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Origins Of The Byzantine Empire

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Culminating Activity Board Information Origins of the Byzantine Empire (330-1453 CE)
The Byzantine Empire is another word for the eastern half of the Roman Empire. It was born after a series of events that led to the fall of the western half of the Roman Empire. In 285 A.D., Diocletian decided to split the Roman Empire in half because the rapidly growing population was becoming too large to govern for a single person. This decision is considered to be one of the main acts that led to the downfall of the Western Roman world. The Byzantine Empire began to take shape after Constantine I took control of the Western Roman Empire after winning the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in October of year 312 A.D. Around 324 A.D., the Constantine I, defeated his co-emperor, Licinius, in a battle. Constantine became the first Christian emperor the Roman Empire ever had. In 330 A.D., Constantine I relocated the capital of Rome and chose to establish it in the city on the east, known as Byzantium. The new Roman capital became known as Constantinople. The Western Roman Empire began to slowly disintegrate as Germanic tribes, like the Vandals began invading the Western Roman Empire. In 476, the barbarian Odoacer invaded Rome and overthrew the last emperor, Romulus Augustus, and Rome fall. The fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 separated the prosperous eastern half of the Roman Empire and spawned a “new” Rome with a rich culture and the most powerful economy in all of Europe. The capital

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