The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 124 "Byzantium: The Empire That Refused To Die"

About this episode

This episode explores the survival of Byzantium after the pivotal victory of Leo III over the Umayyad forces.

In this episode we turn east to consider Byzantium. We last spoke about the eastern Romans, or the Byzantines, in episode 113 when I described the emperor Leo III’s victory in the winter of 717/718 over an immense Umayyad army and navy intent on taking Constantinople. This was a pivotal moment in history. Few people at the time would have expected Byzantium to survive. But it did. And the Umayyad Caliphate’s advance into Europe was blocked. But before we move on to the rest of Leo’s rei...

People in this episode

Host: Nick Holmes

Topics covered

• Byzantium
• Roman Empire
• Leo III
• Umayyad Caliphate
• history
• survival

Keywords

• Byzantium
• Roman Empire
• Leo III
• Umayyad Caliphate
• Constantinople
• history
• survival

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Umayyad Caliphate

Places: Byzantium, Constantinople

More episodes of The Fall Of The Roman Empire

• The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 130 "The Rise and Fall of Byzantium" · February 14, 2026 · 31 min
• The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 129 "Byzantium: The Slow Road to Recovery" · January 31, 2026 · 26 min
• The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 128 "The Abbasids: Golden Age or Age of Collapse?" · January 17, 2026 · 25 min
• The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 127 "The Rise and Fall of the Umayyads" · January 3, 2026 · 24 min
• The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 126 "Eirene: The Monstrous Empress of Byzantium?" · December 20, 2025 · 25 min
• The Fall of the Roman Empire Episode 125 "The Forgotten Heroes of Byzantium" · December 6, 2025 · 24 min