Their names were preceded by Imperator Caesar and followed by Augustus. The title of all Emperors preceding Heraclius was officially ' Augustus', although other titles such as Dominus were also used. In practice, according to the Hellenistic political system, the Byzantine emperor had been given total power through God to shape the state and its subjects, he was the last authority and legislator of the empire and all his work was in imitation of the sacred kingdom of God, also according to the Christian principles, he was the ultimate benefecator and protector of his people. The use of the title 'Roman Emperor' by those ruling from Constantinople was not contested until after the papal coronation of the Frankish Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor (25 December 800), done partly in response to the Byzantine coronation of Empress Irene, whose claim, as a woman, was not recognized by Pope Leo III.

Byzantine emperors considered themselves to be rightful Roman emperors in direct succession from Augustus the term 'Byzantine' was coined by Western historiography only in the 16th century. The Western Roman Empire continued until 476. Emperors listed below up to Theodosius I in 395 were sole or joint rulers of the entire Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire was the direct legal continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire following the division of the Roman Empire in 395. It was under Constantine that the major characteristics of what is considered the Byzantine state emerged: a Roman polity centered at Constantinople and culturally dominated by the Greek East, with Christianity as the state religion.

The following list starts with Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, who rebuilt the city of Byzantium as an imperial capital, Constantinople, and who was regarded by the later emperors as the model ruler.

Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors ( symbasileis) who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title. This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD.

Fourteen byzantine rulers