Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

Subscribe to Read | $0.00

Join today and start reading your favorite books for Free!

Create Free Account

Quick and Easy Sign Up!

It takes less then 1 minute to sign up, then you can enjoy Unlimited eBooks.

Sign Up Browse

Read Anywhere and on Any Device!

  • Download on iOS
  • Download on Android
  • Download on iOS

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire

Judith Herrin
3.91/5 (1932 ratings)
Read Now Download Now
Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism - gold, cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils the riches of a quite different civilization. Avoiding a standard chronological account of the Byzantine Empire's millennium - long history, she identifies the fundamental questions about Byzantium - what it was, and what special significance it holds for us today.

Bringing the latest scholarship to a general audience in accessible prose, Herrin focuses each short chapter around a representative theme, event, monument, or historical figure, and examines it within the full sweep of Byzantine history - from the foundation of Constantinople, the magnificent capital city built by Constantine the Great, to its capture by the Ottoman Turks.

She argues that Byzantium's crucial role as the eastern defender of Christendom against Muslim expansion during the early Middle Ages made Europe - and the modern Western world - possible. Herrin captivates us with her discussions of all facets of Byzantine culture and society. She walks us through the complex ceremonies of the imperial court. She describes the transcendent beauty and power of the church of Hagia Sophia, as well as chariot races, monastic spirituality, diplomacy, and literature. She reveals the fascinating worlds of military usurpers and ascetics, eunuchs and courtesans, and artisans who fashioned the silks, icons, ivories, and mosaics so readily associated with Byzantine art.

An innovative history written by one of our foremost scholars, Byzantium reveals this great civilization's rise to military and cultural supremacy, its spectacular destruction by the Fourth Crusade, and its revival and final conquest in 1453.
Format:
Hardcover
Pages:
416 pages
Publication:
2007
Publisher:
Penguin
Edition:
First Edition, First Impression
Language:
eng
ISBN10:
0713999977
ISBN13:
9780713999976
kindle Asin:
B06Y4LQBQ3

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire

Judith Herrin
3.91/5 (1932 ratings)
Read Download
Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism - gold, cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils the riches of a quite different civilization. Avoiding a standard chronological account of the Byzantine Empire's millennium - long history, she identifies the fundamental questions about Byzantium - what it was, and what special significance it holds for us today.

Bringing the latest scholarship to a general audience in accessible prose, Herrin focuses each short chapter around a representative theme, event, monument, or historical figure, and examines it within the full sweep of Byzantine history - from the foundation of Constantinople, the magnificent capital city built by Constantine the Great, to its capture by the Ottoman Turks.

She argues that Byzantium's crucial role as the eastern defender of Christendom against Muslim expansion during the early Middle Ages made Europe - and the modern Western world - possible. Herrin captivates us with her discussions of all facets of Byzantine culture and society. She walks us through the complex ceremonies of the imperial court. She describes the transcendent beauty and power of the church of Hagia Sophia, as well as chariot races, monastic spirituality, diplomacy, and literature. She reveals the fascinating worlds of military usurpers and ascetics, eunuchs and courtesans, and artisans who fashioned the silks, icons, ivories, and mosaics so readily associated with Byzantine art.

An innovative history written by one of our foremost scholars, Byzantium reveals this great civilization's rise to military and cultural supremacy, its spectacular destruction by the Fourth Crusade, and its revival and final conquest in 1453.
Format:
Hardcover
Pages:
416 pages
Publication:
2007
Publisher:
Penguin
Edition:
First Edition, First Impression
Language:
eng
ISBN10:
0713999977
ISBN13:
9780713999976
kindle Asin:
B06Y4LQBQ3

More Books

Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint

Peter Sarris

Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World

Mary Beard

The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs

Marc David Baer

Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the War for Crown and Empire

James Romm

Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 AD to the First Crusade

Anthony Kaldellis

The Norman Conquest

Marc Morris

Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

Neil Price

Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern

Mary Beard

The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England, 400–1066

Marc Morris

Islam: A Thousand Years of Faith and Power

Jonathan M. Bloom

After 1177 B.C.: The Survival of Civilizations

Eric H. Cline

The Earth Transformed: An Untold History

Peter Frankopan