Should the Byzantines be considered Romans?

[Phaichtos]

That is an interesting concept that I'd never heard of. Of course the name comes from the old name for the capital city, "?????????," which is how it was indeed referred to when it was a small and relatively insignificant settlement, before Constantine took it over as the "New Rome" and made it the main capital of the eastern empire until 1453. So I can see the point of having used the earlier name as a sort of diminutive, or even outright smack in the face. But then I have nothing with which to back up that statement.