457 Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
474 Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
527 Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.
533 General Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire defeats Gelimer and the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimium, near Carthage, North Africa.
533 Byzantine general Belisarius makes his formal entry into Carthage, having conquered it from the Vandals.
533 Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron.
535 Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.
536 Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city, returning the old capital to its empire.
610 Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas and becomes Emperor.
627 Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.
636 Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of Syria and Palestine away from the Byzantine Empire, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.
681 Bulgaria is founded as a Khanate on the south bank of the Danube after defeating the Byzantine armies of Emperor Constantine IV south of the Danube delta.
811 Battle of Pliska: Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus I is killed and his heir Stauracius is seriously wounded.
863 Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid.
917 Battle of Acheloos: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria decisively defeats a Byzantine army.
969 Byzantine troops occupy Antioch Syria
994 Major Fatimid victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of the Orontes.
1041 Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adopted son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V.
1055 Theodora is crowned Empress of the Byzantine Empire.
1071 Bari falls to Robert Guiscard, ending Byzantine rule in Italy.
1081 The Normans defeat the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Dyrrhachium.
1180 Manuel I Komnenos, last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration dies. The Byzantine Empire slips into terminal decline.
1185 Isaac II Angelus kills Stephanus Hagiochristophorites and then appeals to the people, resulting in the revolt that deposes Andronicus I Comnenus and places Isaac on the throne of the Byzantine Empire.
1261 The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.
1302 Battle of Bapheus: decisive Ottoman victory over the Byzantines opening up Bithynia for Turkish conquest.
1345 The ''megas doux'' Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire, is lynched by political prisoners.
1453 The last naval battle in Byzantine history occurs, as three Genoese galleys escorting a Byzantine transport fight their way through the huge Ottoman blockade fleet and into the Golden Horn.
1453 Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire. Although the date of May 29, 1453 is that of the Julian Calendar, the event is commemorated in Istanbul on this day of the present Gregorian calendar.
1461 The Empire of Trebizond surrenders to the forces of Sultan Mehmet II. This is regarded by some historians as the real end of the Byzantine Empire. Emperor David is exiled and later murdered.