Garrett O'Grady Mrs.Quirk 5/3/10 The Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire came to power after the roman empire fell in 476 A.D. There goverment system was like the roman empires.they were feared as opponents in battle.Their culture and religion was much like the romans. The Roman Empire was one of the strongest civilazations of their time but"When the Roman Empire fell in A.D. 476,its legacy would live on in the form of what we know refer to as the Byzantine Empire.".The Byzantine Empire"chronologicly it spanned the period from about 330 to 1453,and at its height ruled the lands from The Euphrates in the east to the strait of Gibraltar in the west."."The Byzantine empire was the continuation of the Roman empire in the eastern mediterranian during the middle ages.".The Byzantine empire was diverse with ethnic groups"Ethnically the empire was diverse,its subjects including Greeks,Armenians,slavs,Arabs, Egyptians,and Latins, Although its culture from the seventh century on, was predominantly Greek.". The most important place in the empire was constantinople the capital of the empire, "The center of the empire, in both cultural and political terms, was contantinople,the site of the court of the empire, with its many bureas and complex ceromony,and the seat of the partriach of constantinople, the spiritual leader of Byzantine christianity.". As the Byzantine empire began to grow it started to become an intimidating opponent for other civilazations,"The Byzantine Empire grew gradually and organically from the old Roman Empire,and it is not possible to assign any precise date for its foundings.".The empire had thier first emporer Constatine,"Constatine was not primarily an innovator,and he built firmly on the foundations of his predecessors."."He did however,build a great eastern capital at contantinople;he also became a christion and encouraged his subjects to do likewise."."The age of constatine also witnessed the culmination of a process of political reorganization that had begun in the third century and had even furthered by the tertrarchs.".Under the rule of constatine things started to change,"The loose administration of the Roman Empire was replaced by a tightly organized structure that was,at least theoretically,personolly coorinated by the all power emporer."."The emporer was in general secluded from ordinary idivisuals and his person elavated far beyond that of mere mortals."