This book is based on an in-depth conversation between Howard Burton and Maria Mavroudi, Professor of History at UC Berkeley. Maria Mavroudi specializes in the study of the Byzantine Empire and this wide-ranging conversation explores her extensive research on the Byzantine Empire and how it has repeatedly been undervalued by historians despite its having been a military and cultural powerhouse for more than a millennium.This carefully-edited book includes an introduction, Beyond the High-School Narrative, and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter:I. Becoming A Byzantinist - Inspiration and motivationII. Historical Background - Byzantine beginningsIII. The High-School Narrative - History as a cultural mirrorIV. Recovering Truth - A never-ending goalV. Building Knowledge - Standing on the shoulders of giantsVI. Annotated Discoveries - Leo the Mathematician, for exampleVII. A Translational Discovery - From Arabic to Greek, surprisinglyVIII. Arrows of Causality - Consequential greatnessIX. Decline - A matter of opinion?X. Extracting Meaning - Interpreting human experiencesXI. Ever-Moving Targets - Arab-Greek bilingualism and its implicationsAbout Ideas Roadshow Conversations Series: Presented in an accessible, conversational format, Ideas Roadshow books not only explore frontline academic research featuring world-leading researchers but also reveal the inspirations and personal journeys behind the research.