jan 1, 769 - "Byzantium"

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Ever since the conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek language and culture were a major influence across the Eastern Meditteranean and beyond. In what are now countries as far-flung as Syria, Iran or even Afghanistan and Pakistan Greek language, art and culture could readily be found.

For instance Buddhist art was influenced by the Greek settlers in Afghanistan and India while the first language the New Testament of the bible was written in was Greek.

This persisted for centuries and continued during the Roman Era, with many Romans having a fondness for Greek culture and art. The Illiad would be taught to all noble children for centuries, long after cities such as Athens and Sparta lost their independence.

Because of this, when the Western Roman Empire collapsed and the Eastern half remained, the East ended up having a distinctly "Greek" feeling to it both culturally and linguistically. While they were a continuation of Rome and the people considered themselves Roman, outsiders from the west refused to acknowledge them as such. Due to cultural, political and religious differences they would be referred to instead as "The Greek Empire" or "The Empire of Constantinople" and later by western historians as "The Byzantine Empire" named after Byzantion, the area where Constantinople was founded.

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