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Countries in the Byzantine Empire

Can you name the modern-day countries who were part of the Byzantine Empire at its peak in 555 A.D.? Not counting vassal states
I used this map
UK is given to you since Gibraltar was part of it
Some of these countries, especially in the West, were held only briefly
Quiz by OskarRB
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Last updated: November 22, 2019
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First submittedMarch 22, 2019
Times taken48,466
Average score83.8%
Rating4.87
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Percent
Country
100%
Albania
~10%
Algeria
~1%
Austria
100%
Bosnia and Herzegovina
100%
Bulgaria
~65%
Croatia
100%
Cyprus
~60%
Egypt
~8%
France
~5%
Georgia
100%
Greece
100%
Israel
~95%
Italy
Percent
Country
~40%
Jordan
100%
Kosovo
100%
Lebanon
~20%
Libya
100%
Liechtenstein
100%
Malta
100%
Monaco
100%
Montenegro
~15%
Morocco
100%
North Macedonia
~10%
Portugal
~20%
Romania
Percent
Country
~1%
Russia
100%
San Marino
~2%
Saudi Arabia
~80%
Serbia
~25%
Slovenia
~30%
Spain
~15%
Switzerland
~50%
Syria
~85%
Tunisia
~85%
Turkey
~1%
Ukraine
~1%
United Kingdom
100%
Vatican City
+3
Level ∞
Jun 16, 2019
If you're interested in this period of history, Count Belisarius by Robert Graves is a good read.
+2
Level 68
Feb 25, 2022
Or read Procopius. It is a first hand account of this time period written by one of the last great classical historians. It is still relatively readable today, at least in parts.

It has a really interesting history, in that Procopius wrote several official books covering this time period, then sat down and wrote what he claimed was the true history, containing all the events and truths he was forced to leave out.

In this history, Procopius goes back and forth between covering the history of the rule of Justinian in great detail, including firsthand accounts of various events in Justinian's conquests, and slandering Justinian, Belisarus and anyone related to Justinian as much as possible. As per the Secret History Justinian was actually some tyrannical demonspawn with the face of a long dead emperor, and uses dark powers, revealed by his tendency to literally have his head vanish and reappear at random with nothing wrong.

+8
Level 76
Jun 16, 2019
UK should be included because of both Gibraltar and the territories on Cyprus.
+4
Level 65
Aug 1, 2019
have you not seen, it is allready there, in the caveat, and in the places you give the answers
+25
Level 76
Aug 4, 2019
It wasn't when I posted my comment.
+1
Level 82
Dec 5, 2021
Neither of which are part of the UK.
+7
Level 55
Feb 26, 2022
Gibralter is
+1
Level 64
Mar 7, 2022
No it isn't.
+4
Level 43
Jan 24, 2023
Yes it is. Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory you can see it at: https://www.gov.uk/world/gibraltar/news#:~:text=Gibraltar%20is%20a%20British%20Overseas,external%20affairs
+5
Level 77
Jun 16, 2019
Way easy. Too much time?
+26
Level 65
Aug 1, 2019
Either you are bragging and exagerating or time have been changed. Cause i typed countries back to back without pause and am not a slow typer (on laptop anyway, tablet slows things down) and was tight in time.. Missed a few ( conviced I had allready typed croatia, but portugal had slipped my mind and malta and cyprus hadnt come up yet either) but not time to figure out which country I hadnt typed yet. (But atleast 4 of which I had tried werent on, so maybe if I had typed the right countries the time would ve been less tight)
+20
Level 61
Aug 10, 2019
You're not as awesome as Sillie.
+9
Level 88
Nov 23, 2019
Few people are as awesome as Sillie..
+4
Level 77
Nov 27, 2019
Wasn't just thinking of my own score. Also about the total score of people. Right now the least guessed country is still 72%, not way low. Of course it depends on how hard they want the quiz to be.
+4
Level 77
Jun 17, 2019
I'm surprised that although both Austria and Switzerland are included, Liechtenstein isn't.
+5
Level 78
Jun 17, 2019
Only small parts of both are included. Greetings from Pater to Cardinal!
+2
Level 60
Feb 26, 2022
Liechtenstein's included now.
+3
Level 68
Aug 1, 2019
Great Quiz Oskar ;)
+6
Level 57
Aug 1, 2019
Nice quiz, but where are Monaco and Lichtenstein?
+3
Level 65
Aug 1, 2019
Also, San Marino seems to be missing. (otherwise great quiz. I almost forgot Tunisia)
+4
Level 47
Aug 1, 2019
Will be fixed as soon as I get home from vacation
+4
Level ∞
Aug 3, 2019
Hey @OskarRB. This one's going to have to wait. I don't want to reset the stats two days after the quiz was featured.
+1
Level 53
Sep 7, 2022
San Marino probably should NOT be included. If you read the criteria strictly and not include vassal states. San Marino is the world's longest standing republic and independent state, having been established in AD 301 from Roman Empire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino) So either that's wrong or you have to change the criteria and exclude dependencies and vassal states... from my very limited understanding San Marino retained independence during this stage of its history (including self-governance, tax collection, military, etc).
+3
Level 46
Dec 18, 2019
Are you sure Liechtenstein is in here ?

I don't know if you used other materials but in the map you linked, there is no way liechtenstein can be included (just look on a map how far north Liechtenstein is compared to Milan and how close to the border Mediolanum is on the map).

Even Switzerland could be considered a stretch because the map is probably an approximation of the real borders at that time and I don't think those parts of switzerland ever considered themselves to be part of the byzantine empire. Not to mention northern Italy stayed byzantine for less than 20 years.

+1
Level 60
Feb 26, 2022
Monaco is on the southern border of France, just west of Italy. Liechtenstein is between Switzerland to the west and Austria to the east.
+1
Level 74
Aug 1, 2019
Great quiz!! I got all but four first try
+3
Level 47
Aug 1, 2019
I missed Austria, Slovenia, and BULGARIA on my first try XD
+2
Level 28
Aug 12, 2019
I missed *TURKEY!* I feel stupid!
+1
Level 65
Aug 14, 2019
If I'd get a dollar for every time I forget Turkey in these quizzes...
+1
Level 59
Nov 21, 2019
Sooo, when's the Monaco thing getting fixed?
+1
Level 47
Nov 21, 2019
Oh shoot, I think I only saved the quiz at the time without resubmitting it ;)
+2
Level 79
Nov 21, 2019
Under the title, it says the UK is given to you but this doesn't seem to be the case.
+3
Level 47
Nov 22, 2019
It used to be given but I think something happened 🤔
+1
Level 95
Nov 22, 2019
San Marino was already independent back then, it was just smaller than today, therefore it has to be included, but not 100%.
+11
Level 76
Nov 23, 2019
"smaller than today" - What is this? A country for ants?
+1
Level 60
Aug 27, 2021
Bacteria
+5
Level 76
Jun 26, 2020
In the map cited as source, Liechtenstein is clearly not in the Byzantine empire. This is obvious if you use the Rhine river as reference.
+1
Level 51
Jan 11, 2021
Anyone else notice that the Byzantine Empire had a lot of the same countries as the Ottoman Empire?
+2
Level 79
Mar 20, 2021
Gibraltar in the caveat (thanks for including it!) should be capitalised.
+1
Level 59
Aug 7, 2021
Im pretty sure Andorra was part of the Roman Empire
+1
Level 68
Feb 25, 2022
Yes, but not the Byzantine Empire. In Iberia, the ERE basically only controlled Andalusia and the Balaeric Islands at its peak extent. The invasion of Spain was basically an afterthought in Justinian's plans, the result of seeing that the Visigoths were in a succession crisis, and that was as good an excuse as any to carve away a chunk of the visigothic kingdom in Spain. The Byzantines never really made it far into Iberia and were never anywhere near the Pyrennes, as their invasion quickly got bogged down, and they decided that the only part of Spain worth keeping was a buffer against the Visigoths for their African territories, along with the Balearics which were added in a previous war. They were never in Andorra.
+3
Level 58
Feb 25, 2022
According to the map you used, Liechtenstein never was part of Byzantium and neither was Austria.

The map clearly shows the River Rhine and the bow it makes near the Swiss city of Chur. The Byzantine "border" goes South of that in the map, Liechtenstein lies North of that point.

Cheers,

Ch.

+1
Level 46
Feb 25, 2022
I totally agree with you. Even without the map, the territories annexed by Byzantium in the West under Justinian - apart from North Africa and Southern Spain and Portugal - were present Italy in its then-boundaries (so including San Marino and Vatican, Corse and some areas of the current swiss Canton Ticino). Austria or Liechtenstein were inhabited by German tribes and would have been annexed by the Frankish kingdom few years later.

I apologize for any mistakes in English, which is not my mother tongue ;)

+1
Level 38
Feb 25, 2022
Damn it Kosovo