The History Book Club discussion

Thanks, Jerome!

The Social History of Byzantium

by John Haldon

Synopsis:

With original essays by leading scholars, this book explores the social history of the medieval eastern Roman Empire and offers illuminating new insights into our knowledge of Byzantine society.

The Sultan of Byzantium

by Selçuk Altun

I know this is off the beaten track for HBC, but I loved the book and couldn't resist adding it.

The Sultan of Byzantium is a historical fiction/fantasy tale about an odd, thirty-something Turkish professor who is told by three mysterious strangers that he is the descendant of Constantine XI. To earn his place on the throne of Byzantium-in-exile, Professor Asil must solve a sort of geocaching puzzle that takes him to the far reaches of the ancient empire. Weird, funny and clever, it's a great tour guide to Byzantine treasures hidden in plain sight.

Thanks, Hana! Could you add a note to your post saying it's historical fiction? It's just this is a more History-oriented thread and we require a note in the text to make that difference clear. Thank you!

The Byzantine Empire 1025-1204: A Political History

by Michael Angold (no photo)

Synopsis:

A fully updated second edition of this acclaimed political history of the Byzantine Empire which weaves social, economic, cultural trends and foreign politics into its broad narrative. Michael Angold has enriched his original study with the findings of a decade of new scholarship, provides a fuller treatment of Byzantium from Western perspectives and has included a new discussion of the primary sources for the period.

The Fall of Constantinople: The Ottoman conquest of Byzantium

by David Nicolle (no photo)

Synopsis:

Byzantium was the last bastion of the Roman Empire following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It fought for survival for eight centuries until, in the mid-15th century, the emperor Constantine XI ruled just a handful of whittled down territories, an empire in name and tradition only.

This lavishly illustrated book chronicles the history of Byzantium, the evolution of the defenses of Constantinople and the epic siege of the city, which saw a force of 80,000 men repelled by a small group of determined defenders until the Turks smashed the city's protective walls with artillery. Regarded by some as the tragic end of the Roman Empire, and by others as the belated suppression of an aging relic by an ambitious young state, the impact of the capitulation of the city resonated through the centuries and heralded the rapid rise of the Islamic Ottoman Empire.

The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025

by Mark Whittow (no photo)

Synopsis:

Mark Whittow presents a clear, up-to-date reassessment of the Byzantine empire during a crucial phase in the history of the Near East. Against a geopolitical background (superbly illustrated with fourteen maps), his book covers the last decade of the Roman empire as a superpower, the catastrophic crisis of the seventh century, and the means whereby the embattled Byzantine empire hung on in Constantinople and Asia Minor until the Abbasid Caliphate's decline opened up new perspectives for Christian power in the Near East.

A special feature is Whittow's coverage of Byzantium's neighbors, allies, and enemies in Europe and Asia. He stresses the geographical context of events, often overlooked in other accounts of this period. The origins of Russia, relations with the nomad powers of the steppe world, the competition between Bulgars, Romans, and Slavs in the Balkans, and the frequently ignored region of the Transcaucasus are all given extended treatment. No such wide-ranging work has appeared in English for nearly 30 years, and Whittow's book will be invaluable for all scholars, students, and enthusiasts of medieval history.

The Byzantine Revival, 780-842

by Warren Treadgold (no photo)

Synopsis:

This is the story of how the Byzantine Empire, led by a succession of extraordinary rulers, emerged from a long decline to reclaim its place as a leading state of the medieval world.

Inventing Byzantine Iconoclasm

by Leslie Brubaker

Synopsis:

Byzantine 'iconoclasm' is famous and has influenced iconoclast movements from the English Reformation and French Revolution to Taliban, but it has also been woefully misunderstood: this book shows how and why the debate about images was more complicated, and more interesting, than it has been presented in the past. It explores how icons came to be so important, who opposed them, and how the debate about images played itself out over the years between c. 680 and 850. Many widely accepted assumptions about 'iconoclasm' - that it was an imperial initiative that resulted in widespread destruction of images, that the major promoters of icon veneration were monks, and that the era was one of cultural stagnation - are shown to be incorrect. Instead, the years of the image debates saw technological advances and intellectual shifts that, coupled with a growing economy, concluded with the emergence of medieval Byzantium as a strong and stable empire.

Thank you Jose

Hellenism in Byzantium: The Transformations of Greek Identity and the Reception of the Classical Tradition

by Anthony Kaldellis

Synopsis:

This text was the first systematic study of what it meant to be 'Greek' in late antiquity and Byzantium, an identity that could alternatively become national, religious, philosophical, or cultural. Through close readings of the sources, Professor Kaldellis surveys the space that Hellenism occupied in each period; the broader debates in which it was caught up; and the historical causes of its successive transformations. The first section (100-400) shows how Romanisation and Christianisation led to the abandonment of Hellenism as a national label and its restriction to a negative religious sense and a positive, albeit rarefied, cultural one. The second (1000-1300) shows how Hellenism was revived in Byzantium and contributed to the evolution of its culture. The discussion looks closely at the reception of the classical tradition, which was the reason why Hellenism was always desirable and dangerous in Christian society, and presents a new model for understanding Byzantine civilisation.

John Kaminiates: The Capture of Thessaloniki

by John Kaminiates (no photo)

Synopsis:

During the ninth century the Saracen Arabs, who had been expelled from the caliphate of Spain, became an increasing threat to the Byzantine empire, particularly after they established themselves on the island of Crete. In 904 a Saracen force led by Leo of Tripoli sailed to the northern Aegean, captured Abydos and prepared to assault Constantinople, but then in a sudden change of plan sailed westward and captured Thessaloniki after a brief siege. The defences of the city had been neglected and the last-minute attempts which were made to improve them had little effect. The victors sacked the city for ten days, then departed taking as many prisoners as they could hold on board their ships.

One of these prisoners was Kaminiates, who was later set free in an exchange of prisoners. He subsequently wrote a detailed account of the siege. This book presents the Greek text (as established by Gertrud Böhlig, reprinted by permission of the publisher, W. De Gruyter), together with the first English translation, made by David Frendo, and an introduction and notes by David Frendo and Thanos Fotiou.

The Reign of Leo VI (886-912): Politics and People

by Shaun Tougher (no photo)

Synopsis:

The focus of this book is the Byzantine emperor Leo VI (886-912) and his reign. He has been characterised as a careless and ineffectual emperor, but this work presents a more considered account of Leo and the politics of his age. Initial chapters on sources and the broader historical context are provided before particular aspects of Leo's life and reign are presented in eight chapters, arranged so as to give a rough chronological framework. Subjects discussed include relations with family and officials, imperial ideology, and ecclesiastical and military affairs. By drawing on a broad spectrum of primary evidence the book illustrates that Leo forged a distinctive imperial style as a literate city-based non-campaigning emperor, and argues that he was actively concerned about the problems that faced his empire.

Four Byzantine Novels: Theodore Prodromos, Rhodanthe and Dosikles; Eumathios Makrembolites, Hysmine and Hysminias; Constantine Manasses, Aristandros and Kallithea; Niketas Eugenianos, Drosilla and Charikles

by Elizabeth Jeffreys (no photo)

Synopsis:

Four of the earliest novels ever written— all from twelfth-century Constantinople— are now available in new translations in a single volume. These novels, perhaps the most attractive and unexpected products of the Byzantine millennium, have been largely neglected by scholars and readers. Placing the novels and their writers in their literary and historical contexts, this volume is the most recent step toward a critical restoration of these works that follow the romantic adventures of Achilles Tatius and Heliodorus.

Land and Privilege in Byzantium: The Institution of Pronoia

by Mark C. Bartusis (no photo)

Synopsis:

A pronoia was a type of conditional grant from the emperor, often to soldiers, of various properties and privileges. In large measure the institution of pronoia characterized social and economic relations in later Byzantium, and its study is the study of later Byzantium. Filling the need for a comprehensive study of the institution, this book examines the origin, evolution and characteristics of pronoia, focusing particularly on the later thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. But the book is much more than a study of a single institution. With a broad chronological scope extending from the mid-tenth to the mid-fifteenth century, it incorporates the latest understanding of Byzantine agrarian relations, taxation, administration and the economy, as it deals with relations between the emperor, monastic and lay landholders, including soldiers and peasants. Particular attention is paid to the relation between the pronoia and Western European, Slavic and Middle Eastern institutions, especially the Ottoman timar.

Authority in Byzantine Provincial Society, 950-1100

by Leonora Neville (no photo)

Synopsis:

Acting essentially to maintain power and collect taxes, the emperors of the Byzantine Empire (ca. 950-1100) did not attempt to govern provincial society. As a result, provincial households took advantage of this situation by competing for local control over each other whenever they could. This book describes the power-holders in the central provinces in a detailed comparison of the provincial strength of the imperial government and the mechanics of local authority.

Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium

by Jonathan Harris

Synopsis:

In the early Middle Ages, the greatest city in Europe was not Paris, London or Berlin but Constantinople, capital of Byzantium. It was an article of faith that a saintly emperor, divinely appointed, had founded Constantinople and that the city was as holy as Rome or Jerusalem. The Byzantine emperors assiduously promoted the notion of a spiritual aura around the city. Thus, in 917, the emperor's regent wrote to the khan of the Bulgars warning him not to attack Constantinople. He did not threaten the khan with military force, but with the Virgin Mary who, as 'commander in chief of the city', would not take kindly to any assault. It was with legends and beliefs like this that the emperors bolstered their power and wealth, and the myth was central to the success of Constantinople and its empire for over a thousand years.

Although this is hardly the first history of Byzantium to be published, Jonathan Harris differentiates himself by offering keen insight into the spiritual and mythic dimensions of Constantinople, key elements of the city's history that have neglected until now. Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium is the first history of this great empire to properly examine the intriguing interaction between the spiritual and the political, the mythical and the actual. The result is an accessible and engaging account of a colorful and vital time in human history, and a long overdue look at an awe-inspiring city in its heyday.

Wow Jose quite a few adds

Thanks, Bentley!

I thought I had a respectable library of Byzantine histories, but Jose finds books I haven't even heard of. The last one, Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium, looks especially interesting.

Eileen, Jose certainly does put up many interesting books. Remember, when you mention a book in your posts, you need to use the proper citation as follows:

by Jonathan Harris

Muslim Expansion and Byzantine Collapse in North Africa

by Walter E. Kaegi (no photo)

Synopsis:

Who lost Christian North Africa? Who won it and how? Walter Kaegi takes a fresh look at these perennial questions, with maps and on-site observations, in this exciting new book. Persisting clouds of suspicion and blame overshadowed many Byzantine attempts to defend North Africa, as Byzantines failed to meet the multiple challenges from different directions which ultimately overwhelmed them. While the Muslims forcefully and permanently turned Byzantine internal dynastic and religious problems and military unrest to their advantage, they brought their own strengths to a dynamic process that would take a long time to complete the transformation of North Africa. An impartial comparative framework helps to sort through identity politics, Orientalism' charges and counter-charges, and institutional controversies; this book also includes a new study of the decisive battle of Sbeitla in 647, helping readers to understand what befell Byzantium, and indeed empires from Rome to the presente.

Byzantine War Ideology Between Roman Imperial Concept and Christian Religion: Akten Des Internationalen Symposiums (Wien, 19.-21. Mai 2011)

by Johannes Koder (no photo)

Synopsis:

Holy war and just war are unfortunately not only keywords for recondite excursions into the past, but equally for problems of the present. This applies as well for the attempts of rulers to justify war through state or ruling ideology but also on religious grounds, whether from conviction or in order to cloak economic and political interests. The present volume summarizes the results of a conference held in Vienna, which the editors, Johannes Koder and Ioannis Stouraitis, hosted in May of 2011. The symposium was held in the context of a research project with the topic Holy War? A study on Byzantine perceptions and concepts of war and peace in the period from the late 11th to the early 13th century. This project was housed at the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Vienna. The arc of the presentation topics spanned chronologically from seventh to the fifteenth century and thematically from the Christian and Islamic legitimation of war (crusade, holy war) to late antique and medieval imperial ideology to the motivations which were offered or imposed upon soldiers and civilian populations in order to make them amenable to the sorrow, sacrifices and privations which are the accompaniments of war: the promises of worldly rewards were complemented by the expectation of recompense in the afterlife. The results-many are new, some surprising-at one level reference the medieval period and its late antique intellectual foundations and are yet, in their critical evaluation of the ideological basis of war, of astonishing contemporary relevance.

The Fourth Crusade: Event and Context

by Michael Angold (no photo)

Synopsis:

Provides an assessment of the historical significance of the fall of Constantinople in 1204. Offering a perspective on the fourth crusade, this work looks at the development of Byzantine relations with the West in the crusading era, relates the conquest to the failure of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, and more.

The Lost World of Byzantium

by Jonathan Harris

Synopsis:

For more than a millennium, the Byzantine Empire presided over the juncture between East and West, as well as the transition from the classical to the modern world. Jonathan Harris, a leading scholar of Byzantium, eschews the usual run-through of emperors and battles and instead recounts the empire’s extraordinary history by focusing each chronological chapter on an archetypal figure, family, place, or event.

Harris’s action-packed introduction presents a civilization rich in contrasts, combining orthodox Christianity with paganism, and classical Greek learning with Roman power. Frequently assailed by numerous armies—including those of Islam—Byzantium nonetheless survived and even flourished by dint of its somewhat unorthodox foreign policy and its sumptuous art and architecture, which helped to embed a deep sense of Byzantine identity in its people.

Enormously engaging and utilizing a wealth of sources to cover all major aspects of the empire’s social, political, military, religious, cultural, and artistic history, Harris’ study illuminates the very heart of Byzantine civilization and explores its remarkable and lasting influence on its neighbors and on the modern world.

The Islamic-Byzantine Frontier: Interaction and Exchange Among Muslim and Christian Communities

by A. Asa Eger

Synopsis:

The retreat of the Byzantine army from Syria in around 650 CE, in advance of the approaching Arab armies, is one that has resounded emphatically in the works of both Islamic and Christian writers, and created an enduring motif: that of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier. For centuries, Byzantine and Islamic scholars have evocatively sketched a contested border: the annual raids between the two, the line of fortified fortresses defending Islamic lands, the no-man’s land in between and the birth of jihad. In their early representations of a Muslim-Christian encounter, accounts of the Islamic-Byzantine frontier are charged with significance for a future ‘clash of civilizations’ that often envisions a polarised world. A. Asa Eger examines the two aspects of this frontier: its physical and ideological ones. By highlighting the archaeological study of the real and material frontier, as well as acknowledging its ideological military and religious implications, he offers a more complex vision of this dividing line than has been traditionally disseminated. With analysis grounded in archaeological evidence as well the relevant historical texts, Eger brings together a nuanced exploration of this vital element of medieval history.

Writing and Reading Byzantine Secular Poetry, 1025-1081

by Floris Bernard (no photo)

Synopsis:

In the mid-eleventh century, secular Byzantine poetry attained a hitherto unseen degree of wit, vividness, and personal involvement, chiefly exemplified in the poetry of Christophoros Mitylenaios, Ioannes Mauropous, and Michael Psellos. This is the first volume to consider this poetic activity as a whole, critically reconsidering modern assumptions about Byzantine poetry, and focusing on Byzantine conceptions of the role of poetry in society. By providing a detailed account of the various media through which poetry was presented to its readers, and by tracing the initial circulation of poems, this volume takes an interest in the Byzantine reader and his/her reading habits and strategies, allowing aspects of performance and visual representation, rarely addressed, to come to the fore. It also examines the social interests that motivated the composition of poetry, establishing a connection with the extraordinary social mobility of the time. Self-representative strategies are analyzed against the background of an unstable elite struggling to find moral justification, which allows the study to raise the question of patronage, examine the discourse used by poets to secure material rewards, and explain the social dynamics of dedicatory epigrams. Finally, gift exchange is explored as a medium that underlines the value of poetry and confirms the exclusive nature of intellectual friendship.

The Empire That Would Not Die: The Paradox of Eastern Roman Survival, 640-740

by John Haldon

Synopsis:

The eastern Roman Empire was the largest state in western Eurasia in the sixth century. Only a century later, it was a fraction of its former size. Surrounded by enemies, ravaged by warfare and disease, the empire seemed destined to collapse. Yet it did not die. In this holistic analysis, John Haldon elucidates the factors that allowed the eastern Roman Empire to survive against all odds into the eighth century.

By 700 CE the empire had lost three-quarters of its territory to the Islamic caliphate. But the rugged geography of its remaining territories in Anatolia and the Aegean was strategically advantageous, preventing enemies from permanently occupying imperial towns and cities while leaving them vulnerable to Roman counterattacks. The more the empire shrank, the more it became centered around the capital of Constantinople, whose ability to withstand siege after siege proved decisive. Changes in climate also played a role, permitting shifts in agricultural production that benefitted the imperial economy.

At the same time, the crisis confronting the empire forced the imperial court, the provincial ruling classes, and the church closer together. State and church together embodied a sacralized empire that held the emperor, not the patriarch, as Christendom s symbolic head. Despite its territorial losses, the empire suffered no serious political rupture. What remained became the heartland of a medieval Christian Roman state, with a powerful political theology that predicted the emperor would eventually prevail against God s enemies and establish Orthodox Christianity s world dominion.

The Church Of St. Panteleimon At Nerezi: Architecture, Programme, Patronage

by Ida Sinkevic (no photo)

Synopsis:

The church of St. Panteleimon at Nerezi is one of the major surviving monuments of twelth-century Byzantium. Commonly referred to simply as Nerezi, the church is distinguished as a foundation built by a member of the imperial family, decorated by some of the best artists of the period, and crowned by five domes in emulation of famous buildings of the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. Thus, although located on the Byzantine periphery, in what is now the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Nerezi stands as an important testimony to twelfth-century Constantinopolitan artistic and architectural trends. Its significance becomes even greater considering that, uniquely among its contemporaries, Nerezi is preserved virtually intact.

Although Nerezi is recognized by scholars as one of the major surviving monuments of Byzantine art, it lacks a scholarly monograph, and large portions of its architecture and ornament remain unknown and inaccessible even to scholars.This book represents the first effort to study Nerezi comprehensively. In six successive chapters it examines different aspects of the building: its historical and social context, its architectural design, its sculpture, and its cycle of mural painting. In addressing these varied facets, the book attempts to relate the different components of the building both to one another, and to the relevant contemporary Byzantine monuments.

The book does it with two goals. First, as the pioneering study of this major document, it seeks to provide clear data on it: its measurements, materials, inscriptions, furnishings, and imaginery. Second, the book uses these data as a way to gain access to the figure of the patron, the Komnenian aristocrat Alexios Angelos Komnenos. Reading in its structural, programmatic, and aesthetic choices the characteristics of the building's patron, the book raises broader questions about the role which a Komnenian aristocrat and his church played at Nerezi's provincial setting. Thus, in its scope, the book extends the boundaries of a traditional monograph and encompasses both the study of the church and a contextual analysis of the historic, social and cultural trends ot the period.

In addition, this study introduces the complete visual documentation of the church. A series of architectural monuments, drawings and photographs of the decoration, as well as documentary evidence related to the restoration of Nerezi, are presented here for the first time.

Thank you Jose for updating all of your threads in the month of February - some interesting adds. Today is a new month.

Byzantium & the Slavs

by Dimitri Obolensky

Synopsis:

The essays which comprise this book aim to identify and discuss aspects of the Byzantium heritage, whose principal beneficiaries were the Greeks, the Slavs and, most prominently, Russia. These 12 studies divide into three groups: the first is concerned with general aspects of Slavo-Byzantine relations; the second deals with the specific features of the acculturation process; and the third, which includes among others Russia's Byzantine Heritage is concerned with the contacts between Byzantium and medieval Russia.

The Reluctant Emperor: A Biography of John Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor and Monk, c. 1295-1383

by Donald M. Nicol (no photo)

Synopsis:

This is a biography of one of the most unusual Byzantine emperors in Constantinople who reigned from 1347 to 1354, and subsequently spent thirty years as a monk. John Cantacuzene was unique in that he wrote his own memoirs and in his varied talents and interests in a long life, as a soldier, scholar, and theologian. His dealings with the earliest leaders of the Ottoman Turks, with the merchants of Venice and Genoa, with the papacy, and with Stephen Dusan of Serbia also give his career a special interest. This is the first biography of John Cantacuzene in English.

Thanks, Samantha, for the books you brought here! :)

I hate the term "Dark Ages" (Grrr...) for anything related to the Middle Ages (and I hate especially how the term still sticks around in "Byzantinism"), but this book seems to be decent.

The Byzantine Dark Ages

by Michael J. Decker

Synopsis:

The Byzantine Dark Ages explores current debates about the sudden transformation of the Byzantine Empire in the wake of environmental, social and political changes. Those studying the Byzantine Empire, the successor to the Roman Empire in the eastern Mediterranean, have long recognized that the mid-7th century CE ushered in sweeping variations in the way of life of many inhabitants of the Mediterranean world, with evidence of the decline of the size and economic prosperity of cities, a sharp fall in expressions of literary culture, the collapse in trade networks, and economic and political instability.

Michael J. Decker looks at the material evidence for the 7th to 9th centuries, lays out the current academic discourse about its interpretation, and suggests new ways of thinking about this crucial era. Important to readers interested in understanding how and why complex societies and imperial systems undergo and adapt to stresses, this clearly written, accessible work will also challenge students of archaeology and history to think in new ways when comprehending the construction of the past.

José Luís wrote: "I hate the term "Dark Ages" (Grrr...) for anything related to the Middle Ages (and I hate especially how the term still sticks around in "Byzantinism"), but this book seems to be decent.

The Byzan..." Strange, in fact, to see the term being used by professional historians ... things must be different in the Byzantinist community. 'Darkness' is laden with presumptions about what constitutes progress and 'light'.

The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor : Byzantine and Near Eastern History, AD 284-813

by Theophanes the Confessor

Synopsis:

This is the first complete translation into English (or any other modern language) of the Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor (d.818), which covers the period AD 284-813 and is one of the most important sources of Byzantine history, that of the Arabs under the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties and of other neighbouring peoples (notably the Bulgarians). The Chronicle is a compilation of earlier sources, many of them now lost: in order to use it critically the historian needs to know what texts Theophanes had in front of him and how he handled them. These have consequently been indicated in the text in so far as they can be indentified. Full annotation has also been provided on points of historical and topographical interest. The career of Theophanes, the character of the Chronicle, its manuscript tradition, and the use of earlier sources are discussed in the Introduction.

Byzantine Magic

by Henry Maguire (no photo)

Synopsis:

Written by specialists in several disciplines, this volume explores the parameters and significance of magic in Byzantine society, from the fourth century to after the empire's fall. The authors address a wide variety of questions, some of which are common to all historical research into magic, and some of which are peculiar to the Byzantine context.

The authors reveal the scope, the forms, and the functioning of magic in Byzantine society, throwing light on a hitherto relatively little-known aspect of Byzantine culture, and, at the same time, expanding upon the contemporary debates concerning magic and its roles in pre-modern societies.

The Christian Parthenon: Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens

by Anthony Kaldellis

Synopsis:

Byzantine Athens was not a city without a history, as is commonly believed, but an important center about which much can now be said. Providing a wealth of new evidence, Professor Kaldellis argues that the Parthenon became a major site of Christian pilgrimage after its conversion into a church. Paradoxically, it was more important as a church than it had been as a temple: the Byzantine period was its true age of glory. He examines the idiosyncratic fusion of pagan and Christian culture that took place in Athens, where an attempt was made to replicate the classical past in Christian terms, affecting rhetoric, monuments, and miracles. He also re-evaluates the reception of ancient ruins in Byzantine Greece and presents for the first time a form of pilgrimage that was directed not toward icons, Holy Lands, or holy men but toward a monument embodying a permanent cultural tension and religious dialectic.

The Lost Capital of Byzantium: The History of Mistra and the Peloponnese

by Steven Runciman

Synopsis:

Clinging to a rugged hillside in the lush valley of Sparta lies Mistra, one of the most dramatically beautiful Byzantine cities in Greece, a place steeped in history, myth, and romance. Following the Frankish conquest of the Peloponnese in the thirteenth century, William II of Villehardouin built a great castle on a hill near Sparta that later came to be known as Mistra. Ten years later, in a battle in northern Greece, Villehardouin was defeated and captured by the Byzantine emperor. The terms for his release included giving Mistra to the Byzantine Greeks. Under their rule, the city flourished and developed into a center of learning and the arts and was a focal point for the cultural development of Europe. Sir Steven Runciman, one of the most distinguished historians of the Byzantine period, traveled to Mistra on numerous occasions and became enchanted with the place. Now published in paperback for the first time, "Lost Capital of Byzantium" tells the story of this once-great city its rise and fall and its place in the history of the Peloponnese and the Byzantine empire."

The Byzantine Achievement: An Historical Perspective, C.E. 330-1453

by Robert Byron

Synopsis:

Robert Byron believed that the summit of ancient Greek civilization was not to be found in 5th century B.C.E. Athens, but in post-classical Byzantium, also called Constantinople by the Romans. Byzantine civilization was truly glorious, as we see by looking through Byron's fresh eyes. Byron was a brilliant writer and dashing figure whose life was cut short in WWII. The introduction is by Richard Luckett, Byron's biographer.

An upcoming book:
Release date: July 3, 2017

Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade

by Anthony Kaldellis

Synopsis:

In the second half of the tenth century, Byzantium embarked on a series of spectacular conquests, first in the southeast against the Arabs, then in Bulgaria, and finally in the Georgian and Armenian lands. By the early eleventh century, the empire was the most powerful state in the Mediterranean. It was also expanding economically, demographically, and, in time, intellectually as well. Yet this imperial project came to a crashing collapse fifty years later when political disunity, fiscal mismanagement, and defeat at the hands of the Seljuks in the east and the Normans in the west not only spelled the end of Byzantium's historical dominance of southern Italy, the Balkans, Caucasus, and northern Mesopotamia, but also threatened its very survival.

A history of these events has not been published for more than a century. In addition to providing a badly needed narrative of this critical period in Byzantine history, Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood offers new interpretations of key topics relevant to Medieval history. The narrative is in 3 parts: the first covers the years 955-1025, a period of imperial conquest and consolidation of authority under the emperor Basil. The second (1025-1059) examines the dispersal of centralized authority in Constantinople as well as the emergence of new foreign enemies (Pechenegs, Seljuks, Normans). The last section chronicles the spectacular collapse of the empire during the second half of the eleventh century, concluding with a look at the First Crusade and its consequences for Byzantine relations with the powers of Western Europe.

Thank you, Jerome!

Jerome wrote: "An upcoming book:
Release date: July 3, 2017

Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade

The Byzantine Republic: People and Power in New Rome. Despite some of the academic writing (a real turn off for me) his ideas about the Byzantine Empire were coherent and well argued.

Eileen wrote: "Jerome wrote: "An upcoming book:
Release date: July 3, 2017

Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade

[bookcover:Streams of Gold, Rivers of B..."


I can't get the previous post to show properly. I recently read the book noted above. It was excellent, despite the academic writing style.

by Anthony Kaldellis

Does this help Eileen - go to the Mechanics of the Board thread in the Help Desk folder and you will get some helpful hints there. I am sorry that nobody got back to you.

Bentley wrote: " by Anthony Kaldellis

Does..."

Well, I'm not sure what happened when I tried, but you got it. The new book you posted, though, looks right up my alley. Too bad it won't be out until July.

That is OK - hopefully it will suit your interests when it does come out.

Bentley wrote: "That is OK - hopefully it will suit your interests when it does come out."

The title is interesting and the period of time crucial for the Byzantines.

Good - sounds like it is worth waiting for. Have you ever seen and visited the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and have you seen up close the gorgeous Byzantine mosaics. Stunning if you love that period. It is too bad that Istanbul is experiencing unrest right now.

I visited Istanbul last March for 10 days. The most amazing place ever and the Hagia Sophia the best of the best.