Byzantium
Byzantium, or the Byzantine Empire, was an empire that, at its height, controlled much of the coastal land in Africa, Asia, and Europe, surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. Constantinople was its capital.
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History
In January 1111, Norse King Sigurd Magnusson met with Byzantium's emperor, Alexios Komnenos, staying there for the next two months. ("Fortune Favors the Brave...")
Real World Background
After the fall of Rome's power and influence in the 5th Century AD, the Byzantine Empire was considered the successor state to the Roman Empire until Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1453.
In contrast to the comic series, inhabitants would have referred to themselves and the empire as "Roman" while contemporary nations considered the empire as either "Roman" (from their Islamic neighbors) or "Greek" (from western Europe's perspective). "Byzantium" and "Byzantine Empire" are merely modern terms (from the 15th Century) to better distinguish it from the older Roman Empire based in Italy.
See Also
- Byzantium at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
