I finished reading Byzantium: The Apogee by John Julius Norwich. Great book by one of the better popular historians of Byzantium and Late Antiquity.
Though the title implies the whole book is of the Golden Age, a good chunk is about the Byzantine state's military struggles against the Caliphates, the Bulgars, & the Rus; political maneuverings against the Western Church and the western emperors; and numerous rebellions and usurpers. The Macedonian dynasty, I realized, wasn't so much a time of peaceful internal progress. It had as much internal strife as in previous dynasties, only the weaker external threats meant these civil wars were not as threatening.
The big takeaway from this story: a nation with a solid civic infrastructure can undergo heavy external and internal strains and still survive. If the populace has faith in its institutions, it seems it will overcome its fear of upheaval.

"Hoy toca reseñar Bizancio. El apogeo (Ático de los libros, 2024), el segundo de la historia en tres volúmenes del Imperio bizantino de John Julius Norwich. Lo primero que tengo que decir es que, aunque el libro tiene la misma extensión que el primero (528 páginas), cubre sólo la mitad de la cantidad de años (478 años en el primer volumen y 281 en el segundo). La razón principal es que hay más fuentes para este período posterior y estas son más completas, por lo que la narración de Norwich es mucho más detallada..."
RESEÑA COMPLETA: https://atrapadaenunashojasdepapel.bl...

Phenomenal entry into a phenomenal trilogy. Norwich by his own admission isn't an academic, which for a history "fan" eminently readable. It allows him to dabble in character quirks, rumors, and fascinating conjecture without getting bogged down in pedantry.

As for the content itself, it's a fascinating histroy. Rivalry between the military and beuracracy, strong emperors forging a new path for the empire, which shortly gets eroded by weak and hedonic puppet emperors. The cycle often repeats itself. It's much more confusing than the original Roman Empire and is radically different.

Thoroughly enjoyable sequel to the Byzantium: The Early Centuries by the same author. The second part of the trilogy reads as well as the first part and, just as the first part, weaves the story very skilfully, always explaining the preceding context. Worth noting is that the trilogy is not meant for academics studying the history of the Eastern Empire, but for ordinary people interested in this reasonably undersupplied by way of books fragment of history, a point made numerous times by the author.

The second part takes off with the coronation of Charlemagne and the consequent establishment of the competing Western Roman Empire in the year 800 and ends shortly after the disaster of Manzikert in 1071. The lopping off of noses, a way of ensuring that a defeated contender would never become the emperor (in keeping with a tradition that a disfigured person could not become one), so prevalent in the first part of the trilogy, gives way to a much more effective practice of beheading, after a nose-less deposed imperial family member became the emperor, nonetheless…

In the second part, when the Empire comes under continuous onslaught of the Saracens, Bulgars, Magyars, Pechenegs, Russians, the Western Empire, Turks, and the papacy, it becomes even more evident how the quality, or lack thereof, of the various emperors impacted the fate of the Empire. The quality understood, in essence, as the continuous ability to maintain authority in all four of the principal constituencies of the Empire – the army, the aristocracy, the Orthodox Church, and the people of Constantinople. Ignoring any of these constituencies or allowing one’s guard to be lowered even for relatively short periods, often resulted in coup d’états, with consequent beheadings, or at best consignments of the former emperors to one of the many monasteries. The second part brings with it the dawning of the Orthodox Church as an autonomous entity to be reckoned with, often impacting events in a significant way.

When reading the book, more than during the lecture of any other, including the first part, it dawned on me how the unfolding historical events bear resemblance to the modern day. When led by feckless emperors, with the aristocracy preoccupied solely with preserving its dominion, and the army perceived (often justifiably so, it must be said) predominantly as a threat, rather than the principal bulwark of the Empire, and, consequently, allowed to wither away during periods of relative peace, the Empire fell victim to external threats, not necessarily due to the seriousness of these, but largely at its own request.

Very glad to have read the second part, I look forward (despite the sad and well-known 1453 grand finale) to reading the third part of this captivating trilogy. Onwards…!

A continuing well written history of the Byzantine Kingdome. Just like the first work. Ready for number three the Fall.

Read and learn of the Bulgar Khan Krum and his drinking cup made from an emperor's skull! Marvel at the rise of Basil II Bulgaroctonus (the Bulgar-slayer) and his revenge!

This second book in Norwich's trilogy eloquently takes the reader through Byzantium's tangled and complex high period. The journey is intriguing, at times hair-raising (most memorably the desperate and sorry end of Michael V: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_V) and beautifully written throughout.

The author writes with an obvious passion, critical eye and at times a dry wit as he takes the reader over the years starting with the crowning of Charlemagne, through the phases of Iconoclasm and then the Great Schism between the eastern and western churches then on past the pivotal Battle of Manzikert. All through this the Byzantine imperial families are ever restless, making both sound and ludicrous tactical and political decisions that see the empire's borders continue to change in an almost fluid fashion. As I turned the last page I felt just as hooked as I ever have been on any work of fiction.

A fine piece.

Like the first volume of Norwich's Byzantium trilogy, The Apogee provides a fast paced account of several centuries in the life of the empire. Unfortunately, the period covered in this installment, 800-1080, is not as interesting as Constantinople's founding and early years. In fact, much of the book covers nothing more than court intrigue and countless imperial successions. It is easy to see why Byzantium's emperors, unlike those of the earlier Western Empire, have been largely forgotten.

The second volume covering the history of the Byzantium Empire is just as entertaining as the first. The book is a very high-level survey of leaders and battles, court intrigue and religious schisms. As the title suggests, this volume gets us to the height of Byzantium's power and prestige under Basil II, though upon his death, the empire goes into a quick and steady decline. The author's sense of humor and his enthusiasm for sifting through source material to explain what we think happened when records are vague or contradictory, make the book less scholarly and more more fun to read for casual history buffs. The book ends in the 11 century, leaving its final decline to be examined in the 3rd and final volume. Even though I know how it ends (spoiler alert: Turks are involved), I'm looking forward to reading it.

The Byzantine empire speed runs feudalism.

Good flow and healthy criticism of traditional sources result in a readable account of a complex period. Regrettably the book also contains some unnecessary racial stereotypes and is vague about some events.

Please see my review of Byzantium: The Early Centuries, which covers this volume as well.

Having read all three volumes of Byzantium by Norwich, I found that they filled in the blank spaces of my knowledge of medieval history, especially of the Levant and Greece, where I had roamed much of my mature youth in my 20's up to my 50's (and still roaming). My reading of Norwich's trilogy eventually revitalized my interest in ancient Rome and the history of the Church. Having travelled and lived in these areas before I read the trilogy, I found myself "connecting the dots" so often that I kept copious notes on tiny notebooks (my way of consuming a well written book).

The richness with which Norwich writes drives the narrative forward. I loved this intellectual light that shone down dark paths of my ignorance and capturing subjects that, being married into the Greek culture, I had to know perforce. By the time I finished reading the trilogy, I found that I was ahead on many points of accuracy on the other side of what most people who had grown up with this history that had been passed down to them through osmosis.

Now I would like to go to Runciman, whose name even sounds medieval and whose books I saw in a Beirut bookstore in the 60's and had vowed to read but never got around to it and then of course, Gibbon.

Note: Jan 2014 The whole trilogy: Early Centuries, Apogee, Decline and Fall is some of the best popular writing of history as I've ever read. It's a long read and a slow one because of the detail. You want to hold each page on your tongue like a rich chocolate bon-bon and wish that it would melt into your brain. I intend to read the whole trilogy again very soon. The history of Byzantium links for the modern student of history the ancient age with the beginning of the modern.
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