byzantine empire

So shortly before Constantinople was sacked over Alexios IV's inability to pay the Crusaders what he had promised them, the emperor the Crusaders were hired to overthrow, Alexios III, was contesting his nephew's counter-coup from his power base in Thrace, and at the same time Leo Sgouros was in...

What if the Umayyad Caliphate had been able to seize Constantinople? There were a couple sieges around the 7th and 8th centuries. During the 670s and during the 710s to be exact, the First and Second sieges of Constantinople. What if one those had actually succeeded, and that the invading...

what if the schism was worse preventing crusades. Kilij arslan subdues the danishmends and launches an invasion of balkans with Tzachas bey's ships. This laying the ground work for his successors to evenutally dominate eastern europe and middle east. Later fighting the mongols

Consider these two maps of the Roman Empire in 330, plus some important info on the first three Justinian emperors. We can discern the following: The Eastern Roman Empire is a mostly Greek-speaking empire since forever (read: Alexander the Great), but its northwesternmost territory is...

Let's say that, for whatever reason, Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I decides against invading Italy or going further West. Let's say he still invades the territories held by the Vandals in Tunisia, and that he's able to cling on to power. But that's as far West as he goes. Instead, he focuses...

Based on a previous post of mine. The ousting of Isaakios I Komnenos and the subsequent ascension of Constantine Doukas on the throne as Constantine X wasn't an uncontroversial development. Members of the aristocracy and officials seem to have been uncertain about his ability to rule - the...

Khosrow II, the last of the "great" Sassanid shahs (the quotes are because he was actually pretty terrible), began his reign under very inauspicious circumstances: his father, the destructively paranoid Hormizd IV, had been murdered, the empire was locked in a long, bloody and fruitless war with...

So I know the title is a little out there but bare with me. It is known that Basil II was a very cautious leader and tried to lessen the power of nobility around him. It is for this reason, (regarding many others) that he didn’t marry a woman from the Byzantine nobility in order to not...

Alexios I had a very hard time at the beginning of his reign as the Eastern Roman Emperor, having inherited an empire wrecked by years of civil war and the loss of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. As if that weren't enough, he had to deal with the Normans who, one decade after conquering...

Some people argue that regions like Britannia, Dacia, Germania and Mesopotamia brought instability to the empire, which was relatively safe with its borders in the Rhine, Danube and Osrhoene/Western Armenia. What do you think? Were these regions really worthy of conquest? Would the empire...

The year of our lord Five Hundred and Thirty had come as a turning point for many in the world west of the Indus River [1] with the past 54 years being the main cause for what was to come. In the year 476, The King of the Goths Odoacer would depose the child Emperor Romulus Augustus, who ruled...

If Justinian restored the Roman Empire by Reconquering the entire Mediterranean coast would there still be large scale hellenisation (assimilation into greek culture) in the Byzantine Empire like irl?

Emperor (Flavius) Leontius "Leo" Augustus ruled the Eastern Roman Empire from 695 to 698. A very popular emperor, he had overthrown Justinian II Rhinotmetus, who alienated both nobles and common people with his despotic rule, land policies and taxation. When Justinian was brought before him in...

According to Runciman (1977), Heraclius I, Eastern Roman Emperor from 610 to 641, originally considered abandoning Constantinople in the war with Sassanid Persia. Constantinople had been suffering throughout the campaign against the Persians as grain was the primary source of food for the city...

What if, contemporarily to the ecumenical council of 870 in Constantinople, Ermengarde of Italy and Constantine of Byzantium formalized their marriage and created a solid bond between the kingdom of Italy and the Eastern Romans? This would pacify the orthodox extremists who claimed Charlemagne...

Porphrogennetos The Romans and the New World (left, Basileia Rhomaion in 976 AD) (left, Phrygia, where Tzimiskes were travelling through) On the eighth of January, 976. Emperor John I Tzimiskes, scion of a distinguished family and himself a distinguished emperor, woke up in the cold...

what if Justinian II conquered the caliphate during second fitna when it was extremely weak

I know, I know, it's hard af, but do you guys think there is at least a small possibility? venetians, iberians and/or the genoese can also be involved. Pedro Álvares Cabral took ~40 days from Portugal to Brazil, so maybe the byzantines will take ~70 days, if the mission is successful?

Sorry if this subject has been done to death but I was thinking about the First Crusade and how the intentions to reconquer territories of the Roman Empire that had been lost to the Seljuks aligned very neatly with the desire for the Latins to be able to have safe passage to Jerusalem and how it...

Is it fair to say that the crisis with hindsight could have been handled better if the division of the Empire into the constituent Eastern and Western portions did not occur in 395. Often in discussions online it is reasoned that Rome was never split but to me the seperate operation of...