Tales of Avalon

Byzantine Empire

Capital: Constantinople

Government: Hereditary Monarchy.

Population: 8,828,940

Religions: Christianity (61%), Polytheism (15%), Judaism (13%), Islam (5%), Zoroastrianism (4%), Other (1%)

Allies: The Crusader States

Enemies: Egyptian Empire and the Abbasid Sultanate

Neutral: Persian Empire

History: One of the Oldest Empires, it dates back to the Bronze Age, with parts of it belonging to the Greek City States as well as Minoa. Anatolia was fought over by both the Greeks and the Persians during the Greco-Persian Wars, eventually falling into Greecian hands under Alexander the Great. After Alexander’s death, his Empire split into several different Kingdoms before being conquered by the Romans in 509 BCE. It remained under Roman Control until the Roman Empire was divided into East and West in 330 CE. The Empire was reorganized and renamed the Byzantine Empire around 400 CE. It began to weaken in the 6th Century CE, and began losing territory to the Egyptian Empire beginning in 610 CE. In 1096 CE, the Byzantines called up the Papal States to call for a Crusade against the Egyptians, falsifying evidence that they were preventing pilgrimages to Jerusalem.  The Crusaders began to reclaim some of the territory lost to the Egyptians, but they failed to surrender the lands back to the Byzantines. The Byzantines called for subsequent Crusades in 1145 CE, 1189 CE, 1202 CE, 1213 CE, 1228 CE,  1248 CE, and 1271 CE. These Crusades had little to no effect and none of the holdings remaining in permanent Crusader control.  The Byzantine Empire continued to shrink, being invaded by the Abbasid Sultanate in 1204 CE. When the Mongols invaded in the 1240’s CE, the Byzantines had shrunk further. They were eventually invaded and conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 CE.