Empires in this time period had a solid influence on the culture of the varying peoples. These empires include:
Sassanid/Ghassanid Empire
Children went to a single "Grand School" for education
Membership in a class was based on birth but could change on merit
Monarchy - king made sure each class was in its proper boundaries so that the strong did not oppress the weak or vice versa
Required king to be held above all.
Sassanid art popular throughout Iran area and some made its way into Byzantium
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine church was highly contrasting to the Greek church, though it is often mistaken for it.
Development influence from Greece, Rome, Latin, Nordic
Not quite Eastern but unique in its own sense through drawing in other cultures.
Interconnected and united 25 nations through the Orthodox Church
The Crusades
The largest cultural event of the time was the Crusades. The Crusades could arguably be considered a power/wealth struggle apart from the first crusade, which was the most successful of all the crusades. Essentially, the pope wanted to take back Jerusalem from Muslim control since the pope believed Jerusalem to be "Holy Land" as it was said to be the burial grounds for Jesus Christ. In the first crusade they did exactly that, but over 20,000 people died in the process. In the latter crusades, Jerusalem fell back into Islamic control and as the popes and kings of the Holy Roman Empire rotated in and out more crusades were called upon to retake Jerusalem. However, the imminent cost of the crusades made the people less and less willing to fund them as more were called on, eventually leading to the loss of support for the crusades as a whole. By the end of the crusades, though, Jerusalem still was under Islamic control, summarizing the years of effort into an unwanted bloodbath.
Where interconnection is concerned, the crusaders brought home the culture and art of the cities they pillaged and formed bonds with the cities that came under their rule. The crusades also helped directly spread Christianity throughout Southwest asia and made its mark on the empires of the time.