Byzantium

History

This city on the Bosphorus was founded as a colony by the Greek city of Megara around 660 BC, at an important strategic site at the entrance to the Black Sea. It became part of the Roman empire.

Despite native resistance, usurpations of Imperial power and civil war, the Roman Empire continued to expand to such an extent that it became necessary to divide it for governmental purposes. Diocletian (accession 284) shared power with a joint Augustus and two subordinate Caesars. By this time, the centre of power was shifting to the east. Constantine established a new, Christian capital at Byzantium (renamed Constantinople in AD 330) and in practice the Empire broke into an eastern and western half with outlying provinces being conquered by barbarian invaders who also conquered the Western Empire 476. Emperor Justinian (527-65) temporarily recovered Italy, North Africa and parts of Spain but during the C7th and 8^th, Syria, Egypt and North Africa were lost to the Muslims who besieged Constantinople in 673-7 and 718, but the Christian Byzantines retained Anatolia.

The Eastern Empire retained Roman institutions and Latin as an official language for two centuries until Greek took over. Latin, however, remained the language of the Church and science and many modern European legal systems are based on Roman law. Society was a mix of Greek, Roman and traders from other nations. Names of Roman citizens remained largely the same but a greater amount of 'borrowings' and nicknames came into use. Those of the early Byzantine Christian saints are still popular in the Catholic church, especially as Confirmation names, and can be found in various forms in most European countries.

The Iconoclastic controversy led to conflict between the emperors and the papacy and the Greek Orthodox Church broke with Rome in 1054. The Byzantine Empire reached the height of its prosperity under the Macedonian dynasty (867-1056). The Bulgars, who had been a formidable threat, were defeated after a long struggle by Basil II ('the Bulgar-slayer') in 1018 but the Empire declined after his death due problems between internal factions. In 1071-3, the Seljuk Turks conquered most of Anatolia and in 1204, the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople and created a new Latin (West European) Empire under Baldwin of Flanders. The Greeks recaptured it in 1261 and restored the Byzantine Empire but it was never as strong and the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453 and founded the Ottoman Empire. The name of the city was later changed to Istanbul.

Byzantine Names

Latin - Male

Latin - Female

Greek and Biblical - Male

Greek and Biblical - Female

Byzantine Emperors

Macedonian Dynasty

Comnenus Dynasty

Crusader Constantinople

This collection of names was compiled by Kate Monk and is ©1997, Kate Monk.

Copies may be made for personal use only.