What evidence can you point to for a decline in the middle Byzantine period? What will be an ...

There was significant loss of geographic territory to the spreading Islamic Empire as well as attacks from the north by the Slavs. There was less of a decline in trade, although it was still present, because the Byzantines did not venture far from Constantinople but relied on traders to come directly to them. Demographically, the Byzantine Empire saw a loss of population across the eighth and ninth centuries with ongoing plagues decimating the population; the population of Constantinople dropped about 80 percent by the ninth century. Education declined after Justinian's closure of Plato's Academy in Athens, with secondary education focused mainly on vocational training. Particularly crucial was the overall loss of Latin and the transition to a simplified form of Greek in the eastern empire. While there remained cultural centers of learning, particularly in Constantinople, the cosmopolitanism seen earlier declined in the provincial and village life outside the one remaining large city. It is also particularly stark in contrast to the cultural period of growth enjoyed by the Abbasid caliphate at this time.