who were the Byzantines?

Answer 1

A fine answer! You made three mistakes, however. Firstly, any history of the Byzantines, however brief, must mention Basil II Bulgaroctane, or Basil the Bulgar-slayer. He was perhaps the greatest Byzantine Basileus to ascend to the purple, responsible for a major political, military and cultural revival. Secondly, Gibbon would not be the classic history of the Byzantines in anyone's book. Look further back and you can hear the Byzantine story told by Byzantines themselves, for example Anna Comnenus and Michael Psellus both wrote excellent chronicles from eyewitness perspectives. Besides, Gibbon devotes only a brief chapter to the Byzantines. Lastly, the sultan who presided over the capture of Constantinople and thus the conquering of the Byzantines was Mehmet II and not Muhummad II as you mistakenly claim

Answer 2

The Byzantine Empire (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 around its capital of 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.

There is no consensus on the exact point when the Byzantine period began. Some place it during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, (284–305) who introduced administrative reforms that divided the empire into a pars Orientis (eastern half) and a pars Occidentis (western half). Some consider Constantine I the first Byzantine emperor. Others start 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.[1] 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.

Answer 3

Justinian sought a software of attempting to reconquer the former Western Roman Empire interior the 6th Century. below his known Belisarius, he substitute into in a position recaputure areas of Spain (from the Visigoths), North Africa (from the Vandals) and Italy and Sicily (from the Ostrogoths). Ravenna substitute into used because of the fact the workplace of the reconquered Western Roman Empire, as a results of it proximity to the Adriatic Sea and because it substitute into the former workplace on the tip of the WRE (476 advert). Rome curiously substitute into particularly run down in those days. Justinian did a competent interest of bankrupting the eastern Roman Empire, killing Belisarius and weakening the Byzantine state.

Answer 4

The Eastern Roman Empire, pretty much.

Once the empire was divided in two due to its large dimensions, it became the half that survived. The western empire fell due to constant barbarian invasions, among other things.

The Byzantine empire lasted until the Ottoman Turks crushed it in the 1400s.

Answer 5

Aramaiya and Dollarbu. Thanks for great answers.

BTW, Supreme_Father, It doesn't matter how you spell the anglicised variants, but Mehmet and Muhammad are spelt the same in the Arabic script used by the Turks.

Answer 6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine