Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The Byzantine Empire, sometimes referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in the East during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, originally founded as Byzantium). It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe." [Wikipedia]
"Constantinople quickly eclipsed Rome in wealth, population, and importance. For 1,000 years, under the Byzantine emperors, it was the intellectual, religious, and commercial hub of the Greek-speaking world, before falling in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks." [1001 Days]