Eastern Roman Empire

State · 395–632 CE · at its largest around 561 CE

The Roman Empire living on in the east, with Constantinople as its Christian capital. Justinian codified Roman law, built the Hagia Sophia and tried to win back the West, while Greek learning, silk weaving and the mosaics of Ravenna marked the age.

On its lands while it lasted

Statue of Zeus at Olympia (c. 435 BCE – c. 425 CE): Giant gold-and-ivory seated statue of Zeus by Phidias in his temple at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; lost in the fifth century CE.
Palmyra (c. 261–1929 CE): Capital of Palmyrene Empire (261–269).
Augustine of Hippo (354 CE – 430 CE): Theologian and bishop of Hippo Regius in Roman North Africa whose works, including the Confessions and The City of God, shaped Western Christianity.
Hypatia (c. 360 CE – 415 CE): A Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer and mathematician in Alexandria, she was killed by a Christian mob in 415 during political strife in the city.
Migration of the Visigoths (376–418 CE): Goths fleeing the Huns crossed the Danube into the Roman Empire in 376, defeated the Romans at Adrianople in 378, and under Alaric sacked Rome in 410, before settling in Aquitaine in 418.
Ravenna (c. 395 CE): Capital of Western Roman Empire (395–476), Ostrogothic Kingdom (500–553).
Sack of Rome (410) (410 CE): The Visigoths under Alaric sacked Rome, the first time in eight centuries that the city had fallen to a foreign enemy.
Venice (c. 421 CE): Traditionally founded in 421, Venice grew on lagoon islands into a maritime republic that dominated trade between Europe and the East.
Lyon (c. 443 CE): Capital of Burgundian Kingdom (443–534).
Fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 CE): The Germanic general Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman emperor, at Ravenna, a date conventionally marking the end of the Western Empire.
Justinian I (482 CE – 565 CE): Byzantine emperor who reconquered Italy and North Africa, codified Roman law and built the Hagia Sophia.
Arabic script (512 CE): Arabic writing grew out of the Nabataean alphabet; the Zabad inscription of 512 is among its earliest dated examples, and with the Quran the script spread from Spain to Indonesia.
Hagia Sophia (537 CE): Great church of Constantinople built under Justinian I, whose vast dome made it the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years.
Plague of Justinian (541–549 CE): First recorded outbreak of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean world; it struck Constantinople in 542 and killed a large share of the population.
The Hijra (622 CE): Muhammad and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina, where he established the first Muslim community; the year marks the start of the Islamic calendar.