Byzantine Empire Imperium Graecorum or Imperium Romanum??

[Watchman]

AFAIK the Byzantines themselves considered themselves as "Romans". Their varyingly hostile Middle Eastern neighbours did the same, if only out of habit. Conversely the Western Christians ("Latins" as far as the Byzantines were concerned) regarded them as "Greeks"...

Well, pretty much everyone liked to claim himself the True Heir of Rome. How much such varying pretensions now really mattered (outside official propagandas of course) is another question.

[Kralizec]

Well, pretty much everyone liked to claim himself the True Heir of Rome. How much such varying pretensions now really mattered (outside official propagandas of course) is another question.

Yet, the Byzantine claim is by far the best of them.

The state itself was very much Roman, but it evolved over the years, eventually ditching Latin as the official language in favour of Greek, wich is what the vast majority of the population had as first (and often only) language anyway.

[Orb]

I refer to them as 'Roman empire', usually, though I think that's just because I like Psellos.

[Wolfshart]

AFAIK the Byzantines themselves considered themselves as "Romans". Their varyingly hostile Middle Eastern neighbours did the same, if only out of habit. Conversely the Western Christians ("Latins" as far as the Byzantines were concerned) regarded them as "Greeks"...

Well, pretty much everyone liked to claim himself the True Heir of Rome. How much such varying pretensions now really mattered (outside official propagandas of course) is another question.

Exactly. The Holy Roman Empire for one....hell even Hitler used the Roman Empire in many of his propaganda campaigns. Seems the Romans had a major inpact on the Germanic peoples....