From a horse armor: With silver inlay decoration. From an ex-private NY collection. The Byzantine Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire in the East during the Middle Ages. Its capital city was Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul which had been founded as Byzantium) was home to Catholicism. It survived the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Dimensions: 34cm x 17cm. Ideal for any collection of Medieval Renaissance Gothic sword arms armor rapier armour 1500's 1600's "14th century" "Fifteenth century" "Sixteenth century" "17th century" "antiquities".