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'''Byzantine Empire''' (native Greek name: Βασιλεία τῶν Ρωμαίων - ''Basileia tōn Rōmaiōn'') is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking [[Roman Empire]] of the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. In certain specific contexts, usually referring to the time before the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it is also often referred to as the '''Eastern Roman Empire'''. To its inhabitants the Empire was simply the Roman Empire and its emperors continued the unbroken succession of Roman emperors. During much of its history it was known to many of its Western contemporaries as ''The Empire of the Greeks'' due to the increasing dominance of its Greek population and distinct culture. Today most scholars acknowledge that the [[Byzantine ]] Empire was the direct continuation of the [[Hellenistic|Hellenistic World]].<!-- The Oxford History of Byzantium, Britannica 2006. -->
There is no consensus on the starting date of the Byzantine period. Some place it during the reign of [[Diocletian]] (284–305) due to the administrative reforms he introduced, dividing the empire into a ''pars Orientis'' and a ''pars Occidentis''. Some consider [[Constantine I]] its founder. Others place it during the reign of [[Theodosius the Great (emperor)|Theodosius I]] (379–395) and Christendom's victory over pagan Roman religion, or, following his death in 395, with the division of the empire into western and eastern halves. Others place it yet further in 476, when the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus, was forced to abdicate, thus leaving sole imperial authority to the emperor in the Greek East. Others again point to the reorganisation of the empire in the time of [[Heraclius]] (ca. 620) when Greek was made the official language. In any case, the changeover was gradual and by 330, when Constantine inaugurated his new capital, the process of further [[Hellenization]] and increasing [[Christianization]] was already under way.
