The Empire That Never Existed (Encore)

Seamless Transition

The Byzantine Empire is often misunderstood as a separate entity from the Roman Empire, yet it was essentially a continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire. Gary Arndt explains that the Byzantine Empire never existed under that name; its people considered themselves Romans, and their empire was a direct successor to the Roman Empire 1. The transition began with Emperor Diocletian's division of the Roman Empire into eastern and western halves, a system known as the tetrarchy, which laid the groundwork for the Byzantine era 1.

You can draw a direct line from the Byzantine emperors to the emperor Augustus, Julius Caesar, and the Roman Republic.

--- Gary Arndt

Constantine the Great further solidified this continuity by establishing Constantinople as the new capital, a city that became the heart of the Byzantine Empire 2.

   

Roman Identity

The persistence of Roman identity within the Byzantine Empire highlights the strength of its heritage. Gary Arndt notes that the term "Byzantine" was a later invention by Western historians to differentiate the Greek-speaking Christian empire from its Latin-speaking predecessor 3. Despite this, the Byzantine people continued to see themselves as Romans, a sentiment that persisted well into the 20th century in some regions 3.

So strong was the Roman identity among the people we call Byzantines that it wasn't until the 18th and 19th century when people in what is today Greece stopped calling themselves Roman.

--- Gary Arndt

This enduring Roman identity is evident in the name of modern-day Romania, which reflects the Byzantine self-description 3.