Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire

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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 ...

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More About This Book

Overview

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.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Offering a brilliant study of the history of the Byzantine empire, Herrin-whose groundbreaking The Formation of Christendomchallenged traditional views on the development of Christianity-draws a similarly original portrait of a tradition-based yet dynamic empire that protected Christianity by checking the westward expansion of Islam. Herrin progresses in lively fashion, chronicling the 1,000-year history of Byzantium from its rise in A.D. 306 to its demise at the hands of the Ottomans. Along the way, Herrin, a professor at King's College, London, introduces an astonishing cast of characters, such as the empire's first leader, Constantine I; religious leaders such as Patriarch Photios; and Anna Komnene, the great 12th-century historian whose Odyssey-like epic, the Alexiad, celebrated the 37-year reign of her father, Alexios I. Drawing on letters, journals and other primary documents from both political figures and ordinary citizens, Herrin splendidly recreates an empire whose religious art, educational curriculum, tax and legal systems, and coronation rituals preserved the best of the empire's pre-Christian Greek past while at the same time passing along advances to the rest of the world. Herrin's history is hands-down the finest introduction to Byzantium and its continuing significance for world history. 8 color illus.; 16 b&w illus.; maps. (Feb.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
E-History.com
Byzantium covers a huge period of space, time, and cultural influence, which is now synthesized into bite-sized pieces in Judith Herrin's new book Byzantium. . . . As a non-specialist, I can fully attest to her success in making her book appear friendly and imminently readable. . . . The eye-catching cover is a visual clue to the treasures within this book, which explores the intrigue of the imperial Byzantine court; describes the lavish clothing, administration, food, architecture, and art of Byzantium; reveals a fascinating cast of royals and ascetics; and captures the imagination about this era of the Eastern Roman Empire down to the 15th century, when Byzantium falls to the Ottoman Empire. . . . Herrin seeks to promote the positive and creative aspects of Byzantium and show the reader a Byzantium that is more than derivative of Greek and Roman culture, but rather it's own culture. She excels at this. . . .
New York Review of Books
The scope and shape of Herrin's survey of Byzantine history and culture are impressive. She moves from the foundation of Constantinople to its fall before the Turks in a series of twenty-eight short chapters. This allows the curious or impatient reader to sample, according to taste, such delectable topics as Greek fire, eunuchs, icons, and the Towers of Trebizond . . .
— G.W. Bowersock
Choice
The book is comprehensive, but the paragraphs are never dense and the prose retains throughout a lively quality.
— J.W. Nesbitt
Christian Science Monitor
[A] remarkable new history...Herrin takes a fresh approach and focuses on manifold aspects of Byzantine culture, civilization, and religion. Herrin's scholarship is impeccable, yet she writes like the very best of travel writers. She paints vivid pictures of this prosperous and pious culture whose capital was a fortified city of sunlight glinting off the gilded church domes and spires, surrounded on three sides by the shimmering Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus.... From the first page, the author embraces the reader in the love of her subject. She entertains and captivates while throwing open the doors to her formidable treasury of knowledge...
— M.M. Bennetts
Austin American-Statesman
Herrin's hope is to dispel the aura of decadence that hangs over Byzantium so that we can see the empire for what it was: one of the great, creative civilizations. Herrin's account shows that, indeed, Byzantium can't be explained as a millennial slide downhill, the judgment propounded by Gibbon in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and often repeated since.
— Roger Gathman
Open Democracy Blog
Here of course lies the strong contemporary resonance of Herrin's argument. Her lively portrayal of a forgotten civilisation impacts on the revived Muslim awareness and expansion of today.
— Tom Nairn
First Things
It is only as one sees Byzantium for itself, and not simply in relation to Islam or Western Europe, that one can begin to appreciate its greatness. And that is what makes Herrin's Byzantium so welcome. All the expected topics are here: the founding of Constantinople, the building of the great church of Agia Sophia, the rule of Justinian and the codification of Roman law, the shimmering mosaics of Ravenna, the harsh consequences of the rise of Islam, the place of icons in Byzantine life and the iconoclastic controversy, the conversion of the Slavs and the creation of an alphabet for the Slavic tongue, Mount Athos, the outstanding historian Anna Komnene, the arrival of the Crusaders, the siege of Constantinople. But the book contains much more.
— Robert Louis Wilken
Magill Book Reviews
In this carefully researched, clearly written, and engaging book author Herrin opens up a neglected part of western history for the general reader.
— Charles L. P. Silet
Worship
Judith Herrin's book provides a fine cultural backdrop to the study of Byzantine liturgy—and a good read for understanding this remarkable society on its own terms.
— Frank C. Senn
American Historical Review
At its best, the text is skillfully written, judiciously crafted, and lively.
— Florin Curta
The Daily Telegraph
The big, standard histories contain a wearying succession of emperors, patriarchs, battles, and sieges...At the other end of the scale there are lightweight travelogues, or books that pick out the juiciest moments (such as the final siege of 1453), leaving aside many things that are more important but less conducive to a good story. Judith Herrin has tried to find a middle ground between those two extremes, and has succeeded in a rather original way. Her book is a necklace of short chapters, each on a different topic, strung out in broadly chronological order. Some are devoted to places (Ravenna, Mount Athos and, of course, Constantinople itself); some are about people (Anna Comnena, Saints Cyril and Methodius, and the unforgettably named Basil the Bulgar-Slayer); and some are on general subjects, whether large (Greek Orthodoxy, the Byzantine economy, the Crusades) or small ('Greek Fire', and eunuchs).
— Noel Malcolm
The Economist
Judith Herrin, a professor at King's College London, sets out to show that there are far better reasons to study and admire the civilisation that flourished for more than a millennium before the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and whose legacy is still discernible all over south-east Europe and the Levant. She presents Byzantium as a vibrant, dynamic, cosmopolitan reality which somehow escaped the constraints of its official ideology.
The Scotsman
Others in recent years have made worthy efforts to interest us in the Byzantine achievement, but none has made it live in quite the way that Herrin does. She's been bold in foregrounding themes, concerned more with painting a panoramic picture of Byzantium's 'surprising life' than to establish a chronology—though the narrative's there to give the reader a sense of how it all progressed. Free from portentousness and pretentiousness, she doesn't insist on her subject's importance or relevance: the freshness and enthusiasm of her book is its real point. Not just an important work of scholarship but a delight to read, this study works a minor miracle in raising Byzantium, Lazarus-like, from its dusty grave.
— Michael Kerrigan
The Toronto Star
Byzantium's history is presented chronologically, which helps explain why there's no simple description of its legacy. Herrin's emphasis on the empire's proudest achievement, its culture—separate chapters are devoted to religion, economy, warfare, art and literature—is an armchair delight.
— Brett Popplewell
The Atlantic
[Herrin] takes an innovative approach.... The scope is broad—religion, politics, art, war, gender—and the style lively and personal.
The Edmonton Journal
Herrin has produced an accessible, fascinating book that avoids the pitfalls of writing by scholars for scholars. She doesn't dwell on the spectacular, although Byzantium has plenty of drama, but rather provides a surprisingly deep look into a lost world. Much to the point, as well, is that modern Europe and the rest of the Western world would have been a much different place had it not been for Byzantium and its thousand-year history from the sixth century to the 15th. It's an amazing story, and well told, as Herrin traces a civilization that combined pagan, Christian, Greek, Roman and ancient and medieval influences. This is a terrific read.
— Mark Horton
The Weekly Standard
The information here is both solid and detailed—so much so that even a specialist will frequently encounter previously unknown facts. . . . Byzantium offers a solid introduction to Byzantine history and culture, and the sheer depth of information it contains could repay multiple readings.
— Richard Tada
Digest of Middle East Studies
With this work, Herrin provides an edifying, enjoyable read that will both capture the interest of the lay reader with the exciting aspects of Byzantium that she covers in each chapter and appeal to the student of Byzantine history as an interesting read and a concise look at some subjects that have been revised, and others that could use further revision.
— David Mason
New York Review of Books - G.W. Bowersock
The scope and shape of Herrin's survey of Byzantine history and culture are impressive. She moves from the foundation of Constantinople to its fall before the Turks in a series of twenty-eight short chapters. This allows the curious or impatient reader to sample, according to taste, such delectable topics as Greek fire, eunuchs, icons, and the Towers of Trebizond . . .
Choice - J.W. Nesbitt
The book is comprehensive, but the paragraphs are never dense and the prose retains throughout a lively quality.
The Daily Telegraph - Noel Malcolm
The big, standard histories contain a wearying succession of emperors, patriarchs, battles, and sieges...At the other end of the scale there are lightweight travelogues, or books that pick out the juiciest moments (such as the final siege of 1453), leaving aside many things that are more important but less conducive to a good story. Judith Herrin has tried to find a middle ground between those two extremes, and has succeeded in a rather original way. Her book is a necklace of short chapters, each on a different topic, strung out in broadly chronological order. Some are devoted to places (Ravenna, Mount Athos and, of course, Constantinople itself); some are about people (Anna Comnena, Saints Cyril and Methodius, and the unforgettably named Basil the Bulgar-Slayer); and some are on general subjects, whether large (Greek Orthodoxy, the Byzantine economy, the Crusades) or small ('Greek Fire', and eunuchs).
The Scotsman - Michael Kerrigan
Others in recent years have made worthy efforts to interest us in the Byzantine achievement, but none has made it live in quite the way that Herrin does. She's been bold in foregrounding themes, concerned more with painting a panoramic picture of Byzantium's 'surprising life' than to establish a chronology—though the narrative's there to give the reader a sense of how it all progressed. Free from portentousness and pretentiousness, she doesn't insist on her subject's importance or relevance: the freshness and enthusiasm of her book is its real point. Not just an important work of scholarship but a delight to read, this study works a minor miracle in raising Byzantium, Lazarus-like, from its dusty grave.
Christian Science Monitor - M.M. Bennetts
[A] remarkable new history...Herrin takes a fresh approach and focuses on manifold aspects of Byzantine culture, civilization, and religion. Herrin's scholarship is impeccable, yet she writes like the very best of travel writers. She paints vivid pictures of this prosperous and pious culture whose capital was a fortified city of sunlight glinting off the gilded church domes and spires, surrounded on three sides by the shimmering Sea of Marmara and the Bosphorus.... From the first page, the author embraces the reader in the love of her subject. She entertains and captivates while throwing open the doors to her formidable treasury of knowledge...
The Toronto Star - Brett Popplewell
Byzantium's history is presented chronologically, which helps explain why there's no simple description of its legacy. Herrin's emphasis on the empire's proudest achievement, its culture—separate chapters are devoted to religion, economy, warfare, art and literature—is an armchair delight.
Austin American-Statesman - Roger Gathman
Herrin's hope is to dispel the aura of decadence that hangs over Byzantium so that we can see the empire for what it was: one of the great, creative civilizations. Herrin's account shows that, indeed, Byzantium can't be explained as a millennial slide downhill, the judgment propounded by Gibbon in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and often repeated since.
Open Democracy Blog - Tom Nairn
Here of course lies the strong contemporary resonance of Herrin's argument. Her lively portrayal of a forgotten civilisation impacts on the revived Muslim awareness and expansion of today.
First Things - Robert Louis Wilken
It is only as one sees Byzantium for itself, and not simply in relation to Islam or Western Europe, that one can begin to appreciate its greatness. And that is what makes Herrin's Byzantium so welcome. All the expected topics are here: the founding of Constantinople, the building of the great church of Agia Sophia, the rule of Justinian and the codification of Roman law, the shimmering mosaics of Ravenna, the harsh consequences of the rise of Islam, the place of icons in Byzantine life and the iconoclastic controversy, the conversion of the Slavs and the creation of an alphabet for the Slavic tongue, Mount Athos, the outstanding historian Anna Komnene, the arrival of the Crusaders, the siege of Constantinople. But the book contains much more.
The Edmonton Journal - Mark Horton
Herrin has produced an accessible, fascinating book that avoids the pitfalls of writing by scholars for scholars. She doesn't dwell on the spectacular, although Byzantium has plenty of drama, but rather provides a surprisingly deep look into a lost world. Much to the point, as well, is that modern Europe and the rest of the Western world would have been a much different place had it not been for Byzantium and its thousand-year history from the sixth century to the 15th. It's an amazing story, and well told, as Herrin traces a civilization that combined pagan, Christian, Greek, Roman and ancient and medieval influences. This is a terrific read.
The Weekly Standard - Richard Tada
The information here is both solid and detailed—so much so that even a specialist will frequently encounter previously unknown facts. . . . Byzantium offers a solid introduction to Byzantine history and culture, and the sheer depth of information it contains could repay multiple readings.
Magill Book Reviews - Charles L.P. Silet
In this carefully researched, clearly written, and engaging book author Herrin opens up a neglected part of western history for the general reader.
Worship - Frank C. Senn
Judith Herrin's book provides a fine cultural backdrop to the study of Byzantine liturgy—and a good read for understanding this remarkable society on its own terms.
American Historical Review - Florin Curta
At its best, the text is skillfully written, judiciously crafted, and lively.
Digest of Middle East Studies - David Mason
With this work, Herrin provides an edifying, enjoyable read that will both capture the interest of the lay reader with the exciting aspects of Byzantium that she covers in each chapter and appeal to the student of Byzantine history as an interesting read and a concise look at some subjects that have been revised, and others that could use further revision.
Magill Book Reviews - Charles L. P. Silet

In this carefully researched, clearly written, and engaging book author Herrin opens up a neglected part of western history for the general reader.
Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780691131511
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press
  • Publication date: 1/14/2008
  • Edition description: New Edition
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 440
  • Product dimensions: 6.20 (w) x 9.30 (h) x 1.50 (d)

Meet the Author

Judith Herrin is professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at King's College London. She is the author of "Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium" and "The Formation of Christendom" (both Princeton).

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Table of Contents

List of Illustrations     ix
List of Maps     xii
Introduction: A Different History of Byzantium     xiii
Foundations of Byzantium
The City of Constantine     3
Constantinople, the Largest City in Christendom     12
The East Roman Empire     22
Greek Orthodoxy     33
The Church of Hagia Sophia     50
The Ravenna Mosaics     61
Roman Law     70
The Transition from Ancient to Medieval
The Bulwark Against Islam     83
Icons, a New Christian Art Form     98
Iconoclasm and Icon Veneration     105
A Literate and Articulate Society     119
Saints Cyril and Methodios, 'Apostles to the Slavs'     131
Byzantium Becomes a Medieval State
Greek Fire     141
The Byzantine Economy     148
Eunuchs     160
The Imperial Court     170
Imperial Children, 'Born in the Purple'     185
Mount Athos     192
Venice and the Fork     203
Basil II, 'The Bulgar-Slayer'     212
Eleventh-Century Crisis     220
Anna Komnene     232
A Cosmopolitan Society     242
Varieties of Byzantium
TheFulcrum of the Crusades     255
The Towers of Trebizond, Arta, Nicaea and Thessalonike     266
Rebels and Patrons     281
'Better the Turkish Turban than the Papal Tiara'     299
The Siege of 1453     310
Conclusion: The Greatness and Legacy of Byzantium     321
Further Reading     339
List of Emperors Named in the Text     354
Chronology     357
Maps     363
Acknowledgements     375
Index     377
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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Posted March 26, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Addition to your library of history books.

    Those of us who identify ourselves as 'Lovers of Western History' fancy that we are reasonably well read in that history. We know, or think we know, the Minoans, the Greeks, the Carthaginians, the Persians. And Mongols, and Goths, and Vikings. Then there are castles and princes and intrigue and war. There are Knights and Maidens, and Kings and Queens, and Voyages of discovery and rapine; colonization and servitude, and disease. But all those of us who think we know something of that history are unsettled in our knowledge as if something unnamed, yet massively significant, is missing. It is. It was.

    It is not hyperbole to say that every page of Professor Judith Herrin's extraordinarily accessible book, Byzantium, is as a series of hammer strikes; each blow seating huge sections of that missing history. Anyone who delights in learning things they never imagined, or that they thought were otherwise, will enjoy this book. Each page will bring a smile; of minor, and sometimes major, epiphanies that are unique to those who love to learn, and make new connections, and experience intellectual surprise. Finally, we have delight.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted July 8, 2009

    Byzantium - a Glorious World to Discover

    For a long time, Byzantium was, as a medieval realm of exceptional duration, very much hidden from a Western point of view and outshined by Rome and the history of England, France and Central European countries. In later days, the importance of the Byzantine Empire as a geographical pivot of the great events in the Middle Ages has led to an intensified study and clarification of the ravishing glories of that empire and not least the sensationally dramatical stories that make this long epoch full of horror and suspense. In short, Byzantium is hot stuff, from a historical point of view.
    An excellent introduction, and much more, to the history of this great empire is Prof. Judith Herrin's (King's College, London) book: Byzantium. The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire. To a high degree, it is a comprehensive compilation of the elementary events and facts concerning Byzantine history, but it is boiling with new material, making the reading both a useful repetition and a odyssey of new discoveries in a field that seems to be like a deep ocean of so far unknown facts. The book is brilliantly written in a popular as well as distinguished way, and it is flavoured with a rich material of pictures (both coloured and in black-and-white) and not least with amazing quotations from sources only known by an expert in Byzantine history. An example: for the chapter on the internal social antagonism between rebels and patrons in Byzantium, Prof. Herrin has found a convenient quotation from Alexios Makrembolites' Dialogue between the Rich and the Poor, written in the first half of the fourteenth century, that seems to me to be hair-raisingly, appallingly actual in these days: "Among us [the poor], the tillers of the soil, the builders of houses and ships and the craftsmen are drawn... and who comes from among you?... Gamblers, voluptuaries, people bringing public calamitites with their greediness, disruptors of civic order, spreading poverty." After all, nothing is new under the sun,not even the Byzantine sun.
    This is only one sample among a lot of likewise appetizing and surprising details and glimpses from the Byzantine world. This book is a gold mine of information, presented in a attractive form that makes your reading a pure delight. By no means, it is an annalistic account of what happened in this empire, emperors, empresses, wars, battles and so on. It deals with the life, the movements, the dynamics of an remarkably long-lasting realm. Ingeniously, Prof. Herrin refers to Fernand Braudel's famous notion of the longue durée, the aspects of long duration he himself used for the Mediterranean. It is more than apt to apply it to Byzantine history too. It certainly is the most appropriate object and aim for a Braudelian study.
    Highly recommended for all kinds of history-devouring fanaticists - and not the least for all travellers, who once, or more than once, has been enthralled by that gloriously beautiful city Istanbul, once the capital, Constantinople, of Byzantium!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
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