Byzantium followed in the footsteps of Graeco-Roman antiquity as far as the sciences were concerned. Contrary to popular belief, the Byzantines were responsible for numerous technological innovations, particularly in architecture and naval architecture.
 
One unanswered question in the former field concerns whether architects were the creators and supervisors of project implementation or merely master craftsmen. We do know that in late antiquity special schools attended by students of architecture operated in Constantinople and other imperial cities, but specialized study appears to have disappeared by the 6^th century.

Architects in middle and late Byzantium were not specially trained in academies. Instead, responsibility for designing and overseeing major building projects fell to civil servants, graduates of schools in Constantinople that offered instruction in arithmetic, geometry and practical subjects. They would also consult books on the construction of siege engines, walls, harbours and other types of building.

Unfortunately no Byzantine architecture handbook has come down to us, but there can be no doubt that plans were drawn up, and quite detailed ones at that. Textual references also tell us that architectural models or mock-ups were made of wax, wood, or stone, though few have survived.

Architects in Byzantine times did not try to outdo their peers through their work. Yet their art did not stagnate, as can be seen in the evolution of architectural types and in the particular use of materials to improve stability, durability and aesthetics.