476 - 1453 A.D.  > The Byzantine Empire 

600 - 1517 A.D. > The Islamic World

The Roman Empire was split into two empires in its last days, the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire. When Rome fell, part of the Eastern Empire became the Byzantine Empire and part of it gave way to the Islamic World. The Western Roman Empire eventually became France and Germany.

The Byzantine Empire was a Christian, Greek civilization that followed Classical values and the Orthodox Church with Greek as its official language. It developed the Justinian Code, monasticism, the pendentive in architecture, and mosaics as a major art form.

The Islamic World was an Arabic civilization immersed in agrarianism and commerce. Muslim contributions to science, mathematics, and medicine are noteworthy. Islamic religion, founded by Muhammad, influenced artistic developments such as calligraphy, mosaics, arabesques, and miniatures, as well as the establishment of the mosque as the dominant architectural structure. Figural paintings and sculptures were prohibited by the Koran.