Just as they valued the law, the Byzantines prized education. As a result, many masterpieces of ancient Greek literature survived to influence the intellectual life of the modern world. Among members of the large reading public, history was a favorite subject. The most remarkable Byzantine historian was Procopius (ca. 500–ca. 562), who wrote the Secret History, a vicious and uproarious attack on Justinian and his wife, the empress Theodora. (See “Individuals in Society: Theodora of Constantinople.”)

Although the Byzantines discovered little that was new in mathematics and geometry, they made advances in military applications. For example, they invented an explosive liquid that came to be known as “Greek fire.” The liquid was heated and propelled by a pump through a bronze tube, and as the jet left the tube, it was ignited — somewhat like a modern flamethrower.

The Byzantines devoted a great deal of attention to medicine, and their general level of medical competence was far higher than that of western Europeans. Yet their physicians could not cope with the terrible disease, often called “the Justinian plague,” that swept through the Byzantine Empire and parts of western Europe between 542 and 560. Probably originating in northwestern India and carried to the Mediterranean region by ships, the disease was similar to the bubonic plague. The epidemic had profound political as well as social consequences. It weakened Justinian’s military resources, thus hampering his efforts to restore unity to the Mediterranean world.