Preface
Welcome to the third part of the continuing series, A History of Byzantium. Part One dealt with the early years of the Empire, starting with Constantine the Great and his founding of a new capital that was to bear his name: Constantinople. During the fourth and fifth centuries the character of the Empire was still Roman, and it could be more properly called the Eastern Roman Empire, for that's what it was. There still existed, for a time, a counterpart in the West combined with which the Roman Empire remained a single, indivisble whole. This, at least, was the theory. The truth, however, was that from the moment of permanent seperation, following the reign of Theodosius the Great, the two halves began drifting apart. As the West sank slowly into anarchy and ruin the East found itself identifying more and more with the ancient heritage of Greece. Hellenism and been a powerful influence in the Orient ever since the time of Alexander and as time progressed Greek culture gradually supplanted the Latin. This is not to say that the Empire ceased to be a Roman one. Quite to the contrary, the citizens of Byzantium continued to refer to themselves as Roman long after the time we generally consider the "Romans" to have disappeared. In their minds the Roman Empire lived on in them, one continuous and indivisble state starting from the days of Romulas.
Some prominent events from Part One include the reign of Justinian and his Reconquest (often known as the "Justianian Renconquest") in which the Empire regained portions of the West including Italy, North Africa and southern Iberia (modern day Spain). It ended with Heraclius, the Emperor who brought his state back from the brink of destruction to one of its most glorious victories: the destruction of Sassanid Persia, which had been long and implaccable enemy of the Byzantines. Sadly for Heraclius and his Empire there was one other event that marked his reign, the consequences of which would far outshadow his victory: the advent of Islam. The Islamic conquests, which began in Heraclius' final years, brought a new and even more dangerous enemy to the Byzantines into being and would strip the Empire of many of its territories. Egypt, North Africa, the Levant and Syria, provinces that had been Roman for centuries, were gone.
Part Two dealt with with the time known as the Dark Ages, for while Byzantium did not experience the cultural and intellectual deprivations that Western Europe did, it was nevertheless a bleak time. The seventh through ninth centuries saw the Byzantines struggling ceaselessly against their new enemies; the Muslims in the East and now the Slavs from the north. The year 800 saw the rebirth of a Western Empire, that of Charlemagne, at the hands of the Pope who claimed for himself the power to make not just Kings but Emperors. This was a blow to Byzantine pride as it not only usurped a power that, in their minds, was exclusively their own but it also undermined the long held notions of the essential unity of the Roman Empire. And while Charlemagne's Empire died with him the psychological damage had been done, and the groundwork layed for ambitious European rulers to try and do the same. The tenth and eleventh centuries saw Byzantine fortunes again on the rise as a series of strong leaders and able generals put the Empire on the offensive against the Islamic world and the Barbarians. The Empire reached the zenith of this revival under the Macedonian dyanasty which concluded with one of the greatest Emperors, Basil II 'Bulgaroctonus'.
This next installment, Part Three, will deal with Byzantium as it struggles to hold on to the achievements of the past two hundred years and deal not only the traditional danger from the Muslims but the growing power of Western Europe as well.
Author's Note: Throughout this work, when dealing with the names of people and places, I tend to prefer that Latin spelling as opposed to the Greek for primarily aesthetic reasons. Comnenus, for example, instead of Komnenos, or Psellus instead of Psellos. I will, however, use the greek spelling when I feel it is appropriate. I will make no attempt at uniformity in terms of which style I use for which words, so if you are very aware of this sort of thing be forewarned.
So this time I'm playing more to my strength (I hope). I'll playing as Emperor rather than one particular family, meaning whoever has the throne will be the guy I'm controlling. I think this will work better for what I have in mind. The style will be history book and I plan on RPing as much as humanly possible up to annhilating myself (on purpose, that is, I could end up doing it accidentally). Role playing also gives me an excuse for my poor skills at the game 
