The Byzantine Greeks or Byzantines were the medieval Greek or Hellenised citizens of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire), centered mainly in Constantinople, the southern Balkans, the Greek islands, Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Cyprus and the large urban centres of the Levant and northern Egypt. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Byzantine Greeks self-identified as Rhōmaîoi (Greek: , "Romans") and Graikoí (Γραικοί, "Greeks"), but are referred to as "Byzantines" and "Byzantine Greeks" in modern historiography. The terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Byzantine Greeks" were first coined in the English language by British historian George Finlay.