LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Byzantine Empire: Seljuk Turks
built 654 days ago
The Byzantine Empire begins with 4 provinces under its control with castles at its capital in Constantinople and Corinth and the large towns of Nicaea and Thessalonica. Early plans for expansion involve the capture of rebel settlements to North, such as Sofia, and to the South East - Smyrna being a likely target. Once the Byzantines have expanded sufficiently they should set their sites on the Turks to the East whilst remaining wary of Hungarians to the North and the Italian factions to the West.
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After Rome was captured by Germanic People, the Byzantine Empire continued to control Egypt, Greece, Palestine, Syria and Turkey. However, another Empire, known as the Persian Empire, wanted to take over these lands for itself. Between 476 - 628 AD, the Byzantines and the Persians fought many battles, with many men killed in the fighting. Eventually, the Persians were finally defeated in modern-day Iraq, near the ancient city of Ninevah in 627 AD, allowing the Byzantines to keep her lands.
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Despite boasting the world's trade capital and home of Orthodox Christianity in Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire is well past its zenith and is now in steady decline. The outer regions of the empire have been slipping from the Emperor's grasp for decades now. To the west, the Normans have taken southern Italy, and in the east the Turks have moved into Asia Minor after their decisive and terrible victory at Manzikert. The latter of these two losses was the worst defeat the Empire had suffered in its entire history. To make matters worse, general corruption, chaos and dissent has lead to some of the other provinces closer to home to rebel.
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At around 1000AD, the Byzantine Empire had been weakened through Seljuk and Arab raids and invasions. Much land had been lost this way. A trader from China travelled down the Silk Road to Constantinople, bringing with him gunpowder. The Byzantines quickly adapted their new aquisition to fit their own needs.
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In the 11th century, the Byzantine Empire started to fall apart due to lack of strong leadership and the encroachment of the Turks and other enemies. It completely collapsed after the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople in 1453.
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The mixture of Eastern and Western influences ... could be seen in the many churches and monasteries built during the years of the Byzantine Empire. Such religious structures were built throughout the empire, but none was greater than the Church of Hagia Sophia (also known as Saint Sophia), built in Constantinople by the emperor Justinian (483–565) in the sixth century C.E. The massive church, with its huge central dome and many spires, took ten thousand workers five years to build. It still stands in the modern Turkish city of Istanbul, the new name for the old capital. This and other churches have led scholars to claim that the Byzantine Empire's greatest achievements were in architecture.
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