The Byzantines are seafaring and scientific. They start the game with Bronze Working and Alphabet and build the Dromon instead of the galley. The Byzantine Empire was first known as the eastern Roman empire, when Constantine I relocated the Roman capital from Rome to Constantinople and his successor Valentinian I made the division between Western and Eastern Empire official. When barbarians sacked Rome and defeated the western armies a century later, the Byzantine Empire was the final bulwark of Roman civilization to stand against the increasing pressure from European barbarians to the north and Persia in the east. Byzantine government was based largely on that of Rome, although unlike Roman emperors a Byzantine emperor was elected by a threefold vote of the senate, the people, and the army. To govern the empire, Byzantine emperors relied on a labyrinthine system of advisors, ministries, and offices -- hence the pejorative "Byzantine" today, used to describe overly hierarchical and intrigue-prone systems. The golden age of Byzantium began when Justinian I and his brilliant wife Theodora became emperor and empress. Under their rule, the Byzantine general Belisarius undertook a series of dramatic and successful campaigns against the barbarian kingdoms that had risen in the ruins of Rome. After earning imperial favor by ruthlessly quashing a popular revolt, Belisarius successfully fought the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Persians, and various tribes in North Africa. His enormous popularity eventually caused Justinian to fear him, and he was eventually stripped of his command. Byzantine military reform came mostly during the reign of Heraclius, the son of Africa's imperial governor. Arriving in Constantinople to restore order after a disastrous interregnum (marred by assassination, intrigue, and civil disorder), Heraclius placed tremendous power in the hands of the army. It was also during the reign of Heraclius that Greek fire, the medieval precursor to napalm, was invented, and used extensively by Byzantine ships called dromons in battle against Persian and barbarian ships. Heraclius also ordered the army to emulate the barbarian horse archers previously employed as mercenaries; the result was the cataphract, a heavily armored cavalryman who could fight with bow, sword, or lance.