Byzantium: The Early Centuries

This is one of those unique works of history where a very competent writer—Norwich's prose is reminiscent of Gibbon and Durant (though no one, in my heart, competes with Durant)--takes on a subject that necessitates both eloquence and wit. The Early Centuries begins with the Emperor Diocletian's splitting of the empire in two, to be shared by two men, and his subsequent abdication of the throne to be a cabbage farmer. It ends, five hundred years later with the papal coronation of Charlemagne, the "jumped up barbarian chieften." Needless to say, this book is not at all large enough to cover 500 hundred years to be the "full version" of the story next to Norwich's single-volume work on the Byzantine Empire. This is the biggest, and only, flaw to me. The meat of the book is about 360 pages, and Norwich explicitly does not go into much detail on anything he deems not concerning "this story." Which, to me at least, would have been greatly appreciated, and I think Norwich should have written three separate thousand-page volumes, instead of three separate volumes that equal a thousand pages. Even with the very sparse and far-reaching primary sources, I think he could have written a lot more.

Despite this shortcoming, Norwich tells this story impeccably, often providing that historian commentary that I really love to see. It is almost strange that, in my opinion, historical works on antiquity really seem to be the exact time period for modern historians to really show distinctly pleasurable prose writing. Here is an example of Norwich's truly exemplary use of the English language:

"The fourth century had been a fateful one indeed for the Roman Empire. It had seen the birth of a new capital on the Bosphorus--a capital which, although not yet the sole focus of a united political state, was steadily growing in size and importance while the world of the Western Mediterranean subsided into increasing anarchy; and it had seen the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Emperor and his subjects. It ended, however, on a note of bathos: in the West with silence and inertia in the face of the barbarian menace, in the East with a whimper--the only possible description for the reactions of the most feckless Emperor yet to occupy the throne of Constantinople as he watched successive strong men meet their variously violent deaths, while his own vicious and domineering wife insulted and humiliated him in public, holding him up to ridicule as a fool, an incompetent and a cuckold. The new century, on the other hand, began with a bang. In the early summer of 401, Alaric the Goth invaded Italy."

This is an example of superb historiography that is both compelling and stylistically satisfying. We also see Norwich's wit on occasion; though not as much as Durant's, it is still appreciated:

"Pelagius had been popular and universally respected; Zeno was neither. In his youth he had been renowned as an athlete--the Anonymus Valesii rather surprisingly attributes his fleetness of foot to the fact that he was born without kneecaps--but in all other fields he had been a failure."

What is interesting about this work is that it can also be considered a history of the early Christian church. The pervasiveness of religion in the story and its corruption is enough to pull your hair out. As well is the number of competent individuals destroyed by the incompetent; too such an extent that 1 out of 10 names in this story can bear the title of guileless or at least having any noble attributes whatsoever. With that being said, I would like to be an armchair statesmen and detail what I think are the largest defects of the Byzantine Empire, of which the entire history is founded on terrible decisions and it is remarkable that it lasted more than a century let alone ten centuries.

First off, of course is the worst decision Constantine the Great made at the very outset of this history: involving religion in his statecraft. The Empire would have been a thousand times better with a secular government. Over and over Norwich relates how provinces are falling left and right, yet the Emperor, no matter who, was too busy with theologic disputes to take care of his subjects. Annoyingly so, emperor after successive emperor meddles in religious affairs to which either he kills his subjects for something as trivial as thinking Christ is of the same Energy as God rather than the same nature, or he himself is deposed because of something just as trivial. It is absolutely absurd to see that constantly with nearly every sovereign becoming victim of this same fate.

Next is the raising up of the Emperors' wives to the rank of Augusta and giving them any power at all. We can even spread this to the entire nepotistic issue of a monarchy in general, but the Augustas throughout this story cause much unneeded detrimant to a unified rule. We see this most especially in the power that Theodora, the wife of Justinian I, and that of Irene held. Causing untold dissension and bloodshed, and unltimately undermining the good that their husbands would try to do.

The last that I'll speak of is that of many Emperors' myopic and self-mutilating choice of purging their own subjects. The Bulgars, the Arabs, The Huns, any amount of barbarian tribes are sacking Byzantine towns, yet the Emporors constantly whittle down their own competent soldiers and citizens for stupid reasons. Invariably, this even leads to the death of the Emperor in a coup. Its like none of the Emperors gave time to the history of their own seat, rather than giving all time and thought to theology.

This is a book full of tragedy and intrigue, worst of all, in my opinion, is that of Belisarius. But I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all. The story of the Byzantines has been a blank spot in my knowledge of history for too long, and it is such an important subject that I believe more historians should stop obsessing over the period of the Republic's fall, and start exploring this much more interesting subject.

An excellent history of the Eastern Roman Empire (colloquially known as the Byzantine Empire) starting with the reign of Constantine the Great in 306 and ending with Empress Irene in 800. The first part of the book also covers events in the Western Roman Empire until its fall.

This history beats anything that any fiction writer could come up with. The politics of the Byzantine Empire and its rulers feature the greatest assortment of characters, from great conquerors and generals, to saintly rulers and Popes, to insane and outright incompetent emperors. Poor peasants rose and became emperors, great men fell and had their noses cut or were blinded, fathers killed their sons, brothers killed each other and so much more. And from this utter madness a great Empire rose and managed to become the centre of the civilised world at a time when Europe was plunged into the so called Dark Ages.

Norwich is a great storyteller and manages to tell the history in a very interesting and exciting way. However, this means that he also passes a bit too many value judgements. The book is almost impossible to put down. The only downside is that due to the 500 year span it is difficult to cover events in any detail. The books of Gibbons and Bury which serve as inspiration for Norwich are probably better for the in depth stories.

An exceptional book indeed with a mastery of style and depth. It has left me with an indelible mark of fascination for both the author and Byzantium itself. I am looking forward to reading the other two volumes.

Byzantium: The Early Centuries is a wonderful overview of the Eastern Empire from the seeds of its formation to 800 AD. Norwich includes enough detail to cover the major events of this era without ever letting up on the lightening fast pace of the narrative. His writing is so clear, informative, and entertaining that even the footnotes are a pleasure! I enthusiastically recommend this work to anyone interested in Byzantine history.

The fourth century had been a fateful one indeed for the Roman Empire. It had seen the birth of a new capital on the Bosphorus--a capital which, although not yet the sole focus of a united political state, was steadily growing in size and importance while the world of the Western Mediterranean subsided into increasing anarchy; and it had seen the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Emperor and his subjects.

Late in this volume I contemplated my decision not to read the abridged compendium of the three volumes. That matter remains unresolved. What we have is a vast narrative history without much in terms of cause or flavor. The details provided are usually salacious or grim. There isn't much self awareness on display. A more glib reader would view this as a monument to Daddy Duff: see, I haven't wasted my potential.
There was an awareness towards the end that the Eastern Mediterranean was irrevocably changed in the sixth and seventh centuries with first the arrival of the Slavs to the Balkans and then in the Arabian Peninsula with the advent of Islam. Those happenings run at odds with the geography-only thesis of Braudel, but not entirely, as Constantinople held so the Saracens were forced to travers North Africa and enter Europe through Iberia. I didn't care for this as much as I did The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean but alas I am but a third of the way through the project.

The history of the [Byzantine] Empire is a monotonous story of the intrigues of priests, eunuchs and women, of poisonings, of conspiracies, of uniform ingratitude, of perpetual fratricides.

So opens John Norwich’s meticulously detailed account of the first 500 years of Byzantine history, when he quotes Lecky’s History of European Morals, published in 1869.

Norwich wastes little time to rescue this unflattering summary of Byzantine history, when he says that this sounds not so much monotonous a story, as one destined to be entertaining.

And thoroughly entertaining it is.

Over the next few hundred pages he expertly tells a behemoth of a tale, riddled with conquests, betrayals, imperial power plots and intrigues, where one is instantly reminded how this is the story of an Empire created as a continuation of the, by now, fading Roman Empire, though admittedly one where its populous are culturally less sophisticated, its emperors a great deal more shady, its justice unspeakably more brutal, and its orgies, regrettably less frequent.

Over the course of some 18 Chapters in which most of the main characters are repeatedly named /Constantin/ Justin / Theodosius/Anesthasia /John / or a some derivative of it, it become at times utterly daunting to keep track of how they are all interrelated, intertwined and interbred. To add to the confusion, the motives and underlying storylines of intrigues and struggles remain largely unchanged throughout early Byzantine history, as the story whizzes past several emperors losing their heads, either literally or figuratively, get their noses misplaced, again literally and figuratively, or in some cases, allowing to be remembered in history for being neither saint nor sadist and in other, more extreme cases, for being both.

So it is not long before one is reminded of the damning opening paragraph of the book in which Byzantine history is reduced to being ' a monotonous story of conspiracies, intrigues, poisoning and perpetual fratricides.’

However, the breathtaking scope and volume of stories within stories, plots within subplots which weave the threads binding characters to events to make up the mosaic of Early history of Byzantine, is, if anything, simply, mind numbing.

By the time Norwich draws the 8th century to a close in an outrageously scandalous final chapter, Constantinople has emerged, kicking and screaming, as a towering bastion of Orthodox faith, its transformation complete and its identity so unique, that any comparison to Ancient Rome or the old Roman Empire would certainly seem absurd.

Expect a story filled with a dazzling amount of betrayals, betrothals and beheadings with facts and events peppered non stop over the course of five centuries. So it becomes almost impossible to be left with anything other than a rough impression of those early Byzantine centuries. Trying, after its initial reading, to recall exactly where what happened or whether it happened to Constance, Constantine, Constantia or Constantinius, becomes somewhat rhetorical , once the initial dust settles on this epic tale.

There is simply so much happening inside this initial volume that it is quite astounding that a mere 400 pages can account for it all. Perhaps if the brothers Grimm told their fairytales in the style of the old Testament, Id have something to compare.

On a slightly less upbeat note, I can forgive Norwich for failing to explain exactly how issues around the theological debates could have been so delicate, so sensitive, as to spur an entire city into unstoppable riot, or how an emperor could be loved or loathed depending on whether he thought Christ and God was one and the same, or not, and loose a head, tongue, nose or more intimate protrusion in the process. However, for failing to mention, even one, imperial orgy behind palace walls, I find myself being a little less forgiving.

Just kidding. This is a monster read, being the first of three volumes. And yes, in the initial mix there is at least one orgy, (albeit sketchy in its sordid detail), a great many tales of glittering conquest and ones of undignified homosexual out-ing, outrageous fortunes, breathtaking heroism and brilliant triumph. But alas, as is the case when tales are told of a mighty empire - a great many quietly reveal a secret history of unspeakable tragedy.

I don't usually write serious reviews, but I do want to explain my rating here since the book seems to be really well-regarded. To me, it seemed very focused on military and political history, almost exclusively discussing the succession of leaders and changes of the territory of the empire (which I'm sure is in part because it's an older book and that kind of history was more in vogue when it was written.) The book is very well-written, but the emphasis on only these areas of Byzantine history seemed reductive to me and doesn't really align with my own interests, so on a personal level, it wasn't as compelling as I'd hoped. If you're primarily interested in that type of history, though, I do recommend it!

Norwich narra estos hechos con un estilo ameno y riguroso, basado en una amplia documentación y una profunda erudición. Su obra no es solo una crónica de los acontecimientos políticos y militares, sino también un retrato de la sociedad, la economía, la religión, la cultura y el arte de Bizancio, que nos permite conocer mejor este periodo histórico.
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