The Byzantine Empire was founded from the ruins of the Roman Empire on the late capital, Constantinople.
The Byzantine Empire had a centralized, imperial bureaucracy. The emperor, Justinian, was a great leader that sought expansion to former Roman glory. This drive led to numerous wars and won only temporary growth in size. The funding came from taxes that hurt the empire and caused revolts, such as the Nika Riots. Theodora, Justinian's wife, convinced Justinian to not run away from the revolt, but to confront it.
The Byzantine Empire had successful trade routes from Russia to the Middle East. Trade ran North and South because of the separation of churches in the Byzantine Empire and former Rome.



The Byzantines primarily followed Orthodox Christianity. The separation from Roman Catholicism happened for several reasons; Justinian made Greek the official language (not Latin) the East had more iconoclasm, and they did not follow the Pope and had a separation of church and state.