Called also the Eastern, the Lower, or the Greek Empire; dates from 395 A.D., when, by the death of Theodosius, the Roman empire was divided between his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, the Eastern section falling to the share of the former, who established the seat of his government at Byzantium; the empire included Syria, Asia Minor, Pontus, Egypt in Africa, and Ancient Greece, and it lasted with varied fortune for ten centuries after the accession of Arcadius, till Constantinople was taken by the Turks in 1453.