Who is credited with establishing the Byzantine Empire?

Answer 1

The Byzantine Empire was the eastern part of the Roman Empire when it split into two parts in the 5th Century CE. As such, there is no true founder of the Byzantine Empire. The last truly Roman emperor, Theodosius I bequeathed the throne of Rome to both of his sons, Arcadius (east) and Honorius (west).

Answer 2

The Byzantine Empire was the original East half of the Roman Empire. After Rome's collapse, the Byzantine Empire lived through. The most famous of its rulers were Emperor Justinian and his Empress Theodora. With most of Europe under siege of barbaric groups such as the Franks, who settled in France, Justinian and Theodora had their sights set on regaining Rome's past territories along the Mediterranean Sea, wanting to regain it and call it once again 'A Roman Lake'

Answer 3

The Byzantine Empire was created after the Fall of Rome in 476 C.E. and was not "established" by anybody, but was an admission of a de facto break between Byzantium and Rome. Emperor Constantine of Rome in the early 300s C.E. was famous for moving his capital from Rome to Byzantium, thus creating the infrastructure capable of holding a new imperial capital when Rome did fall.

Answer 4

Byzantine Empire is a term that has been coined by modern historians. It refers to the Eastern Roman Empire after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. To talk about the eastern empire becomes redundant once the western one has completely gone. Moreover, over time it lost much of its connection with classical Rome. It became an empire centred on Greece when most of its non-Greek territories were lost to the Arabs (the Middle East south of Turkey and Egypt) and to the Slavs (much of the Balkan Peninsula). The official language of the empire was changed from Latin to Greek.

The word Byzantine is derived from Byzantium, the name of the Greek town which was converted into the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and was renamed Constantinople. Thus, it is used to highlight the Greek character of this empire in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages. This empire lasted until 1453 when it fell to the Ottoman Turks.