hey also while I'm here. I think that while the term "Byzantine Empire" is super hot (Byzantium is an awesome name, that as far as we know was the first, or second, name for That City) it is sort of a distraction term to not call it the Eastern Roman Empire until 1453, since that is what... the people who lived there saw themselves as?
like i think it's one of those small things that contributes to the mythmaking of the Western Roman Empire being this "ancient, sacred" empire compared to the more Alien and Unknowable Eastern Empire but my armchair stance is no, that's stupid, the western empire was definitely weird and stupid in its own ways and the eastern empire was also very similar to the western in many ways that are not discussed enough.
there's sort of a big History Story that is told about europe right, that there was the Classical Period that led to the Roman Empire and they were Mighty and Good and then they Fell and that led to DARKNESS and the Pretender Byzantines acted as a False Inheritor to the Lineage and it's... it's just kind of dumb. It's not a particularly good reading of that (fascinating!!!) historical transition period.
the byzantines saw themselves as the Eastern Roman Empire because... they were... the Eastern Roman Empire. they changed over the MILLENIUM of their existence but like... so did the Western Roman Empire in its time! One of the biggest most significant changes of the Western Roman Empire was the CREATION of the Eastern Roman Empire.
so yes my extremely pedantic annoyance is that it really should just be called the Eastern Roman Empire, and even that slight reframing creates such a more fascinating history of the region and of the Roman Empire!! a relatively continuous lineage from ~700 BC to 1453 CE!!! that's ridiculous. ok i'm done