User:Riley Timecat/The Byzantine Empire

In January 523, Constantinople erupted into riot and flames. As the largest city of the Byzantine Empire, it had 350,000-500,000 people. Taxes were high and the city officials took bribes on everyday bases. Byzantium had been the name if of this former Greek colony, founded in 667B.C. In 330A.D, the Roman Emperor Constanine built his "new Rome" and named it Constantinople, (now called Istanbul). It remained under the control of his heirs until 1453, when the Turks captured it. While rule in western Europe was decentralized and population scattered, Constantinople and the great cities of Asia and Africa were thriving. The borders of the Byzantine Empire canged often over its thousand-year history. The empire fought off Slavs and Bulgars in the west and Persians in the east. It was held togther by Christianity, the state religion, which saw the emporer as God's representative on earth. Slave-holding still existed, but it was forbidden for a Christian to own a Chrstitian slave.