Byzantine Empire (330–1453)

In 324 AD, Emperor Constantine the Great moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium and named it Constantinople — the city that would be the most powerful center of the Christian world for 1,100 years.

Emperor Justinian I (527–565) commissioned the construction of the Hagia Sophia — the architectural marvel that dominated the world for 1,000 years. Under the Byzantines, Anatolia developed into the cultural heart of Orthodox Christianity: The rock churches of Cappadocia with their frescoes, the monasteries on the Black Sea (Sumela), and the theological schools testify to this golden age.

The Byzantine Empire survived countless sieges, crusades, and internal crises. The Fourth Crusade (1204) — during which the crusaders looted not the Holy Land but Constantinople itself — fatally weakened the empire. The last 250 years were a slow decline until Sultan Mehmed II conquered the city in 1453.