Byzantine civilization affected much more of daily life than merely ceremonies and government, however. It entered into every phase of life. It was the Byzantines who invented the fork. From Constantinople it was taken to Italy, and medieval English tourists brought it back to Britain. But for a long time a man was considered sissy and affected if he used one instead of his fingers. High on the list of the great accomplishments of the Byzantines is Byzantine art. In fact, many people think of it first, and sometimes it is the only thing they think about when they think of the Byzantines. Not long ago it was not very much appreciated, but we now realize that it is one of the finest arts there ever was. Besides that, it bridged the more than thousand-year gap in art between the wonderful statues of the Greeks and Romans and the oil paintings and frescoes of the Italian Renaissance. [Illustration: Two men painting] The most famous Byzantine art is the Byzantine mosaics. A Byzantine mosaic is a picture made of little pieces of glass and gold and precious stones. These mosaics were usually very large and set right into the walls of churches, and so it is almost impossible to see one unless you visit the church itself. You would have to go at least to Italy where there are some very fine ones in Rome, Ravenna, and Naples. These Byzantine mosaics are quite stiff, and the people in them usually look straight ahead. But if you ever see a real one, or even a good picture of one, you will never forget it. The Byzantines also did oil paintings and frescoes, particularly in their later days and particularly in the Balkans and Greece. There are frescoes in Yugoslavia and in southern Greece that are almost as good as those of the great Italian artist Giotto, and they were done 200 years before him. Byzantine sculpture ranged from richly carved marble, like the big throne of a patriarch in Ravenna, to ivory caskets and plaques. Byzantine illuminated manuscripts are also among the most beautiful ever made. Most of them are Bibles and other religious books, but there are several about the travels of Cosmas Who-Sailed-to-India. They are filled with saints in blue and scarlet, and one manuscript has a picture of a boatload of escaping martyrs showing what travel was like in Byzantine days.