
Byzantium
The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire
Judith Herrin(Author)
Penguin Books Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 3. April 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
416 pages
978-0-14-103102-6 (ISBN)
Description
For a thousand years an extraordinary empire made possible Europe's transition to the modern world: Byzantium. An audacious and resilient but now little known society, it combined orthodox Christianity with paganism, classical Greek learning with Roman power, to produce a great and creative civilization which for centuries held in check the armies of Islam.
Judith Herrin's concise and compelling book replaces the standard chronological approach of most histories of Byzantium. Instead, each short chapter is focused on a theme, such as a building (the great church of Hagia Sophia), a clash over religion (iconoclasm), sex and power (the role of eunuchs), an outstanding Byzantine individual (the historian Anna Komnene), a symbol of civilization (the fork), a battle for territory (the crusades). In this way she makes accessible and understandable the grand sweeps of Byzantine history, from the founding of its magnificent capital Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 330, to its fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Judith Herrin's concise and compelling book replaces the standard chronological approach of most histories of Byzantium. Instead, each short chapter is focused on a theme, such as a building (the great church of Hagia Sophia), a clash over religion (iconoclasm), sex and power (the role of eunuchs), an outstanding Byzantine individual (the historian Anna Komnene), a symbol of civilization (the fork), a battle for territory (the crusades). In this way she makes accessible and understandable the grand sweeps of Byzantine history, from the founding of its magnificent capital Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 330, to its fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
24pp colour inset
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
358 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-14-103102-6 (9780141031026)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2008
1st Edition
Penguin Books Ltd
€9.49
Available for download
Person
An acclaimed historian of medieval Europe, Judith Herrin is the author of The Formation of Christendom, devoted to the Mediterranean world from the mid-sixth to the mid-ninth century A.D., A Medieval Miscellany and Women in Purple. She worked in Birmingham, Paris, Munich, Istanbul and Princeton before taking up her current position as Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at King's College London. She has published many scholarly articles, excavated in Greece, Cyprus and Turkey, and was on the editorial board Past and Present 2000-2013.