Byzantine definition

<jargon, computer architecture> A term describing any system that has so many labyrinthine internal interconnections that it would be impossible to simplify by separation into loosely coupled or linked components.

The city of Byzantium, later renamed Constantinople and then Istanbul, and the Byzantine Empire were vitiated by a bureaucratic overelaboration bordering on lunacy: quadruple banked agencies, dozens or even scores of superfluous levels and officials with high flown titles unrelated to their actual function, if any.

Access to the Emperor and his council was controlled by powerful and inscrutable eunuchs and by rival sports factions.

[Edward Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"].

Of or pertaining to Byzantium.

A native or inhabitant of Byzantium, now Constantinople; sometimes, applied to an inhabitant of the modern city of Constantinople.

Alternative forms: Bizantine

Byzantine church, the Eastern or Greek church, as distinguished from the Western or Roman or Latin church. See Greek.

Byzantine empire, the Eastern Roman or Greek empire from A.D. 364 or A.D. 395 to the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, A.D. 1453. Byzantine historians, historians and writers (Zonaras, Procopius, etc) who lived in the Byzantine empire. Byzantine style, a style of architecture developed in the Byzantine empire.

Its leading forms are the round arch, the dome, the pillar, the circle, and the cross. The capitals of the pillars are the endless variety, and full of invention. The mosque of St. Sophia, Constantinople, and the church of St. Mark, Venice, are prominent examples of Byzantine architecture.