Anastasius reformed the coinage of the Eastern Empire in circa 498. The main bronze coin was a 40 nummi = follis represented by the large ' M '. His achievements in finance built a large coffer for his successors to spend in expanding the Empire. He died a very old man without naming a successor.

Justinian I was the brains behind his uncle's, Justin I rule. After Justinian became Emperor he was successful in defeating the Vandals in North Africa, the Goths in Italy and he gained a footing in Spain; once more, and for the last time the Mediterranean was a Roman lake. He built the great church of St. Sophia in Istanbul and his codification of Roman law drew on a legal system that evolved over many centuries. He bankrupted the Empire by the time he died. In the dark days that followed, the reign of Justinian was looked back upon as the Golden Age.

Maurice Tiberius grew up in the army and expanded the empire to the East. The Sassanian's had dynastic problems and he supported Khusru II in gaining the throne. Khusru made a breathtaking sweep from Armenia through Anatolia and Syria down to Egypt, finally fulfilling the old Sassanid dream of a Mediterranean empire - only briefly though. Heraclius (see below) counterattacked. There was a great defeat of the Sassanid army on the plains of northern Iraq in 627. Khusro II was murdered a year later.

Heraclius was perhaps the most impressive of the Emperors. He started his dynasty in time to save a disintegrating empire. The Persians were all over Asia Minor, occupying Syria to Egypt. They had robbed Jerusalem of the Holy Cross and moved it to Ctesiphon.

Heraclius bid his time and made his counter-offensive move in 622. Six years of fighting had regained much of the Empire of Maurice Tiberius. His return of the Holy Cross to Jerusalem brought great rejoicing and a victorious symbol to conclude the war. The end of his reign witnessed the first Muslim expansion and occupation as far west as Syria and Palestine. Despite the way it ended, Heraclius' rule changed the course of Byzantine history and laid the foundation of future greatness.

Basil I came to the position of power by murdering his weaker predecessor. He was great but the Arabs were more powerful and Syracuse finally fell in 878 AD. Constantine predeceases his father by 7 years and Basil dies from a hunting accident.

Leo VI was more of a philosopher than a soldier. He published the bases of the law to be practiced in the Empire called BASILICA. It took wife #4 to bear him a male heir. His divorces angered the Church so much, he was even banned from entering St. Sophia.

John I Tzimisces led his army to many victories in the East, all the way to Palestine, restoring lands lost for 300 years. He contracted typhoid and returned to Constantinople to die.

Romanus IV Diogenes had to defend Asia Minor from the Turks but he was taken prisoner in the battle of Mantzikert. He was deposed by his enemies in Constantinople and on his return in 1072, had his eyes pulled out and died soon after.

Alexius I Comnenus, John II's father, reformed the monetary system in 1092 and had all 3 metals struck into scyphate coins: the copper ratio to the gold started at 48 to 1. By the reign of Alexius III Angeli, a feeble ruler who fled the capital after a siege by the Fourth Christian Crusade, it's value fell to 184 - 1.

To all outward appearances, the Comneni rule brought back the glow of prosperity to the Empire but it was truly a surface glow that didn't hide the fact the state was in trouble. Ground-rents were levied in coin and there was heavy receipts from custom duties - the state coffers filled. However, this prosperity was marred by the deep shadows of official corruption and a total disregard of the Byzantine people. The old Byzantine army was demoralized and foreign mercenaries had replaced the native troops. In battles with the Seljuk Turks on the East, the Normans on the West and the Slavs, Bulgarians, and Finnic-Ugrian on the North the Byzantine troops fought bravely but took heavy losses. This period also marked the beginning of that great movement of the West towards the East: The Crusades.

The Empire consisted only of the fortified city of Constantinople. Like his father and grandfather, John VIII Palaeologus journeyed west trying to obtain aid for the beleaguered Christian city.