The Byzantine Empire.

Image from

~The Byzantine Empire can be traced back to around the year 330 A.D.

~The Roman emperor Constantine I dedicated a new Rome at the site of the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium.  A man named Byzas was the founder of this colony located on the European side of

Image from wiki

Bosporus.


~The capitol of the Byzantine Empire was Constantinople.  Present day, Constantinople is called Istanbul and is the largest city in Turkey.

~While the eastern half of the Roman Empire survived, the western half was not so lucky and fell in 476.  In 1453, the entire Byzantine Empire fell after the Ottoman army stormed Constantinople.

~Even though Byzantium was ruled by the Roman law and the official language was Latin, the majority of the people spoke Greek.

web image

~In 527, Justinian I became the Emperor (born 482, died 565), and this was called the Justinian Dynasty.  His reign was from 527-565.

~It was during the Justinian Dynasty that the empire gained more territory, greater wealth, and more power.

~Under Justinian's direction, all Roman laws were under review.  These laws were eventually rewritten into a book called The Corpus of Civil Law.

Image from wiki

~Justinian's best known project was the Hagia Sophia which was a massive church he had built in Constantinople.

~At the time of Justinian's death (565), the Byzantine Empire had occurred much debt due to war after war.  This forced the next ruler to impose heavy taxes on the citizens.

~The Byzantine army was also very sparse at this time and by the seventh and eighth centuries after being attacked by the Persians and the Slavs, the once great Byzantine Empire was crumbling.

~This is also the time that Islam was founded in Mecca in 622.

~The Muslim armies attacked the empire from Syria.

~When these attacks were over, the end of the Byzantine Empire was undeniable.

~Syria, the Holy Land, Egypt, and North Africa, as well as other territories were under the Islamic forces.

~~Great place to stop.~~


Find out about the food from the Byzantine Empire.
Timeline
The Fall of Constantinople by the History Channel