Most of the time when I see a history of philosophy book, they almost always go from Roman philosophers to Augustine (technically Roman, but usually lumped into the Medieval era with Aquinas) and Aquinas, and then on to maybe Machiavelli and onto the Enlightenment. Rarely are Islamic, Byzantine, or any non-western European philosophers mentioned. Anyway, my question is who were the great philosophers in the Medieval Byzantine Empire, and if there weren't any, then why?
my question is who were the great philosophers in the Medieval Byzantine Empire
See [2] for comprehensive take on state of philosophy in Byzantine Empire.
See [3] - it explains why and how Byzantine's philosopher were virtually ignored in western studies until late 20^th century.
I'd nominate these 3 three in addition to /u/Ambarenya list:
Διονύσιος ὁ Ἀρεοπαγίτης ([Pseudo-]Dionisius the Areopagite) - see [1] - most definitely a philosopher, with radically different take (vs modern western approach) on many issues
Λέων ὁ Φιλόσοφος (Leo the Philosophos)
Λέων ΣΤ΄ ὁ Σοφός (Leo VI the Philosopher) - although that Leo might be of questionable quality as a true philosopher, despite his name.
Quote from [1]
All of this looks so alien to the spirit of modern philosophy that we may well ask if there is anything really philosophical in Dionysius' practice? The answer has to be affirmative
Sources