Prompt Cast
The Byzantine Empire: A Continuation of the Roman Empire
TLDR The Byzantine Empire, which lasted over a thousand years, was actually the continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire and considered themselves Roman. The empire ended in 1453 when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Sultan, but remnants of the Roman heritage can still be seen today.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
The Byzantine Empire, often considered one of the world's greatest empires, never actually existed.
02:04
The Byzantine Empire, which lasted over a thousand years and had its capital in Constantinople, was actually the continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire and considered themselves Roman, rather than Byzantine.
03:29
The Roman Empire was split into two parts, East and West, under the Tetrarchy system devised by Emperor Diocletian, but was later unified under Emperor Constantine I, who established a new capital city called Constantinople.
04:50
After the death of Constantine the Great, the Roman Empire split into two parts again, and this is the first possible starting point for the Byzantine Empire.
06:10
The people who took over after the fall of the Western Roman Empire still considered the Empire as an ongoing concern, making it difficult to pinpoint a specific starting date for the Byzantine Empire.
07:24
The Byzantine Empire ended on May 29th, 1453, when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II, and the last emperor, Constantine XI, was killed.
08:41
The Roman identity among the Byzantines persisted until the 18th and 19th century, when people in Greece began identifying as Greek, but remnants of the Roman heritage can still be seen today in the country's name, Romania.
