[SES1066]

... Byzantium was a civilization, with deep roots in antiquity but bequeathing little to the future ...

Ah, but what about its accomplishments before its demise? From the 600s to the 1400s, it was a bulwark against a surging Islam. In N.Africa, the green flag swept all of the way to the Pyrenees and into France and in the east it took out the Persian Sasanian Empire which extended Islam rule to the Indus River. Yet to the North, Byzantium withstood multiple onslaughts for 700 years. In fact the Ottomans did not get into Europe until the last years of the 1300s.

This was more, far more than nothing!

[Rockingham]

Quite true. My understatement was meant to draw attention to what the Byzantines left us.

[Mrs. Don-o]

The Eastern Empire lasted a full 1,000 longer than the Western Empire. In fact, for most of its existence it was "The" Roman Empire. The Muslims called the Byzantines "Rom" ("Rome") and the far less-civilized Westerners "Franks."

Just typing those words reminds me of how abysmally ignorant I am about the East and its tangled glory. It was in so many ways a bulwark for Faith in Christ Our Lord.