Romanity, Or Barbarity?

Years ago, anything related to the Byzantine arts or the Byzantine civilization was something to be scorned.  Naturally, this view is being re-examined nowadays. The disdain, the contempt and the sarcasm towards anything that pertains to Byzantium, or the use of certain terms with a negative inference are not unrelated to the attempts by Western Europeans to marginalize the Roman Empire - which in our time is labelled “Byzantium” - as well as to their efforts to dignify themselves, by regarding that they are the true successors of the great and illustrious Roman Empire.