Byzantium : the surprising life of a medieval empire / Judith Herrin.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Herrin, Judith
Language:English
Published: Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2008, ©2007.
Subjects:
Byzantine Empire > History.
Byzantine Empire > Civilization.
Physical Description:xxiii, 391 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm
Format: Book
Contents:
  • Introduction: A different history of Byzantium
  • The city of Constantine
  • Constantinople, the largest city in Christendom
  • The East Roman Empire
  • Greek orthodoxy
  • The church of Hagia Sophia
  • The Ravenna Mosaics
  • Roman law
  • The bulwark against Islam
  • Icons, a new Christian art form
  • Iconoclasm and icon veneration
  • A literate and articulate society
  • Saints Cyril and methodios, 'apostles to the slavs'
  • Greek fire
  • The Byzantine economy
  • Eunuchs
  • The imperial court
  • Imperial children, 'born in the purple'
  • Mount Athos
  • Venice and the fork
  • Basil II, 'the bulgar-slayer'
  • Eleventh-century crisis
  • Anna Komnene
  • A cosmopolitan society
  • The fulcrum of the crusades
  • The towers of Trebizond, Arta, Nicaea and Thessanlonike
  • Rebels and patrons
  • 'Better the Turkish turban than the Papal tiara'
  • The siege of 1453
  • Conclusion: The greatness and legacy of Byzantium.