Byzantium: The Byzantine Empire

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Byzantium

For 500 plus years, the Roman empire brought a unique way of life to a vast area of land. In 476, the western half of the empire collapsed by invading German tribes. But in the east, the empire was ruled by the Byzantine empire. The old Greeks city-port of Byzantium, (Istanbul and Turkey), was the center of the Roman empire. The Romans changed the name to Constantinople after the first Byzantine emperor Constantine. It became the seat of the Byzantine emperors and the center of the eastern Christian church. In the Byzantine empire, ancient Greek and Roman culture and learning were preserved. The Byzantines loved music, poetry, and art. They decorated their churches like Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. It has highly complex and finely