Byzantium

"The Byzantine Empire actually became a manifest monument to the beneficence of Christian culture.  Throughout the Middle East, across North Africa, and deep into the heart of Europe, imperial stability and steadfastness had spawned a remarkable flowering of culture.  The legal system was just and efficient; government was limited and decentralized; trade was free and prosperous; families were stable and secure; perversity and corruption were suppressed while personal rights and civil liberties were enhanced.  Advancement in the sciences was unprecedented; art, music, and ideas flourished as in no other time in human history up to that point, and the literary output was bedazzling.  That was Byzantium."--quote from The Rise of Byzantium and the Fall of Rome (CD #4 in Vision Forum's History of the World A.D.) by Dr. George Grant