Byzantine Empire facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Roman Empire Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων Basileía Rhōmaíōn Imperium Romanum
285–1453
Tremissis with the image of Justinian the Great (527–565 CE) (see Byzantine insignia)
The Empire at its greatest extent in 555 CE under Justinian the Great (its vassals in pink)
Status	Eastern division of the Roman Empire (285–480)
Capital	Nicomedia (286–330) Constantinople (330–1204, 1261–1453) Syracuse (663–669)
Common languages	Latin (official until 610) Greek (official after 610)
Religion	Christianity (Eastern Orthodox) (tolerated after the Edict of Milan in 313; state religion after 380)
Government	Theocratic Monarchy (with Senate of Constantinople as advisory body)
Notable emperors
• 285–305	Diocletian
• 324–337	Constantine I
• 457–474	Leo I
Historical era	Late Antiquity to Late Middle Ages
• Partition of the Roman Empire	285
• Founding of Constantinople	330
• Death of Theodosius I	395
• Nominal end of the Western Roman Empire	476
• Fourth Crusade; establishment of Latin Empire	1204
• Reconquest of Constantinople by Palaiologos	1261
• Fall of Constantinople	29 May 1453
• Fall of Trebizond	15 August 1461
Population
• 565 CE	26,000,000
• 780 CE	7,000,000
• 1025	12,000,000
Currency	Solidus, hyperpyron and follis
Preceded by Succeeded by Roman Empire Ottoman Empire
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Emblem of the Palaeologus dynasty

The Byzantine Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire) was the name of the eastern remnant of the Roman Empire which survived into the Middle Ages. Its capital was Constantinople, which today is in Turkey and is now called Istanbul. Unlike the Western Roman Empire, the most important language was Greek, not Latin, and Greek culture and identity dominated.

Name

The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as:

• the "Roman Empire" or 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),
• the "Roman Republic" (Latin: Res Publica Romana; Greek: Πολιτεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Politeia tōn Rhōmaiōn),
• "Graecia" (Greek: Γραικία meaning "land of the Greeks"),
• "Rhōmais" (Greek: Ῥωμαΐς).

Start of the Empire 330–476 AD

In 324, the Roman Emperor Constantine I moved the capital of the Roman Empire to the city of Byzantium, and he renamed the city Constantinople. 150 years later, after the city of Rome was slowly taken over by Germanic people during the Migration period, Constantinople was the only remaining capital of the Empire. This Eastern empire had a smaller territory than the original Roman Empire.

Problems in The Empire 476–717 AD

Wars in the West

The Byzantine Empire tried to take back Rome and Italy from the Germans. Between 530–555 AD, the Byzantines won many battles and took back Rome.

These gains did not last however. More Germans came and eventually Italy and Rome was lost again. Worse was to come when Avar and Slavic peoples came to take modern Bulgaria and Greece from the Byzantines. Gradually, after the 560s the invaders won much of the Balkans. These invaders were later followed by the Bulgarians. The Avars and Bulgarians were both Turkic peoples at first. They ruled over Slavic people called "Sklavinai" and slowly absorbed Slavic language and customs.

Wars in the East

After western Rome was captured by Germanic people, the Empire continued to control modern Egypt, Greece, Palestine, Syria and Turkey. However, another Empire, known as the Persian or Sassanid Empire, tried to take these lands for itself. Between 224–628 AD, the Romans and the Persians fought many battles, with many men killed in the fighting. Eventually, the Persians were defeated in modern-day Iraq, near the ancient city of Nineveh in 627 AD, allowing the Byzantines to keep their lands.

After this, another enemy appeared: the Arabs. The Byzantines were economically damaged by the battles with the Persians. They could not withstand the Arabs. Palestine, Syria and Egypt were lost between 635 and 645. However, the Byzantines defended Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and the Arab advance stopped.

Recovery of the Empire: 717–1025 AD

In 718 AD, the Arabs were defeated outside Constantinople, ending the Arab threat in the east, but leaving the Byzantine Empire severely weakened. In the west, the Byzantines launched a number of attacks against the Bulgarians. Some of these were successful, others were not and led to the deaths of many emperors. Over time, the Byzantine Empire would became weaker as it loss land to outside invaders.

Recovery in the west

Between 1007–1014, the ambitious Byzantine Emperor Basil II attacked Bulgaria many times and eventually won a great victory. Later, he fully recaptured Greece, adding it back to the Byzantine Empire. He then went on to conquer Bulgaria, which was completed in 1018.

Recovery in the east

In the east, the Arabs once again became a threat to the Empire. However, Basil II's attacks won many more victories. Much of Syria was restored to the Empire and Turkey and Armenia were secured. After 1025, the Arabs were no longer a threat to the Byzantine Empire.

Decline of the Empire 1025–1453

Start of Decline (1025–1071)

After the Byzantine Emperor Basil II died, many unskilled Emperors came to the throne. They wasted the money of the Empire and reduced its army. This meant that it could not defend itself well against enemies if they would attack. Later, the Byzantines relied on mercenaries, soldiers who fought for money and not for their country, so they were less loyal and reliable and more expensive. Because they had mercenaries, military generals were able to rise to power and grab it from the elaborate bureaucracy, a system of administration where tasks are divided by departments.

Rise of the Turks (1071–1091)

A large number of people known as the Turks rode on horseback from central Asia and attacked the Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk Empire took all of Turkey from the Byzantines by 1091. However, the Byzantines received help from people in Europe. This help is known as the First Crusade. Many knights and soldiers left to help the Byzantines but also to secure Jerusalem for Christians, which at the time was in Muslim hands.

The Byzantines survive (1091–1185)

The Byzantine Empire survived and with the help of the Europeans took back half of Turkey from the Turks, with the other half remaining under the Turks. The Byzantines survived because three good Emperors ruled one after the other, allowing the Byzantines to grow strong again.

The Byzantines become weak again (1185-1261)

After the three good Emperors, the remaining Emperors ruled badly and again wasted a lot of money and soldiers.

In the west, the Europeans betrayed the Byzantines and attacked their capital, Constantinople. The Byzantines lost their capital in 1204 and they did not take it back until 1261. The Byzantines were then divided into many smaller Greek states that were fighting with each other for the throne of the Empire.

The Turks take the Byzantines (1261–1453)

After the Byzantines took back Constantinople, they were too busy fighting the Europeans who had betrayed them and could not find enough soldiers or money to fight the new Ottoman Empire of the Turks. All of Anatolia was lost by 1331. In 1369, the Turks crossed over from Turkey and into Greece, taking over much of Greece between 1354–1450.

The Byzantines lost so much land, money and soldiers that they became very weak and begged for help from the Europeans. Some soldiers and ships came from Italy and the Pope to assist the Byzantines when the Turks attacked Constantinople in April 1453. They were very outnumbered though, and the walls of Constantinople were badly damaged by cannons used by the Turks. At the end of May 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople by entering through one of the gates along the walls and the Empire came to an end. The city was plundered for three days. At the end, the population which had not been able to escape, was deported to Edirne, Bursa and other Ottoman cities, leaving the city deserted except for the Jews of Balat and the Genoese of Pera. After that, Constantinople became Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which it would be until the 1900s, when the capital was moved to Ankara, a city in the Asian part of Turkey.

Legacy

The Byzantine Empire had many achievements:

• They protected Europe from eastern invasions.
• They preserved Greek language and Hellenistic culture.
• They preserved many Roman political traditions that had been lost by Western Europe.
• They kept a lot of knowledge for us to read about today.
• They produced much fine art with a distinctive style.
• They were the protectors and sponsors of the Eastern Church, which later becomes the Orthodox Church.
• They used good architecture that is still used.
• Their cities had plumbing which is still in use.
• A lot of beautiful churches and mosques in Turkey and Greece today are either made from Byzantine buildings or inspired by them.
• They made several inventions, such as flamethrower and "Greek fire," a kind of napalm.
• They made advances in many studies, like political studies, diplomacy and military sciences.

Images for kids

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  Constantine the Great was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity and moved the seat of the empire to Byzantium, renamed Constantinople in his honour.

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  Restored section of the Walls of Constantinople

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  Empress Theodora and attendants (Mosaic from Basilica of San Vitale, 6th century)

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  Hagia Sophia built in 537, during the reign of Justinian. The minarets were added in the 15th–16th centuries by the Ottoman Empire.

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  The Byzantine Empire in c. 600 during the reign of Maurice. Half of the Italian peninsula and most of southern Hispania were lost, but the eastern borders expanded, gaining land from the Persians.

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  Battle between Heraclius and the Persians. Fresco by Piero della Francesca, c. 1452

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  Greek fire was first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine–Arab Wars (from the Madrid Skylitzes, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid).

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  Constantine IV and his retinue, mosaic in Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe. Constantine IV defeated the First Arab siege of Constantinople.

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  Gold solidus of Leo III (left), and his son and heir, Constantine V (right)

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  A Simple Cross: An example of Iconoclast art in the Hagia Irene Church in Istanbul.

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  The general Leo Phokas defeats the Hamdanid Emirate of Aleppo at Andrassos in 960, from the Madrid Skylitzes

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  10th century military successes were coupled with a major cultural revival, the so-called Macedonian Renaissance. Miniature from the Paris Psalter, an example of Hellenistic-influenced art.

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  Emperor Basil II (r. 976 – 1025)

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  Rus' under the walls of Constantinople (860)

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  Varangian Guardsmen, an illumination from the Skylitzis Chronicle

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  Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe throughout late antiquity and most of the Middle Ages until the Fourth Crusade in 1204.

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  Mural of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 19th century, Troyan Monastery, Bulgaria

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  The seizure of Edessa (1031) by the Byzantines under George Maniakes and the counterattack by the Seljuk Turks

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  Alexios I, founder of the Komnenos dynasty

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  The Chora Church, dating from the Komnenian period, has some of the finest Byzantine frescoes and mosaics.

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  The Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm before the First Crusade (1095–1099)

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  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

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  The Lamentation of Christ (1164), a fresco from the church of Saint Panteleimon in Nerezi, North Macedonia, considered a superb example of 12th-century Komnenian art

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  Byzantium in the late Angeloi period

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

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

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

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  Interior of the Hagia Sophia, the patriarchal basilica in Constantinople designed 537 by Isidore of Miletus, the first compiler of Archimedes' various works. The influence of Archimedes' principles of solid geometry is evident.

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  The frontispiece of the Vienna Dioscurides, which shows a set of seven famous physicians

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  Bas-relief plaque of Tribonian in the Chamber of the House of Representatives in the United States Capitol

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  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.

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  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).

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  Mosaic of Jesus in Pammakaristos Church, Istanbul

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  Triumphal arch mosaics of Jesus Christ and the Apostles. In Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy.

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  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.)

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  Golden Solidus of Justinian I (527–565) excavated in India probably in the south, an example of Indo-Roman trade during the period

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  Christ Pantocrator mosaic in Hagia Sophia, circa 1261

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  Christ as the Good Shepherd; c. 425–430; mosaic; width: c. 3 m; Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (Ravenna, Italy)

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  Diptych Leaf with a Byzantine Empress; 6th century; ivory with traces of gilding and leaf; height: 26.5 cm (10.4 in); Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna, Austria)

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  Collier; late 6th–7th century; gold, an emerald, a sapphire, amethysts and pearls; diameter: 23 cm (9.1 in); from a Constantinopolitan workshop; Antikensammlung Berlin (Berlin, Germany)

See also

In Spanish: Imperio bizantino para niños