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Compelling series on the history of Byzantium (but also covering much of the Venice and Genoese republics, Sicily and the various Western and Balkan states), starting with Constantine’s establishment of the Eastern Empire and the end of the Western Empire and going through to the Ottoman sack of Constantinople.
The focus is very much and deliberately political (great men and battles) rather than social (we learn little about normal life) or economical (we know little of why Byzantium was so prosperous at its peak or of the reason for the wealth of Venice).
There is however detailed and in fact very clear description of many of the theological disputes and one of the author’s themes is that these were intimately bound up with Byzantine politics as well as its complex relations with the West).
The other theme is that the Byzantine Empire doesn’t deserve its relative obscurity in modern times and was the continuation of both Greek and Roman culture and civilisation for many years when the West was in the Dark Ages).
The series is well written, even if at times the many of hundreds of years of history and similar names Popes, Patriachs, Emperors and various Balkan princes and Muslim and Barbarian tribes can get complex (the book could do with more than just a list of Emperors at the back e.g. a summary of each or a more detailed timeline as well as with better maps).
The focus is very much and deliberately political (great men and battles) rather than social (we learn little about normal life) or economical (we know little of why Byzantium was so prosperous at its peak or of the reason for the wealth of Venice).
There is however detailed and in fact very clear description of many of the theological disputes and one of the author’s themes is that these were intimately bound up with Byzantine politics as well as its complex relations with the West).
The other theme is that the Byzantine Empire doesn’t deserve its relative obscurity in modern times and was the continuation of both Greek and Roman culture and civilisation for many years when the West was in the Dark Ages).
The series is well written, even if at times the many of hundreds of years of history and similar names Popes, Patriachs, Emperors and various Balkan princes and Muslim and Barbarian tribes can get complex (the book could do with more than just a list of Emperors at the back e.g. a summary of each or a more detailed timeline as well as with better maps).
