The Byzantine Empire was established with the foundation of Constantinople, but the final separation of the eastern and western empires was not complete until the late fifth century. With its political structure anchored in Greek tradition and a new religion stimulated by Greek philosophy, the Byzantine Empire survived a millennium of triumphs and declines until Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

• Separation from Rome
• Justinian and the Empire of the East
• The Decline of the Empire, 565-867
• Revival and Collapse, 867-1453