Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire (known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire) was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct succession to the Roman Emperors. The Empire preserved Roman legal traditions, but embraced substantial Hellenization. The term "Byzantine Empire" postdates the Empire itself, and was popularized by historians during the 16th-19th centuries.

The Empire itself existed for roughly a thousand years; there was no precised "founding" date, but rather a series of decisions made by the Roman Empire that saw the Byzantine Empire eventually split off and grow into its own entity. The Empire finally fell in the fifteenth century to the Ottoman Empire.

Byzantine Empire in Agent of Byzantium
By the early fourteenth century, the Byzantine Empire had retained Asia Minor, the Balkans, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and North Africa. In addition, it had recovered parts of Ispania‎ from the Visigoths, Italia from the Lombards and most of the southern coast of France from the Franks. Clashes continued to occur at the frontiers against "barbarians" such as the nomadic Jurchen tribes north of the Danube and the Franco-Saxons of Western Europe. The Anglelander Kingdom of Britannia, the Franks' unfriendly neighbor in the opposite side, was on occasion an uncertain ally for the Byzantines.

However, its main rival remained Persia to the east, an empire roughly as strong and one of the three great powers, along with China, of the known world. Byzantium and Persia clashed, sometimes openly, but mostly maneuvered quietly to gain an advantage over the other.

Byzantine Empire in "The Emperor's Return"
The Byzantine Empire came to an end when its capital Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire on May 29, 1453. The city, which was renamed Istanbul, remained in Muslim hands until it was captured by the forces of Greece and the Soviet Union on June 7, 2003.