The modern Western world could not have existed without the Byzantine Empire, which influenced the Muslim world and Western Europe throughout the Middle Ages.
The influence waxed and waned with the empire’s fate and its many enemies, but remained a constant factor.
The grandeur of Constantinople was reflected in the imperial court, the diplomatic service and bureaucracy, the ceremony of coronation (copied by western monarchs, first by the German emperors), the legal system and adequate administration, and the deeply rooted culture that sprang from ancient, Christian, Jewish, and later Islamic sources.
The imperial identity was strengthened by a linguistic continuity that linked medieval scholars back to Greek culture, and encouraged them to preserve ancient texts.
Byzantium combined the ancient heritage with the Christian belief. The inheritance of Roman technology and engineering skills ensured the construction of aqueducts, fortifications, roads, bridges, and other large-scale projects, surpassing the accomplishments of architects in Rome.
The St. Sophia from the sixth century is the largest dome ever built until the construction of the St. Peter a thousand years later. The Roman legal system and military tradition were eagerly adopted.
Although Byzantium controlled a much smaller empire than Rome at its height, it developed new political and cultural forms. It halted Muslim expansion in 678, allowing the fragmented western European sovereignties to build their own strengths.
Western Europe was hopelessly fragmented, politically and linguistically, and the Pope was not in a position to unite the Christian world.
Byzantium is still everywhere, in museums, churches, cellars, books and many other works of art and (public) buildings in Russia, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Germany, England, Ireland and other countries.
Byzantium played a crucial role between the East and the West for many centuries, and the current accession talks with Turkey might be viewed in this light.
Source: J. Herrin, Byzantium. The Surprising life of a Medieval Empire (London 2007).