1 00:00:01,010 --> 00:00:11,500 Most history books will tell you the Roman Empire fell in the 5th century CE. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:15,320 But this would have come as a great surprise to the millions of people 3 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,640 who lived in the Roman Empire up through the Middle Ages. 4 00:00:19,519 --> 00:00:24,820 This medieval Roman Empire, which we usually refer to today as the Byzantine Empire, 5 00:00:25,219 --> 00:00:27,120 began in 330 CE. 6 00:00:27,519 --> 00:00:30,920 That's when Constantine, the first Christian emperor, 7 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:36,000 moved the capital of the Roman Empire to a new city called Constantinople, 8 00:00:36,359 --> 00:00:40,100 which he founded on the site of the ancient Greek city, Byzantium. 9 00:00:41,039 --> 00:00:43,920 When the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410 10 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,659 and the empire's western provinces were conquered by barbarians, 11 00:00:48,100 --> 00:00:52,240 Constantine's eastern capital remained the seat of the Roman emperors. 12 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:57,100 There, generations of emperors ruled for the next 11 centuries. 13 00:00:57,659 --> 00:01:00,679 Sharing continuity with the classical Roman Empire, 14 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:05,700 gave the Byzantine Empire a technological and artistic advantage over its neighbors, 15 00:01:06,159 --> 00:01:08,579 whom Byzantines considered barbarians. 16 00:01:09,140 --> 00:01:12,480 In the 9th century, visitors from beyond the frontier 17 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,400 were astonished at the graceful stone arches and domes 18 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:18,900 of the imperial palace in Constantinople. 19 00:01:19,599 --> 00:01:22,819 A pair of golden lions flanked the imperial throne. 20 00:01:22,819 --> 00:01:27,700 A hidden organ would make the lions roar as guests fell on their knees. 21 00:01:28,579 --> 00:01:31,700 Golden birds sung from a nearby golden tree. 22 00:01:32,299 --> 00:01:35,459 Medieval Roman engineers even used hydraulic engines 23 00:01:35,459 --> 00:01:38,900 to raise the imperial throne high into the air. 24 00:01:39,879 --> 00:01:42,480 Other inherited aspects of ancient Roman culture 25 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:44,319 could be seen in emperors' clothing, 26 00:01:44,799 --> 00:01:47,079 from traditional military garb to togas, 27 00:01:47,519 --> 00:01:50,819 and in the courts, which continued to use Roman law. 28 00:01:51,780 --> 00:01:54,859 Working-class Byzantines would have also had similar lives 29 00:01:54,859 --> 00:01:56,420 to their ancient Roman counterparts. 30 00:01:57,040 --> 00:01:59,280 Many farmed or plied a specific trade, 31 00:01:59,659 --> 00:02:04,640 such as ceramics, leatherworking, fishing, weaving, or manufacturing silk. 32 00:02:05,599 --> 00:02:10,139 But of course, the Byzantine Empire didn't just rest on the laurels of ancient Rome. 33 00:02:10,580 --> 00:02:15,099 Their artists innovated, creating vast mosaics and ornate marble carvings. 34 00:02:15,099 --> 00:02:17,879 Their architects constructed numerous churches, 35 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:21,979 one of which, called Hagia Sophia, had a dome so high 36 00:02:21,979 --> 00:02:24,819 it was said to be hanging on a chain from heaven. 37 00:02:25,659 --> 00:02:28,400 The empire was also home to great intellectuals, 38 00:02:28,539 --> 00:02:29,939 such as Anna Komneny. 39 00:02:30,580 --> 00:02:32,800 As imperial princess in the 12th century, 40 00:02:33,199 --> 00:02:35,939 Anna dedicated her life to philosophy and history. 41 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:38,180 Her account of her father's reign 42 00:02:38,180 --> 00:02:41,740 is historians' foremost source for Byzantine political history 43 00:02:41,740 --> 00:02:43,560 at the time of the First Crusade. 44 00:02:44,319 --> 00:02:46,520 Another scholar, Leo the Mathematician, 45 00:02:46,780 --> 00:02:50,439 invented a system of beacons that ran the width of the empire, 46 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:52,180 what's now Greece and Turkey. 47 00:02:53,139 --> 00:02:55,080 Stretching more than 700 kilometers, 48 00:02:55,539 --> 00:02:57,539 this system allowed the edge of the empire 49 00:02:57,539 --> 00:02:59,819 to warn the emperor of invading armies 50 00:02:59,819 --> 00:03:02,919 within one hour of sighting them at the border. 51 00:03:03,599 --> 00:03:06,900 But their advances couldn't protect the empire forever. 52 00:03:07,879 --> 00:03:11,400 In 1203, an army of French and Venetian crusaders 53 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,740 made a deal with a man named Alexios Angelos. 54 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:17,900 Alexios was the son of a deposed emperor 55 00:03:17,900 --> 00:03:21,460 and promised the crusaders vast riches and support 56 00:03:21,460 --> 00:03:24,539 to help him retake the throne from his uncle. 57 00:03:24,539 --> 00:03:28,460 Alexios succeeded, but after a year the population rebelled, 58 00:03:28,460 --> 00:03:32,080 and Alexios himself was deposed and killed. 59 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:37,659 So Alexios' unpaid army turned their aggression on Constantinople. 60 00:03:37,659 --> 00:03:40,580 They lit massive fires which destroyed countless works 61 00:03:40,580 --> 00:03:43,259 of ancient and medieval art and literature, 62 00:03:43,259 --> 00:03:46,840 leaving about one-third of the population homeless. 63 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,039 The city was reclaimed 50 years later 64 00:03:49,039 --> 00:03:52,120 by the Roman emperor Michael Palaeologos, 65 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,599 but his restored empire never regained all the territory 66 00:03:55,599 --> 00:03:57,639 the crusaders had conquered. 67 00:03:57,639 --> 00:03:59,819 Finally, in 1453, 68 00:03:59,819 --> 00:04:03,759 Ottoman emperor Mehmed the Conqueror captured Constantinople, 69 00:04:03,759 --> 00:04:07,800 bringing a conclusive end to the Roman Empire. 70 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:09,639 Despite the Ottoman conquest, 71 00:04:09,639 --> 00:04:13,219 many Greek-speaking inhabitants of the eastern Mediterranean 72 00:04:13,219 --> 00:04:17,980 continued to call themselves Romans until the early 21st century. 73 00:04:17,980 --> 00:04:20,180 In fact, it wasn't until the Renaissance 74 00:04:20,180 --> 00:04:23,560 that the term Byzantine Empire was first used. 75 00:04:24,019 --> 00:04:25,319 For Western Europeans, 76 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:29,000 the Renaissance was about reconnecting with the wisdom of antiquity. 77 00:04:29,379 --> 00:04:32,100 And since the existence of a medieval Roman Empire 78 00:04:32,100 --> 00:04:35,720 suggested there were Europeans who'd never lost touch with antiquity, 79 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:39,560 Western Europeans wanted to draw clear lines between the ages. 80 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:44,319 To better distinguish the classical, Latin-speaking, pagan Roman Empire 81 00:04:44,319 --> 00:04:47,579 from the medieval, Greek-speaking, Christian Roman Empire, 82 00:04:48,019 --> 00:04:50,980 scholars renamed the latter group Byzantines, 83 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,279 and thus, 100 years after it had fallen, 84 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:56,899 the Byzantine Empire was born. 85 00:04:57,740 --> 00:05:00,699 Want to learn more about the Byzantine church mentioned in this video? 86 00:05:01,060 --> 00:05:05,160 Check out this lesson and learn how Hagia Sophia spanned empires, 87 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:06,740 housed multiple religions, 88 00:05:06,740 --> 00:05:11,879 and is somehow decorated with both ancient Greek columns and Viking runes.