Whew!!! So many rulers, so much treachery, endless similar names, stylites, chariot races, blues and greens, so much history!!!! There were so many passionate aspects of Byzantine society. It was a brilliant book, written by an talented author who out Gibboned, Gibbon himself. So an exhausting but satisfying read is over. I am better for the reading of it.

While I have no doubt that other historians can relay the facts every bit as well, there’s absolutely something to be said for the panache with which Norwich guides you through the years. Brilliant.

Para ser un libro de historia tiene mejor estilo y ritmo que muchas novelas que he leído este año. Muy top.

I am already keen on Norwich due to his work on Venice, and I got this whole three-volume work in one buy based on trust, so I am delighted to say that it does not disappoint. Norwich is his usual erudite self, witty and enjoyable to read. The book is a bit kings-and-battles, like most history, but the author supplies enough philosophical and other context to render this a burden easily borne.

The period covered spans the early reasons for interest in a different site for the seat of Empire to Rome, up to the rise of Islam and the Byzantines' first great effort to win back control of areas lost to the Muslims. The period is crucially important to the history of the Western and Islamic worlds, as it covers the decline of the Western Roman Empire, Christianisation, the Arian controversy and rise of monophysite and Nestorian branches. the early rupture and balancing of power betwen Emperor and Pope, the rise of Charlemagne and of course the collapse of the Persian Empire and loss of much of the Roman to Islam.

Norwich sets out to rebalance the rather negative view of the Byzantines with which Gibbon left us, but I must say they remain desperately unappealing. It used to be claimed that one could not buy bread without having some point of meaningless theological dispute thrown in, and that the people would riot in the streets over the spelling of "homoiousios" while caring not a jot about the weightiest economic concerns. This appears to be true even given Norwich's rebalancing. It certainly seems the case, as I have suspected for some time, that a major cause for the sudden triumph of Islam was not merely the Persian wars and the Black Death which had hollowed out the Empire, but the Empire's sheer unpopularity. Its murderous intolerance of the most obscure differences of opinion about empty theological arcana and increasingly genocidal attitude to non-Christians left the tolerant, if austere, early Muslims a comparatively attractive prospect.

At any rate the is a wonderful read. I am looking forward to the next volume already.

A great History of the early years of one of the greatest and longest lasting empires.

"Our civilization has never adequately acknowledged the debt it owes to the Empire of the East", writes John Julius Norwich in the introduction of this magnificent book. In very rare occasions, historians rise to the level of the history they are narrating. This is one of those occasions. We jump on the glorious vessel captained by Norwich and he takes us to the eastern Mediterranean, the Sea of Marmara, then up the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus. The journey is the reward as I never really wanted the book to end. Fortunately, this was just the first volume of three: The Early Centuries (1988), The Apogee (1991) and The Decline and Fall (1995).

For the last 200 years, the Byzantine Empire had been the victim of a conspiracy of silence. Norwich recalls that he hadn't heard or read anything about it until he went to Oxford. What little was known of the Empire of the East had been filtered through the opaque lens of Edward Gibbon who saw Byzantium as the decadence of all that was noble in Ancient Greece and Rome. And it wasn't until the middle of the 20th century when travel to the Levant became more accessible that the Byzantine Empire was recognized for what it had been: a worthy and mighty successor and carrier of the Greek and Roman traditions.

The quote from Norwich at the beginning of this post is important. Byzantium was the stronghold of Christendom and Greek and Latin culture that kept great empires from the East from invading Europe. What chance would the smaller kingdoms and tribes of Europe would have had against the Persians in the seventh century or the Saracens in the eighth? Constantinople, though sieged several times by the forces of the East or barbarians from the north or west, resisted and ultimately prevailed due to the strength of its emperor and the unity of its people, who drew strength from "a single, unshakeable article of faith: that the Roman Empire was one and indivisible, its ruler chosen by God as His Vice-Gerent on earth."

Culturally, too, we owe much to the Empire. After the fall of Rome, cultural progress stalled in Western Europe, and it was in Constantinople that the classical heritage was preserved. Greek and Latin literature, philosophy, Roman Law, would have been lost forever if it had not been for the scholars and copyists of Byzantium.

The most entertaining history book I’ve read. Definitely compresses and simplifies a lot of things into Great Man-isms but also quotes plentifully from primary sources.

It's a little hard keeping track of the ever-changing cast of Emperors but John Julius Norwich is one of the best historians I have ever read. I look forward to reading much more of his work.

Beautifully written account of one of the frequently misunderstood and obscured periods of European history. It manages to convey the flow of time and the various continuous streams behind the prominent episodes and figures. Its healthy criticism of sources, fables and stereotypes makes early Byzantium more similar to later periods and hence easier to understand.

A history of the Byzantine Empire told through it's emperors; beginning with Constantine and ending with the overthrow of Empress Irene. It is a testament to the engaging writing style that this book, instead of being a total snooze-fest, was a delight to read.

People in uncontested power all begin to display megalomaniac tendencies. Emperors may start with noble, humble goals but if their reign dragged long enough, were no better remembered as cruel autocrats. Once a land vested with two co-rulers, the Byzantine emperors of later years consolidated the rule solely in their seemingly god-like hands.

The chronicles in this volume is a timeless story. It is the history of other great empires; born, raised to glory and ultimately conquered and ruined.

3. cildi okurken Norwich'in gözyaşlarını hissedebiliyorsunuz ,yazar rüyasında Haçlı Seferine katılıyor ,uykudan Deus Vult diye bağırarak kan ter içinde uyanıyor olabilir

This is great man (and great woman) history but very well written. The text flows easily and you feel you know the characters. There's not much social history - you don't get a feel for the lives of ordinary Byzantines but that would make it a bigger and/or different kind of book. Religion is an important part of the story but the author treats this as an outsider unlike, say, MacCulloch. I got the sense that he wasn't much interested in the theological intricacies.