poets, such as Hesiod and Pindar, were made and their metric systems were reconstructed with competence. They wrote about such works as Scholia and Pindar. Countless works are also included, such as the tragedians of Sophocles and Euripides, Ptolemy's Geography, Nonnus of Panaopolis' Dionysiaca, edits and "rediscoveries" on Plutarch and the Greek Anthology of epigrams. Works assembled by Theodore Metochites at the Monastery of Chora can be found in the libraries of Istanbul, Oxford, the Vatican and even Paris. Greek Byzantium In the past, at its full height, the Byzantine Empire was composed of many territories, stretching from modern-day Iraq to modern-day Spain. As the Empire's borders shrunk, so too had its cultural diversity. By the late 13th century, the Empire consisted almost exclusively of traditionally Greek territory (inhabited by Greeks since Antiquity). Consequently, this Greek culture soon came to dominate the Empire and the works of the Classical age such as those of Sophocles and Theocritus were meticulously copied and annotated. Notable philosophers include Planudes who characterized the interest in Science and Mathematics at the time. Astronomy was also a field of interest, as Nicephorus Gregoras illustrates with his proposal to modify the calendar before changes were put in place by the Gregorian reform. Moreover, some prominent personalities also proposed the change of the Imperial title to 'Emperor of the Hellenes', instead of Romans. This enthusiasm for the glorious past, contained elements that were also present in the movement that led to the creation of the modern Greek state, in 1830, after four centuries of Ottoman rule. Persian science enters, circa 1300 At the time, astrologists had to rely on Ptolemy's tables for calculations. However, these proved to be inaccurate when compared to Arab astronomy. As a result, Persian tables were used more often, even if in conjunction with Ptolemy's. The acceptance of Arab astronomy was made harder by the fact that it had to be translated, and only entered through "lowlier social channels", namely by men who travelled between Constantinople and Trebizond. Such men included Gregory Choniades and his follower George Chrysokokkes, who acquainted themselves with this science. By the mid 14th century, when Byzantium was overwhelmed with troubles, the tables of Ptolemy were deemed by professionals as inadequate and slowly abandoned for Persian tables. Despite this, Persian works such as those on astrolabe were translated into Greek as early as 1309. In 1352, Theodore Metochites published his