Ancient Byzantine Ring Jewelry Artifact from circa 1100-1200 A.D.
It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453
Its remaining territories were progressively annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century
However, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world
The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to their modern language as Romaika and Graikika
The West also suffered more heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
The State Treasury contained the enormous sum of 320,000 lb (150,000 kg) of gold when Anastasius died in 518
In 534, the Code was updated and, along with the enactements promulgated by Justinian after 534 , it formed the system of law used for most of the rest of the Byzantine era
During the 6th century, traditional Greco-Roman culture was still influential in the Eastern empire
Constantinople itself dropped substantially in size, from 500,000 inhabitants to just 40,000–70,000, and, like other urban centres, it was partly ruralised
The Greek fire was first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine–Arab Wars (from the Madrid Skylitzes , Biblioteca Nacional de España , Madrid)
The 8th and early 9th centuries were also dominated by controversy and religious division over Iconoclasm , which was the main political issue in the Empire for over a century
In the early 9th century, Leo V reintroduced the policy of iconoclasm, but in 843 empress Theodora restored the veneration of icons with the help of Patriarch Methodios
The military successes of the 10th century were coupled with a major cultural revival, the so-called Macedonian Renaissance
Mural of Saints Cyril and Methodius , 19th century, Troyan Monastery , Bulgaria
Mercenaries were expensive, however, and as the threat of invasion receded in the 10th century, so did the need for maintaining large garrisons and expensive fortifications
Provinces in southern Italy faced the Normans , who arrived in Italy at the beginning of the 11th century
The emergency lent weight to the military aristocracy in Anatolia, who in 1068 secured the election of one of their own, Romanos Diogenes , as emperor
12th-century Renaissance
it is considered a superb example of 12th-century Komnenian art
From circa 1081 to circa 1180, the Komnenian army assured the Empire's security, enabling Byzantine civilisation to flourish
It has been argued that Byzantium under the Komnenian rule was more prosperous than at any time since the Persian invasions of the 7th century
During the 12th century, the Byzantines provided their model of early humanism as a renaissance of interest in classical authors
In philosophy, there was resurgence of classical learning not seen since the 7th century, characterised by a significant increase in the publication of commentaries on classical works
According to Alexander Vasiliev , "the dynasty of the Angeloi, Greek in its origin,
The Nicaean Empire struggled to survive the next few decades, however, and by the mid-13th century it had lost much of southern Anatolia
The siege of Constantinople in 1453, according to a 15th-century French miniature
Mehmed II and his successors continued to consider themselves heirs to the Roman Empire until the demise of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century
Until the first half of the 6th century and in sharp contrast with the decaying West, the Byzantine economy was flourishing and resilient
Isaurian reforms and, in particular, Constantine V 's repopulation, public works and tax measures, marked the beginning of a revival that continued until 1204, despite territorial contraction
From the 10th century until the end of the 12th, the Byzantine Empire projected an image of luxury and travellers were impressed by the wealth accumulated in the capital
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