 The Byzantine Empire was just the continuation of 
the Roman Empire after its fall and they even call 
themselves the Roman Empire. 
 What are the similarities and differences between 
them and what changed over time? 
 At around the year 400 it was considered one 
empire, and it was already being governed 
separately, the west being governed from Rome, the 
east being governed from Constantinople.
The Byzantine Empire

 Most historians mark the beginning of the Byzantine Empire 
with the rule of Constantine, who moves the capital to 
Byzantium, it gets renamed Constantinople. 
 In 476, the western Roman Empire fell and became fragmented 
into a bunch of various Germanic kingdoms, while the eastern 
Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople, continued and 
they did not call themselves the Byzantines, they called 
themselves the Roman Empire and they considered themselves 
as Romans
 After that, the historians tried to separate this period of the 
Roman Empire by calling it the Byzantine Empire.

The Byzantine Empire

 Justinian was able to capture significant portions of the west 
including the Italian peninsula but then over time the Byzantine 
Empire got smaller, especially in the east, it has to compete with 
the spread of Islam. 
 In the second millennium, the Muslim Turks make further 
inroads into the Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantine Empire under Justinian’s rule

 In 1453 all what was left at the time of the Byzantine 
Empire or the eastern Roman Empire is 
Constantinople that also got sacked by the Ottomans 
and that's the official end of the Byzantine Empire.
 The eastern Roman Empire continued on for another 
1000 years after the fall of the western Roman 
Empire. 
The End of the Byzantine Empire

The center of power in the Roman Empire was 
named after its seat of power during the great 
majority of its history. The seat of power of the 
Roman Empire is Rome.
The Seat of Power

 Near the end of the western Roman Empire Ravenna (was the 
capital city of the Western Empire), Constantine (ruled in 324) 
changed the capital to Byzantium which eventually became 
Constantinople and that's the official start of at least the roots of 
the Byzantine Empire although Constantine was emperor of 
both. 
 The roots of the Byzantine Empire started when with 
Constantine changed the capital, the seat of power of the 
combined empire and moving it from Rome to Byzantium, 
which will eventually be called Constantinople. 
The Seat of Power

 The language of the Roman Empire was Latin. In the early 
days of the Byzantine Empire, Latin is used in conjunction with 
Greek but over time, it became more Greek.
 Heraclius (Byzantine emperor from 610 to 641) in the seventh 
century made Greek the official language of the Byzantine 
Empire. 
Language

 In terms of religion, for most of Roman history, their religion was 
the Roman Pantheon, and near the end of what is called the 
Roman Empire, when Constantine came around in the early 
fourth century, Christianity gets legalized and Theodosius 
(347-395), who is the last emperor to rule over both east and 
west, he made Christianity the official religion. 
 Since the eastern Roman Empire's roots, the Byzantine 
empire's roots are considered to be with Constantine. 
Religion

 Since the eastern Roman Empire's roots, the 
Byzantine empire's roots are considered to be with 
Constantine It had a Christian nature from the 
beginning and it only becomes more and more 
Christian over time. 
 After that, a spiritual split between east and west 
occurred, the Latin Christian church and the Greek 
Christian church and they diverge more and more 
until the year 1054 when there was the official Great 
Schism. 
Religion

 In terms of law, the Roman Empire has a long 
tradition of law (the Roman law). It had a profound 
influence on western civilization that many of our 
legal terms today come from Latin. 
 What historians would consider the Byzantine 
Empire would continue Roman law, much of it written 
in Latin. Justinian would famously try to reform 
Roman law, make it more consistent, make it more 
clear. Justinian's code (the legal code of ancient Rome; 
codified under Justinian; the basis for many modern systems of civil 
law).
Law

 Emperor Leo III has the famous Ecloga
(reformations of Byzantine law issued in 726 by 
Emperor Leo III in his name and that of his son 
Constantine).
 These revisions and these reformations of 
Roman law, were more and more written in 
Greek than Latin and they did have more and 
more of a Christian influence.
Emperor Leo III

 In terms of governance, especially under the Roman 
Empire, the notion of a province was the main subdivision 
under which the empire was governed. 
 Diocletian redefined what a province is, so there were 
smaller provinces which then would went into diocese, 
which would then went into prefects, which would then 
went into a tetrarch. 
Governance

 Constantine wasn't only the Byzantine emperor of the east, but 
also the emperor of both east and west.
 He got rid of the tetrarchy, but he kept Diocletian's notions of 
these smaller provinces going into diocese, going into prefects, 
and in the mid seventh century, it was turned into more of a 
feudal-themed system in the Byzantine Empire, and once again, 
this was under Heraclius who also made Greek the official 
language. 
 This feudal, was comparable to the feudal system in western 
Europe at the time, as it provided land grants to local rulers in 
exchange for their military service and the ability for them to 
send resources up to the emperor.
Governance

 In terms of culture, there are many of the things that 
are associated with the Roman Empire, such as 
chariot racing, gladiator fights, imperial birthdays, the 
Olympics, which carries over from the Ancient 
Greeks that actually lasts over 1000 years as we go 
into the Roman Empire. 
Culture

 Some of these continue and some of them don't. So for 
example, the notion of chariot racing does and famously 
Justinian is almost overthrown after a rowdy chariot race. 
 The Olympics, Theodosius felt that it wasn't in line with 
Christian tradition
 Imperial celebrations and imperial birthdays, the Byzantine 
Empire continued some of the traditions but also eliminated 
others. 
Culture