Greek and Roman civilizations set the foundations for art, literature, and architecture for many civilizations to come, including the Byzantine Empire. To clarify, the Byzantine Empire was the remnants of the Roman Empire, which fell due to invasions from Germanic tribes from the north, who were pushed into Roman territory by the Huns. Because most of its people were Roman, the Byzantine Empire adopted many customs and art forms from the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire, in turn, was affected by Greek culture, when Alexander the Great took much of the land that the Roman Empire would come to be settled on as well as Greece. The combination of the cultures from the lands Alexander took and Greek culture was called Hellenistic culture, and most Roman beliefs and ideas came from this. This is evident in Roman gods, who are essentially the same as the gods in Greek mythology, save for different names.
To recap, the culture of the Byzantine Empire was largely based off of that of the Roman Empire, whose culture was largely based off of Greek culture.
