Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire - Hardcover

Herrin, Judith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0713999977 ISBN 13: 9780713999976

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2007

Synopsis

For a thousand years Byzantium was a byword for imperial power, gold and international trade. This extraordinary but now little known empire combined paganism and classical Greek and Roman learning with orthodox Christianity, and for centuries held back the armies of Islam, making possible the transition from antiquity to modern Europe. From the prominence of eunuchs to the secret of ‘Greek fire’, it was surprising, creative and audacious.

Many long tomes have plodded through the emperors and battles of Byzantium, from the founding of its magnificent capital of Constantinople (today’s Istanbul) in 330, to its fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Judith Herrin takes a new approach. In a concise and compelling account she focuses each short chapter around a theme such as a building (the great church of Hagia Sophia), luxury silks, iconoclasm, the fork, the crusades, or an individual, using them to take the reader on a journey from ancient to medieval times. She paints a magnificent panorama of the forces and beliefs at work during the millennium of Byzantium, and brings the experience of the Byzantine age to life in a beautifully written and exceptionally accessible work that is also an original contribution to historical scholarship.

About this title

Review:

'A lively, intelligent, well-written and persuasive book which deserves to be widely read.'
-- Jonathan Riley-Smith, Tablet

'Herrin has taken the brave decision to approach her subject thematically, choosing particular events, monuments and individuals through which to tell her story ... Rich and convincing ... a fascinating account.' -- Jerry Brotton, Sunday Times

'I've been reading it with fascination. This most intriguing of empires is the best introduction to Byzantine history I've seen. I can say with absolute certainty that I shall steal from it several times.'
-- Philip Pullman

'She presents Byzantium as a vibrant, dynamic, cosmopolitan reality which somehow escaped the constraints of its official ideology.' -- Economist

From the Back Cover:

"This book provides an introduction to Byzantium in a nonconventional fashion. It explores, in chronological order, basic questions about Byzantine history and society. I know of no other book that attempts this approach to the millennium-long history of Byzantium. Judith Herrin is a scholar at the top of her form."--Michael Maas, author of Exegesis and Empire in the Early Byzantine Mediterranean

"A very readable and enjoyable introduction to Byzantium. Judith Herrin is a major scholar of Byzantium with much to teach us."--Robert Ousterhout, author of Master Builders of Byzantium

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0713999977
• ISBN 13: 9780713999976
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416