Byzantine emperors

This is a list of the emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known as the Byzantine Empire by modern historians. This list does not include numerous co-emperors who never attained sole or senior status as rulers.

This list begins with Constantine I the Great, the first Christian emperor reigning from Constantinople. Diocletian before him had ruled from Nicomedia and replaced the republican trappings of the office with a straightforward autocracy, marking the transition from the Principate to the more authoritarian Dominate. All Byzantine Emperors regarded themselves as Roman Emperors,, the term "Byzantine" being coined firstly by Western historiography much later, in the 16th century.

Although the Catholic West recognized the Eastern Empire's claim to the Roman legacy for several centuries, on 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned King of Franks Charlemagne as the Roman Emperor (which eventually led to the formation of the Holy Roman Empire) due to uneasy relations with the Orthodox East, an act which was much resented by the Byzantines. This happened after the coronation of Empress Irene, who, as a woman, was not recognised by the Pope of Rome to have a right to the throne.

The title of all Emperors listed preceding Heraclius was officially Augustus, although various other titles such as Dominus were used as well. For official purposes, their names were preceded by Imperator Caesar and followed by Augustus. Following Heraclius, the title commonly became the Greek Basileus (Gr. Βασιλεύς), which had formerly meant generally "king", "sovereign" but now was used in place of 'Imperator. Following the establishment of a rival Empire in Western Europe (the Holy Roman Empire), the title Autokrator (Gr. Αυτοκράτωρ) was also increasingly used. Foreign kings were now titled by the neologism Regas (Gr. Ρήγας, from the Lat. Rex) or by another generic term Archon (Gr. Άρχων, "ruler"). In the later centuries of the Empire, the emperor could be often referred to by Western Christians as the "Emperor of the Greeks," though they still considered themselves "Roman" Emperors. Towards the end of the Empire, they referred to themselves as "[Emperor's name] in Christ, true Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans."


 * For previous Emperors, see List of Roman emperors