ABSTRACT
It is uncontroversial that during much of the period 829 to 1204, the Late East Roman Empire, which we diminish with Du Cange's irresistibly convenient label "Byzantine", was a very successful administrative structure. The empire's greatest source of strength was its persistent ability to enlist religious devotion in its constant struggle for survival. The emperor not only provided the armies that defended the church that provided the gateway to salvation, but he also headed that church. Constantine's choice of a site for his new Rome was altogether too perspicacious from the viewpoint of modern archaeologists: the place never fell from favor to become a desolation which could be dug up at will. Religion pervaded the life of the court but so did a pagan culture that remained vibrant and creative if much less visible to us.
