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During the Middle Ages, the imperial capital of Constantinople
was at the height of its grandeur. Its sphere of influence
embraced Kievan Rus’ (a state that took in parts of
modern Ukraine, Belarus, and western Russia), Bulgaria, Georgia,
Armenia, Syria, the Holy Land, Egypt, Cyprus, Norman Sicily,
and southern Italy. With the spread of Islam, Byzantium developed
regular contact with the Islamic caliphates
and Christians living in Islamic states. The multiethnic culture
of Byzantium not only influenced the arts of other nations
but also absorbed for its own use elements from the Latin
West and the Islamic Near East.
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