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Period: 300 to Jan 1, 1500
Timeline of the Byzantine Empire
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330
Emperor Constantine I Founded the Byzantine Capital
As German invaders took lands from the Roman empire in the west, the Roman emperor Constantine, and his successors shifted their base east. Constantine rebuilt the Greek city of Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople. In 330 A.D. he made this the new capital of the empire. As time went on the eatern half of the Roman empire would be known as the Byzantian empire. -
532
The Nika Revolt
On January 13, 532 A.D. there was a riot at the Hippodrome during the chariot races. They were protesting because three days earlier two men were to be hanged, but escaped and seeked refuge at a church. One man was from the green faction and the other from the blue. The protesters wanted Justinian to show them mercy, usually the factions were rivals, but here they came together to free them. After a few days of riots, 30,000 protesters were massacred in the Hippodrome, and peace was restored. -
Period: 533 to 544
General Belisarius's Military Campaigns
General Belisarius is often considered to be one of the greatest generals in the Byzantine empire. His first success was at the Battle of Dara in 530 when he defeated the Sassanians. However at the Battle of Callinicum he was defeated, but later proved himself during the Nika Revolt. In 533 he was sent to Africa to reclaim the provinces from the Vandal Kingdom, he did so within a year. Towards the end of his career he was not so popular among his soldiers and his defeated enemies. -
537
The Hagia Sophia is Completed
To restore Roman glory after the fire that swept across Constantinople, Justinian rebuilt the church of Hagia Sophia. The building's imense, arching dome improved on earlier Roman buildings. Although the original was completed in 537, the dome collapsed in 558, and was rebuilt in 562. -
Period: Jan 1, 622 to Jan 1, 750
Early Islamic Military Campaigns into Byzantine Territory
In the beginning of the Byzantine empire Islam was a fairly new religion, it began in Arabia around 622. Over the next 200 years, Muslims built a huge empire and created a major civilization. In the 600s and 700s, Arab armies overran the wealthy Byzantine provinces of Egypt and Syria before advancing into Constantinople. -
Period: Jan 1, 986 to Jan 1, 1018
Emperor Basil II's Military Conquests of Bulgaria
When the Byzantines first fought Bulgarians in 986 it was a horrible defeat. In 997 at the Battle Sperchios defeated Samuel and his army so severely that Samuel and his son only escaped by playing dead. After this the Byzantine empire recovered Greece. In 1002 he launched a campaign to get rid of the bulgars. Basil had retrained his army, and he slowly began chipping away at the bulgarian empire, by 1006 he had half the empire. The war climaxed in 1014, and fighting finally ended in 1018. -
Jan 1, 1054
The Great Schism
In 1054 the divide had become so great between eastern and western Christianity, that the Great Schism occurred which was the permanent split between the two sides. The Byzantine Christian Church became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church, and in the west, it became known as the Western Roman Empire. During the many controversies between the two sides many popes and patriarchs rivaled each other. -
Jan 1, 1095
Emperor Alexios I Contacts Pope Urban II for Military Help in Middle East
In 1096 Alexios I asked Pope Urban II for christian knights to help him fight the Muslim Turks. By the 1050s the Byzantine empire was under threat from the Turks, who had overrun most of the Byzantine lands in Asia Minor and had taken control of the Holy Land. This was threatening the empire, so Pope Urban called for a crusade to free the Holy Land, and by 1096 thousands of knights left to free the Holy Land. -
Period: Jan 1, 1202 to Jan 1, 1204
Fourth Crusade (Attack on Constantinople)
The Fourth Crusade also known as the sack of Constantinople, began in 1202 when crusaders tried to take Jerusalem away from the Ayyubids. The crusaders were headed through Egypt when they ran into Alexios IV who had been thrown out of power. Alexios offered to pay for the rest of the crusade if they hepled him get back into power, in 1203 they resotred him to power. He couldn't raise the money and in 1204 the crusaders attacked and sacked Constantinople, weakening the empire. -
Jan 1, 1453
The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks (Official End to Byzantines)
By the middle of the fifteenth century, the Byzantine empire had declined dramatically and was surrounded by the Ottoman empire, who were seeking to finally get rid of what was left of the great Byzantine empire. The final siege came in the spring of 1453, when Mehmet II attacked the city for fifty seven days and finally breached the city on May 29 and finally put an end to the last remaining part of the once great Roman empire.
