Byzantine

more...

Home
Bullion
Coins: Ancient
Byzantine
Celtic
China
Greek
Islamic
Medieval
Other
Persian, Indian, Asian
Reproductions
Roman: Imperial
Roman: Provincial
Roman: Republic
Coins: US
Coins: World
Exonumia
Paper Money: US
Paper Money: World
Publications & Supplies
Scripophily

Byzantine Empire (native Greek name: Βασιλεία τῶν Ρωμαίων - Basileia tōn Romaiōn) is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. In certain specific contexts, usually referring to the time before the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it is also often referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire. To its inhabitants the Empire was simply the Roman Empire and its emperors continued the unbroken succession of Roman emperors. During much of its history it was known to many of its Western contemporaries as The Empire of the Greeks due to the increasing dominance of its Greek population and distinct culture. Today most scholars acknowledge that the Byzantine Empire was the direct continuation of the Hellenistic World.

There is no consensus on the starting date of the Byzantine period. Some place it during the reign of Diocletian (284–305) due to the administrative reforms he introduced, dividing the empire into a pars Orientis and a pars Occidentis. Some consider Constantine I its founder. Others place it during the reign of Theodosius I (379–395) and Christendom's victory over pagan Roman religion, or, following his death in 395, with the permanent division of the empire into western and eastern halves. Others place it yet further in 476, when the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus, was forced to abdicate, thus leaving sole imperial authority to the emperor in the Greek East. Others again point to the reorganisation of the empire in the time of Heraclius (ca. 620) when Greek was made the official language and the Empire's conflicts turned largely to the east. In any case, the changeover was gradual and by 330, when Constantine inaugurated his new capital, the process of further Hellenization and increasing Christianization was already under way.

Name of the Byzantine Empire

The Empire's Greek name was Ρωμανία, Rōmanía, or Βασιλεία Ρωμαίων, Basileía Rōmaíōn, a direct translation of the Latin name of the Roman Empire, Imperium Romanorum. The term Byzantine Empire was introduced in western Europe in 1557, inspired from the city of Byzantium by German historian Hieronymus Wolf about a century after the fall of Constantinople who had taken it from the writing of 15th century Byzantine historian Laonicus Chalcocondyles. He presented a system of Byzantine historiography in his work Corpus Historiae Byzantinae, in order to "distinguish ancient Roman from medieval Greek history without drawing attention to their ancient predecessors".

Read more at Wikipedia.org