"Andros Odyssey: Byzantine Kalivarion" introduces you to the Psellus family from Andros. The family is entangled in an 8th century east-west religious struggle between the idol-bashing supporters of Judaism and Islam and the art-loving Greeks and Romans. Part of the Psellus family is exiled to Cappadocia, as part of an imperial program to unify and defend the Byzantine Empire. The exiles establish Kalivarion, a Cappadocian colony. The families survive four centuries (700-1100 AD) of Byzantine turmoil and struggle. One of them, historian and politician Michael Psellus left behind an Empire in ruins and his famous history of that period. The family changes their name to Megas to avoid humiliation and becomes intertwined with the Stravolemis family, after the liberation of a bastard slave from Crete.
During recent centuries, Byzantium had an undeservingly critical view by western authors. It was only lately, that light has been shed on how important Byzantine culture was in the development of our Western civilization.
Our knowledge of Greek and Roman literature and law, we owe to the Byzantines. Western renaissance was based on Byzantine art and music."