Preface

Abbreviations
List of Maps
List of Images

Part One: A New Empire

New Rome and the New Romans
The scaffold of society and personality of government
From Christian nation to Roman religion

Part Two: Dynastic Insecurities and Religious Passions

The first Christian emperors of the east (324-361)
Competing religions of empire (337-364)
Toward an independent east (364-395)
The city and the desert: Cultures old and new

Part Three: The Return of Civilian Government

The ascendancy of the political class (395-441)
Barbarian terrors and military mobilization (441-491)
Political consolidation and religious polarization (491-518)

Part Four: The Strain of Grand Ambitions

Chalcedonian repression and the eastern axis (518-531)
The Sleepless Emperor (527-540)
War everywhere and plague (540-565)
The price of overextension (565-602)

Part Five: To the Brink of Despair

The great war with Persia (602-630)
Commanders of the Faithful (632-644)
A contest of wills (641-685)

Part Six: Resilience and Recovery

Life and taxes among the ruins
An empire of outposts (685-717)
The lion and the dragon (717-775)
Reform and consolidation (775-815)
A new confidence (815-867)

Part Seven: The Path towards Empire

A new David and Solomon (867-912)
A game of crowns (912-950)
The apogee of Roman arms (950-1025)
A brief hegemony (1025-1048)

Part Eight: A New Paradigm

The walls close in: Losing Italy and the east (1048-1081)
Crisis management, the Komnenian way (1081-1118)
Good John and the Sun King: A second apogee (1118-1180)
Disintegration and betrayal (1180-1204)

Part Nine: Exile and Return

"A new France": Colonial occupation
Romans west and Romans east (1204-1261)
Union with Rome and Roman Disunity (1261-1282)
Territorial retrenchment and cultural innovation (1282-1328)

Part Ten: The Struggle for Dignity at The End

Military failure and mystical solace (1328-1354)
The walls close in (1354-1402)
The cusp of a new world (1402-1461)

Glossary
State Revenues and Payments to Foreign Groups, Fifth-Seventh Centuries
Bibliography