Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism--gold,
cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils
the riches of a quite different civilization. Avoiding a standard
chronological account of the Byzantine Empire's millennium--long
history, she identifies the fundamental questions about
Byzantium--what it was, and what special significance it holds for
us today.
Bringing the latest scholarship to a general audience in
accessible prose, Herrin focuses each short chapter around a
representative theme, event, monument, or historical figure, and
examines it within the full sweep of Byzantine history--from the
foundation of Constantinople, the magnificent capital city built by
Constantine the Great, to its capture by the Ottoman Turks.
She argues that Byzantium's crucial role as the eastern defender
of Christendom against Muslim expansion during the early Middle
Ages made Europe--and the modern Western world--possible. Herrin
captivates us with her discussions of all facets of Byzantine
culture and society. She walks us through the complex ceremonies of
the imperial court. She describes the transcendent beauty and power
of the church of Hagia Sophia, as well as chariot races, monastic
spirituality, diplomacy, and literature. She reveals the
fascinating worlds of military usurpers and ascetics, eunuchs and
courtesans, and artisans who fashioned the silks, icons, ivories,
and mosaics so readily associated with Byzantine art.
An innovative history written by one of our foremost scholars,
"Byzantium" reveals this great civilization's rise to military and
cultural supremacy, its spectacular destruction by the Fourth
Crusade, and its revival and final conquest in 1453.
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