The other day at the MET we stepped into the exhibition of Africa & Byzantium. Art and household items were shown from regions around the Mediterranean Sea. We were greeted with a map that showed the size of the Byzantium empire lasting from the fourth to the fifteenth century. Another map tracked changes in political influence, from the earlier Roman Empire, to the Byzantium empire and at last the Ottoman Empire.  My interest was piqued. I am currently reading, okay I listen to the audio book, House of Stone by Anthony Shadid, the late Lebanese American correspondent from Oklahoma. In…