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Byzantium: A Very Short Introduction

Peter Sarris

July 2015

ISBN: 9780199236114

168 pages
Paperback
174x111mm

In Stock

Very Short Introductions

Price: £8.99

From the fourth to the fifteenth century AD the Byzantine Empire flourished as a powerful economic, cultural, and military force, whose influence stretched from Spain to Egypt. Peter Sarris explores the fusion of Greek and Roman civilization at the heart of the Byzantine Empire, and charts its struggle for survival against external challenges.

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Description

From the fourth to the fifteenth century AD the Byzantine Empire flourished as a powerful economic, cultural, and military force, whose influence stretched from Spain to Egypt. Peter Sarris explores the fusion of Greek and Roman civilization at the heart of the Byzantine Empire, and charts its struggle for survival against external challenges.

  • Addresses the question of what was distinctive about Byzantine civilization as it developed in the Eastern Mediterranean
  • Details the urban, architectural, and social development of Byzantium
  • Considers the place of Byzantium in the modern imagination
  • Examines the often paradoxical and contradictory relationship between Byzantium and the Islamic world
  • Part of the bestselling Very Short Introductions series - over seven million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Peter Sarris, Reader in Late Roman, Medieval and Byzantine History at the University of Cambridge

Peter Sarris was educated at St Albans School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he read Modern History, specialising in Byzantine and medieval topics. In 1993 he was elected to a Prize Fellowship at All Souls College, and since 2000 he has taught at the University of Cambridge, where he is currently Reader in Late Roman, Medieval and Byzantine History and a Fellow of Trinity College. His previous books include Empires of Faith - The Fall of Rome to the Rise of Islam (OUP, 2011).

Table of Contents

    1:What was Byzantium?
    2:Constantinople, 'the ruling city'
    3:From antiquity to the middle ages
    4:Byzantium and Islam
    5:Strategies for survival
    6: Text, image, space, and spirit
    7:End of empire
    Further reading
    Index

Reviews

"a broad perspective on Byzantine history which will be useful for readers with some background in the topic who want to learn more." - Paul England, Medieval Warfare

"thorough and informative" - Northern Echo, Stephen Craggs

"a brilliantly distilled introduction to the idea of Byzantium, its reality and its legacy." - Adrian Spooner, Classics for All

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