The Greek Orthodox Romans preserved the vast bulk of surviving classical Greek (pagan) literature through continuous manuscript copying, an unbroken educational tradition rooted in classical paideia, and selective intellectual engagement—while adopting useful elements of philosophy, rhetoric, and science as tools subordinate to Christian theology. Northern Europeans had no written language. What you know of your ancestors is due to Romans and Greeks creating those records/books and preserving them until the Fall of Constantinople, the Holy City, in 1453 AD. The Eastern Roman Christians inherited the libraries, schools, and scribal culture. Christian monks and scholars in monasteries (such as the Studios Monastery in Constantinople) and urban centers systematically copied works of Homer, the tragedians, Plato, Aristotle, Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and many others. Education remained classical in structure. The University (Pandidakterion) of Constantinople, founded by Theodosius II in 425, taught grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy using pagan authors alongside Christian texts. These works trained officials in eloquence, logic, and statecraft; they were treated as literary and intellectual tools rather than sources of rival religion. In the ninth century the shift to Greek minuscule script made copying faster and more accurate. Many modern editions of classical texts descend from these Greco-Roman manuscripts. Estimates indicate that the large majority of surviving ancient Greek literature (around 75%) is known through these Christian-made copies. Key figures include Patriarch Photius (ninth century), whose Bibliotheca (or Myriobiblon) summarized hundreds of books—many pagan and now lost—preserving knowledge of them. Later scholars such as Arethas of Caesarea annotated Plato and other authors, while figures like Eustathios of Thessaloniki produced extensive commentaries on Homer. Emperor Justinian’s measures around 529 AD against remaining pagan philosophical teaching in Athens (often exaggerated as a total closure of “Plato’s Academy”) did not halt the broader tradition. Other schools continued, classical authors stayed in the curriculum, and texts continued to be copied and studied in Christian contexts. The Eastern Romans/Byzantines actively appropriated classical culture. Church Fathers set the pattern: Basil the Great, in his Address to Young Men on How They Might Profit from Pagan Literature, advised treating classical authors like a bee that gathers nectar while leaving the rest—using them for moral formation, rhetorical skill, and preparation for Christian truth while rejecting idolatry and false theology. Philosophy was viewd as a “handmaid” to theology. Neoplatonic ideas influenced Christian mystical theology (notably via Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite). Aristotelian logic became a standard tool in theological argument. Rhetoric, historiography, and literary style were continued; Byzantine writers often composed in Atticizing Greek modeled on classical models. Myths were frequently allegorized into moral or natural-cycle lessons compatible with Christian teaching. Scientific and medical works (Galen, Hippocrates, Ptolemy, Archimedes, etc.) were preserved and used for practical purposes. Classical learning formed part of elites identity as Romans who inherited Hellenic culture, distinguished from pagan “Hellenes.” This continuous tradition transmitted classical Greek texts to western/north-western Europe, which had long been lost to them, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD, directly sparking the Renaissance in Italy through refugee scholars carrying ancient manuscripts. Without the Greek Orthodox Romans copying and study, virtually none of the classical pagan Greek/Roman corpus would exist today. Ironically, this includes knowledge of Northern European paganism, that was recorded by the ancient Greeks and Romans. In short, the Greek Orthodox Roman world of 'Byzantium' treated pagan literature not as a threat to be destroyed but as a cultural inheritance to be curated, studied, and integrated into a Christian framework—ensuring its survival for later centuries.