Byzantium – 1,000 years after Rome 🏛️

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]Rome fell in 476 AD, but the Byzantine Empire continued to live for another 1,000 years.

[00:00:08]While Western Europe plunged into the Dark Ages, Constantinople shone as the richest city in the world.

[00:00:15]They had walls so thick that they withstood 55 sieges throughout history.

[00:00:20]Different enemies tried to enter. None succeeded for centuries.

[00:00:24]They also had Greek fire, a liquid weapon that burned even in water.

[00:00:29]You threw water to extinguish it, and the fire intensified.

[00:00:33]And they also had a brilliant strategy.

[00:00:35]They paid enemies to fight for them.

[00:00:38]Vikings, Normans, mercenaries of all kinds served the emperor for gold.

[00:00:43]Byzantium only fell in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks after [music] a thousand years of resistance. An empire that began with Constantine and ended with Mehmed II. The end of an era that lasted longer than any other in European history.

[00:00:59]Did you know that the Eastern Roman Empire lasted a thousand years longer?

[00:01:04]Tag someone who loves ancient history.