Byzantium : the surprising life of a medieval empire /
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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London :
Penguin Books,
2008
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Table of Contents:
- Introduction: A different history of Byzantium
- Foundations 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 transition from Ancient to Medieval. 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'
- Byzantium becomes a Medieval state. 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
- Varieties of Byzantium. 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