By the eighth century, the intricate Conglomerate had survived nearly everything the world could throw at it — Persian irruptions, Arab vanquishing, civil wars, and pestilences. It had lost half its home, but not its soul. The conglomerate that now stood was slender, harder, and unmistakably Greek. Its capital, Constantinople, was still the richest and most sophisticated megacity on Earth. Its scholars still spoke the language of Plato, its churches still glistered with gold mosaics, and its emperors still claimed to rule “ by the grace of God. ” But the coming many centuries