Christian emperor. Although the empire was not the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Constantine, Christianity is a characteristic of the Byzantine Empire, which is the dividing line between it and the Roman Empire that believes in polytheism.
Constantine the Great
Constantine the Great
Another dividing line is the Battle of Hadrian Fort in 378. This defeat and the death of Emperor Valence can be seen as the time when the ancient empire and the medieval empire separated. Theodosius I, the successor of Valence, divided the whole empire again. In 395, he handed these two parts to his two sons Arcadius and Honorius. Arcadius became the ruler of the east, Honorius became the ruler of the west, and his capital was Milan. From this time on, the eastern empire was generally called the Eastern Roman Empire, or the Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantine Empire basically avoided the difficulties encountered by the Western Roman Empire in the 3rd and 4th centuries. There are many reasons. First of all, the urban culture here is quite mature, and secondly, the invasion during the national migration is mainly attracted by the wealth of Rome. In the 5th century, the Roman Empire of China and the West were conquered many times, and the Byzantine Empire could avoid suffering if it paid its contribution at most. Theodosis II further strengthened the city wall of Constantinople, making it an unbreakable city by "barbarians".
When the Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476, Leo I of the Byzantine Empire negotiated with the Goths. He ended the threat of the Goths to the Eastern Empire, but he no longer intended to reconquer the territory of the Western Roman Empire.
In 395, the huge Roman Empire was invaded by barbarians from all walks of life. In order to facilitate its administration, it was divided into two parts. The eastern empire took Constantinople as its capital, so the eastern Roman Empire was also known as the Byzantine Empire. In 476, the Western Roman Empire finally swallowed its last breath after repeated attacks by the Huns and many Germanic tribes, and Byzantine Empire became the only Roman Empire - in fact, they had always regarded themselves as pure Roman blood.

External expansion and internal treatment
Emperor Justinian
Emperor Justinian
In the 6th century, the main enemies of East Rome were its traditional old enemies: Persians, Slavs and Bogars. The theological debate, such as the debate about Christianism, is also an important topic of the empire. But the eastern empire did not forget its roots in the west. Under the leadership of Justinian I and his outstanding general Berisaliu, the Eastern Empire even recaptured some of its lost provinces in the west: most of Italy, North Africa and Spain.
Justinian's most outstanding political achievement was the compilation of the Justinian Code. At the beginning of Justinian's accession to the throne, because he was too busy with war and administrative affairs to take into account the codification of the code, a committee headed by the famous jurist Treponian was established to organize and codify Roman law. In 529, according to the decrees issued by successive Roman emperors, the Code of Justinian was compiled into 10 volumes. [12] Justinian rewrote the laws and regulations of ancient Rome and formulated the Civil Code. It is worth noting that this code was written in Latin, which at that time was considered an ancient language, and even many writers could not speak this language. [12] Chief Justice Tribonius was once again designated as the person in charge of this work. He held a preparatory meeting according to the instructions of Justinian, and elected 16 jurists to form a new editorial board, and immediately started work. In 533, the compilation of Justinian Theory Collection was completed. The compilation of Justinian Doctrines has collected the works of all jurists and expanded the content to 50 volumes. [13]
In 532, the construction of St. Sophia Cathedral (its original name Hagia Sophia means sacred truth) began. This church will become the center of Byzantine religious life and Eastern Orthodox Church. [14]
In 554, the Byzantine Empire defeated the Frankish Kingdom in the Battle of Casillanum, and its national strength reached its peak.
However, from 541 to 600, several large-scale plagues broke out along the Mediterranean coast. Rebellion broke out in the Levant and North Africa in the south of the Byzantine Empire. Sassanian Persia, the old enemy of the Byzantine Empire, made a comeback and became increasingly powerful, and continued to carry out military attacks against the Byzantine Empire.
Once feeble
After the death of Justinian I, he left an empty treasury for his heirs, and his heirs could not cope with the new enemies that suddenly appeared on all the borders: the Lombards occupied northern Italy, the Slavs occupied most of the Balkans, and the Persians invaded and occupied the eastern provinces. Heraclius (that is, Heraclius) recaptured these eastern provinces, but the sudden emergence of Arabs who had just been united under Islam was unexpected to Heraclius. The Arabs occupied almost all the southern provinces. Syria and Egypt were completely reduced to part of the Arab Empire in the 7th century.
Greek fire
Greek fire
Although the Byzantine Empire lost a lot of land, it also benefited from it - it was no longer so mixed. Heraclius Hellenized the whole country. He did not use the title of Augustus (Augustus) in ancient Rome, but used Basileus (Basilus, Basilius, king). Greek is the official language. The religious difference between Byzantine Empire and Western Europe cannot be ignored. However, there are also some differences in the Byzantine Empire. In its southern provinces, Coptic, a branch of Christianity, is generally used more than Eastern Orthodox. After the loss of these provinces, the Orthodox Church in the Middle East became stronger in the remaining provinces. Heracliu divided the country into several military regions to deal with foreign invasion. Urbanization in other places except the capital continued to shrink, and Constantinople became the largest city in the world at that time. [15]
The Arabs tried to occupy Constantinople, but were defeated by the Byzantine navy. The Byzantine navy was very powerful at that time, and they had a mysterious firearm: Greek fire. After the initial attack of the Arabs was repulsed, Byzantine began to recover.

Hellenistic period
During the reign of Heraclius I (610-641), the Eastern Roman Empire completed the process of transformation from the classical Roman Empire to the Hellenized medieval monarchy. He reformed the military system and administrative management, and implemented the military territorial system, that is, to issue land to soldiers of peasant origin, who must perform their duties as soldiers in exchange. This practice consolidated the national defense and military strength of the Eastern Roman Empire. In Greece, Thrace, Macedonia and other regions, Heraclio implemented the military region (Sema) system and established a series of administrative units under the command of military generals. The governors of the states were directly appointed by the emperor. With the establishment of Sema, the Empire consolidated its rule over the Balkan Peninsula, which was impacted by Slavs, Huns and Avars, and consolidated its territory.
At the end of the Heraclius dynasty, the empire suffered civil strife again. During the 22 years from 694 to 716, the emperor changed six times. By the beginning of the 8th century, the empire was on the verge of anarchy, and North Africa fell into the hands of Muslims. The empire's territory was only left to the city of Constantinople and its surrounding areas, East Thrace, several ports in Greece, southern Italy and Sicily. In the first two places, there were thousands of refugees from the Balkans and Greece, as well as hundreds of thousands of Catholic refugees from Syria, Egypt and Carthage. As was the case a hundred years ago, sea power was the factor that saved the Eastern Roman Empire from extinction and brought it back to life at the beginning of the 8th century. The sea power maintained the legacy of the former imperial political unification, and it kept the commercial activities in the Mediterranean from being threatened.
Leo III, who was born in Syria (reigned from 717 to 741), was a great ruler who advocated reform and a famous general. In the first year of his rule, he defeated the third great siege of Constantinople by the Islamic caliph's army, which made him very weak and dared not use force against East Rome for several years. Moreover, its restructured navy has also curbed the growth of sea power in the Islamic world in the next 400 years. Leo's successful resistance not only saved the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Catholic world, but also saved the entire Western European civilization.

Revitalization of the country
Main term: iconoclastic movement
The Byzantine Empire in its heyday
The Byzantine Empire in its heyday
The biggest problem in the 8th century was the controversy over the iconoclastic movement. Leo III ordered the prohibition of holy images, which was greatly opposed, and riots took place throughout the country. Under the leadership of Queen Irene, it was decided at the Second Nichian Congress in 787 that the holy image could be respected but not worshipped. The Isaurian dynasty perished at the end of the 8th century.
At the beginning of the 9th century, the iconoclastic movement reappeared and was stopped again in 843. These controversies made it impossible to reunite with the Catholic and Holy Roman Empire, which had begun to diverge at that time.
golden age
The Byzantine Empire during the Macedonian Dynasty
The Byzantine Empire during the Macedonian Dynasty
Basil I, the founder of the Macedonian dynasty, was the second Justinian. Under his and other Macedonian emperors, the Byzantine Empire reached its peak in the 9th, 10th and early 11th centuries. During this period of centuries known as the "golden age", the Byzantine Empire resisted the request of the Holy See to revoke the title of the godhead of Fortius, obtained the sea control of the Adriatic Sea, and occupied part of Italy and most of Bulgaria.
Basil II (Bulgarian butcher) defeated the Bulgarians in 1014 and completely destroyed the first Bulgarian kingdom in 1018. At the same time, the Byzantine Empire also gained a new ally (sometimes an enemy): the Russians who established the kingdom with Kiev as the capital accepted the Eastern Orthodox faith and provided an important mercenary force for Byzantine Empire.
Byzantine Empire in the 9-11 Century
Byzantine Empire in the 9-11 Century
But like its predecessor, the Roman Empire, Byzantine soon fell into trouble again. The main reason was that many aristocrats who occupied land at that time disrupted the system of the military region. If the Byzantine Empire only needs to deal with its old enemies, the Holy Roman Empire and the Arab Abbasids, it may still be able to support it, but the new enemy is not afraid of its reputation: the Normans conquered Italy, and the Turks entered Asia Minor, the main source of the Byzantine Empire.
In the Battle of Manzikete in 1071, Emperor Romanus IV was defeated by the Seljuk Turkic sultan Alp Alsran. Byzantine lost parts of Armenia and Anatolia, and gradually lost the whole of Asia Minor in the next 20 years.
In 1054, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church broke up completely. The cause was that Pope Leo IX insisted on appointing a Sicilian-born bishop to head the Eastern Church. This has aroused dissatisfaction from the whole Eastern Church. Mikhail Seruralius, the universal pastor, was furious and ordered the closure of all western churches in the country and the expulsion of their clergy.
At this time, the Pope sent Cardinal Humbert as his special envoy to meet with the Eastern Church. However, the negotiation finally broke down. Humbert issued the expulsion order signed by the Pope in St. Sophia Cathedral in July 1054. Soon after, the Universal Pastoral Leader convened a religious conference and announced the expulsion of Roman representatives. The long-term opposition between the Eastern and Western churches was completely divided and never healed, which had a profound impact on the history after that.

The last few centuries of the Byzantine Empire began with the usurper Alexius I, who introduced the feudal enfeoffment system in Western Europe, re-established an army, made strong resistance to Turks, and recovered some eastern territories. He asked the West for help to resist the Turks, which was the origin of the first Crusade. The Crusaders recovered Nicia, but soon saved the soldiers and became enemy soldiers. Although Manuel I, the grandson of Alexius, was a friend of the Crusaders, both sides could not forget that they had abolished each other's religious affiliation.
In the 11th and 12th centuries, the Germans from the Holy Roman Empire and the Normans from Sicily and Italy attacked the Byzantine Empire and plundered the provinces of the Byzantine Empire. The Italian city-state, which Alexius granted trade monopoly, especially became the object of anti-Western sentiment. They became representatives of "Franks" and "Latinos". Venetians were particularly disgusted - although Venetian ships were only the backbone of the Byzantine fleet. At the same time, Turks remained a threat to the Byzantine Empire. In 1176, they defeated Manuel.
In the third Crusade, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I attempted to conquer the Byzantine Empire, but it was the fourth Crusade that brought the greatest damage to the Byzantine Empire. The purpose of this expedition was to occupy Egypt, but the Venetians gained leadership. Encouraged by them, the Crusaders captured and looted Constantinople in 1204, and they established a short-term feudal kingdom (Latin Empire).
The completely weakened Byzantine Empire was divided into four parts: the Nichian Empire, the Epirus autocratic monarchy and the Trabison stood together. The former was ruled by the Palaeologids.
Re-recovery
In 1261, they recovered Constantinople (Istanbul), defeated Epirus and restored the empire. But their main focus was on Europe and they forgot their enemies in Asia. At this time, the main reason for their survival was the internal division of Muslims at that time.
Eventually perish
After the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, almost all other parts of the Byzantine Empire were occupied by the Ottoman Empire, except for some port cities. Byzantium asked the West for help, and the condition put forward by the West was that the two churches must be unified. Although Byzantine promulgated laws to unify the church, Byzantine residents did not accept Roman Catholicism. Some Western mercenaries came to Byzantine, but most people in the West were indifferent to it. However, the Pope promised to give necessary assistance, but the Pope's assistance seemed so remote and shabby.
The territory of the empire on the eve of its demise
The territory of the empire on the eve of its demise
At the beginning, the Ottoman Empire thought that attacking Constantinople was too costly and unworthy. The city wall of Constantinople was very strong, and no one could conquer it for thousands of years except the Crusaders. However, with the expansion of the territory, Constantinople gradually became the center of the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, with the emergence of artillery, the amazing defensive force of the ancient, war-torn and magnificent city wall was greatly weakened.
On May 29, 1453, after two years of siege, Muhammad II captured Constantinople (later renamed Istanbul), and the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI was martyred. In 1461, Trabison was also occupied by Mohammed II. At this point, all Byzantine territories were completely lost.
Cultural continuity
Heyday
Heyday
After the demise of the Byzantine Empire, in 1472, Ivan III, the Grand Duke of Moscow, married Princess Sophia, the niece of Constantine XI, the last emperor of the Byzantine Empire, and announced that he would become the protector of the Eastern Orthodox Church. His grandson Ivan IV will become Russia's first czar. His successors believed that they were the qualified successors of the Roman Empire and Constantinople, and were the third Roman Empire. Until their fall at the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire considered themselves the legitimate successors of Byzantine Empire.
When Constantinople was attacked twice by the Crusaders and Ottoman Turks, many Byzantine craftsmen went west to take refuge. They brought advanced culture and ideas to Western Europe at that time and laid a cultural foundation for the European Renaissance in the future.
The Byzantine Empire played a very important role in transmitting classical knowledge to the Islamic world. Its most important impression is the Orthodox Church. The early Byzantine missionaries passed the Eastern Orthodox Church to the Slavs. So far, most Slavs and Greeks believe in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the demise of the Byzantine Empire also heralds the end of the Middle Ages in Europe.
In the last night of the Byzantine Empire, some people boarded the Latin warships and fled to Crete, Moria, the Ionian Islands and Venice. A Genoa merchant ship retained its passenger list for the last night, including six people of the Paleiolo royal family, two Komunin royal families, two Rascalis royal families, and some minor nobles. These people and many other East Romans were exiled to Western Europe with ancient precious documents, making people living in the Catholic theocratic world see the brilliant ideas of Plato and Aristotle, Alexander and Caesar, and other ancient Greece and Rome again. Under the influence of these thoughts, human nature triumphed over divinity, and the rational light of the Greeks shone through the curtain of the Pope and the feudal system, bringing the light of the Renaissance to Western Europe. On the ruins of the Byzantine Empire, a new world of Western Europe was born.
The Russian czar never gave up his attempt to restore the Byzantine Empire. Yekaterina II once envisaged Constantinople as the new capital of Russia, St. Sophia's Cathedral as her palace, and named one of her grandchildren Constantine. The Russian czars Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II and Nicholas II launched a series of wars against the Ottoman Empire, which had once crossed Europe, Asia and Africa, in an attempt to restore Constantinople, but these attempts were frustrated by the United Kingdom (the Crimean War in 1856) or Germany (the Berlin Conference in 1878) and other countries.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Austrian painter and sculptor Gustavo Klimt (1862-1918) copied Japanese Byzantine art and cast a glance during his creation. The murals and mosaics created by this artist in Brussels are proof of this.

The territory of the Byzantine Empire has been in a state of constant change. The territory of the early Byzantine Empire was basically the same as that of the original Roman Empire, until the death of Constantine I (337). Its territory includes the Balkans to the south of the Danube, the Black Sea and its coastal areas, Asia Minor to the west of the Euphrates, Syria, Palestine, Egypt to the north of the second falls of the Nile, the Maghreb region of North Africa, Spain, Gaul and Italy. [17]
When Justinian I inherited the emperor's power, the territory of the former Western Roman Empire was almost completely occupied by the small Germanic kingdoms. The territory of the Byzantine Empire only included the Balkans, the southern coast of the Black Sea, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Justinian I was committed to restoring the glory of the Roman Empire. He launched many expeditions to the western Mediterranean world, recovered part of the western part of the empire, and regained control of Italy, the northern African Maghreb along the Mediterranean region, southern Spain and the Strait of Gibraltar. When Justinian I died (565). With the exception of Gaul and northern Spain, the Byzantine Empire basically reoccupied Rome. Once again, the Mediterranean became the inner sea of the empire. However, the good times are not long. The territory of the former Rome recovered by Justinian I has been invaded by foreigners. At the end of the 6th century, the Slavs and Avars invaded the Balkans on a large scale, while the Persian army invaded the empire's Asian territory and reached the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. The Lombard attack also made the Byzantine army shrink in the Governor's District of Ravenna. By the middle of the 7th century, the Arabs had seized the Byzantine Empire's territory in Asia and Africa with fierce attacks, resulting in great changes in the empire's territory. In the 8th century, the Byzantine Empire only included the region of Asia Minor with the Anatolian Plateau and the upper reaches of the Euphrates River as the eastern landmarks, the Balkan Peninsula with northern Macedonia as the boundary, and the Aegean Sea. [17]
After the Byzantine Pareolg dynasty regained control of Constantinople in 1261, its territory remained only in the vicinity of Constantinople, the Trobison Kingdom on the south bank of the Black Sea, the Moria region in the south of the Peloponnesian Peninsula and the Epirus Mountains, although they recognized the sovereignty of the Byzantine central government, they exercised independent rule. The territory of the Byzantine Empire was finally "established" until the end of the empire.