This is a list of Byzantine inventions. The Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire represented the continuation of the Roman Empire after a part of it collapsed. Its main characteristics were Roman state traditions, Greek culture and Christian faith. Architecture Cross-in-square: The cross-in-square was the dominant architectural form of middle Byzantine churches. Marking a decided departure from the oblong ground plan of the basilica, it has been described as "a type of church that was, in its own way, perfect". The earliest extant example being the Theotokos church in Constantinople (907/908), its development can be traced back with a fair degree of certainty at least to the Nea Ekklesia, consecrated in 880/881. Pendentive dome: Generally speaking, a pendentive is a construction solution which allows a circular dome to be built atop a rectangular floor plan. While preliminary forms already evolved in Roman dome construction, the first fully developed pendentive dome dates to the reconstruction of the Hagia Sophia in 563. Devised by Isodorus the Younger, the nephew of the first architect Isidore of Miletus, the in-circle design, with a maximum diameter of 31.24 m, remained unsurpassed until the Renaissance (see Florence Cathedral). The Hagia Sophia became the paradigmatic Orthodox church form and its architectural style was emulated by Turkish mosques a thousand years later. Pointed arch bridge: The earliest known bridge resting on a pointed arch is the 5th or 6th century AD Karamagara Bridge in Cappadocia. Its single arch of 17 m spanned an affluent of the Euphrates. A Greek inscription, citing from the Bible, runs along one side of its arch rib. The structure is today submerged by the Keban Reservoir. Warfare Counterweight trebuchet: The earliest written record of the counterweight trebuchet, a vastly more powerful design than the simple traction trebuchet, appears in the work of the 12th-century historian Niketas Choniates. Niketas describes a stone projector used by future emperor Andronikos I Komnenos at I 1165. This was equipped with a windlass, an apparatus required neither for the traction nor hybrid trebuchet to launch missiles. Chevedden hypothesizes that the new artillery type was introduced at the 1097 Siege of Nicaea when emperor Alexios I Komnenos, an ally of the besieging crusaders, was reported to have invented new pieces of heavy artillery which deviated from the conventional design and made a deep impression on everyone. Hand-trebuchet: The hand-trebuchet (cheiromangana) was a staff sling mounted on a pole using a