Nevertheless, it remained one of the most splendid churches of the Eastern Empire, where the Byzantine Emperors were crowned.

Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos, the fourth emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire in the 9th century AD, referred to Asia Minor as East thema, " ανατολικόν θέμα " ( from the Greek words anatoli: east, thema: administrative division ), placing this region to the East of Byzantium, while Europe was lying to the West.

The Aegean Sea was later invaded by the Persians and the Romans, and inhabited by the Byzantine Empire, the Bulgarians, the Venetians, the Genoeses, the Seljuq Turks, and the Ottoman Empire.

In the Byzantine Empire, Anatolikon called also Theme of the Anatolics ( ανατολικόν θέμα ) was a theme covering the western and central parts of Turkey's present-day Central Anatolian Region.

In the Byzantine Empire, Anatolikon called also Theme of the Anatolics ( ανατολικόν θέμα ) was a theme covering the western and central parts of Turkey's present-day Central Anatolian Region.

After the division of the Roman Empire, Anatolia became part of the East Roman, or Byzantine Empire.

Byzantine control was challenged by Arab raids starting in the 7th century ( see Byzantine – Arab Wars ), but in the 9th and 10th century a resurgent Byzantine Empire regained its lost territories and even expanded beyond its traditional borders, into Armenia and Syria ( ancient Aram ).

Control of Anatolia was then split between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm, with the Byzantine holdings gradually being reduced.

Alp Arslan led Seljuq Turks to victory against the Byzantine Empire | Byzantines in 1071.

In 1068, en route to Syria, Alp Arslan Oush invaded the Byzantine Empire.

While the Byzantine Empire was to continue for nearly another four centuries, and the Crusades would contest the issue for some time, the victory at Manzikert signalled the beginning of Turkish ascendancy in Anatolia.

* 527 – Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

Its great natural strength and situation, not far from the mouth of the Sis pass, and near the great road which debouched from the Cilician Gates, made Anazarbus play a considerable part in the struggles between the Byzantine Empire and the early Muslim invaders.

This is regarded by some historians as the real end of the Byzantine Empire.

Troy cannot have been Asagarth, Snorri realizes, the reason being that the Æsir in Asaland were unsettled by the military activities of the Romans ; that is, of the Byzantine Empire.

* 450 – Pulcheria becomes empress of the Byzantine Empire after her brother Theodosius II is killed during an hunting accident.

The " Rubens Vase " ( Byzantine Empire ).

* 1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.

Alexios used the opportunity of meeting the crusader leaders separately as they arrived and extracting from them oaths of homage and the promise to turn over conquered lands to the Byzantine Empire.

He presented himself to Robert Guiscard who used him as a pretext to launch his invasion of the Byzantine Empire.

* Michael Angold ( 1997 ), The Byzantine Empire, 1025 – 1204, Longman, 2nd ed., pp. 136 – 70.

* Michael Angold, The Byzantine Empire, 1025 – 1204: A Political History, second edition ( London and New York, 1997 )

* 1025 – Basil II, Byzantine Emperor ( b. 958 )

* Anna Dalassena, Byzantine regent ( b. 1025 )

Basil II (, Basileios II ; 958 – 15 December 1025 ) was a Byzantine Emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.

The Byzantine Empire at the death of Basil II in 1025

Constantine VIII (, Kōnstantinos VIII ) ( 960 – 11 November 1028 ) was reigning Byzantine Emperor from 15 December 1025 until his death.

* Angold, Michael, ( 1997 ) The Byzantine Empire 1025 – 1204, a political history, Longman, ( Second Edition )

* Michael Angold, The Byzantine empire 1025 – 1204 ( Longman, 2nd edition, 1997 ).

With the beginning of the Byzantine offensives in the East and the Balkans in the 10th century, especially under the warrior-emperors Nikephoros II ( r. 963 – 969 ), John I Tzimiskes ( r. 969 – 976 ) and Basil II ( r. 976 – 1025 ), newly gained territories were also incorporated into themes, although these were generally smaller than the original themes established in the 7th and 8th centuries.

* Michael Angold, The Byzantine empire 1025 – 1204 ( Longman, 2nd edition, 1997 ).

* Prosopography of the Byzantine World, an online database compiled from Byzantine sources from 1025 – 1150

The Byzantine expansion between 985 and 1025 AD provoked an influx of Maronites from the Orontes valley into the northern part of Mount Lebanon, in particular into the Kadisha gorge.

At the age of three, Bagrat was surrendered by his father as a hostage to the Byzantine emperor Basil II ( r. 976 – 1025 ) as a price for George ’ s defeat in the 1022 war with the Byzantines.

The seas of Italy were left to the local Byzantine forces and the various Italian states until after 1025, when Byzantium again actively intervened in southern Italy and Sicily.

Anna Dalassene (, 1025 – 1102 ) was an important Byzantine noblewoman who played a significant role in the rise of the Komnenoi in the eleventh century.

c. 980 – c. 1010 ) was a high-ranking Byzantine official and general during the reign of Emperor Basil II ( r. 976 – 1025 ).

The Byzantine emperor Basil II ( r. 976 – 1025 ).

Lavello was an important Byzantine center and a bishopric seat from 1025.

Category: Byzantine – Seljuq Wars

* 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard.

* 681 – Bulgaria is founded as a Khanate on the south bank of the Danube after defeating the Byzantine armies of Emperor Constantine IV south of the Danube delta.

* 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.

* 902 – Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabids army.

* 1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexius I.

* 636 – The Battle of Yarmouk between Byzantine and Rashidun Caliphate begins.

* 1018 – Byzantine general Eustathios Daphnomeles blinds and captures Ibatzes of Bulgaria by a ruse, thereby ending Bulgarian resistance against Emperor Basil II's conquest of Bulgaria.

* 1261 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is crowned Byzantine emperor in Constantinople.

* 986 – A Byzantine army is destroyed in the pass of the Gate of Trajan by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron.

* Alexander, Byzantine Emperor ( 912 – 913 )

* Alexander ( emperor ), Byzantine Emperor ( 912 – 913 )

Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus (, 1056 – 15 August 1118 — note that some sources list his date of birth as 1048 ), was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power.

John Doukas re-established Byzantine rule in Chios, Rhodes, Smyrna, Ephesus, Sardis, and Philadelphia in 1097 – 1099.

* Warren Treadgold ( 1997 ), A History of the Byzantine State and Society, Stanford Universwity Press, pp. 612 – 29.

* George Finlay ( 1854 ), History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires from 1057 – 1453, Volume 2, William Blackwood & Sons

Category: Byzantine people of the Byzantine – Seljuq Wars