Byzantium dates from approximately 330 C.E. and evolved from the older Roman Empire. Its relations with the Arab-Islamic world commenced in the first/seventh century and continued until the fall of Constantinople in 857/1453. During this period, the interactions between the two states had many military, economic, and cultural dimensions, which have been described in a variety of Arabic sources. In the Arab-Islamic sources, the Byzantines are referred to mostly as al-Rūm . The first reference to them is in the Qurʾān (30:1-5) in