FALL OF THE EMPIRE

hroughout its history of over 1000 years, the Byzantine Empire waxed and waned. It reached its greatest extent under Justinian I (r.527-565), and over the ensuing centuries the territory it controlled throughout the Mediterranean Sea fluctuated. By the middle of the 15th century, however, the empire had experienced centuries of decline, especially after the defeat of the Byzantines to the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1070.