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Byzantium lasted a thousand years, ruled to the end by self-styled 'emperors of the Romans'. It underwent kaleidoscopic territorial and structural changes, yet recovered repeatedly from disaster: even after the near-impregnable Constantinople fell in 1204, variant forms of the empire reconstituted themselves. The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire c.500-1492 tells the story, tracing political and military events, religious controversies and economic change. It offers clear, authoritative chapters on the main events and periods, with more detailed chapters on outlying regions and neighbouring societies and powers of Byzantium. With aids such as maps, a glossary, an alternative place-name table and references to English translations of sources, it will be valuable as an introduction. However, it also offers stimulating new approaches and important findings, making it essential reading for postgraduates and for specialists. The revised paperback edition contains a new preface by the editor and will offer an invaluable companion to survey courses in Byzantine history.
The Oxford History of Byzantium is the only history to provide in concise form detailed coverage of Byzantium from its Roman beginnings to the fall of Constantinople and assimilation into the Turkish Empire. Lively essays and beautiful illustrations portray the emergence and development of a distinctive civilization, covering the period from the fourth century to the mid-fifteenth century. The authors - all working at the cutting edge of their particular fields - outline the political history of the Byzantine state and bring to life the evolution of a colourful culture. In AD 324, the Emperor Constantine the Great chose Byzantion, an ancient Greek colony at the mouth of the Thracian Bosphorous, as his imperial residence. He renamed the place 'Constaninopolis nova Roma', 'Constantinople, the new Rome' and the city (modern Istanbul) became the Eastern capital of the later Roman empire. The new Rome outlived the old and Constantine's successors continued to regard themselves as the legitimate emperors of Rome, just as their subjects called themselves Romaioi, or Romans long after they had forgotten the Latin language. In the sixteenth century, Western humanists gave this eastern Roman empire ruled from Constantinople the epithet 'Byzantine'. Against a backdrop of stories of emperors, intrigues, battles, and bishops, this Oxford History uncovers the hidden mechanisms - economic, social, and demographic - that underlay the history of events. The authors explore everyday life in cities and villages, manufacture and trade, machinery of government, the church as an instrument of state, minorities, education, literary activity, beliefs and superstitions, monasticism, iconoclasm, the rise of Islam, and the fusion with Western, or Latin, culture. Byzantium linked the ancient and modern worlds, shaping traditions and handing down to both Eastern and Western civilization a vibrant legacy.
Incorporating the latest scholarly developments to offer an in-depth account of the history of the Byzantine Empire, this revised edition sheds new light on the Empire's culture, theology, and economic and socio-political spheres. Charting from the Empire's origins, to its expansion and influence over the Mediterranean, later revival, and eventual fall – this book covers more than 1,000 years of history. With analysis of the Empire's changing social infrastructure, key events, and the broader cultural environment, Stathakopoulos expertly analyses how and why it became a powerhouse of literature, art, theology and learning, whilst also examining its aftermath and afterlife – and enduring significance today. Drawing on a variety of English and non-English sources, in addition to a plethora of visual and textual materials, this book is an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and general readers alike.
Succinctly traces the Byzantine Empire's thousand-year course with emphasis on political development and social, aesthetic, economic and ecclesiastical factors
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. Provides interconnected essays of original scholarship relating to the social history of the Byzantine empire Offers groundbreaking theoretical and empirical research in the study of Byzantine society Includes helpful glossaries of sociological/theoretical terms and Byzantine/medieval terms
An indispensable resource for investigating the history of the Byzantine Empire, this book provides a comprehensive summary of its overall development as well as its legacy in the modern world. The existence and development of Byzantium covers more than a millennium and coincides with one of the darkest periods of European history. Unfortunately, the Empire's achievements and brightest moments remain largely unknown except to Byzantine scholars. Through reference entries and primary source documents, this encyclopedia provides essential information about the Byzantine Empire from the reign of Diocletian to the Fall of Constantinople. The reference entries are grouped in eight topical sections on the most significant aspects of the history of the Byzantine Empire. These sections include individuals, key events, key places, the military, objects and artifacts, administration and organization, government and politics, and groups and organizations. Each section begins with an overview essay and contains approximately thirty entries on carefully selected topics. The entries conclude with suggestions for further reading along with cross-references., A selection of primary source documents gives readers first-hand accounts of the Byzantine world.
The dominant Mediterranean power in the fifth and sixth centuries, by the time of its demise at the hands of the Ottomans in 1453 the Byzantine empire was a shadow of its former self restricted essentially to the city of Constantinople, modern Istanbul. Surrounded by foes who posed a constant threat to its very existence, it survived because of its administration, army and the strength of its culture, of which Orthodox Christianity was a key element. This historical atlas charts key aspects of the political, social and economic history of a medieval empire which bridged the Christian and Islamic worlds from the late Roman period into the late Middle Ages.
Between AD 285, when Byzantium first separated from the Western Roman Empire, and 1461, when the last Byzantine splinter state disappeared, the Byzantine state and society underwent many crises, triumphs, declines and recoveries. Spanning twelve centuries and three continents, the Byzantine empire linked the ancient and modern worlds, shaping and transmitting Greek, Roman, and Christian traditions—including the Greek classics, Roman law, and Christian theology—that remain vigorous today, not only in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, but throughout western civilization.
The acclaimed author of Byzantium and the Crusades “offers a fresh take on this fabled but hidden civilization” across 11 centuries of history (Colin Wells, author of Sailing from Byzantium). 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. Rather than recounting the standard chronology of emperors and battles, leading Byzantium scholar Jonathan Harris focuses each chapter of this engaging history on a succession of archetypal figures, families, places, and events. Harris’s introduction presents a civilization rich in contrasts, combining orthodox Christianity with paganism, and classical Greek learning with Roman power. Though frequently assailed by numerous armies, Byzantium survived by dint of its unorthodox foreign policy. Over time, its sumptuous art and architecture flourished, helping to establish a deep sense of Byzantine identity in its people. Synthesizing a wealth of sources to cover all major aspects of the empire’s social, political, military, religious, cultural, and artistic history, Harris’s study illuminates the heart of Byzantine civilization and explores its remarkable and lasting influence on the modern world.
Although Byzantium is known to history as the Eastern Roman Empire, scholars have long claimed that this Greek Christian theocracy bore little resemblance to Rome. Here, in a revolutionary model of Byzantine politics and society, Anthony Kaldellis reconnects Byzantium to its Roman roots, arguing that from the fifth to the twelfth centuries CE the Eastern Roman Empire was essentially a republic, with power exercised on behalf of the people and sometimes by them too. The Byzantine Republic recovers for the historical record a less autocratic, more populist Byzantium whose Greek-speaking citizens considered themselves as fully Roman as their Latin-speaking “ancestors.” Kaldellis shows that the idea of Byzantium as a rigid imperial theocracy is a misleading construct of Western historians since the Enlightenment. With court proclamations often draped in Christian rhetoric, the notion of divine kingship emerged as a way to disguise the inherent vulnerability of each regime. The legitimacy of the emperors was not predicated on an absolute right to the throne but on the popularity of individual emperors, whose grip on power was tenuous despite the stability of the imperial institution itself. Kaldellis examines the overlooked Byzantine concept of the polity, along with the complex relationship of emperors to the law and the ways they bolstered their popular acceptance and avoided challenges. The rebellions that periodically rocked the empire were not aberrations, he shows, but an essential part of the functioning of the republican monarchy.