Map of the Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the successor state to the Roman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean; for centuries it was the most powerful, the richest, the most civilized state in Europe and the Middle East.

The dominant language and culture of the Byzantine state was Greek, but its rulers and leading citizens thought of themselves first and foremost as Romaioi, the inheritors and guardians of Roman ideals and traditions. The city's official name was always Konstantinoupolis Nea Rome, "the city of Constantine which is the new Rome." Christianity enjoyed a special place in this New Rome. Constantinople was seen as a sacred city, a New Jerusalem, its churches and monasteries housing a unique collection of holy relics and shrines that symbolized God's special esteem and favor. Justinian's great church of Hagia Sophia, its domed basilica rising above the city, epitomized this close relationship between the Byzantine state and the Christian church.