What is the relationship between the bzytine empire and roman empire?

Answer 1

The so-called "Byzantine Empire" was a continuation of the Roman Empire. The term Byzantine was coined by a German historian in the 16th century in relation to the history of the eastern part of the Roman Empire after the fall of the western part of this empire (Historia Byzantina). The eastern part continued to exist for nearly 1,000 years after the fall of the western part. The terms Byzantine and Byzantine Empire became common in Western Europe in the 19th century. The people in question did not know these terms and called their empire Roman Empire or Empire of the Romans (Imperium Romanum or Imperium Romanorum in Latin and Basileia ton Rhomaion or Arche ton Rhomaion in Greek), or Roman Realm (Romania in Latin and Rhomania in Greek).

The term Byzantine is derived from Byzantium, the Greek city which was redeveloped, turned into Constantine the Great's imperial capital and renamed after himself as Constantinople (City of Constantine) in 330. It is used to indicate the fact that not long after the fall of the west, this empire became centred on Greece and Greek in character after it lost most of its non-Greek territories. Greek replaced Latin as the official language of this empire in 620, some 150 years after the fall of the west

Answer 2

They were one and the same. "Byzantine " is merely a term that historians coined in order to distinguish the eastern area of the empire. Over time it has morphed into people thinking that it was actually another empire. The eastern part of the empire, although heavily influenced by Greek culture, was still Roman and the citizens who lived there considered themselves Romans just as the citizens in the western part.