Byzantine Empire Chronology

(Later or Eastern Roman)

312-1453

The reign of the first Christian emperor, Constantine, is often taken to mark the beginning of a new period in the history of the Roman Empire. Certainly there were significant changes: Christians come to play a more important and more public role in the life of the empire; Christian concerns come to dominate public discourse; the capital was moved from Rome to Constantinople (Byzantium). Yet there were also significant points of continuity: the legal and political structure remained largely the same, the economy and the military were largely the same. Even the form of Christianity in the Empire acquired significant aspects of Greco-Roman culture. The Byzantine Empire would last until the city of Constantinople was finally conquered by Ottoman Turks in 1453.