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Loading... Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire (2007)by Judith Herrin
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Considering that Byzantine history lasts for a thousand years, I think it was really smart to not try to tell a chronological story but to explore different aspects of Byzantine culture in individual chapters. If you're looking for a narrative history, this isn't it, but if you want a good overview of Byzantine culture and its influence on the world, this book is excellent. https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3088441.html Gibbon very unfairly neglects the Byzantine Empire, and Judith Herrin here argues for its rehabilitation as a vibrant civilisation in its own right, until it was dealt a deadly blow by Western Christianity in 1204 (and yet still survived another quarter of a millennium). She avoids doing a straight historical narrative, instead concentrating on different aspects of Byzantine politics and culture, arranged roughly in chronological order; there is an early chapter on the Hagia Sofia, a late chapter on Trebizond and the other post-1204 splinters. I felt that the risks of this approach did not quite pay off - there ends up being some repetition between chapters, and the whole thing seemed a bit unmoored from a firm timeline. Of course the risk of going the other way is that you would get too much into the dynastic politics of the people at the top, to the neglect of the rest. Speaking of the people at the top, I had not appreciated that several women ruled the Byzantine Empire in their own right, or that two of them responsible for ending the two spells of iconoclasm. And having complained about the weak connection to the passage of time, I must say that I was very satisfied with the book’s treatment of the shifting geography of the Byzantine empire, particularly the account of how the Ravenna mosaics came to be in Ravenna. Fans of Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors will be enlightened by this book, which may be better absorbed chapter by (short) chapter, rather than reading through in a few sittings. no reviews | add a review
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A classic book now available on audio With narration by Phyllida Nash, who gives a captivating account of the legendary empire that made the modern Western world possible 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. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)949.502History and Geography Europe Other parts Greece and the Byzantine Empire Byzantine Empire -- 323-1453 Byzantine Empire ; Byzantine prosperity, 717-1081LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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That said, and for all the strengths of the book--nice detail, wide range--it's a little infuriating that Herrin spends so much time talking about things that happened to her when she was a tourist in some part of what used to be the Byzantine empire. It feels like someone (agent? editor? Herrin herself?) decided that this book needed 'livening up.' Herrin, for better and worse, is not William Dalrymple. That's not to say Herrin shouldn't have written this book, only that it could easily have been much better. ( )