Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi Fen-Edebiyat Fakültesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

Abstract

Byzantine, found in the area where lands of Asia and Europe come together, became a world empire like the Ottoman Empire, found next to it and ruled a great deal of lands of the world. The Byzantine Empire having a great importance with regards to politics, commerce, art, culture and civilisation, was * Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi, Edebiyat Fakültesi Tarih Bölümü, Sivas. the primary one of the empires, the most long-running ones in the world. The Byzantine Empire, reigned nearly more than ten centuries, was ruled by dynasties. While the enemies of this empire, reigned in the lands of Europe, Africa and Asia, in the east were Persians, later on their enemies were Arabs after Hadrat Umar took Iran. As to the enemies the Byzantine Empire in the west, they were Turks, come to the Balkans from the north of the Blacksea, and Barbarian tribes, escaped before them. As a result of the immigrations caused by these tribes, the Roman Empire split in half. Afterwards, as a result of the raids of these tribes, the Rome in the west fell. As to the Byzantine Empire, seen as a sequel to the Rome in the east, it has always been an enigma that when the Byzantine Empire had its own structure. According to some, having a separate identity of the Byzantine Empire occurred with the foundation of Constantinople or Istanbul, as it is called now, while for some, with the severance of Rome or the fall of West Rome. As to Byzantinisation, it was not as easy as the foundation of the Byzantine Empire. Passing from Rome to the Byzantine Empire instantly was not possible. For such a period of change, long years are required. In this paper we examine that the period of change in the Rome of east became evident especially in the Justinian I.Era and try to explain it with the events of that time.