Byzantine Empire Study Guide: 60 Flashcards from Constantine to the Recovery of 1261
Learn the Byzantine Empire with 60 real flashcards: Justinian, Heraclius, Basil II, Manzikert, 1204 and 1261, studied by dynasty, plus the cards to add.
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Deck CO0828 — Byzantine Empire gives you 60 cards on the Eastern Roman Empire, from Diocletian's Tetrarchy to Michael VIII retaking Constantinople in 1261. Before you start, it helps to know that the deck is built in two passes. Cards 1–20 give a quick overview of the whole millennium. Cards 21–60 then go through the same story again, in order and in much more detail. Use the first block as your map and the second as the territory.
Study this deck: Byzantine Empire
1 / 10What was the Byzantine Empire?
Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
Sample cards
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| What did Byzantine citizens call themselves? | Romans (Rhomaioi); "Byzantine" was coined after the empire fell |
| What was Constantine I's currency reform? | The gold solidus |
| What was the Nika Revolt of 532? | A riot Justinian crushed before rebuilding Hagia Sophia |
| What was the theme system? | Constans II's reorganisation tying troops to the defence of specific provinces |
| What was Greek fire? | The weapon that broke the Arab sieges of the 670s |
| Who was Basil II? | "The Bulgar-Slayer" (r. 976–1025), victor at Kleidion in 1014 |
| What was the Battle of Manzikert (1071)? | A Seljuk victory in which Romanos IV Diogenes was captured |
| What were the three Greek successor states after 1204? | Nicaea, Trebizond and Epirus |
What the 60 cards cover
Diocletian, Constantine I, Byzantium/"New Rome", Theodosius I, the Theodosian Walls, Adrianople (378), Attila, Odoacer and 476, Theodoric, Anastasius I and the chrysargyron, Justinian I, Belisarius, the Corpus Juris Civilis, the Plague of Justinian, Heraclius and Nineveh (627), the Arab conquests, Carthage (698), the First Bulgarian Empire, Leo III and the siege of 717–718, Iconoclasm, the Ecloga, Empress Irene, Charlemagne's crowning in 800, Basil I, Leo VI and the Basilika, Bari (1071), Alexios I and the First Crusade, John II, Manuel I and Myriokephalon, the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Fourth Crusade, the Latin Empire, John III Vatatzes, and a population of about 20 million in 565.
How to study it
Learn it by dynasty, not by card number. Card 2 repeats card 1, and several overview cards come back in more detail later: 16 returns as 36–37, 18 as 48–51, 19 as 54–55, and 20 as 58. Group the cards under seven headings: Constantinian, Theodosian, Justinianic, Heraclian, Isaurian, Macedonian and Komnenian, plus Nicaea as an epilogue. Then suspend whichever card in each pair adds less. Use cards 21–60 as your timeline and card 1 (330–1453) as the frame around it.
Add the two centuries the deck leaves out. After 1261, the only thing you get is the bare date of 1453 on card 2. Write four cards of your own: the 1054 Schism, the Ottoman capture of Bursa (1326), Mehmed II, and Constantine XI dying on the walls on 29 May 1453.
Tighten three cards. Card 4's "r. 324–337" covers only Constantine's years as sole ruler, since he was proclaimed emperor in 306. On card 7, the switch from Latin to Greek happened mainly under Heraclius in the 7th century, not right after Theodosius. Card 42 is garbled: later writers gave Basil I credit for what Michael III had achieved, so rewrite it that way.
Card 57 says Vatatzes ruled Nicaea. Nicaea becomes much easier to remember once you know Michael VIII started out as regent there for the boy-emperor John IV Laskaris.
Keep going
The final Byzantine part of Roman Emperors fills in the Palaiologan end. Ancient Rome: Republic & Empire covers everything before 476.
Find Byzantine Empire (code CO0828) in the Flip It library.
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