It's worth noting that the term Byzantine was invented in late 16th century, way after the empire collapsed. Between 330-1453 AD, it was called the Roman Empir

It's worth noting that the term Byzantine was invented in late 16th century, way after the empire collapsed. Between 330-1453 AD, it was called the Roman Empire. To this day, the Greek ethnic minority living in Istanbul call themselves Rum, meaning Roman. After the Ottomans invaded Istanbul, they claimed themselves as the legitimate successors to the Roman Empire. Those in Western Europe weren't too happy. So they coined the term Byzantine to discredit the Roman Empire's legitimacy. Byzantine was the name given to Istanbul prior to the Roman Empire, in 657 BC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantium If you ask some Rums living in Istanbul today, it was a big PR campaign to discredit the Roman Empire's legacy post 330 AD. It worked nicely.