I thought I left a comment on this and now can not find it.

Nevermind.

As I wrote before I first encountered this book in college while looking for something extra to read about the late Roman empire. I enjoyed it as a 20 year old I enjoy it now that I am much older.

It's a wonderful tour of history and it is - rather unexpectedly - hilarious. I kept on saying to myself "this is no way to run an empire," and it wasn't.

I feel that the history of Byzantium is often ignored, there are no movies about the place, no TV series (a la "Rome") but it was an important time in the development of the West.

This book is a good primer, no it doesn't go in depth into a great deal of Byzantine history - for that I suppose you'd want to read "Ἀλεξιάς" (Alexiad) and other primary sources; but it does give you a good overview.

One of my favorite accounts in the book is that of Belisarius and Justinian. Two great men: Justinian a pretty good Emperor (by Byzantine standards) and Belisarius - one of the greatest generals the world has ever known. Belisarius fights for the empire, wins back Rome and is thanked by Justinian with betrayal. It's awesome, it's heartbreaking, it's NO WAY TO RUN AN EMPIRE!

This 384-page condensation of the original three-volume history gives readers a complete introduction to the direct descendent of the Roman Empire.

The book relates fascinating incidents about the main people, including an eyebrow-raising commentary on Empress Theodora’s early sex life, salaciously recounted by the contemporary historian Procopius. The book explains the famous differences over Church dogma, which characterize the Byzantines for us today, and which eventually drew even me into the fray: As I read along I found myself siding with the Iconoclasts and abhorring Norwich’s favoritism toward the icons. How strong Byzantium's mystique is, to cause people even now to take sides in its maddening disputes! The book provides a useful index, several maps at the front and an intricate imperial genealogy for those who dare.

The author is at fault in a couple of places. The photographs, set off in three sections, are black-and-white while their subjects, including Byzantine art, scream for color. The text itself runs through the empire’s 1100-year history and 88 emperors with an even tone that leaves readers unsure as to which events were decisive and which incidental to Byzantium’s fate. We learn that there were great thinkers in the empire, but not what they thought. In fact, the only real glimpse we get of who the Byzantines were and what they were made of comes at the end of the book, during the amazing last day of their existence. The author drops the ball again in his epilogue, which really should have explored Byzantium's legacy much more than it does in its one thin page.

The history of this empire is interesting enough in its own right to hold one’s attention, and Norwich does an adequate job with the material he uses. By no means is this a tedious account. It just doesn’t tell us quite what it could. Even in this abridged version, A Short History of Byzantium could have been a bit more engaging than it is.

This book is a fascinating look at the transition of the known world from the Roman to Byzantine Empire, spanning over 1000 years where murder, intrigue and war are everyday backdrops to life.
We begin with the creation of Constantinople, designated as the new capital of the Roman Empire. This decision would echo down through the centuries, dividing the Empire into East and West along religious and economic lines. Throughout this timeline Norwich provided an account of Byzantine Emperors who inherited the tradition of their Roman counterparts with marriage and the ever-present problems of heirs as a central concern of their lives.

It was interesting to see how people or events decades or even hundreds of years in the past could influence people, places and the decisions in the present.

One issue was that at times the book seemed at times to be overly detailed. This may be because this is a condensed version of an original trilogy. Instead of allowing the reader room to breathe or elaborating on events and their effects, the story just plows on with its unending list of dates and people. This invariably leads to confusion as in numerous family names are passed down through the generations, causing the reader to be unsure as to who did what when.

Ultimately though, the book is the story of the slow and sad decline of the Roman Empire. The transition of the capital gave the empire a new name but instead of expanding on the traditions and imperial ambitions of Rome, land, respect and wealth is slowly lost. Through mismanagement and poor-decision making by incompetent rulers who obtained power through inheritance or usurpation rather than by merit, the Byzantine Empire is only a frail shadow when Constantinople is finally overrun in 1453.

По времето, когато “Св. София” в Истанбул още беше музей, турският ни екскурзовод, виждайки ни да оглеждаме недоверчиво изкъртена част от малкото останали византийски мозайки от пъстри и златни тесери, доволно заяви: “Това е от кръстоносците, не от османците.”

Византия, съществувала 1123 години без прекъсване, и много повече, ако броим “стажа” и като част от старата Римска империя, пада под меча на четвъртия кръстоносен поход през 1204 г. Кръстоносците “леко” се отклоняват от първоначалната си цел Египет по простата причина, че няма как да платят на Венеция превоза си, и се озовават в ролята на платена банда наемници. Follow the money. Просъществувалата 57 години Латинска империя разкъсва Византия на деспотства и държави, и век по-късно турците се срещат с обезкръвена сянка на някогашното величие. А много византийци считат тюрбана за по-малко унижение от Римската църква, дошла с кръстоносците. Излишно е да се коментира също така, че разбирателството никога не е било в изобилие на Балканите, и съседите на Византия (сред които и България) се държат подобаващо безочливо и неадекватно.

Не мисля, че сър Джон Джулиъс Норуич е бил фен на “Игра на тронове”, предвид рождената му дата през 1928 г. Но определено е фен на историята като жива тъкан, която диша и трепти и в днешния ден. В тази действително кратка историческа хроника на императори и битки от 330 г. до 1453 г. той скицира “героите” си с техните човешки качества, оцелели нейде сред пристрастността и оскъдността на историческите материали за империята. При проблем с имената, читателят все пак бързо ще се сети, че Византия е управлявана от император без нос, от пленен император, от арменец, от съпруг на бивша куртизанка, от многоженец и от безчет генерали, приели имперските си почести първо върху щитовете на войската си.

Книгата проследява в задъхващ ритъм възхода, апогея и падението на това забележително държавно формирование. Гласовете на първата и втората българска държава, на готи, хуни, кръстоносци, венецианци, перси, турци, представители на Рим и Папството са част от този стар, поизбелял, но зашеметяващ гоблен.

Лично аз все така се обърквам за причините за схизмата между източната и западната църква, а Норуич определено също не е силен в богословието. Покрай приключенията на василевси и генерали не остава и кой знае колко терен за анализ на обществените нрави, икономиката и културата. На моменти се губят и връзките между някои събития, което в този съкратен вариант не ме притесни особено, но ще потърся допълнителни източници на информация, като например по-разширената тритомна поредица на Норуич за Византия, и лекциите на Петър Мутафчиев.

Книгата е писана от любител за любители. Но любителят се отличава с добра култура, толерантност, неограничена от география и епохи, любопитство, хумор и заразяващ ентусиазъм. Византия заслужава да бъде обичана и има много какво да разкаже.

⭐️4,5 звезди⭐️

Norwich did a great job in summarising more than 1000 years of history in a 400 page book. The Byzantine empire was a really interesting empire, culturally and historically. In this short history both of those parts are included together with novel-like stories of battles and love.

بخش سوم و پایانی کتاب، به جنگ‌های صلیبی و سقوط بیزانس می‌پرداخت که برای من اهمیتی نداشت. برای من که می‌خواستم از وضعیت منطقه در زمان ظهور اسلام و دو سه قرن ابتدایی اسلام مطلع بشم، دو بخش اول کتاب کافی بود.

کتاب خیلی خوبی بود، برای این که یک بار برای همیشه بدونم چی شد. درسته که خیلی از وقایعی که نقل می‌کرد، خیلی از پادشاه‌های یک روزه‌ای که با کودتا سر کار می‌اومدن و با کودتا سرنگون می‌شدن، فاقد اهمیت تاریخی بودن، اما برای من این خلأ آزارنده بود، این که نمی‌دونستم چی شده. وقتی امپراتوری بیزانس رو خوندم این خلأ رو خیلی حس کردم. حالا دیگه با خیال راحت می‌تونم برم سراغ موضوعات دیگه.

برای بیزانس چند کتاب دیگه هم در نظر دارم که نمی‌دونم کی بخونمشون:
انحطاط و سقوط امپراطوری روم
تاریخ تمدن - عصر ایمان
Byzantium: A Very Short Introduction

This is a strictly historical account of Byzantium and very much focussed on what emperor did what when (and who did he kill how in the process). A good introduction if you need to get an idea, of the "kings and battles" history of the Byzantine empire, and over large stretches a retelling of the main historical sources, such as Michael Psellus.

Governmental history, so all the emperors gets name checked, but it also means that it's a lot of names and no or little social and cultural history, and religious history only when it's relevant to governmental conflict.
Furthermore words like barbarians, bi/homosexual are bandied about and are always negative, without explanation, which really makes it sound even more dated than it is.
And finally the sources are rarely questioned (or named), which is also problematic imo.
This is a condensed version of the longer three volume work of the same author. Perhaps my first complaint is due to this, but I suspect not.

John Julius Norwich is one of those writers of history that you wish could be cloned and then assigned to write the history of humankind. I'm working my way through his catalogue of European and Mediterranean history, and loved his work on Byzantium especially. Enjoy this, and then later find the longer three part series on the Byzantines for a deeper dive.

Spoiler: They all die in the end.

I knew going into this book that it was a shortened version of Norwich’s trilogy. It is damn near impossible to put 1100 years of history into a single, concise volume, let alone on the topic of one of the most complex political entities of recorded human history, even for the best of scholars and writers. Norwich tried his best and certain flashes of his descriptive prowess shine, such as the last few pages of Constantinople’s fall in 1453, for example. But starting around the point of Theodosius, the narrative cranks into a breakneck speed and you start to develop whiplash at the sheer amount of names being thrown around. It might not have been so jarring if the centuries or even decades where organized better, by topic or aspect of Byzantine life. Instead Norwich chose to track the advance of time by following each Emperor roughly by dynasty. The Patriarchs, theologians, artists, and intellectuals that left their mark on Byzantium and what equally made it such a fascinating civilization are annoyingly glossed over. It also becomes more than a tad bit irritating to hear the bemoaning of “if (insert basileus here) hadn’t fallen dead when they did, all of Western Civilization might have shifted dramatically”. Of course it’s fun to speculate and ponder how individual decisions by key figures in history might have gone differently, but you don’t need to be reminded of that every 50 pages. While occasionally Norwich has some witticisms that massages the narrative, by over half way through the book it simply became a chore to engage in an otherwise captivating civilization.

I want to like this book more, and want to give it a higher rating, than I do. Norwich's prose is limpid and, in that way, the book was a pleasure to read. Also, as it is an abrdigement of three volumes into one, I should grant it some leeway even though the seams show in places. But I do not trust that Norwich's focus on political history to the exclusion of almost any discussion of the empire's economic or social evolution is merely due to being forced to cut material from the full three volumes. I suspect the bias to be bias. The resulting synthesis is an unfortunate example of great-man history at its stodgiest.

This really has to be one of my favorite history books of all time. It is written in such a way as to paint the entire history of this empire as one great story. I’m really happy this was the first book I ever read about Byzantium as it was an excellent note to begin reading about this empire on. Norwich is highly adept at making what could be very dense and monotonous history interesting through the use of anecdotes and a number of jokes sprinkled throughout. If you have any interest in learning about the Byzantine Empire, this is an amazing introduction that gives you the full history in a highly entertaining manner. Now I just have to find the three volume version for a decent price…