What is Byzantium?

Byzantium was originally the name of the ancient Greek city known today as Istanbul. In antiquity, it was an important city, though never a first-rank power. With the rise of Macedonia, it was incorporated into the empire of Alexander the Great, and later into the Roman Empire. In the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, the Roman Empire faced not only invasions by various “barbarian” groups but also political instability and a demographic and economic decline in its western provinces. To address these challenges, Emperor Constantine moved the capital to the city of Byzantium, which he refounded as Constantinople. In 395, the empire was definitively divided into two distinct halves. In 476 AD, Odoacer deposed the last Western Roman emperor, leaving the Eastern Roman Empire as the sole legitimate heir to Rome. Over time, this Eastern empire came to be known as the Byzantine Empire, or Byzantium, echoing the ancient name of its capital city.

The Byzantine Empire was shaped by a fusion of Greek cultural heritage, the enduring legacy of classical antiquity, the Orthodox Christian faith, and a distinctly Roman conception of law, administration, and imperial authority. Its capital, Constantinople, stood as one of the most influential cities in the world, arguably the only true megacity of the medieval Christian world, renowned for its wealth, learning, and strategic power. Over the course of eleven centuries of rich, turbulent, and complex history, the Byzantines endured profound crises and survived the loss of vast territories to invaders such as the Arabs, Slavs, Bulgarians, Crusaders, and Turks, to name only a few. Yet despite repeated setbacks and its final fall in 1453, Byzantium remained a spiritual, artistic, and cultural beacon throughout the Middle Ages, leaving behind a legacy that continues to shape the modern world.