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  More info About: BYZANTINE PERIOD
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The Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire was the eastern section of the Roman Empire which remained in existence after the fall of the western section. The life of the empire is commonly considered to span AD 395 to 1453. The empire was divided into eastern and western portions under Arkadios and Honorius, the sons of Emperor Theodosius I. During the thousand years of its existence, it was known simply as the "Roman Empire." The Byzantines considered themselves to be Romans (Rhomaioi) and the legitimate continuation of the Roman Empire. Even though much of its language, and culture was Greek, this posed no contradiction for the Romans of the Eastern Empire. Greek had been their language, and their culture had been Hellenistic for centuries. Latin remained the official language until the 7th century. Surrounding lands and empires (such as the Persians and Arabs to the east, Europeans to the west, and Russians to the north) called them Roman as well, and it was considered a great insult to refer to the empire as "Greek.", because "Greek" meant "Pagan". The empire was not referred to as "Byzantine" until the 17th century--and only then by "Western" historians, when they decided to distinguish the medieval entity from the (in reality quite different) ancient empire. This name comes from the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium.

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