Byzantine Empire

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This article is about the medieval Roman empire. For other uses, see
Byzantine (disambiguation).
Byzantine Empire
Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων
Basileía Rhōmaíōna
Imperium Romanum
395–1453b

Solidus with the image of Heraclius (r. 610-641), with his son
Heraclius Constantine. (see Byzantine insignia)

The empire at its greatest extent in AD 555 under

Justinian the Great (its vassals in pink)
Capital Constantinoplec
(330–1204, 1261–1453)
Common language Late Latin, Koine Greek (395–
s 610)
Medieval Greek (610–1453)
Religion Christianity (Eastern Orthodox)
(tolerated after the Edict of Milan in 313;
state religion after 380)
Government Republican monarchy[1]
Notable emperors

• 395–408 Arcadius
• 527–565 Justinian I
• 610–641 Heraclius
• 717–741 Leo III
• 976–1025 Basil II
• 1081–1118 Alexios I Komnenos
• 1259–1282 Michael VIII Palaiologos
• 1449–1453 Constantine XI
Historical era Late Antiquity to Late Middle Ages

• First division of the 1 April 286

Roman Empire
(diarchy)
• Founding of 11 May 330
Constantinople
• Final East–West 17 January 395
division after the
death of Theodosius
I
• Nominal end of the 25 April 480
Western Roman
Empire
• Fourth Crusade; 12 April 1204
establishment of the
Latin Empire
• Reconquest of 25 July 1261
Constantinople by
Palaiologos
• Fall of 29 May 1453
Constantinople
• Fall of Trebizond 15 August 1461
Population

• 457 AD 16,000,000d
• 565 AD 19,000,000
• 775 AD 7,000,000
• 1025 AD 12,000,000
• 1320 AD 2,000,000
Currency Solidus, histamenon and hyperpyron
Succeeded by
Preceded by
Roman Empire
Ott
o
m
an
E
m
pir
e
a! ^ Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων may be transliterated in Latin as Basileia
Rhōmaiōn, meaning Roman Empire.
b! ^ Between 1204 and 1261 there was an interregnum when the
Empire was divided into the Empire of Nicaea, the Empire of
Trebizond and the Despotate of Epirus, which were all
contenders for rule of the Empire. The Empire of Nicaea is
considered the legitimate continuation of the Byzantine
Empire because they managed to re-take Constantinople.
c! ^ Constantinople became the capital of the (united) empire in
330. Theodosius I was the last emperor to rule over both the
Eastern and Western Roman Empire. He died in 395 AD,
dividing the empire in western and eastern halves.
d! ^ See Population of the Byzantine Empire for more detailed
figures taken provided by McEvedy and Jones, Atlas of
World Population History, 1978, as well as Angeliki E. Laiou,
The Economic History of Byzantium, 2002.
Part of a series on the
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Byzantine Empire

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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.[2] During most of
its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and
military force in Europe. Both "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman
Empire" are historiographical terms created after the end of the realm; its
citizens continued to refer to their empire simply as the Roman Empire
(Greek: Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, tr. Basileia tôn Rhōmaiōn; Latin:
Imperium Romanum),[3] or Romania (Ῥωμανία), and to themselves as
"Romans".[4]
Several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of
transition during which the Roman Empire's Greek East and Latin West
divided. Constantine I (r. 324–337) reorganised the empire, made
Constantinople the new capital, and legalised Christianity. Under
Theodosius I (r. 379–395), Christianity became the Empire's official state
religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the
reign of Heraclius (r. 610–641), the Empire's military and administration
were restructured and adopted Greek for official use instead of Latin.[5]
Thus, although the Roman state continued and its traditions were
maintained, modern historians distinguish Byzantium from ancient Rome
insofar as it was centred on Constantinople, oriented towards Greek
rather than Latin culture, and characterised by Orthodox Christianity.[4]
The borders of the empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it
went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of
Justinian I (r. 527–565), the Empire reached its greatest extent after
reconquering much of the historically Roman western Mediterranean
coast, including North Africa, Italy, and Rome itself, which it held for two
more centuries. During the reign of Maurice (r. 582–602), the Empire's
eastern frontier was expanded and the north stabilised. However, his
assassination caused the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, which
exhausted the empire's resources and contributed to major territorial
losses during the Early Muslim conquests of the seventh century. In a
matter of years the empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to
the Arabs.[6] During the Macedonian dynasty (10th–11th centuries), the
empire again expanded and experienced the two-century long
Macedonian Renaissance, which came to an end with the loss of much
of Asia Minor to the Seljuk Turks after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.
This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia.
The empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that
by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest
European city.[7] However, it was delivered a mortal blow during the
Fourth Crusade, when Constantinople was sacked in 1204 and the
territories that the empire formerly governed were divided into competing
Byzantine Greek and Latin realms. Despite the eventual recovery of
Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine 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.[8] 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.[9]

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 Byzantine studies, resources and
bibliography Nomenclature
See also: Names of the Greeks
The first use of the term "Byzantine" to label the later years of the Roman
Empire was in 1557, when the German historian Hieronymus Wolf
published his work Corpus Historiæ Byzantinæ, a collection of historical
sources. The term comes from "Byzantium", the name of the city of
Constantinople before it became Constantine's capital. This older name
of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in
historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du
Louvre (Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae), and in 1680 of Du
Cange's Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of "Byzantine"
among French authors, such as Montesquieu.[10] However, it was not until
the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western
world.[11]
The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the "Roman
Empire", the "Empire of the Romans" (Latin: Imperium Romanum,
Imperium Romanorum; Greek: Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων Basileia tōn
Rhōmaiōn, Ἀρχὴ τῶν Ῥωμαίων Archē tōn Rhōmaiōn), "Romania"
(Latin: Romania; Greek: Ῥωμανία Rhōmania),[n 1] the "Roman Republic"
(Latin: Res Publica Romana; Greek: Πολιτεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων Politeia
tōn Rhōmaiōn), and also as "Rhōmais" (Greek: Ῥωμαΐς).[14] The
inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and even as late as the 19th
century Greeks typically referred to Modern Greek as Romaiika
"Romaic."[15][16] and followers of the Apostles.[17] After 1204 when the
Byzantine Empire was mostly confined to its purely Greek provinces the
term 'Hellenes' was used instead.[18]
Although the Byzantine Empire had a multi-ethnic character during most
of its history[19] and preserved Romano-Hellenistic traditions,[20] it became
identified by its western and northern contemporaries with its
increasingly predominant Greek element.[21] 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)[22] were also used to
separate it from the prestige of the Roman Empire within the new
kingdoms of the West.[23] Due to the heartland of the Byzantine Empire
being in Greek-speaking areas, Greek was the official language.[24]
However, it would be wrong to see Byzantium solely as a Greek empire:
other languages, such as Armenian and various Slavic languages, were
also widely spoken, especially in the frontier districts.[24]
The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor
was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator
Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. Needing Charlemagne's
support in his struggle against his enemies in Rome, Leo used the lack
of a male occupant of the throne of the Roman Empire at the time to
claim that it was vacant and that he could therefore crown a new
Emperor himself.[25]
No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the
Empire was more straightforwardly seen as the continuation of the
Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known
primarily as Rûm.[26] The name millet-i Rûm, or "Roman nation," was
used by the Ottomans through the 20th century to refer to the former
subjects of the Byzantine Empire, that is, the Orthodox Christian
community within Ottoman realms.
History
Main article: History of the Byzantine Empire
Early history
The Baptism of Constantine painted by Raphael's pupils (1520–1524, fresco, Vatican
City, Apostolic Palace); Eusebius of Caesarea records that (as was common among
converts of early Christianity) Constantine delayed receiving baptism until shortly
before his death[27]
The Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the
entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe
and north Africa. These territories were home to many different cultural
groups, both urban populations and rural populations. Generally
speaking, the eastern Mediterranean provinces were more urbanised
than the western, having previously been united under the Macedonian
Empire and Hellenised by the influence of Greek culture.[28]
The West also suffered more heavily from the instability of the 3rd
century AD. This distinction between the established Hellenised East and
the younger Latinised West persisted and became increasingly important
in later centuries, leading to a gradual estrangement of the two worlds.[28]
Decentralization of power
See also: Byzantium under the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties
To maintain control and improve administration, various schemes to
divide the work of the Roman Emperor by sharing it between individuals
were tried between 285 and 324, from 337 to 350, from 364 to 392, and
again between 395 and 480. Although the administrative subdivisions
varied, they generally involved a division of labour between East and
West. Each division was a form of power-sharing (or even job-sharing),
for the ultimate imperium was not divisible and therefore the empire
remained legally one state—although the co-emperors often saw each
other as rivals or enemies.
In 293, emperor Diocletian created a new administrative system (the
tetrarchy), to guarantee security in all endangered regions of his Empire.
He associated himself with a co-emperor (Augustus), and each co-
emperor then adopted a young colleague given the title of Caesar, to
share in their rule and eventually to succeed the senior partner. The
tetrarchy collapsed, however, in 313 and a few years later Constantine I
reunited the two administrative divisions of the Empire as sole
Augustus.[29]
Recentralisation

After the death of Theodosius I in 395 the empire was divided. The western part
collapsed in the 400s while the eastern part ended with the capture of Constantinople
1453.
The Western Roman Empire
The Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire

Restored section of the Theodosian Walls

In 330, Constantine moved the seat of the Empire to Constantinople,
which he founded as a second Rome on the site of Byzantium, a city
strategically located on the trade routes between Europe and Asia and
between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Constantine introduced
important changes into the Empire's military, monetary, civil and religious
institutions. As regards his economic policies in particular, he has been
accused by certain scholars of "reckless fiscality", but the gold solidus he
introduced became a stable currency that transformed the economy and
promoted development.[30]
Under Constantine, Christianity did not become the exclusive religion of
the state, but enjoyed imperial preference, because the emperor
supported it with generous privileges. Constantine established the
principle that emperors could not settle questions of doctrine on their
own, but should summon instead general ecclesiastical councils for that
purpose. His convening of both the Synod of Arles and the First Council
of Nicaea indicated his interest in the unity of the Church, and
showcased his claim to be its head.[31] The rise of Christianity was briefly
interrupted on the accession of the emperor Julian in 361, who made a
determined effort to restore polytheism throughout the empire and was
thus dubbed "Julian the Apostate" by the Church.[32] However this was
reversed when Julian was killed in battle in 363.[33]
Theodosius I (379–395) was the last Emperor to rule both the Eastern
and Western halves of the Empire. In 391 and 392 he issued a series of
edicts essentially banning pagan religion. Pagan festivals and sacrifices
were banned, as was access to all pagan temples and places of
worship.[34] The last Olympic Games are believed to have been held in
393.[35] In 395, Theodosius I bequeathed the imperial office jointly to his
sons: Arcadius in the East and Honorius in the West, once again dividing
Imperial administration. In the 5th century the Eastern part of the empire
was largely spared the difficulties faced by the West—due in part to a
more established urban culture and greater financial resources, which
allowed it to placate invaders with tribute and pay foreign mercenaries.
This success allowed Theodosius II to focus on the codification of
Roman law and further fortification of the walls of Constantinople, which
left the city impervious to most attacks until 1204.[36] Large portions of the
Theodosian Walls are preserved to the present day.
To fend off the Huns, Theodosius had to pay an enormous annual tribute
to Attila. His successor, Marcian, refused to continue to pay the tribute,
but Attila had already diverted his attention to the West. After Attila's
death in 453, the Hun Empire collapsed, and many of the remaining
Huns were often hired as mercenaries by Constantinople.[37]
Loss of the Western Roman Empire

The Western and Eastern Roman Empires by 476

After the fall of Attila, the Eastern Empire enjoyed a period of peace,
while the Western Empire deteriorated due to continuing migration and
expansion by the Germanic nations (its end is usually dated in 476 when
the Germanic Roman general Odoacer deposed the usurper Western
Emperor Romulus Augustulus[38]).
In 480 with the death of the Western Emperor Julius Nepos, Eastern
Emperor Zeno became sole Emperor of the empire. Odoacer, now ruler
of Italy, was nominally Zeno's subordinate but acted with complete
autonomy, eventually providing support to a rebellion against the
Emperor.[39]

Anastasius 40 nummi (M) and 5 nummi (E)

Zeno negotiated with the invading Ostrogoths, who had settled in
Moesia, convincing the Gothic king Theodoric to depart for Italy as
magister militum per Italiam ("commander in chief for Italy") with the aim
of deposing Odoacer. By urging Theodoric to conquer Italy, Zeno rid the
Eastern Empire of an unruly subordinate (Odoacer) and moved another
(Theodoric) further from the heart of the Empire. After Odoacer's defeat
in 493, Theodoric ruled Italy de facto, although he was never recognised
by the eastern emperors as "king" (rex).[39]
In 491, Anastasius I, an aged civil officer of Roman origin, became
Emperor, but it was not until 497 that the forces of the new emperor
effectively took the measure of Isaurian resistance.[40] Anastasius
revealed himself as an energetic reformer and an able administrator. He
introduced a new coinage system of the copper follis, the coin used in
most everyday transactions.[41] He also reformed the tax system and
permanently abolished the chrysargyron tax. The State Treasury
contained the enormous sum of 320,000 lb (150,000 kg) of gold when
Anastasius died in 518.[42]
Justinian dynasty
See also: Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty
 Emperor Justinian I
The Justinian dynasty was founded by Justin I, who though illiterate, rose
through the ranks of the military to become Emperor in 518.[43] He was
succeeded by his nephew Justinian I in 527, who may already have
exerted effective control during Justin's reign.[44] One of the most
important figures of late antiquity and possibly the last Roman emperor
to speak Latin as a first language,[45] Justinian's rule constitutes a distinct
epoch, marked by the ambitious but only partly realized renovatio imperii,
or "restoration of the Empire".[46] His wife Theodora was particularly
influential.[47]
In 529, Justinian appointed a ten-man commission chaired by John the
Cappadocian to revise Roman law and create a new codification of laws
and jurists' extracts, known as the "Corpus Juris Civilis"or the Justinian
Code. In 534, the Corpus was updated and, along with the enactments
promulgated by Justinian after 534, formed the system of law used for
most of the rest of the Byzantine era.[48] The Corpus forms the basis of
civil law of many modern states.[49]

The enlargement of the Byzantine Empire's possessions between the rise to power of
Justinian (red, 527) and his and Belisarius's death (orange, 565). Belisarius
contributed immensely to the expansion of the empire.
In 532, attempting to secure his eastern frontier, Justinian signed a
peace treaty with Khosrau I of Persia, agreeing to pay a large annual
tribute to the Sassanids. In the same year, he survived a revolt in
Constantinople (the Nika riots), which solidified his power but ended with
the deaths of a reported 30,000 to 35,000 rioters on his orders.[50] The
western conquests began in 533, as Justinian sent his general Belisarius
to reclaim the former province of Africa from the Vandals, who had been
in control since 429 with their capital at Carthage.[51] Their success came
with surprising ease, but it was not until 548 that the major local tribes
were subdued.[52] In Ostrogothic Italy, the deaths of Theodoric, his
nephew and heir Athalaric, and his daughter Amalasuntha had left her
murderer, Theodahad (r. 534–536), on the throne despite his weakened
authority.[53]
In 535, a small Byzantine expedition to Sicily met with easy success, but
the Goths soon stiffened their resistance, and victory did not come until
540, when Belisarius captured Ravenna, after successful sieges of
Naples and Rome.[53] In 535–536, Theodahad sent Pope Agapetus I to
Constantinople to request the removal of Byzantine forces from Sicily,
Dalmatia, and Italy. Although Agapetus failed in his mission to sign a
peace with Justinian, he succeeded in having the Monophysite Patriarch
Anthimus I of Constantinople denounced, despite empress Theodora's
support and protection.[54]

Empress Theodora and attendants (mosaic from Basilica of San Vitale, 6th century).
The Ostrogoths were soon reunited under the command of King Totila
and captured Rome in 546. Belisarius, who had been sent back to Italy in
544, was eventually recalled to Constantinople in 549.[55] The arrival of
the Armenian eunuch Narses in Italy (late 551) with an army of 35,000
men marked another shift in Gothic fortunes. Totila was defeated at the
Battle of Taginae and his successor, Teia, was defeated at the Battle of
Mons Lactarius (October 552). Despite continuing resistance from a few
Gothic garrisons and two subsequent invasions by the Franks and
Alemanni, the war for the Italian peninsula was at an end.[56] In 551,
Athanagild, a noble from Visigothic Hispania, sought Justinian's help in a
rebellion against the king, and the emperor dispatched a force under
Liberius, a successful military commander. The empire held on to a small
slice of the Iberian Peninsula coast until the reign of Heraclius.[57]
In the east, the Roman–Persian Wars continued until 561 when the
envoys of Justinian and Khosrau agreed on a 50-year peace.[58] By the
mid-550s, Justinian had won victories in most theatres of operation, with
the notable exception of the Balkans, which were subjected to repeated
incursions from the Slavs and the Gepids. Tribes of Serbs and Croats
were later resettled in the northwestern Balkans, during the reign of
Heraclius.[59] Justinian called Belisarius out of retirement and defeated the
new Hunnish threat. The strengthening of the Danube fleet caused the
Kutrigur Huns to withdraw and they agreed to a treaty that allowed safe
passage back across the Danube.[60]
Although polytheism had been suppressed by the state since at least the
time of Constantine in the 4th century, traditional Greco-Roman culture
was still influential in the Eastern empire in the 6th century.[61]
Philosophers such as John Philoponus drew on neoplatonic ideas in
addition to Christian thought and empiricism. Nevertheless, Hellenistic
philosophy began to be gradually supplanted by or amalgamated into
newer Christian philosophy. The closure of the Platonic Academy in 529
was a notable turning point.[62] Hymns written by Romanos the Melodist
marked the development of the Divine Liturgy, while the architects
Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles worked to complete the new
Church of the Holy Wisdom, Hagia Sophia, which was designed to
replace an older church destroyed during the Nika Revolt. Completed in
537, the Hagia Sophia stands today as one of the major monuments of
Byzantine architectural history.[63] During the 6th and 7th centuries, the
Empire was struck by a series of epidemics, which greatly devastated
the population and contributed to a significant economic decline and a
weakening of the Empire.[64]

The Byzantine Empire in 600 AD during the reign of Emperor Maurice. Half of the
Italian peninsula and some part af Spain were lost, but the borders were pushed
eastward where Byzantines received some land from the Persians.
After Justinian died in 565, his successor, Justin II, refused to pay the
large tribute to the Persians. Meanwhile, the Germanic Lombards
invaded Italy; by the end of the century, only a third of Italy was in
Byzantine hands. Justin's successor, Tiberius II, choosing between his
enemies, awarded subsidies to the Avars while taking military action
against the Persians. Although Tiberius' general, Maurice, led an
effective campaign on the eastern frontier, subsidies failed to restrain the
Avars. They captured the Balkan fortress of Sirmium in 582, while the
Slavs began to make inroads across the Danube.[65]
Maurice, who meanwhile succeeded Tiberius, intervened in a Persian
civil war, placed the legitimate Khosrau II back on the throne, and
married his daughter to him. Maurice's treaty with his new brother-in-law
enlarged the territories of the Empire to the East and allowed the
energetic Emperor to focus on the Balkans. By 602, a series of
successful Byzantine campaigns had pushed the Avars and Slavs back
across the Danube.[65] However, Maurice's refusal to ransom several
thousand captives taken by the Avars, and his order to the troops to
winter in the Danube, caused his popularity to plummet. A revolt broke
out under an officer named Phocas, who marched the troops back to
Constantinople; Maurice and his family were murdered while trying to
escape.[66]
Shrinking borders
Early Heraclian dynasty
Further information: Byzantine Empire under the Heraclian dynasty

Battle between Heraclius and the Persians. Fresco by Piero della Francesca, c. 1452
After Maurice's murder by Phocas, Khosrau used the pretext to
reconquer the Roman province of Mesopotamia.[67] Phocas, an unpopular
ruler invariably described in Byzantine sources as a "tyrant", was the
target of a number of Senate-led plots. He was eventually deposed in
610 by Heraclius, who sailed to Constantinople from Carthage with an
icon affixed to the prow of his ship.[68]
Following the accession of Heraclius, the Sassanid advance pushed
deep into the Levant, occupying Damascus and Jerusalem and removing
the True Cross to Ctesiphon.[69] The counter-attack launched by Heraclius
took on the character of a holy war, and an acheiropoietos image of
Christ was carried as a military standard[70] (similarly, when
Constantinople was saved from a combined Avar–Sassanid–Slavic siege
in 626, the victory was attributed to the icons of the Virgin that were led
in procession by Patriarch Sergius about the walls of the city).[71] In this
very siege of Constantinople of the year 626, amidst the climactic
Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, the combined Avar, Sassanid, and
Slavic forces unsuccessfully besieged the Byzantine capital between
June and July. After this, the Sassanid army was forced to withdraw to
Anatolia. The loss came just after news had reached them of yet another
Byzantine victory, where Heraclius's brother Theodore scored well
against the Persian general Shahin.[72] Following this, Heraclius led an
invasion into Sassanid Mesopotamia once again.
The Byzantine Empire in 650 – Because of the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628
both Byzantines and Persians exhausted themselves and made them vulnerable for
the expansion of the Caliphate. In 650 the Byzantine Empire had lost all of its
southern provinces except the Exarchate of Africa to the Caliphate. At the same time
the Slavs laid pressure and settled in the Balkans.
The main Sassanid force was destroyed at Nineveh in 627, and in 629
Heraclius restored the True Cross to Jerusalem in a majestic
ceremony,[73] as he marched into the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon,
where anarchy and civil war reigned as a result of the enduring war.
Eventually, the Persians were obliged to withdraw all armed forces and
return Sassanid-ruled Egypt, the Levant and whatever imperial territories
of Mesopotamia and Armenia were in Roman hands at the time of an
earlier peace treaty in c. 595. The war had exhausted both the
Byzantines and Sassanids, however, and left them extremely vulnerable
to the Muslim forces that emerged in the following years.[74] The
Byzantines suffered a crushing defeat by the Arabs at the Battle of
Yarmouk in 636, while Ctesiphon fell in 637.[75]
The First Arab Siege of Constantinople (674–678) and the theme
system

Greek fire was first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine–Arab Wars
(from the Madrid Skylitzes, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid).
The Arabs, now firmly in control of Syria and the Levant, sent frequent
raiding parties deep into Asia Minor, and in 674–678 laid siege to
Constantinople itself. The Arab fleet was finally repulsed through the use
of Greek fire, and a thirty-years' truce was signed between the Empire
and the Umayyad Caliphate.[76] However, the Anatolian raids continued
unabated, and accelerated the demise of classical urban culture, with the
inhabitants of many cities either refortifying much smaller areas within
the old city walls, or relocating entirely to nearby fortresses.[77]
Constantinople itself dropped substantially in size, from 500,000
inhabitants to just 40,000–70,000, and, like other urban centres, it was
partly ruralised. The city also lost the free grain shipments in 618, after
Egypt fell first to the Persians and then to the Arabs, and public wheat
distribution ceased.[78]
The void left by the disappearance of the old semi-autonomous civic
institutions was filled by the system called theme, which entailed dividing
Asia Minor into "provinces" occupied by distinct armies that assumed
civil authority and answered directly to the imperial administration. This
system may have had its roots in certain ad hoc measures taken by
Heraclius, but over the course of the 7th century it developed into an
entirely new system of imperial governance.[79] The massive cultural and
institutional restructuring of the Empire consequent on the loss of
territory in the 7th century has been said to have caused a decisive
break in east Mediterranean Romanness and that the Byzantine state is
subsequently best understood as another successor state rather than a
real continuation of the Roman Empire.[80]
Late Heraclian dynasty
See also: Twenty Years' Anarchy
The withdrawal of large numbers of troops from the Balkans to combat
the Persians and then the Arabs in the east opened the door for the
gradual southward expansion of Slavic peoples into the peninsula, and,
as in Asia Minor, many cities shrank to small fortified settlements.[81] In
the 670s, the Bulgars were pushed south of the Danube by the arrival of
the Khazars. In 680, Byzantine forces sent to disperse these new
settlements were defeated.[82]
In 681, Constantine IV signed a treaty with the Bulgar khan Asparukh,
and the new Bulgarian state assumed sovereignty over a number of
Slavic tribes that had previously, at least in name, recognised Byzantine
rule.[82] In 687–688, the final Heraclian emperor, Justinian II, led an
expedition against the Slavs and Bulgarians, and made significant gains,
although the fact that he had to fight his way from Thrace to Macedonia
demonstrates the degree to which Byzantine power in the north Balkans
had declined.[83]
Justinian II attempted to break the power of the urban aristocracy
through severe taxation and the appointment of "outsiders" to
administrative posts. He was driven from power in 695, and took shelter
first with the Khazars and then with the Bulgarians. In 705, he returned to
Constantinople with the armies of the Bulgarian khan Tervel, retook the
throne, and instituted a reign of terror against his enemies. With his final
overthrow in 711, supported once more by the urban aristocracy, the
Heraclian dynasty came to an end.[84]
The Second Arab Siege of Constantinople (717–718) and the
Isaurian dynasty
Further information: Byzantine Empire under the Isaurian dynasty

The Byzantine Empire at the accession of Leo III, c. 717. Striped area indicates land
raided by the Arabs.

Gold solidus of Leo III (left), and his son and heir, Constantine V (right).
In 717 the Umayyad Caliphate launched the Siege of Constantinople
(717–718) which lasted for one year. However, the combination of Leo III
the Isaurian's military genius, the Byzantines' use of Greek Fire, a cold
winter in 717–718, and Byzantine diplomacy with the Khan Tervel of
Bulgaria resulted in a Byzantine victory. The Umayyads lost prestige and
their best fighters as well which eventually resulted in unrest. After Leo III
turned back the Muslim assault in 718, he addressed himself to the task
of reorganising and consolidating the themes in Asia Minor. In 740 a
major Byzantine victory took place at the Battle of Akroinon where the
Byzantines destroyed the Umayyad army once again.
Leo III the Isaurian's son and successor, Constantine V, won noteworthy
victories in northern Syria and also thoroughly undermined Bulgarian
strength.[85] In 746, profiting by the unstable conditions in the Umayyad
Caliphate, which was falling apart under Marwan II, Constantine V
invaded Syria and captured Germanikeia. Coupled with military defeats
on the other fronts of the overextended Caliphate and internal instability,
the age of Arab expansion came to an end, and the Muslim world was
divided, not to be united again.
Religious dispute over iconoclasm
Main article: Byzantine iconoclasm
The 8th and early 9th centuries were also dominated by controversy and
religious division over Iconoclasm, which was the main political issue in
the Empire for over a century. Icons (here meaning all forms of religious
imagery) were banned by Leo and Constantine from around 730, leading
to revolts by iconodules (supporters of icons) throughout the empire.
After the efforts of empress Irene, the Second Council of Nicaea met in
787 and affirmed that icons could be venerated but not worshiped. Irene
is said to have endeavoured to negotiate a marriage between herself and
Charlemagne, but, according to Theophanes the Confessor, the scheme
was frustrated by Aetios, one of her favourites.[86]
In the early 9th century, Leo V reintroduced the policy of iconoclasm, but
in 843 empress Theodora restored the veneration of icons with the help
of Patriarch Methodios.[87] Iconoclasm played a part in the further
alienation of East from West, which worsened during the so-called
Photian schism, when Pope Nicholas I challenged the elevation of
Photios to the patriarchate.[88]
Macedonian dynasty and resurgence (867–1025)
See also: Byzantine Empire under the Macedonian dynasty

The Byzantine Empire, c. 867

The accession of Basil I to the throne in 867 marks the beginning of the
Macedonian dynasty, which would rule for the next two and a half
centuries. This dynasty included some of the most able emperors in
Byzantium's history, and the period is one of revival and resurgence. The
Empire moved from defending against external enemies to reconquest of
territories formerly lost.[89]
In addition to a reassertion of Byzantine military power and political
authority, the period under the Macedonian dynasty is characterised by a
cultural revival in spheres such as philosophy and the arts. There was a
conscious effort to restore the brilliance of the period before the Slavic
and subsequent Arab invasions, and the Macedonian era has been
dubbed the "Golden Age" of Byzantium.[89] Although the Empire was
significantly smaller than during the reign of Justinian, it had regained
significant strength, as the remaining territories were less geographically
dispersed and more politically, economically, and culturally integrated.
Wars against the Arabs
Main article: Arab–Byzantine wars

The general Leo Phokas defeats the Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo at Andrassos in
960, from the Madrid Skylitzes.
Taking advantage of the Empire's weakness after the Revolt of Thomas
the Slav in the early 820s, the Arabs re-emerged and captured Crete.
They also successfully attacked Sicily, but in 863 general Petronas
gained a decisive victory against Umar al-Aqta, the emir of Melitene
(Malatya). Under the leadership of emperor Krum, the Bulgarian threat
also re-emerged, but in 815–816 Krum's son, Omurtag, signed a peace
treaty with Leo V.[90]
During the reign of Theophilos, the empire created the Byzantine beacon
system.
In the 830s Abbasid Caliphate started military excursions culminating
with a victory in the Sack of Amorium. The Byzantines then attacked
back and sacked Damietta in Egypt. Later the Abbasid Caliphate
responded by sending their troops into Anatolia again, sacking and
marauding until they were eventually annihilated by the Byzantines in
863.
In the early years of Basil I's reign, Arab raids on the coasts of Dalmatia
were successfully repelled, and the region once again came under
secure Byzantine control. This enabled Byzantine missionaries to
penetrate to the interior and convert the Serbs and the principalities of
modern-day Herzegovina and Montenegro to Orthodox Christianity.[91] An
attempt to retake Malta ended disastrously, however, when the local
population sided with the Arabs and massacred the Byzantine garrison.[92]
By contrast, the Byzantine position in Southern Italy was gradually
consolidated so that by 873 Bari was once again under Byzantine rule,[91]
and most of Southern Italy would remain in the Empire for the next 200
years.[92] On the more important eastern front, the Empire rebuilt its
defences and went on the offensive. The Paulicians were defeated and
their capital of Tephrike (Divrigi) taken, while the offensive against the
Abbasid Caliphate began with the recapture of Samosata.[91]
The military successes of the 10th century were coupled with a major cultural revival,
the so-called Macedonian Renaissance. Miniature from the Paris Psalter, an example
of Hellenistic-influenced art.
Under Basil's son and successor, Leo VI the Wise, the gains in the east
against the now-weak Abbasid Caliphate continued. However, Sicily was
lost to the Arabs in 902, and in 904 Thessaloniki, the Empire's second
city, was sacked by an Arab fleet. The naval weakness of the Empire
was rectified. Despite this revenge the Byzantines were still unable to
strike a decisive blow against the Muslims, who inflicted a crushing
defeat on the imperial forces when they attempted to regain Crete in
911.[93]
The death of the Bulgarian tsar Simeon I in 927 severely weakened the
Bulgarians, allowing the Byzantines to concentrate on the eastern
front.[94] Melitene was permanently recaptured in 934, and in 943 the
famous general John Kourkouas continued the offensive in Mesopotamia
with some noteworthy victories, culminating in the reconquest of Edessa.
Kourkouas was especially celebrated for returning to Constantinople the
venerated Mandylion, a relic purportedly imprinted with a portrait of
Christ.[95]
The soldier-emperors Nikephoros II Phokas (reigned 963–969) and John
I Tzimiskes (969–976) expanded the empire well into Syria, defeating the
emirs of north-west Iraq. The great city of Aleppo was taken by
Nikephoros in 962 and the Arabs were decisively expelled from Crete in
963. The recapture of Crete put an end to Arab raids in the Aegean
allowing mainland Greece to flourish once again. Cyprus was
permanently retaken in 965 and the successes of Nikephoros culminated
in 969 with the recapture of Antioch, which he incorporated as a province
of the Empire.[96] His successor John Tzimiskes recaptured Damascus,
Beirut, Acre, Sidon, Caesarea, and Tiberias, putting Byzantine armies
within striking distance of Jerusalem, although the Muslim power centres
in Iraq and Egypt were left untouched.[97] After much campaigning in the
north, the last Arab threat to Byzantium, the rich province of Sicily, was
targeted in 1025 by Basil II, who died before the expedition could be
completed. Nevertheless, by that time the Empire stretched from the
straits of Messina to the Euphrates and from the Danube to Syria.[98]
Wars against the Bulgarian Empire
Further information: Byzantine–Bulgarian wars
 Emperor Basil II (r. 976–1025)
The traditional struggle with the See of Rome continued through the
Macedonian period, spurred by the question of religious supremacy over
the newly Christianised state of Bulgaria.[89] Ending eighty years of peace
between the two states, the powerful Bulgarian tsar Simeon I invaded in
894 but was pushed back by the Byzantines, who used their fleet to sail
up the Black Sea to attack the Bulgarian rear, enlisting the support of the
Hungarians.[99] The Byzantines were defeated at the Battle of
Boulgarophygon in 896, however, and agreed to pay annual subsidies to
the Bulgarians.[93]
Leo the Wise died in 912, and hostilities soon resumed as Simeon
marched to Constantinople at the head of a large army.[100] Although the
walls of the city were impregnable, the Byzantine administration was in
disarray and Simeon was invited into the city, where he was granted the
crown of basileus (emperor) of Bulgaria and had the young emperor
Constantine VII marry one of his daughters. When a revolt in
Constantinople halted his dynastic project, he again invaded Thrace and
conquered Adrianople.[101] The Empire now faced the problem of a
powerful Christian state within a few days' marching distance from
Constantinople,[89] as well as having to fight on two fronts.[93]
 The extent of the Empire under Basil II
A great imperial expedition under Leo Phocas and Romanos I
Lekapenos ended with another crushing Byzantine defeat at the Battle of
Achelous in 917, and the following year the Bulgarians were free to
ravage northern Greece. Adrianople was plundered again in 923, and a
Bulgarian army laid siege to Constantinople in 924. Simeon died
suddenly in 927, however, and Bulgarian power collapsed with him.
Bulgaria and Byzantium entered a long period of peaceful relations, and
the Empire was now free to concentrate on the eastern front against the
Muslims.[102] In 968, Bulgaria was overrun by the Rus' under Sviatoslav I
of Kiev, but three years later, John I Tzimiskes defeated the Rus' and re-
incorporated Eastern Bulgaria into the Byzantine Empire.[103]
Bulgarian resistance revived under the rule of the Cometopuli dynasty,
but the new Emperor Basil II (r. 976–1025) made the submission of the
Bulgarians his primary goal.[104] Basil's first expedition against Bulgaria,
however, resulted in a humiliating defeat at the Gates of Trajan. For the
next few years, the emperor would be preoccupied with internal revolts in
Anatolia, while the Bulgarians expanded their realm in the Balkans. The
war dragged on for nearly twenty years. The Byzantine victories of
Spercheios and Skopje decisively weakened the Bulgarian army, and in
annual campaigns, Basil methodically reduced the Bulgarian
strongholds.[104] At the Battle of Kleidion in 1014 the Bulgarians were
annihilated: their army was captured, and it is said that 99 out of every
100 men were blinded, with the hundredth man left with one eye so he
could lead his compatriots home. When Tsar Samuil saw the broken
remains of his once formidable army, he died of shock. By 1018, the last
Bulgarian strongholds had surrendered, and the country became part of
the Empire.[104] This victory restored the Danube frontier, which had not
been held since the days of the Emperor Heraclius.[98]
Relations with the Kievan Rus'
Rus' under the walls of Constantinople (860)
Between 850 and 1100, the Empire developed a mixed relationship with
the new state of the Kievan Rus', which had emerged to the north across
the Black Sea.[105] This relationship would have long-lasting repercussions
in the history of the East Slavs, and the Empire quickly became the main
trading and cultural partner for Kiev. The Rus' launched their first attack
against Constantinople in 860, pillaging the suburbs of the city. In 941,
they appeared on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, but this time they
were crushed, an indication of the improvements in the Byzantine military
position after 907, when only diplomacy had been able to push back the
invaders. Basil II could not ignore the emerging power of the Rus', and,
following the example of his predecessors, he used religion as a means
for the achievement of political purposes.[106] Rus'–Byzantine relations
became closer following the marriage of Anna Porphyrogeneta to
Vladimir the Great in 988, and the subsequent Christianisation of the
Rus'.[105] Byzantine priests, architects, and artists were invited to work on
numerous cathedrals and churches around Rus', expanding Byzantine
cultural influence even further, while numerous Rus' served in the
Byzantine army as mercenaries, most notably as the famous Varangian
Guard.[105]
Even after the Christianisation of the Rus', however, relations were not
always friendly. The most serious conflict between the two powers was
the war of 968–971 in Bulgaria, but several Rus' raiding expeditions
against the Byzantine cities of the Black Sea coast and Constantinople
itself are also recorded. Although most were repulsed, they were often
followed by treaties that were generally favourable to the Rus', such as
the one concluded at the end of the war of 1043, during which the Rus'
gave an indication of their ambitions to compete with the Byzantines as
an independent power.[106]
Campaigns against Georgia
Main article: Byzantine–Georgian wars
The integrity of the Byzantine empire itself was under serious threat after
a full-scale rebellion, led by Bardas Skleros, broke out in 976. Following
a series of successful battles the rebels swept across Asia Minor. In the
urgency of the situation, Georgian prince David Kuropalate aided Basil II
and after a decisive loyalist victory at the Battle of Pankaleia, he was
rewarded by lifetime rule of key imperial territories in eastern Asia Minor.
However, David's rebuff of Basil in Bardas Phocas’ revolt of 987
evoked Constantinople’s distrust of the Georgian rulers. After the failure
of the revolt, David was forced to make Basil II the legatee of his
extensive possessions. This agreement destroyed a previous
arrangement by which David had made his adopted son, Bagrat III of
Georgia, his heir. Basil gathered his inheritance upon David’s death in
1000 and reorganized provinces of Tao, Theodosiopolis, Phasiane and
the Lake Van region (Apahunik) with the city of Manzikert – to the theme
of Iberia.
The following year, the Georgian prince Gurgen, natural father of Bagrat
III, marched to take David’s inheritance, but was thwarted by the
Byzantine general Nikephoros Ouranos, dux of Antioch, forcing the
successor Georgian Bagratids to recognize the new
rearrangement. Bagrat’s son, George I, however, inherited a
longstanding claim to David’s succession. Young and ambitious, George
launched a campaign to restore the Kuropalates’ succession to Georgia
and occupied Tao in 1015–1016. He also entered in an alliance with the
Fatimid Caliph of Egypt, Al-Hakim (c.996–1021), that put Basil in a
difficult situation, forcing him to refrain from an acute response to
George's offensive.

A miniature depicting the defeat of the Georgian king George I ("Georgios of

Abasgia") by the Byzantine emperor Basil. Skylitzes Matritensis, fol. 195v. George is
shown as fleeing on horseback on the right and Basil holding a shield and lance on
the left.
Beyond that, the Byzantines were at that time involved in a relentless
war with the Bulgar Empire, limiting their actions to the west. But as soon
as Bulgaria was conquered in 1018, and Al-Hakim was no longer alive,
Basil led his army against Georgia. preparations for a larger-scale
campaign against the Kingdom of Georgia were set in train, beginning
with the re-fortification of Theodosiopolis. In the autumn of 1021, Basil,
ahead of a large army, reinforced by the Varangian Guards, attacked the
Georgians and their Armenian allies, recovering Phasiane and pushing
on beyond the frontiers of Tao into inner Georgia. King George burned
the city of Oltisi to keep it out of the enemy's hands and retreated to
Kola. A bloody battle was fought near the village of Shirimni on Lake
Palakazio (now Çildir, Turkey) on 11 September and the emperor won a
costly victory, forcing George I to retreat northwards into his kingdom.
Plundering the country on his way, Basil withdrew to winter at Trebizond.
Several attempts to negotiate the conflict went in vain and, in the
meantime, George received reinforcements from the Kakhetians, and
allied himself with the Byzantine commanders Nicephorus Phocas and
Nicephorus Xiphias in their abortive insurrection in the emperor's rear. In
December, George's ally, the Armenian King Senekerim of Vaspurakan,
being harassed by the Seljuk Turks, surrendered his kingdom to the
emperor. During the spring of 1022, Basil launched a final offensive,
winning a crushing victory over the Georgians at Svindax. Menaced both
by land and sea, King George handed over Tao, Phasiane, Kola, Artaan
and Javakheti, and left his infant son Bagrat a hostage in Basil's hands.
Apex

Constantinople became the largest and wealthiest city in Europe between the 5th
and 7th centuries, and between the 9th and the beginning of 13th centuries.
Basil II is considered among the most capable Byzantine emperors and
his reign as the apex of the empire in the Middle Ages. By 1025, the date
of Basil II's death, the Byzantine Empire stretched from Armenia in the
east to Calabria in Southern Italy in the west.[98] Many successes had
been achieved, ranging from the conquest of Bulgaria to the annexation
of parts of Georgia and Armenia, and the reconquest of Crete, Cyprus,
and the important city of Antioch. These were not temporary tactical
gains but long-term reconquests.[91]
Leo VI achieved the complete codification of Byzantine law in Greek.
This monumental work of 60 volumes became the foundation of all
subsequent Byzantine law and is still studied today.[107] Leo also reformed
the administration of the Empire, redrawing the borders of the
administrative subdivisions (the Themata, or "Themes") and tidying up
the system of ranks and privileges, as well as regulating the behaviour of
the various trade guilds in Constantinople. Leo's reform did much to
reduce the previous fragmentation of the Empire, which henceforth had
one center of power, Constantinople.[108] However, the increasing military
success of the Empire greatly enriched and empowered the provincial
nobility with respect to the peasantry, who were essentially reduced to a
state of serfdom.[109]
Under the Macedonian emperors, the city of Constantinople flourished,
becoming the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, with a population of
approximately 400,000 in the 9th and 10th centuries.[110] During this
period, the Byzantine Empire employed a strong civil service staffed by
competent aristocrats that oversaw the collection of taxes, domestic
administration, and foreign policy. The Macedonian emperors also
increased the Empire's wealth by fostering trade with Western Europe,
particularly through the sale of silk and metalwork.[111]
Split between Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism (1054)
Further information: East–West Schism

Mural of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 19th century, Troyan Monastery, Bulgaria
The Macedonian period also included events of momentous religious
significance. The conversion of the Bulgarians, Serbs and Rus' to
Orthodox Christianity permanently changed the religious map of Europe
and still resonates today. Cyril and Methodius, two Byzantine Greek
brothers from Thessaloniki, contributed significantly to the
Christianization of the Slavs and in the process devised the Glagolitic
alphabet, ancestor to the Cyrillic script.[112]
In 1054, relations between the Eastern and Western traditions within the
Christian Church reached a terminal crisis, known as the East–West
Schism. Although there was a formal declaration of institutional
separation, on 16 July, when three papal legates entered the Hagia
Sophia during Divine Liturgy on a Saturday afternoon and placed a bull
of excommunication on the altar,[113] the so-called Great Schism was
actually the culmination of centuries of gradual separation.[114]
Unfortunately the legates did not know that the Pope had died, an event
that made the excommunication void and the excommunication only
applied to the Patriarch who responded by excommunicating the legates.
Crisis and fragmentation
The Empire soon fell into a period of difficulties, caused to a large extent
by the undermining of the theme system and the neglect of the military.
Nikephoros II, John Tzimiskes, and Basil II changed the military divisions
(τάγματα, tagmata) from a rapid response, primarily defensive, citizen
army into a professional, campaigning army, increasingly manned by
mercenaries. Mercenaries were expensive, however, and as the threat of
invasion receded in the 10th century, so did the need for maintaining
large garrisons and expensive fortifications.[115] Basil II left a burgeoning
treasury upon his death, but he neglected to plan for his succession.
None of his immediate successors had any particular military or political
talent and the administration of the Empire increasingly fell into the
hands of the civil service. Efforts to revive the Byzantine economy only
resulted in inflation and a debased gold coinage. The army was now
seen as both an unnecessary expense and a political threat. Native
troops were therefore cashiered and replaced by foreign mercenaries on
specific contract.[116]

The seizure of Edessa (1031) by the Byzantines under George Maniakes and the
counterattack by the Seljuk Turks
At the same time, the Empire was faced with new enemies. Provinces in
southern Italy faced the Normans, who arrived in Italy at the beginning of
the 11th century. During a period of strife between Constantinople and
Rome culminating in the East-West Schism of 1054, the Normans began
to advance, slowly but steadily, into Byzantine Italy.[117] Reggio, the
capital of the tagma of Calabria, was captured in 1060 by Robert
Guiscard, followed by Otranto in 1068. Bari, the main Byzantine
stronghold in Apulia, was besieged in August 1068 and fell in April
1071.[118] The Byzantines also lost their influence over the Dalmatian
coastal cities to Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (r. 1058–1074/1075) in
1069.[119]
In 1048-9, the Seljuk Turks under Ibrahim Yinal made their first incursion
into the Byzantine frontier region of Iberia and clashed with a combined
Byzantine-Georgian army of 50,000 at the Battle of Kapetrou on 10
September 1048. The devastation left behind by the Seljuq raid was so
fearful that the Byzantine magnate Eustathios Boilas described, in
1051/52, those lands as "foul and unmanageable... inhabited by snakes,
scorpions, and wild beasts." The Arab chronicler Ibn al-Athir reports that
Ibrahim brought back 100,000 captives and a vast booty loaded on the
backs of ten thousand camels.[120]
About 1053 Constantine IX disbanded what the historian John Skylitzes
calls the "Iberian Army", which consisted of 50,000 men and it was
turned into a contemporary Drungary of the Watch. Two other
knowledgeable contemporaries, the former officials Michael Attaleiates
and Kekaumenos, agree with Skylitzes that by demobilizing these
soldiers Constantine did catastrophic harm to the Empire's eastern
defenses.
The emergency lent weight to the military aristocracy in Anatolia, who in
1068 secured the election of one of their own, Romanos Diogenes, as
emperor. In the summer of 1071, Romanos undertook a massive eastern
campaign to draw the Seljuks into a general engagement with the
Byzantine army. At the Battle of Manzikert, Romanos suffered a surprise
defeat by Sultan Alp Arslan, and he was captured. Alp Arslan treated him
with respect and imposed no harsh terms on the Byzantines.[116] In
Constantinople, however, a coup put in power Michael Doukas, who
soon faced the opposition of Nikephoros Bryennios and Nikephoros
Botaneiates. By 1081, the Seljuks had expanded their rule over virtually
the entire Anatolian plateau from Armenia in the east to Bithynia in the
west, and they had founded their capital at Nicaea, just 90 kilometres (56
miles) from Constantinople.[121]
Komnenian dynasty and the crusaders
See also: Byzantine Empire under the Komnenos dynasty and
Komnenian restoration

Alexios I, founder of the Komnenos dynasty

During the Komnenian, or Comnenian, period from about 1081 to about
1185, the five emperors of the Komnenos dynasty (Alexios I, John II,
Manuel I, Alexios II, and Andronikos I) presided over a sustained, though
ultimately incomplete, restoration of the military, territorial, economic, and
political position of the Byzantine Empire.[122] Although the Seljuk Turks
occupied the heartland of the Empire in Anatolia, most Byzantine military
efforts during this period were directed against Western powers,
particularly the Normans.[122]
The Empire under the Komnenoi played a key role in the history of the
Crusades in the Holy Land, which Alexios I had helped bring about, while
also exerting enormous cultural and political influence in Europe, the
Near East, and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea under John and
Manuel. Contact between Byzantium and the "Latin" West, including the
Crusader states, increased significantly during the Komnenian period.
Venetian and other Italian traders became resident in large numbers in
Constantinople and the empire (there were an estimated 60,000 Latins in
Constantinople alone, out of a population of three to four hundred
thousand), and their presence together with the numerous Latin
mercenaries who were employed by Manuel helped to spread Byzantine
technology, art, literature and culture throughout the Latin West, while
also leading to a flow of Western ideas and customs into the Empire.[123]
In terms of prosperity and cultural life, the Komnenian period was one of
the peaks in Byzantine history,[124] and Constantinople remained the
leading city of the Christian world in size, wealth, and culture.[125] There
was a renewed interest in classical Greek philosophy, as well as an
increase in literary output in vernacular Greek.[126] Byzantine art and
literature held a pre-eminent place in Europe, and the cultural impact of
Byzantine art on the west during this period was enormous and of long
lasting significance.[127]
Alexios I and the First Crusade
Further information: Alexios I Komnenos
See also: First Crusade
 Province (theme) of the Byzantine Empire ca. 1045
After Manzikert, a partial recovery (referred to as the Komnenian
restoration) was made possible by the Komnenian dynasty.[128] The first
Komnenian emperor was Isaac I (1057–1059), after which the Doukas
dynasty held power (1059–81). The Komnenoi attained power again
under Alexios I in 1081. From the outset of his reign, Alexios faced a
formidable attack by the Normans under Robert Guiscard and his son
Bohemund of Taranto, who captured Dyrrhachium and Corfu, and laid
siege to Larissa in Thessaly. Robert Guiscard's death in 1085
temporarily eased the Norman problem. The following year, the Seljuq
sultan died, and the sultanate was split by internal rivalries. By his own
efforts, Alexios defeated the Pechenegs; they were caught by surprise
and annihilated at the Battle of Levounion on 28 April 1091.[129]

The Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm before the First Crusade
(1095–1099)
Having achieved stability in the West, Alexios could turn his attention to
the severe economic difficulties and the disintegration of the Empire's
traditional defences.[130] However, he still did not have enough manpower
to recover the lost territories in Asia Minor and to advance against the
Seljuks. At the Council of Piacenza in 1095, envoys from Alexios spoke
to Pope Urban II about the suffering of the Christians of the East, and
underscored that without help from the West they would continue to
suffer under Muslim rule.[131]
Urban saw Alexios's request as a dual opportunity to cement Western
Europe and reunite the Eastern Orthodox Church with the Roman
Catholic Church under his rule.[131] On 27 November 1095, Pope Urban II
called together the Council of Clermont, and urged all those present to
take up arms under the sign of the Cross and launch an armed
pilgrimage to recover Jerusalem and the East from the Muslims. The
response in Western Europe was overwhelming.[129]
 The brief first coinage of the Thessaloniki mint, opened by Alexios in September
1081, on his way to confront the invading Normans under Robert Guiscard
Alexios had anticipated help in the form of mercenary forces from the
West, but he was totally unprepared for the immense and undisciplined
force that soon arrived in Byzantine territory. It was no comfort to Alexios
to learn that four of the eight leaders of the main body of the Crusade
were Normans, among them Bohemund. Since the crusade had to pass
through Constantinople, however, the Emperor had some control over it.
He required its leaders to swear to restore to the empire any towns or
territories they might reconquer from the Turks on their way to the Holy
Land. In return, he gave them guides and a military escort.[132]
Alexios was able to recover a number of important cities and islands, and
in fact much of western Asia Minor. Nevertheless, the Catholic/Latin
crusaders believed their oaths were invalidated when Alexios did not
help them during the siege of Antioch (he had in fact set out on the road
to Antioch but had been persuaded to turn back by Stephen of Blois, who
assured him that all was lost and that the expedition had already
failed).[133] Bohemund, who had set himself up as Prince of Antioch,
briefly went to war with the Byzantines, but he agreed to become Alexios'
vassal under the Treaty of Devol in 1108, which marked the end of the
Norman threat during Alexios' reign.[134]
John II, Manuel I and the Second Crusade
Main articles: John II Komnenos and Manuel I Komnenos

Medieval manuscript depicting the Capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade
Alexios's son John II Komnenos succeeded him in 1118 and ruled until
1143. John was a pious and dedicated Emperor who was determined to
undo the damage to the empire suffered at the Battle of Manzikert, half a
century earlier.[135] Famed for his piety and his remarkably mild and just
reign, John was an exceptional example of a moral ruler at a time when
cruelty was the norm.[136] For this reason, he has been called the
Byzantine Marcus Aurelius.
During his twenty-five year reign, John made alliances with the Holy
Roman Empire in the West and decisively defeated the Pechenegs at
the Battle of Beroia.[137] He thwarted Hungarian and Serbian threats
during the 1120s, and in 1130 he allied himself with the German emperor
Lothair III against the Norman king Roger II of Sicily.[138]
In the later part of his reign, John focused his activities on the East,
personally leading numerous campaigns against the Turks in Asia Minor.
His campaigns fundamentally altered the balance of power in the East,
forcing the Turks onto the defensive, while restoring many towns,
fortresses, and cities across the peninsula to the Byzantines. He
defeated the Danishmend Emirate of Melitene and reconquered all of
Cilicia, while forcing Raymond of Poitiers, Prince of Antioch, to recognise
Byzantine suzerainty. In an effort to demonstrate the Emperor's role as
the leader of the Christian world, John marched into the Holy Land at the
head of the combined forces of the Empire and the Crusader states; yet
despite his great vigour pressing the campaign, his hopes were
disappointed by the treachery of his Crusader allies.[139] In 1142, John
returned to press his claims to Antioch, but he died in the spring of 1143
following a hunting accident. Raymond was emboldened to invade
Cilicia, but he was defeated and forced to go to Constantinople to beg
mercy from the new Emperor.[140]

Byzantine Empire in orange, c. 1180, at the end of the Komnenian period

John's chosen heir was his fourth son, Manuel I Komnenos, who
campaigned aggressively against his neighbours both in the west and in
the east. In Palestine, Manuel allied with the Crusader Kingdom of
Jerusalem and sent a large fleet to participate in a combined invasion of
Fatimid Egypt. Manuel reinforced his position as overlord of the Crusader
states, with his hegemony over Antioch and Jerusalem secured by
agreement with Raynald, Prince of Antioch, and Amalric, King of
Jerusalem.[141] In an effort to restore Byzantine control over the ports of
southern Italy, he sent an expedition to Italy in 1155, but disputes within
the coalition led to the eventual failure of the campaign. Despite this
military setback, Manuel's armies successfully invaded the Southern
parts of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1167, defeating the Hungarians at
the Battle of Sirmium. By 1168, nearly the whole of the eastern Adriatic
coast lay in Manuel's hands.[142] Manuel made several alliances with the
Pope and Western Christian kingdoms, and he successfully handled the
passage of the Second Crusade through his empire.[143]
In the east, however, Manuel suffered a major defeat in 1176 at the
Battle of Myriokephalon, against the Turks. Yet the losses were quickly
recovered, and in the following year Manuel's forces inflicted a defeat
upon a force of "picked Turks".[144] The Byzantine commander John
Vatatzes, who destroyed the Turkish invaders at the Battle of Hyelion
and Leimocheir, not only brought troops from the capital but also was
able to gather an army along the way, a sign that the Byzantine army
remained strong and that the defensive program of western Asia Minor
was still successful.[145]
12th-century Renaissance
Further information: Byzantine civilisation in the 12th century
See also: Komnenian Byzantine army

'The Lamentation of Christ' (1164), a fresco from the church of Saint Panteleimon in
Nerezi near Skopje; it is considered a superb example of 12th-century Komnenian art
John and Manuel pursued active military policies, and both deployed
considerable resources on sieges and on city defences; aggressive
fortification policies were at the heart of their imperial military policies.[146]
Despite the defeat at Myriokephalon, the policies of Alexios, John and
Manuel resulted in vast territorial gains, increased frontier stability in Asia
Minor, and secured the stabilisation of the Empire's European frontiers.
From c. 1081 to c. 1180, the Komnenian army assured the Empire's
security, enabling Byzantine civilisation to flourish.[147]
This allowed the Western provinces to achieve an economic revival that
continued until the close of the century. It has been argued that
Byzantium under the Komnenian rule was more prosperous than at any
time since the Persian invasions of the 7th century. During the 12th
century, population levels rose and extensive tracts of new agricultural
land were brought into production. Archaeological evidence from both
Europe and Asia Minor shows a considerable increase in the size of
urban settlements, together with a notable upsurge in new towns. Trade
was also flourishing; the Venetians, the Genoese and others opened up
the ports of the Aegean to commerce, shipping goods from the Crusader
kingdoms of Outremer and Fatimid Egypt to the west and trading with the
Empire via Constantinople.[148]
In artistic terms, there was a revival in mosaic, and regional schools of
architecture began producing many distinctive styles that drew on a
range of cultural influences.[149] During the 12th century, the Byzantines
provided their model of early humanism as a renaissance of interest in
classical authors. In Eustathius of Thessalonica, Byzantine humanism
found its most characteristic expression.[150] In philosophy, there was
resurgence of classical learning not seen since the 7th century,
characterised by a significant increase in the publication of
commentaries on classical works.[126] In addition, the first transmission of
classical Greek knowledge to the West occurred during the Komnenian
period.[127]
Decline and disintegration
Main article: Decline of the Byzantine Empire
Angelid dynasty
Main article: Byzantine Empire under the Angelos dynasty

Byzantium in the late Angeloi period

Manuel's death on 24 September 1180 left his 11-year-old son Alexios II
Komnenos on the throne. Alexios was highly incompetent at the office,
but it was his mother, Maria of Antioch, and her Frankish background
that made his regency unpopular.[151] Eventually, Andronikos I Komnenos,
a grandson of Alexios I, launched a revolt against his younger relative
and managed to overthrow him in a violent coup d'état.[152] Utilizing his
good looks and his immense popularity with the army, he marched on to
Constantinople in August 1182 and incited a massacre of the Latins.[152]
After eliminating his potential rivals, he had himself crowned as co-
emperor in September 1183. He eliminated Alexios II, and took his 12-
year-old wife Agnes of France for himself.[152]
Andronikos began his reign well; in particular, the measures he took to
reform the government of the Empire have been praised by historians.
According to George Ostrogorsky, Andronikos was determined to root
out corruption: Under his rule, the sale of offices ceased; selection was
based on merit, rather than favouritism; officials were paid an adequate
salary so as to reduce the temptation of bribery. In the provinces,
Andronikos's reforms produced a speedy and marked improvement.[153]
The aristocrats were infuriated against him, and to make matters worse,
Andronikos seems to have become increasingly unbalanced; executions
and violence became increasingly common, and his reign turned into a
reign of terror.[154] Andronikos seemed almost to seek the extermination of
the aristocracy as a whole. The struggle against the aristocracy turned
into wholesale slaughter, while the Emperor resorted to ever more
ruthless measures to shore up his regime.[153]
Despite his military background, Andronikos failed to deal with Isaac
Komnenos, Béla III of Hungary (r. 1172–1196) who reincorporated
Croatian territories into Hungary, and Stephen Nemanja of Serbia (r.
1166–1196) who declared his independence from the Byzantine Empire.
Yet, none of these troubles would compare to William II of Sicily's (r.
1166–1189) invasion force of 300 ships and 80,000 men, arriving in
1185.[155] Andronikos mobilised a small fleet of 100 ships to defend the
capital, but other than that he was indifferent to the populace. He was
finally overthrown when Isaac Angelos, surviving an imperial
assassination attempt, seized power with the aid of the people and had
Andronikos killed.[156]
The reign of Isaac II, and more so that of his brother Alexios III, saw the
collapse of what remained of the centralised machinery of Byzantine
government and defence. Although the Normans were driven out of
Greece, in 1186 the Vlachs and Bulgars began a rebellion that led to the
formation of the Second Bulgarian Empire. The internal policy of the
Angeloi was characterised by the squandering of the public treasure and
fiscal maladministration. Imperial authority was severely weakened, and
the growing power vacuum at the center of the Empire encouraged
fragmentation. There is evidence that some Komnenian heirs had set up
a semi-independent state in Trebizond before 1204.[157] According to
Alexander Vasiliev, "the dynasty of the Angeloi, Greek in its origin, ...
accelerated the ruin of the Empire, already weakened without and
disunited within."[158]
Fourth Crusade
Further information: Fourth Crusade

The Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople, by Eugène Delacroix (1840)

In 1198, Pope Innocent III broached the subject of a new crusade
through legates and encyclical letters.[159] The stated intent of the crusade
was to conquer Egypt, now the centre of Muslim power in the Levant.
The crusader army that arrived at Venice in the summer of 1202 was
somewhat smaller than had been anticipated, and there were not
sufficient funds to pay the Venetians, whose fleet was hired by the
crusaders to take them to Egypt. Venetian policy under the ageing and
blind but still ambitious Doge Enrico Dandolo was potentially at variance
with that of the Pope and the crusaders, because Venice was closely
related commercially with Egypt.[160] The crusaders accepted the
suggestion that in lieu of payment they assist the Venetians in the
capture of the (Christian) port of Zara in Dalmatia (vassal city of Venice,
which had rebelled and placed itself under Hungary's protection in
1186).[161] The city fell in November 1202 after a brief siege.[162] Innocent
tried to forbid this political attack on a Christian city, but was ignored.
Reluctant to jeopardise his own agenda for the Crusade, he gave
conditional absolution to the crusaders—not, however, to the
Venetians.[160]
After the death of Theobald III, Count of Champagne, the leadership of
the Crusade passed to Boniface of Montferrat, a friend of the
Hohenstaufen Philip of Swabia. Both Boniface and Philip had married
into the Byzantine Imperial family. In fact, Philip's brother-in-law, Alexios
Angelos, son of the deposed and blinded Emperor Isaac II Angelos, had
appeared in Europe seeking aid and had made contacts with the
crusaders. Alexios offered to reunite the Byzantine church with Rome,
pay the crusaders 200,000 silver marks, join the crusade and provide all
the supplies they needed to get to Egypt.[163] Innocent was aware of a
plan to divert the Crusade to Constantinople and forbade any attack on
the city, but the papal letter arrived after the fleets had left Zara.
Crusader sack of Constantinople (1204)
Further information: Siege of Constantinople (1203) and Siege of
Constantinople (1204)

The partition of the empire following the Fourth Crusade, c. 1204

The crusaders arrived at Constantinople in the summer of 1203 and
quickly attacked, starting a major fire that damaged large parts of the
city, and briefly seized control. Alexios III fled from the capital and
Alexios Angelos was elevated to the throne as Alexios IV along with his
blind father Isaac. Alexios IV and Isaac II were unable to keep their
promises and were deposed by Alexios V. The crusaders again took the
city on 13 April 1204 and Constantinople was subjected to pillage and
massacre by the rank and file for three days. Many priceless icons, relics
and other objects later turned up in Western Europe, a large number in
Venice. According to Choniates, a prostitute was even set up on the
Patriarchal throne.[164] When Innocent III heard of the conduct of his
crusaders, he castigated them in no uncertain terms but the situation
was beyond his control, especially after his legate, on his own initiative,
had absolved the crusaders from their vow to proceed to the Holy
Land.[160] When order had been restored, the crusaders and the
Venetians proceeded to implement their agreement; Baldwin of Flanders
was elected Emperor of a new Latin Empire and the Venetian Thomas
Morosini was chosen as Patriarch. The lands divided up among the
leaders included most of the former Byzantine possessions, though
resistance would continue through the Byzantine remnants of Nicaea,
Trebizond, and Epirus.[160] Although Venice was more interested in
commerce than conquering territory, it took key areas of Constantinople
and the Doge took the title of "Lord of a Quarter and Half a Quarter of the
Roman Empire".[165]
Fall
Empire in exile
Further information: Frankokratia
After the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by Latin crusaders, two
Byzantine successor states were established: the Empire of Nicaea, and
the Despotate of Epirus. A third, the Empire of Trebizond, was created
after Alexios Komnenos, commanding the Georgian expedition in
Chaldia[166] a few weeks before the sack of Constantinople, found himself
de facto emperor, and established himself in Trebizond. Of the three
successor states, Epirus and Nicaea stood the best chance of reclaiming
Constantinople. The Nicaean Empire struggled to survive the next few
decades, however, and by the mid-13th century it had lost much of
southern Anatolia.[167] The weakening of the Sultanate of Rûm following
the Mongol invasion in 1242–43 allowed many beyliks and ghazis to set
up their own principalities in Anatolia, weakening the Byzantine hold on
Asia Minor.[168] In time, one of the Beys, Osman I, created an empire that
would eventually conquer Constantinople. However, the Mongol invasion
also gave Nicaea a temporary respite from Seljuk attacks, allowing it to
concentrate on the Latin Empire to its north.
Reconquest of Constantinople
Main article: Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty

The Byzantine Empire, c. 1263

The Empire of Nicaea, founded by the Laskarid dynasty, managed to
effect the Recapture of Constantinople from the Latins in 1261 and
defeat Epirus. This led to a short-lived revival of Byzantine fortunes
under Michael VIII Palaiologos but the war-ravaged Empire was ill-
equipped to deal with the enemies that surrounded it. To maintain his
campaigns against the Latins, Michael pulled troops from Asia Minor and
levied crippling taxes on the peasantry, causing much resentment.[169]
Massive construction projects were completed in Constantinople to
repair the damage of the Fourth Crusade but none of these initiatives
was of any comfort to the farmers in Asia Minor suffering raids from
Muslim ghazis.[170]
Rather than holding on to his possessions in Asia Minor, Michael chose
to expand the Empire, gaining only short-term success. To avoid another
sacking of the capital by the Latins, he forced the Church to submit to
Rome, again a temporary solution for which the peasantry hated Michael
and Constantinople.[170] The efforts of Andronikos II and later his
grandson Andronikos III marked Byzantium's last genuine attempts in
restoring the glory of the Empire. However, the use of mercenaries by
Andronikos II would often backfire, with the Catalan Company ravaging
the countryside and increasing resentment towards Constantinople.[171]
Rise of the Ottomans and fall of Constantinople
Main articles: Byzantine–Ottoman Wars and Fall of Constantinople

The siege of Constantinople in 1453, depicted in a 15th-century French miniature

The situation became worse for Byzantium during the civil wars after
Andronikos III died. A six-year-long civil war devastated the empire,
allowing the Serbian ruler Stefan Dušan (r. 1331–1346) to overrun most
of the Empire's remaining territory and establish a Serbian Empire. In
1354, an earthquake at Gallipoli devastated the fort, allowing the
Ottomans (who were hired as mercenaries during the civil war by John
VI Kantakouzenos) to establish themselves in Europe.[172] By the time the
Byzantine civil wars had ended, the Ottomans had defeated the Serbians
and subjugated them as vassals. Following the Battle of Kosovo, much
of the Balkans became dominated by the Ottomans.[173]
The Byzantine emperors appealed to the West for help, but the Pope
would only consider sending aid in return for a reunion of the Eastern
Orthodox Church with the See of Rome. Church unity was considered,
and occasionally accomplished by imperial decree, but the Orthodox
citizenry and clergy intensely resented the authority of Rome and the
Latin Rite.[174] Some Western troops arrived to bolster the Christian
defence of Constantinople, but most Western rulers, distracted by their
own affairs, did nothing as the Ottomans picked apart the remaining
Byzantine territories.[175]
Constantinople by this stage was underpopulated and dilapidated. The
population of the city had collapsed so severely that it was now little
more than a cluster of villages separated by fields. On 2 April 1453,
Sultan Mehmed's army of 80,000 men and large numbers of irregulars
laid siege to the city.[176] Despite a desperate last-ditch defence of the city
by the massively outnumbered Christian forces (c. 7,000 men, 2,000 of
whom were foreign),[175] Constantinople finally fell to the Ottomans after a
two-month siege on 29 May 1453. The last Byzantine emperor,
Constantine XI Palaiologos, was last seen casting off his imperial regalia
and throwing himself into hand-to-hand combat after the walls of the city
were taken.[177]
Political aftermath

The Eastern Mediterranean just before the fall of Constantinople

By the time of the fall of Constantinople, the only remaining territory of
the Byzantine Empire was the Despotate of the Morea (Peloponnese),
which was ruled by brothers of the last Emperor, Thomas Palaiologos
and Demetrios Palaiologos. The Despotate continued on as an
independent state by paying an annual tribute to the Ottomans.
Incompetent rule, failure to pay the annual tribute and a revolt against
the Ottomans finally led to Mehmed II's invasion of Morea in May 1460.
Demetrios asked the Ottomans to invade and drive Thomas out. Thomas
fled. The Ottomans moved through the Morea and conquered virtually
the entire Despotate by the summer. Demetrios thought the Morea would
be restored to him to rule, but it was incorporated into the Ottoman fold.
A few holdouts remained for a time. The island of Monemvasia refused
to surrender and it was first ruled for a short time by an Aragonese
corsair. When the population drove him out they obtained the consent of
Thomas to place themselves under the Pope's protection before the end
of 1460. The Mani Peninsula, on the Morea's south end, resisted under a
loose coalition of the local clans and then that area came under Venice's
rule. The very last holdout was Salmeniko, in the Morea's northwest.
Graitzas Palaiologos was the military commander there, stationed at
Salmeniko Castle. While the town eventually surrendered, Graitzas and
his garrison and some town residents held out in the castle until July
1461, when they escaped and reached Venetian territory.[178]

Flag of the late Empire under the Palaiologoi, sporting the tetragrammic cross symbol
of the Palaiologos dynasty
The Empire of Trebizond, which had split away from the Byzantine
Empire just weeks before Constantinople was taken by the Crusaders in
1204, became the last remnant and last de facto successor state to the
Byzantine Empire. Efforts by the Emperor David to recruit European
powers for an anti-Ottoman crusade provoked war between the
Ottomans and Trebizond in the summer of 1461. After a month-long
siege, David surrendered the city of Trebizond on 14 August 1461. The
Empire of Trebizond's Crimean principality, the Principality of Theodoro
(part of the Perateia), lasted another 14 years, falling to the Ottomans in
December 1475.
A nephew of the last Emperor, Constantine XI, Andreas Palaiologos
claimed to have inherited the title of Byzantine Emperor. He lived in the
Morea until its fall in 1460, then escaped to Rome where he lived under
the protection of the Papal States for the remainder of his life. Since the
office of emperor had never been technically hereditary, Andreas' claim
would have been without merit under Byzantine law. However, the
Empire had vanished, and Western states generally followed the Roman-
church-sanctioned principles of hereditary sovereignty. Seeking a life in
the west, Andreas styled himself Imperator Constantinopolitanus
("Emperor of Constantinople"), and sold his succession rights to both
Charles VIII of France and the Catholic Monarchs.
 The Russians supported the idea that Moscow was the proper heir to Rome and
Constantinople. Territorial expansion of Russia (1533–1894).
Constantine XI died without producing an heir, and had Constantinople
not fallen he might have been succeeded by the sons of his deceased
elder brother, who were taken into the palace service of Mehmed II after
the fall of Constantinople. The oldest boy, renamed Has Murad, became
a personal favorite of Mehmed and served as Beylerbey (Governor-
General) of the Balkans. The younger son, renamed Mesih Pasha,
became Admiral of the Ottoman fleet and Sancak Beg (Governor) of the
Province of Gallipoli. He eventually served twice as Grand Vizier under
Mehmed's son, Bayezid II.[179]
Mehmed II and his successors continued to consider themselves heirs to
the Roman Empire until the demise of the Ottoman Empire in the early
20th century following World War 1. They considered that they had
simply shifted its religious basis as Constantine had done before, and
they continued to refer to their conquered Eastern Roman inhabitants
(Orthodox Christians) as Rûm. Meanwhile, the Danubian Principalities
(whose rulers also considered themselves the heirs of the Eastern
Roman Emperors[180]) harboured Orthodox refugees, including some
Byzantine nobles.
At his death, the role of the emperor as a patron of Eastern Orthodoxy
was claimed by Ivan III, Grand duke of Muscovy. He had married
Andreas' sister, Sophia Paleologue, whose grandson, Ivan IV, would
become the first Tsar of Russia (tsar, or czar, meaning caesar, is a term
traditionally applied by Slavs to the Byzantine Emperors). Their
successors supported the idea that Moscow was the proper heir to Rome
and Constantinople. The idea of the Russian Empire as the successive
Third Rome was kept alive until its demise with the Russian
Revolution.[181]
Government and bureaucracy
See also: Byzantine bureaucracy
In the Byzantine state, the emperor was the sole and absolute ruler, and
his power was regarded as having divine origin.[182] The Senate had
ceased to have real political and legislative authority but remained as an
honorary council with titular members. By the end of the 8th century, a
civil administration focused on the court was formed as part of a large-
scale consolidation of power in the capital (the rise to pre-eminence of
the position of sakellarios is related to this change).[183] The most
important administrative reform, which probably started in the mid-7th
century, was the creation of themes, where civil and military
administration was exercised by one person, the strategos.[184]

The themes, c. 750

The themes, c. 950

Despite the occasionally derogatory use of the terms "Byzantine" and

"Byzantinism", the Byzantine bureaucracy had a distinct ability for
reconstituting itself in accordance with the Empire's situation. The
elaborate system of titulature and precedence gave the court prestige
and influence. Officials were arranged in strict order around the emperor,
and depended upon the imperial will for their ranks. There were also
actual administrative jobs, but authority could be vested in individuals
rather than offices.[185]
In the 8th and 9th centuries, civil service constituted the clearest path to
aristocratic status, but, starting in the 9th century, the civil aristocracy
was rivalled by an aristocracy of nobility. According to some studies of
Byzantine government, 11th-century politics were dominated by
competition between the civil and the military aristocracy. During this
period, Alexios I undertook important administrative reforms, including
the creation of new courtly dignities and offices.[186]
Diplomacy
Further information: Byzantine diplomacy

The embassy of John the Grammarian in 829, between the emperor Theophilos and
the Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun
After the fall of Rome, the key challenge to the Empire was to maintain a
set of relations between itself and its neighbours. When these nations set
about forging formal political institutions, they often modelled themselves
on Constantinople. Byzantine diplomacy soon managed to draw its
neighbours into a network of international and inter-state relations.[187]
This network revolved around treaty making, and included the welcoming
of the new ruler into the family of kings, and the assimilation of Byzantine
social attitudes, values and institutions.[188] Whereas classical writers are
fond of making ethical and legal distinctions between peace and war,
Byzantines regarded diplomacy as a form of war by other means. For
example, a Bulgarian threat could be countered by providing money to
the Kievan Rus'.[189]
Diplomacy in the era was understood to have an intelligence-gathering
function on top of its pure political function. The Bureau of Barbarians in
Constantinople handled matters of protocol and record keeping for any
issues related to the "barbarians", and thus had, perhaps, a basic
intelligence function itself.[190] John B. Bury believed that the office
exercised supervision over all foreigners visiting Constantinople, and that
they were under the supervision of the Logothetes tou dromou.[191] While
on the surface a protocol office – its main duty was to ensure foreign
envoys were properly cared for and received sufficient state funds for
their maintenance, and it kept all the official translators – it probably had
a security function as well.[192]
Byzantines availed themselves of a number of diplomatic practices. For
example, embassies to the capital would often stay on for years. A
member of other royal houses would routinely be requested to stay on in
Constantinople, not only as a potential hostage, but also as a useful
pawn in case political conditions where he came from changed. Another
key practice was to overwhelm visitors by sumptuous displays.[187]
According to Dimitri Obolensky, the preservation of the ancient
civilisation in Europe was due to the skill and resourcefulness of
Byzantine diplomacy, which remains one of Byzantium's lasting
contributions to the history of Europe.[193]
Science, medicine and law
See also: Byzantine science, Byzantine medicine, and Byzantine law

Interior panorama of the Hagia Sophia, the patriarchal basilica in Constantinople

designed 537 CE by Isidore of Miletus, the first compiler of Archimedes' various
works. The influence of Archimedes' principles of solid geometry is evident.
The writings of Classical antiquity were cultivated and extended in
Byzantium. Therefore, Byzantine science was in every period closely
connected with ancient philosophy, and metaphysics.[194] In the field of
engineering Isidore of Miletus, the Greek mathematician and architect of
the Hagia Sophia, produced the first compilation of Archimedes' works c.
530, and it is through this manuscript tradition, kept alive by the school of
mathematics and engineering founded c. 850 during the "Byzantine
Renaissance" by Leo the Geometer, that such works are known today
(see Archimedes Palimpsest).[195]
Byzantines stood behind several technological advancements.
Pendentive architecture, a specific spherical form in the upper corners to
support a dome, is a Byzantine invention. Although the first
experimentation was made in the 200s, it was in the 6th-century in the
Byzantine Empire that its potential was fully achieved.[196]
A mechanical sundial device consisting of complex gears made by the
Byzantines has been excavated which indicates that the Antikythera
mechanism, a sort of analog device used in astronomy and invented
around the late second century BC, continued to be (re)active in the
Byzantine period.[197][198][199] J. R. Partington writes that
Constantinople was full of inventors and craftsmen. The "philosopher"
Leo of Thessalonika made for the Emperor Theophilos (829–42) a
golden tree, the branches of which carried artificial birds which flapped
their wings and sang, a model lion which moved and roared, and a
bejewelled clockwork lady who walked. These mechanical toys
continued the tradition represented in the treatise of Heron of Alexandria
(c. A.D. 125), which was well-known to the Byzantines.[200]
Such mechanical devices reached a high level of sophistication and were
made in order to impress visitors.[201]
 The frontispiece of the Vienna Dioscurides, which shows a set of seven famous
physicians
Leo the Mathematician has also been credited with the system of
beacons, a sort of optical telegraph, stretching across Anatolia from
Cilicia to Constantinople, which gave advance warning of enemy raids,
and which was used as diplomatic communication as well.
The Byzantines knew and used the concept of hydraulics: in the 900s the
diplomat Liutprand of Cremona, when visiting the Byzantine emperor,
explained that he saw the emperor sitting on a hydraulic throne and that
it was "made in such a cunning manner that at one moment it was down
on the ground, while at another it rose higher and was seen to be up in
the air".[202]
John Philoponus, an Alexandrian philologist, Aristotelian commentator
and Christian theologian, author of a considerable number of
philosophical treatises and theological works, was the first who
questioned Aristotle's teaching of physics, despite its flaws. Unlike
Aristotle, who based his physics on verbal argument, Philoponus relied
on observation. In his Commentaries on Aristotle, Philoponus wrote:
But this is completely erroneous, and our view may be corroborated by
actual observation more effectively than by any sort of verbal argument.
For if you let fall from the same height two weights of which one is many
times as heavy as the other, you will see that the ratio of the times
required for the motion does not depend on the ratio of the weights, but
that the difference in time is a very small one. And so, if the difference in
the weights is not considerable, that is, of one is, let us say, double the
other, there will be no difference, or else an imperceptible difference, in
time, though the difference in weight is by no means negligible, with one
body weighing twice as much as the other.[203]
 Bas-relief plaque of Tribonian in the Chamber of the United States House of
Representatives in the United States Capitol.
John Philoponus' criticism of Aristotelian principles of physics was an
inspiration for Galileo Galilei's refutation of Aristotelian physics during the
Scientific Revolution many centuries later, as Galileo cited Philoponus
substantially in his works.[204][205]
The ship mill is a Byzantine invention, designed to mill grains using
hydraulic power. The technology eventually spread to the rest of Europe
and was in use until ca. 1800.[206][207]
In 438, the Codex Theodosianus, named after Theodosius II, codified
Byzantine law. It went into force not just in the Eastern Roman/Byzantine
Empire, but also in the Western Roman Empire. It not only summarized
the laws, but also gave direction on interpretation.
Under the reign of Justinian I it was Tribonian, a notable jurist, who
supervised the revision of the legal code known today as Corpus Juris
Civilis. In the field of law, Justinian I's reforms had a clear effect on the
evolution of jurisprudence, with his Corpus Juris Civilis becoming the
basis for revived Roman law in the Western world, while Leo III's Ecloga
influenced the formation of legal institutions in the Slavic world.[208]
In the 10th century, Leo VI the Wise achieved the complete codification
of the whole of Byzantine law in Greek with the Basilika, which became
the foundation of all subsequent Byzantine law with an influence
extending through to modern Balkan legal codes.[107]
The Byzantines pioneered the concept of the hospital as an institution
offering medical care and possibility of a cure for the patients, as a
reflection of the ideals of Christian charity, rather than merely a place to
die.[209]

Ceramic grenades that were filled with Greek fire, surrounded by caltrops, 10th–12th
century, National Historical Museum, Athens, Greece
Although the concept of uroscopy was known to Galen, he did not see
the importance of using it to diagnose disease. It was Byzantine
physicians, such as Theophilus Protospatharius, who realized the
diagnostic potential of uroscopy in a time when no microscope or
stethoscope existed. That practice eventually spread to the rest of
Europe.[210]
In medicine the works of Byzantine doctors, such as the Vienna
Dioscorides (6th century), and works of Paul of Aegina (7th century) and
Nicholas Myrepsos (late 13th century), continued to be used as the
authoritative texts by Europeans through the Renaissance. The latter
one invented the Aurea Alexandrina which was a kind of opiate or
antidote.
The first known example of separating conjoined twins happened in the
Byzantine Empire in the 10th century when a pair of conjoined twins from
Armenia came to Constantinople. Many years later one of them died, so
the surgeons in Constantinople decided to remove the body of the dead
one. The result was partly successful, as the surviving twin lived three
days before dying, a result so impressive that it was mentioned a century
and half later by historians. The next case of separating conjoined twins
would not occur until 1689 in Germany.[211][212]

Many refugee Byzantine scholars fled to North Italy in the 1400s. Here John
Argyropoulos (1415–1487), born in Constantinople and who ended his days in north
Italy.
Greek Fire, an incendiary weapon which could even burn on water is
also attributed to the Byzantines. It played a crucial role in the Empire's
victory over the Umayyad Caliphate during the Siege of Constantinople
(717–718).[213] The discovery is attributed to Callinicus of Heliopolis from
Syria, a Byzantine Jew who fled during the Arab conquest of Syria.
However, it has also been argued that no single person invented Greek
fire, but rather, that it was “invented by the chemists in Constantinople
who had inherited the discoveries of the Alexandrian chemical
school...”.[200]
The first example of a grenade also appeared in Byzantine Empire,
consisting of ceramic jars holding glass or nails and used on
battlefields.[214][215][216]
In the final century of the Empire, astronomy and other mathematical
sciences were taught in Trebizond; medicine attracted the interest of
almost all scholars.[217]
The Fall of Constantinople in 1453 fueled the era later commonly known
as the "Italian Renaissance”. During this period, refugee Byzantine
scholars were principally responsible for carrying, in person and in
writing, ancient Greek grammatical, literary studies, mathematical, and
astronomical knowledge to early Renaissance Italy.[218] They also brought
with them classical learning and texts on botany, medicine and zoology,
as well as the works of Dioscorides and John Philoponus' criticism of
Aristotelian physics.[219]
Culture
Religion
Main articles: State church of the Roman Empire and Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople

As a symbol and expression of the universal prestige of the Patriarchate of

Constantinople, Justinian built the Church of the Holy Wisdom of God, Hagia Sophia,
which was completed in the short period of four and a half years (532–537)
A mosaic from the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople (modern Istanbul), depicting Mary
and Jesus, flanked by John II Komnenos (left) and his wife Irene of Hungary (right),
12th century
The Byzantine Empire was a theocracy, said to be ruled by God working
through the Emperor. Jennifer Fretland VanVoorst argues, "The
Byzantine Empire became a theocracy in the sense that Christian values
and ideals were the foundation of the empire's political ideals and heavily
entwined with its political goals."[220] Steven Runciman says in his book on
The Byzantine Theocracy (2004):
The constitution of the Byzantine Empire was based on the conviction
that it was the earthly copy of the Kingdom of Heaven. Just as God ruled
in Heaven, so the Emperor, made in his image, should rule on earth and
carry out his commandments ... It saw itself as a universal empire.
Ideally, it should embrace all the peoples of the Earth who, ideally,
should all be members of the one true Christian Church, its own
Orthodox Church. Just as man was made in God's image, so man's
kingdom on Earth was made in the image of the Kingdom of Heaven.[221]
The survival of the Empire in the East assured an active role of the
Emperor in the affairs of the Church. The Byzantine state inherited from
pagan times the administrative, and financial routine of administering
religious affairs, and this routine was applied to the Christian Church.
Following the pattern set by Eusebius of Caesarea, the Byzantines
viewed the Emperor as a representative or messenger of Christ,
responsible particularly for the propagation of Christianity among
pagans, and for the "externals" of the religion, such as administration
and finances. As Cyril Mango points out, the Byzantine political thinking
can be summarised in the motto "One God, one empire, one religion".[222]
The imperial role in the affairs of the Church never developed into a
fixed, legally defined system.[223] With the decline of Rome, and internal
dissension in the other Eastern Patriarchates, the Church of
Constantinople became, between the 6th and 11th centuries, the richest
and most influential center of Christendom.[224] Even when the Empire
was reduced to only a shadow of its former self, the Church continued to
exercise significant influence both inside and outside of the imperial
frontiers. As George Ostrogorsky points out:
The Patriarchate of Constantinople remained the center of the Orthodox
world, with subordinate metropolitan sees and archbishoprics in the
territory of Asia Minor and the Balkans, now lost to Byzantium, as well as
in Caucasus, Russia and Lithuania. The Church remained the most
stable element in the Byzantine Empire.[225]
The official state Christian doctrine was determined by the first seven
ecumenical councils, and it was then the emperor's duty to impose it on
his subjects. An imperial decree of 388, which was later incorporated into
the Codex Justinianus, orders the population of the Empire "to assume
the name of Catholic Christians", and regards all those who will not abide
by the law as "mad and foolish persons"; as followers of "heretical
dogmas".[226]

Triumphal arch mosaics of Jesus Christ and the Apostles. In Basilica of San Vitale in
Ravenna, Italy.
Despite imperial decrees and the stringent stance of the state church
itself, which came to be known as the Eastern Orthodox Church or
Eastern Christianity, the latter never represented all Christians in
Byzantium. Mango believes that, in the early stages of the Empire, the
"mad and foolish persons", those labelled "heretics" by the state church,
were the majority of the population.[227] Besides the pagans, who existed
until the end of the 6th century, and the Jews, there were many
followers – sometimes even emperors – of various Christian doctrines,
such as Nestorianism, Monophysitism, Arianism, and Paulicianism,
whose teachings were in some opposition to the main theological
doctrine, as determined by the Ecumenical Councils.[228]
Another division among Christians occurred, when Leo III ordered the
destruction of icons throughout the Empire. This led to a significant
religious crisis, which ended in the mid-9th century with the restoration of
icons. During the same period, a new wave of pagans emerged in the
Balkans, originating mainly from Slavic people. These were gradually
Christianised, and by Byzantium's late stages, Eastern Orthodoxy
represented most Christians and, in general, most people in what
remained of the Empire.[229]
Jews were a significant minority in the Byzantine state throughout its
history, and, according to Roman law, they constituted a legally
recognised religious group. In the early Byzantine period they were
generally tolerated, but then periods of tensions and persecutions
ensued. In any case, after the Arab conquests, the majority of Jews
found themselves outside the Empire; those left inside the Byzantine
borders apparently lived in relative peace from the 10th century
onwards.[230]
Georgian monasteries first appear in Constantinople and on Mount
Olympos in northwestern Asia Minor in the second half of the ninth
century, and from then on Georgians played an increasingly important
role in the Empire.[231]
The arts
Art and literature
Main articles: Byzantine art and Byzantine literature
See also: Byzantine dress

Miniatures of the 6th-century Rabula Gospel display the more abstract and symbolic
nature of Byzantine art.
Surviving Byzantine art is mostly religious and with exceptions at certain
periods is highly conventionalised, following traditional models that
translate carefully controlled church theology into artistic terms. Painting
in fresco, illuminated manuscripts and on wood panel and, especially in
earlier periods, mosaic were the main media, and figurative sculpture
very rare except for small carved ivories. Manuscript painting preserved
to the end some of the classical realist tradition that was missing in larger
works.[232] Byzantine art was highly prestigious and sought-after in
Western Europe, where it maintained a continuous influence on medieval
art until near the end of the period. This was especially so in Italy, where
Byzantine styles persisted in modified form through the 12th century, and
became formative influences on Italian Renaissance art. But few
incoming influences affected Byzantine style. By means of the expansion
of the Eastern Orthodox church, Byzantine forms and styles spread to all
the Orthodox world and beyond.[233] Influences from Byzantine
architecture, particularly in religious buildings, can be found in diverse
regions from Egypt and Arabia to Russia and Romania.
In Byzantine literature, four different cultural elements are recognised:
the Greek, the Christian, the Roman, and the Oriental. Byzantine
literature is often classified in five groups: historians and annalists,
encyclopaedists (Patriarch Photios, Michael Psellus, and Michael
Choniates are regarded as the greatest encyclopaedists of Byzantium)
and essayists, and writers of secular poetry. The only genuine heroic
epic of the Byzantines is the Digenis Acritas. The remaining two groups
include the new literary species: ecclesiastical and theological literature,
and popular poetry.[234]
Of the approximately two to three thousand volumes of Byzantine
literature that survive, only 330 consist of secular poetry, history, science
and pseudo-science.[234] While the most flourishing period of the secular
literature of Byzantium runs from the 9th to the 12th century, its religious
literature (sermons, liturgical books and poetry, theology, devotional
treatises, etc.) developed much earlier with Romanos the Melodist being
its most prominent representative.[235]
Music
Main article: Byzantine music
 Late 4th century AD "Mosaic of the Musicians" with organ, aulos, and lyre from a
Byzantine villa in Maryamin, Syria[236]
The ecclesiastical forms of Byzantine music, composed to Greek texts as
ceremonial, festival, or church music,[237] are, today, the most well-known
forms. Ecclesiastical chants were a fundamental part of this genre.
Greek and foreign historians agree that the ecclesiastical tones and in
general the whole system of Byzantine music is closely related to the
ancient Greek system.[238] It remains the oldest genre of extant music, of
which the manner of performance and (with increasing accuracy from the
5th century onwards) the names of the composers, and sometimes the
particulars of each musical work's circumstances, are known.

Earliest known depiction of a bowed lyra, from a Byzantine ivory casket (900 – 1100
AD). (Museo Nazionale, Florence)
The 9th century Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih (d. 911); in his
lexicographical discussion of instruments cited the lyra (lūrā) as the
typical instrument of the Byzantines along with the urghun (organ),
shilyani (probably a type of harp or lyre) and the salandj (probably a
bagpipe).[239] The first of these, the early bowed stringed instrument
known as the Byzantine lyra, would come to be called the lira da
braccio,[240] in Venice, where it is considered by many to have been the
predecessor of the contemporary violin, which later flourished there.[241]
The bowed "lyra" is still played in former Byzantine regions, where it is
known as the Politiki lyra (lit. "lyra of the City" i.e. Constantinople) in
Greece, the Calabrian lira in Southern Italy, and the Lijerica in Dalmatia.
The second instrument, the organ, originated in the Hellenistic world (see
Hydraulis) and was used in the Hippodrome during races.[242][243] A pipe
organ with "great leaden pipes" was sent by the emperor Constantine V
to Pepin the Short, King of the Franks in 757. Pepin's son Charlemagne
requested a similar organ for his chapel in Aachen in 812, beginning its
establishment in Western church music.[243] The final Byzantine
instrument, the aulos, was a double reeded woodwind like the modern
oboe or Armenian duduk. Other forms include the plagiaulos
(πλαγίαυλος, from πλάγιος "sideways"), which resembled the flute,[244]
and the askaulos (ἀσκός askos – wine-skin), a bagpipe.[245] These
bagpipes, also known as Dankiyo (from ancient Greek: angion (Τὸ
ἀγγεῖον) "the container"), had been played even in Roman times. Dio
Chrysostom wrote in the 1st century of a contemporary sovereign
(possibly Nero) who could play a pipe (tibia, Roman reedpipes similar to
Greek aulos) with his mouth as well as by tucking a bladder beneath his
armpit.[246] The bagpipes continued to be played throughout the empire's
former realms through to the present. (See Balkan Gaida, Greek
Tsampouna, Pontic Tulum, Cretan Askomandoura, Armenian Parkapzuk,
and Romanian Cimpoi.)
Cuisine
See also: Byzantine cuisine

Constantinople apple quinces

The Byzantine culture was, initially, the same as Late Greco-Roman, but
over the following millennium of the empire's existence it slowly changed
into something more similar to modern Balkan and Anatolian culture. The
cuisine still relied heavily on the Greco-Roman fish-sauce condiment
garos, but it also contained foods still familiar today, such as the cured
meat pastirma (known as "paston" in Byzantine Greek),[247][248][249] baklava
(known as koptoplakous κοπτοπλακοῦς),[250] tiropita (known as
plakountas tetyromenous or tyritas plakountas),[251] and the famed
medieval sweet wines (Commandaria and the eponymous Rumney
wine). Retsina, wine flavored with pine resin, was also drunk, as it still is
in Greece today, producing similar reactions from unfamiliar visitors; "To
add to our calamity the Greek wine, on account of being mixed with
pitch, resin, and plaster was to us undrinkable," complained Liutprand of
Cremona, who was the ambassador sent to Constantinople in 968 by the
German Holy Roman Emperor Otto I.[252] The garos fish sauce condiment
was also not much appreciated by the unaccustomed; Liutprand of
Cremona described being served food covered in an "exceedingly bad
fish liquor."[252] The Byzantines also used a soy sauce like condiment,
murri, a fermented barley sauce, which, like soy sauce, provided umami
flavoring to their dishes.[253][254]
Flags and insignia
Main article: Byzantine flags and insignia

The double-headed imperial eagle, a common Imperial symbol

For most of its history, the Byzantine Empire did not know or use
heraldry in the West European sense. Various emblems (Greek: σημεία,
sēmeia; sing. σημείον, sēmeion) were used in official occasions and for
military purposes, such as banners or shields displaying various motifs
such as the cross or the labarum. The use of the cross, and of images of
Christ, the Virgin Mary and various saints is also attested on seals of
officials, but these were personal rather than family emblems.[255]
•! Double-headed eagle
•! Tetragrammic cross
Language
Further information: Medieval Greek
 Left: The Mudil Psalter, the oldest complete psalter in the Coptic language (Coptic
Museum, Egypt, Coptic Cairo).
Right: The Joshua Roll, a 10th-century illuminated Greek manuscript probably made
in Constantinople (Vatican Library, Rome).

Distribution of Greek dialects in Anatolia in the late Byzantine Empire through to

1923. Demotic in yellow. Pontic in orange. Cappadocian in green. (Green dots
indicate Cappadocian Greek speaking villages in 1910.[256])
Apart from the Imperial court, administration and military, the primary
language used in the eastern Roman provinces even before the decline
of the Western Empire was Greek, having been spoken in the region for
centuries before Latin.[257] Following Rome's conquest of the east its 'Pax
Romana', inclusionist political practices and development of public
infrastructure, facilitated the further spreading and entrenchment of
Greek language in the east. Indeed, early on in the life of the Roman
Empire, Greek had become the common language of the Church, the
language of scholarship and the arts, and, to a large degree, the lingua
franca for trade between provinces and with other nations.[258] Greek for a
time became diglossic with the spoken language, known as Koine
(eventually evolving into Demotic Greek), used alongside an older written
form until Koine won out as the spoken and written standard.[259]
The emperor Diocletian (reigned 284–305) sought to renew the authority
of Latin, making it the official language of the Roman administration also
in the East, and the Greek expression ἡ κρατοῦσα διάλεκτος (hē
kratousa dialektos) attests to the status of Latin as "the language of
power."[260] The scholar Libanius (4th century) regarded Latin as causing
a decline in the quality of Greek rhetoric[261] as the study of Latin became
necessary for those who wanted to occupy public offices. In the early 5th
century, Greek gained equal status with Latin as official language in the
East and emperors gradually began to legislate in Greek rather than
Latin starting with the reign of Leo I the Thracian in the 460s.[262] The last
Eastern emperor to stress the importance of Latin was Justinian I
(reigned AD 527–565), whose Corpus Juris Civilis was written almost
entirely in Latin. He may also have been the last native Latin-speaking
emperor.[263]
The use of Latin as the language of administration persisted until
adoption of Greek as the sole official language by Heraclius in the 7th
century. Scholarly Latin would rapidly fall into disuse among the
educated classes although the language would continue to be at least a
ceremonial part of the Empire's culture for some time.[264] Additionally,
Latin remained a minority language in the Empire, mainly on the Italian
peninsula and along the Dalmatian coast, eventually developing into
various Romance languages like Dalmatian.[265]
Many other languages existed in the multi-ethnic Empire, and some of
these were given limited official status in their provinces at various times.
Notably, by the beginning of the Middle Ages, Syriac had become more
widely used by the educated classes in the far eastern provinces.[266]
Similarly Coptic, Armenian, and Georgian became significant among the
educated in their provinces,.[267] Later foreign contacts made Old Church
Slavic, Middle Persian, and Arabic important in the Empire and its sphere
of influence.[268] There was a revival of Latin studies in the tenth century
for the same reason and by the eleventh century as knowledge of Latin
was no longer unusual at Constantinople.[269]
Aside from these languages, since Constantinople was a prime trading
center in the Mediterranean region and beyond, virtually every known
language of the Middle Ages was spoken in the Empire at some time,
even Chinese.[270] As the Empire entered its final decline, the Empire's
citizens became more culturally homogeneous and the Greek language
became integral to their identity and religion.[271]
Recreation

A game of τάβλι (tabula) played by Byzantine emperor Zeno in 480 and recorded by
 Agathias in c. 530 because of a very unlucky dice throw for Zeno (red), as he threw
2, 5 and 6 and was forced to leave eight pieces alone.[272]
Byzantines were avid players of tavli (Byzantine Greek: τάβλη), a game
known in English as backgammon, which is still popular in former
Byzantine realms, and still known by the name tavli in Greece.[272]
Byzantine nobles were devoted to horsemanship, particularly tzykanion,
now known as polo. The game came from Sassanid Persia in the early
period and a Tzykanisterion (stadium for playing the game) was built by
Theodosius II (r. 408–450) inside the Great Palace of Constantinople.
Emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) excelled at it; Emperor Alexander (r. 912–
913) died from exhaustion while playing, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (r.
1081–1118) was injured while playing with Tatikios, and John I of
Trebizond (r. 1235–1238) died from a fatal injury during a game.[273][274]
Aside from Constantinople and Trebizond, other Byzantine cities also
featured tzykanisteria, most notably Sparta, Ephesus, and Athens, an
indication of a thriving urban aristocracy.[275] The game was introduced to
the West by crusaders, who developed a taste for it particularly during
the pro-Western reign of emperor Manuel I Komnenos.
Economy
Byzantine culture

•! Aristocracy and bureaucracy

Army Art Architecture
Calendar Coinage Cuisine
Dance Diplomacy Dress
Economy Gardens Law
Literature Medicine Music
Navy People Science
•! vte
Further information: Byzantine economy and Byzantine silk
Further information: Sino-Roman relations
 Gold coin of Justinian I (527–565 CE) excavated in India probably in the south, an
example of Indo-Roman trade during the period.
The Byzantine economy was among the most advanced in Europe and
the Mediterranean for many centuries. Europe, in particular, could not
match Byzantine economic strength until late in the Middle Ages.
Constantinople operated as a prime hub in a trading network that at
various times extended across nearly all of Eurasia and North Africa, in
particular as the primary western terminus of the famous Silk Road. Until
the first half of the 6th century and in sharp contrast with the decaying
West, the Byzantine economy was flourishing and resilient.[276]
The Plague of Justinian and the Arab conquests would represent a
substantial reversal of fortunes contributing to a period of stagnation and
decline. Isaurian reforms and, in particular, Constantine V's repopulation,
public works and tax measures, marked the beginning of a revival that
continued until 1204, despite territorial contraction.[277] From the 10th
century until the end of the 12th, the Byzantine Empire projected an
image of luxury and travellers were impressed by the wealth
accumulated in the capital.[278]
The Fourth Crusade resulted in the disruption of Byzantine
manufacturing and the commercial dominance of the Western
Europeans in the eastern Mediterranean, events that amounted to an
economic catastrophe for the Empire.[278] The Palaiologoi tried to revive
the economy, but the late Byzantine state would not gain full control of
either the foreign or domestic economic forces. Gradually, it also lost its
influence on the modalities of trade and the price mechanisms, and its
control over the outflow of precious metals and, according to some
scholars, even over the minting of coins.[279]
One of the economic foundations of Byzantium was trade, fostered by
the maritime character of the Empire. Textiles must have been by far the
most important item of export; silks were certainly imported into Egypt,
and appeared also in Bulgaria, and the West.[280] The state strictly
controlled both the internal and the international trade, and retained the
monopoly of issuing coinage, maintaining a durable and flexible
monetary system adaptable to trade needs.[281]
The government attempted to exercise formal control over interest rates,
and set the parameters for the activity of the guilds and corporations, in
which it had a special interest. The emperor and his officials intervened
at times of crisis to ensure the provisioning of the capital, and to keep
down the price of cereals. Finally, the government often collected part of
the surplus through taxation, and put it back into circulation, through
redistribution in the form of salaries to state officials, or in the form of
investment in public works.[281]
Legacy
See also: Third Rome and Greek scholars in the Renaissance

King David in robes of a Byzantine emperor; miniature from the Paris Psalter
Byzantium has been often identified with absolutism, orthodox
spirituality, orientalism and exoticism, while the terms "Byzantine" and
"Byzantinism" have been used as bywords for decadence, complex
bureaucracy, and repression. In the countries of Central and Southeast
Europe that exited the Eastern Bloc in the late 1980s and early 1990s,
the assessment of Byzantine civilisation and its legacy was strongly
negative due to their connection with an alleged "Eastern
authoritarianism and autocracy." Both Eastern and Western European
authors have often perceived Byzantium as a body of religious, political,
and philosophical ideas contrary to those of the West. Even in 19th-
century Greece, the focus was mainly on the classical past, while
Byzantine tradition had been associated with negative connotations.[282]
This traditional approach towards Byzantium has been partially or wholly
disputed and revised by modern studies, which focus on the positive
aspects of Byzantine culture and legacy. Averil Cameron regards as
undeniable the Byzantine contribution to the formation of medieval
Europe, and both Cameron and Obolensky recognise the major role of
Byzantium in shaping Orthodoxy, which in turn occupies a central
position in the history and societies of Greece, Romania, Bulgaria,
Russia, Georgia, Serbia and other countries.[283] The Byzantines also
preserved and copied classical manuscripts, and they are thus regarded
as transmitters of classical knowledge, as important contributors to
modern European civilization, and as precursors of both Renaissance
humanism and Slav Orthodox culture.[284]
As the only stable long-term state in Europe during the Middle Ages,
Byzantium isolated Western Europe from newly emerging forces to the
East. Constantly under attack, it distanced Western Europe from
Persians, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, and for a time, the Ottomans. From a
different perspective, since the 7th century, the evolution and constant
reshaping of the Byzantine state were directly related to the respective
progress of Islam.[284]
Following the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453,
Sultan Mehmed II took the title "Kaysar-i Rûm" (the Ottoman Turkish
equivalent of Caesar of Rome), since he was determined to make the
Ottoman Empire the heir of the Eastern Roman Empire.[285] According to
Cameron, regarding themselves as "heirs" of Byzantium, the Ottomans
preserved important aspects of its tradition, which in turn facilitated an
"Orthodox revival" during the post-communist period of the Eastern
European states.[284]
!!