The Byzantine Empire for Kids

How does the Byzantine Empire, which fell in 1453, still apply to us today?

Many of us do not know much about the Byzantine Empire; it lived on in the East after the Roman Empire fell, but its one-thousand-year history is full of innovations that have changed how we create art, write laws, and think about our lives today. The Byzantine Empire was a key factor that started the Italian Renaissance and moved Western Europe out of the Middle Ages. Far from being ancient history, the Byzantine Empire still impacts our lives today.

Scholars have studied individual emperors or specific battles during the Byzantine Empire for years. They have discussed people like Emperor Justinian I or events like the Fall of Constantinople or The Great Schism. But the Byzantine Empire was more than a couple of important leaders or their final loss to the Ottomans. This empire survived for many years against great odds, filled with new ideas about religion, art, and how to live life.

It's time to look back into history and discover the many parts of the Byzantine Empire. In this new and captivating book, you'll learn what made the Byzantine Empire so special and how it still influences us today.

Here are some of the questions you will uncover within the pages of this book:

• How was Constantinople so well guarded against attackers?
• Why was the Byzantine Empire concerned about the Crusades?
• How was Rome related to the Byzantine Empire?
• Who founded Constantinople?
• Why was Emperor Justinian I so important?
• When did Eastern Orthodoxy separate from Roman Catholicism?
• Why did the Crusaders attack Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade?
• Who were the Ottomans?
• Why did the Byzantines maintain Greek and Roman culture?
• Why did the Roman Empire fall in 476 CE?
• How did the Byzantine Empire influence the Renaissance?
• Who was the Bulgarslayer?