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Question: What were the various borders of the ancient The Byzantine Empire!?
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The Byzantine Empire could be described as the glowing red ember of the Roman Empire!. While it did very well for itself comparatively, it never regained the glory of the world of antiquity!.

In the beginning, the Eastern Roman Empire controlled all the lands east of Italy and east of Carthage!. That included Egypt, Greece, Asia Minor, and the coast of the mediterranean!. In the 6th century A!.D, an ambitious and idealistic emperor named Justinian I embarked on a quest to reunited the Roman Empire under a single banner!. Using his brilliant generals Belisarius and Narses, he was able to conquer Africa and Italy!. But such victories were Pyrrhic and soon lost!. In the 8th century, Islam flowered, and the Byzantine territories in Africa, Egypt, and the middle east, which had long suffered under the oppression of the Byzantines, welcomed the new, tolerating Muslims!. Furthermore, Slavic migrations into the Balkans deprived the Byzantine Empire of almost all of its western territories except for a few Greek city-states and Constantinople itself!. The Byzantine Empire's luck turned around in the 11th and 12th century, and it was able to drive the muslims out of Asia minor and it experienced a renaissance of sorts!. However, Repeated invasions by the Turks sapped the Byzantines of strength, and the disastrous and traitorous 4th crusade completely disrupted the Empire, and it was only after a great deal of energy that the Byzantine Emperor was able to reconquer Constantinople, but by this time, the Byzantine Empire was little more than a city state centered around Constantinople!. The Turks were already pushing into the Balkans by the time they rolled their bombards at the walls of Constantinople, and in 1453, the Last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XI, was last seen charging with his soldiers into the breech in the wall!.

This is the Byzantine Empire around the time of the fall of the Western Roman Empire
http://upload!.wikimedia!.org/wikipedia/en!.!.!.

Under Justinian I, the Byzantine Empire reached its greatest territorial extent
http://upload!.wikimedia!.org/wikipedia/co!.!.!.

by the 9th century, much of the Byzantine lands were already lost
http://upload!.wikimedia!.org/wikipedia/en!.!.!.

This is the Byzantine Empire at its mightiest, in the 11th century
http://upload!.wikimedia!.org/wikipedia/en!.!.!.

After the 4th crusade, the Empire's territories, which it went to great lengths to recover
http://upload!.wikimedia!.org/wikipedia/en!.!.!.

And finally, the Byzantine Empire on the eve of its conquest
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Image:Easte!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

This site combines 3 maps, wisely chosen because the first shows the greatest extent, the 2nd shows the Byz!. empire at the height of her power (around 1000 ad), the last shows 1360, just 73 years before the fall!.
http://www!.crystalinks!.com/byzantine!.htm!.!.!.

Here's another map of the Byzantine empire during the time of the Crusades (1204), when Crusaders took over Constantinople, and the Byzantine capital was temporarily shifted to Nicea!.
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Image:Latin!.!.!.

Then the Niceans recaptured Constantinople in 1261, the Paleologus family ruled until the fall in 1453!.
http://www!.allempires!.com/article/index!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com