Early Byzantine (including Iconoclasm)

330–843

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The Roman emperor Constantine adopted Christianity and in 330 C.E. established a new capital for the Roman Empire—Constantinople (modern Istanbul)—far to the east of the old capital, Rome. Hagia Sophia and other great monuments of Byzantium were built during the sixth-century reign of emperor Justinian I. But in the eighth and ninth centuries, the empire was plunged into turmoil by the Iconoclastic Controversy and significant military losses.

Middle Byzantine

843—1204

In 843, the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” affirmed the use of religious images, definitively ending the Iconoclastic Controversy of the eigth and ninth centuries. The Byzantine Empire experienced a period of revival. Artistic patronage flourished and new artistic and architectural forms were developed.

The Fourth Crusade and the Latin Empire

1204–1261

In 1204, soldiers of the Fourth Crusade sacked the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, establishing a short-lived Latin Empire that was loyal to the Pope in Rome. Three Byzantine successor states emerged: the Empire of Nicaea in northwest Anatolia, the Empire of Trebizond in northeast Anatolia, and the Despotate of Epirus in northwest Greece and Albania. In 1261, the Empire of Nicaea retook Constantinople, inaugurating the Palaiologan Dynasty.

Late Byzantine

1261–1453

In 1261, Michael VIII Palaiologos retook the city of Constantinople from the occupying Latin Crusaders and inaugurated the Palaiologan Dynasty. Artistic patronage flourished in the so-called "Palaiologan Renaissance" that followed. But the once-great Byzantine Empire never fully recovered and was finally conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Post-Byzantine

after 1453

Despite the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, Byzantium has had a wide and lasting cultural influence in lands it once occupied and beyond.