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What was the Byzantine Empire?

The Byzantine Empire was a continuation of the Roman Empire. Its citizens even called themselves Romans. Two dates—A.D. 330 and A.D. 476—are given for the formation of the Byzantine Empire, which often had shifting boundaries and was centered in Asia Minor (a peninsula in the western part of Asia) and the Balkan Peninsula (in southeast Europe). The 476 date is calculated according to the death of the last Roman emperor Theodosius the Great (347–395) in 395. At that time the Roman Empire was divided into two parts, East and West. Rome, the former capital of the Roman Empire, was located in the West Roman Empire, which came under repeated attacks from nomadic barbarian groups (wandering tribes noted for their brutality). Rome finally fell in 476, and the East Roman Empire survived as the Byzantine Empire. Much of the West Roman Empire was then absorbed into the Byzantine Empire.

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