Many refugees from Constantinople fled to Nicaea, site of a Byzantine government-in-exile that would retake the capital and overthrow Latin rule in 1261. The Byzantines never used that name (except for some classicizing authors who used the word ‘Byzantine’ to describe the residents of Constantinople only). Start your free trial today. Located on the European side of the Bosporus (the strait linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean), the site of Byzantium was ideally located to serve as a transit and trade point between Europe and Asia. Many great monuments of the empire would be built under Justinian, including the spectacular domed Church of Holy Wisdom, or Hagia Sophia. Their natural border was the far side of the Tigris-Euphrates plain, and so they were continually fighting over Mesopotamia and beyond (in each direction). Established when the Han Dynasty in China officially opened trade with the West in 130 B.C., the Silk Road routes remained in use until 1453 A.D., when the Ottoman ...read more, Petra is an ancient city that lies in present-day Jordan and dates back to the fourth century B.C. The Byzantine Empire, also known as Byzantium, is a large political unit that comprised the eastern region of what was once known as the Roman Empire. It also benefited greatly from a stronger administrative center and internal political stability, as well as great wealth compared with other states of the early medieval period. Unity and diversity in the late Roman Empire, The reforms of Diocletian and Constantine, The 5th century: Persistence of Greco-Roman civilization in the East, The 6th century: from East Rome to Byzantium, Christian culture of the Byzantine Empire, The 7th century: the Heraclians and the challenge of Islam, The successors of Heraclius: Islam and the Bulgars, The reigns of Leo III (the Isaurian) and Constantine V, Byzantine decline and subjection to Western influences: 1025–1260, The Fourth Crusade and the establishment of the Latin Empire, The empire under the Palaeologi: 1261–1453, https://www.britannica.com/place/Byzantine-Empire. The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, or 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 Istanbul, formerly Byzantium).It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for … Constantine I took control of the Roman Empire after winning the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in October of A.D. 312. During the eighth and early ninth centuries, Byzantine emperors (beginning with Leo III in 730) spearheaded a movement that denied the holiness of icons, or religious images, and prohibited their worship or veneration. On May 29, 1453, after an Ottoman army stormed Constantinople, Mehmed triumphantly entered the Hagia Sophia, which would soon be converted to the city’s leading mosque. During the late 10th and early 11th centuries, under the rule of the Macedonian dynasty founded by Michael III’s successor, Basil, the Byzantine Empire enjoyed a golden age. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Known as Iconoclasm—literally “the smashing of images”—the movement waxed and waned under various rulers, but did not end definitively until 843, when a Church council under Emperor Michael III ruled in favor of the display of religious images. As in most other ancient cultures, the family one was born into in Byzantium greatly determined one’s social status and profession in adult life. Byzantium was the name of a small but important city located on the Bosphorus, the strait connecting the Marmara Sea and the Aegean with the Black Sea and separating the continents of Europe and Asia. Did you know? Byzantine architecture, building style of Constantinople (now Istanbul, formerly ancient Byzantium) after ad 330. 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