A Short History Of Byzantium

With Wit, Intelligence And An Unerring Eye For Riveting Detail, Lord Norwich Tells The Dramatic History Of Byzantium From Its Beginnings In Ad 330 When Constantine The Great Moved The Imperial Capital From Rome To The Site Of An Old Greek Port In Asia Minor Called Byzantium And Renamed It Constantinople, To Its Rise As The First And Most Long-lasting Christian Empire, To Its Final Heroic Days And Eventual Defeat By The Turks In 1453. Pt. 1: The Early Centuries. Constantine The Great [to 337] -- Julian The Apostate [337-63] -- The Empire At Bay [363-95] -- The Fall Of The West [395-493] -- The Rise Of Justinian [493-540] -- Justinian : The Last Years [540-65] -- The First Crusader [565-641] -- The Heraclian Line [641-711] -- Iconoclasm [711-802] -- Pt. 2: The Apogee. The Images Restored [802-56] -- Of Patriarchs And Plots [857-67] -- The Macedonian And The Sage [867-912] -- The Gentle Usurper [912-48] -- The Scholar Emperor [945-63] -- The Tale Of Two Generals [963-76] -- The Bulgar-slayer [976-1025] -- The Decline Begins [1025-55] -- Manzikert [1055-81] -- Pt. 3: The Decline And Fall. Alexius Comnenus [1081-1118] -- John The Beautiful [1118-43] -- Manuel Comnenus [1143-80] -- The Fourth Crusade [1180-1205] -- Exile And Homecoming [1205-61] -- The Angevin Threat [1261-82] -- The Two Andronici [1282-1341] -- The Reluctant Emperor [1341-91] -- The Sultan's Vassal [1354-91] -- The Appeal To Europe [1391-1448] -- The Fall [1448-53]. John Julius Norwich. Reprint. Originally Published: New York : Knopf, 1997. Abridgment Of The Author's Three-vol. Work Byzantium. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 392-404) And Index.

Author : John Julius Norwich

Publisher : Vintage

Published Year : 1998

Edition : ABR

Format : Paperback, 496 pages

Language : English

Dimensions : 5.18 (w) x 7.97 (h) x 0.98 (d)

ISBN : 0679772693

ISBN13 : 9780679772699

Overview :

"Norwich is always on the lookout for the small but revealing details. . . . All of this he recounts in a style that consistently entertains."
—The New York Times Book Review

In this magisterial adaptation of his epic three-volume history of Byzantium, John Julius Norwich chronicles the world's longest-lived Christian empire. Beginning with Constantine the Great, who in a.d. 330 made Christianity the religion of his realm and then transferred its capital to the city that would bear his name, Norwich follows the course of eleven centuries of Byzantine statecraft and warfare, politics and theology, manners and art.

In the pages of A Short History of Byzantium we encounter mystics and philosophers, eunuchs and barbarians, and rulers of fantastic erudition, piety, and degeneracy. We enter the life of an empire that could create some of the world's most transcendent religious art and then destroy it in the convulsions of fanaticism. Stylishly written and overflowing with drama, pathos, and wit, here is a matchless account of a lost civilization and its magnificent cultural legacy.

"Strange and fascinating . . . filled with drollery and horror."                          
—Boston Globe