Title: Byzantium: The New Rome | Boundless World History
Headings: Byzantium: The New Rome
Byzantium: The New Rome
Naming of the Byzantine Empire
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Key Takeaways
Key Points
Key Terms
Nomenclature
The Eastern Roman Empire, Constantine the Great, and Byzantium
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Key Points
Key Terms
Constantine the Great and the Beginning of Byzantium
Constantinople and Civil Reform
Constantine and Christianity
The Fall of the Western Roman Empire
Justinian and Theodora
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Byzantine Empire from Constantine to Justinian
Emperor Justinian I
Accomplishments in Byzantium
Theodora
Justinian’s Difficulties
The Justinian Code
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Key Takeaways
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Key Terms
Legacy

Content: A map of Constantinople, the capital and founding city of the Byzantine Empire, drawn in 1422 CE by Florentine cartographer Cristoforo Buondelmonti. This is the oldest surviving map of the city and the only one that predates the Turkish conquest of the city in 1453 CE. Nomenclature
The first use of the term “Byzantine” to label the later years of the Roman Empire was in 1557, when the German historian Hieronymus Wolf published his work, Corpus Historiæ Byzantinæ, a collection of historical sources. The term comes from “Byzantium,” the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantine’s capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. However, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the western world; calling it the “Byzantine Empire” helped to emphasize its differences from the earlier Latin-speaking Roman Empire, centered on Rome. The term “Byzantine” was also useful to the many western European states that also claimed to be the true successors of the Roman Empire, as it was used to delegitimize the claims of the Byzantines as true Romans. In modern times, the term “Byzantine” has also come to have a pejorative sense, used to describe things that are overly complex or arcane. “ Byzantine diplomacy” has come to mean excess use of trickery and behind-the-scenes manipulation.