The History of the World Podcast, written and presented by Chris Hasler. Volume 4, the Medieval World

Episode 6, The Byzantine Empire, Part 1 And the Oh, oh, oh, oh, In general when we speak of the Byzantine Empire, we are speaking of the Eastern Roman Empire that was created when it was decided that the two halves of the Roman Empire

ought to be recognized as distinct.

Originally, this was for the good of the Roman Empire in general, with a belief that by having an eastern emperor and a Western emperor

that the stability of Roman lands in general would be preserved.

The Byzantine Empire is named after the city of Byzantium,

which was originally a Greek colony overlooking the naval passage from the Pro Pontius, the modern sea of Marmara, to the Black Sea.

Control of this narrow waterway called the Bosphorus Strait was desirable due to the trade traffic coming through.

The strategic position of the city would make it a target during the first millennium

B.C. to both Greeks and Persians alike who would have benefited from having

the influence of the Bosphorus Strait.

The name Byzantine is a Latinisation of the Greek name Bizantian.

The residents of the Byzantine Empire viewed themselves as Roman.

As far as they were concerned, they were a continuation of Roman culture.

When we talk about the fall of the Roman Empire in 476,

we specifically talk about the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

For the residents at Byzantium, the Roman Empire hadn't fallen.

It was still alive and prosperous with the capital city having its more modern name of

Constantinople in celebration of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great who had established Byzantium as the new center of the Roman Empire during the fourth century.

Constantinople was the replacement for the outdated city of Rome which hadn't been

favoured as the Roman capital for some time anyway. However, with the Roman Empire

now having multiple emperors, it would only be a matter of time before those

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