Try to imagine a world in which the Byzantine Empire had never existed. In this other world, the Roman Empire came to a complete end with the fall of Rome in 476 CE.
How would this world be unlike our own? Would the United States be a democracy? Would we have paintings and sculptures created by the great artists of Europe, or the science and technology that we use in our modern lives? Maybe not. The Byzantine Empire helped preserve much of the ancient knowledge that went on to shape our modern world. From portrait painting to surgery, we can thank Byzantine scholars for much of our progress today.
