Byzantium is a world full of noise, movement, wonders, mysteries, songs, celebrations, riches, battles, stories. A world full of colors. Red, like the purple of its emperors. Gold, like the backgrounds of the mosaics in its churches. Black, like the robes of its monks. White like the unknown lands beyond its borders. Blue like its sea and like the dresses of its noblewomen. Green like the crops in its vast spring fields. But not only that. Byzantium does NOT have only six colors. The BLUE is easily seen and difficult to understand. Where it is, there it is not. It is the color of Far and Very Far. The color of Distance and the Horizon. The color of the Ocean and the Sky, which shines steadily where sea and air meet. It shines and darkens in the deepest depths, it shines and gleams in the highest firmament. The clouds, however, where water and air meet again and hold tightly together… the clouds never turn blue, they only sail white or black or gray. Blue is the blood of kings and emperors – as long as it still flows in their veins at least and has not been spilled for one reason or another. Blue are the gods of the steppe riders. Blue are the rivers, which are roads and borders, blue are the waves, which are journeys and battles. Whoever loves Blue, loves it very much