Practice question · True or false
The term "Byzantine" was used by the empire’s own inhabitants to distinguish themselves from the Romans of the West.
Hints
- Ask what these people wrote on their coins and in their diplomatic correspondence.
- The word was coined by a scholar in 1557, long after the state had ended.
Show the answer
False
Why
False. They called themselves Rhomaioi, Romans, and their state the Roman empire. Hieronymus Wolf introduced "Byzantine" in 1557, and the label caught on partly because it let western Europe treat the Holy Roman Empire as Rome’s real successor.
Practise Byzantium: the Empire That Kept the Name
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