The Byzantine Empire, as the Eastern Roman Empire was known, was one of the important cultural centres of the Middle Ages. The language spoken was Greek and most of the names of the emperors were Greek, or else a Greek form of Christian biblical names, and the title Basileus (meaning “king” in Greek) was used for the emperor. The Byzantine Empire was finally destroyed by the Turks in 1453.

 1 Constantinian dynasty  306 - 363     1.1 Non-dynastic  363 - 364 

After the division of the Roman Empire in 395, Constantinople beheld the passage of many great dynasties.  The first period of the empire, which embraces the dynasties of Theodosius, Leo I, Justinian, and Tiberius, is politically still under Roman influence.

 2 Valentinian-Theodosian dynasty  364 - 457

3 Dynasty of Leo  457 - 518

4 Justinian dynasty   518 - 602            4.1 Non-dynastic  602 - 610

 In the second period the dynasty of Heraclius in conflict with Islam, succeeds in creating a distinctively Byzantine State.

 5 Heraclian dynasty   610 - 695           5.1 Non-dynastic  695 - 717

The third period, that of the Syrian (Isaurian) emperors and of Iconoclasm, is marked by the attempt to avoid the struggle with Islam by completely orientalizing the land.

 6 Isaurian dynasty   717 - 802              6.1 Non-dynastic   802 - 820

The fourth period exhibits a happy equilibrium. The Armenian dynasty, which was Macedonian by origin, was able to extend its sway east and west, and there were indications that the zenith of Byzantine power was close at hand.

 7 Amorian (or Phrygian) dynasty   920 - 867

8 Macedonian dynasty   867 - 1056          8.1 Non-dynastic  1056 - 1057

 In the fifth period the centrifugal forces, which had long been at work, produced their inevitable effect, the aristocracy of birth, which had been forming in all parts of the empire, and gaining political influence, at last achieved its firm establishment on the throne with the dynasties of the Comneni and Angeli.

 9 Ducaian-Comnenan dynasty   1057 - 1185

 During this time, the Crusades occurred. The great overflow of the West towards the East, started by the pious wish of all Christian Europe to deliver the Holy Sepulchre. Constantinople saw the crusaders for the first time in 1096. These sad quarrels and the fratricidal conflicts of Christian nations lasted nearly a century, until in 1182 Emperor Andronicus Comnenus, a ferocious tyrant, ordered a general massacre of the Latins in his capital. In 1190 the Greek patriarch, Dositheus, solemnly promised indulgences to any Greek who would murder a Latin. These facts, together with the selfish views of the Venetians and the domestic divisions of the Greeks, were enough to provoke a conflict.

 10 Angelan dynasty   1185 - 1024

 The sixth period is that of decline. The capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders divided the empire into several new political units. Even after the restoration, the Empire of the Palaeologi is only one member of this group of states. The expansion of the power of the Osmanli Turks prepares the annihilation of the Byzantine Empire.

11 Lascaran dynasty (in exile in the Empire of Nicaea during the time of the Latin Empire)   1024 - 1231

This new Latin/Frankish Empire, organized according to feudal law, never took deep root. It was unable to hold its own against the Greeks, who had immediately created two empires in Asia, a despotate in Epirus and other small States, nor against the Bulgarians, Comans, and Serbs. After a much-disturbed existence, this Latin/Frankish Empire disappeared in 1261. Constantinople became again the centre of Greek power with Michael Palæologus as emperor.

 12 Palaeologan Dynasty (restored at Constantinople)   1259 - 1453

In 1453 Mehmed II overthrew the Byzantine Empire and claimed the title of Caesar; his successors continued this claim. See Osmanli for the complete list of Ottoman sultans.