Byzantium: An Illustrated History

Comments Posted on Sep 15, 2010 Last Updated Sep 23, 2010 Posted by Sean

Long after Rome fell to the Germanic tribes, its culture lived on in Constantinople, the glittering capital of the Byzantine Empire. For more than a thousand years (A.D. 330 to 1453), Byzantium was one of the most advanced and complex civilizations the world had ever seen. Born in the Classical era, it flourished in the Middle Ages and contributed to the flowering of the Renaissance.

As the Mediterranean outlet for the Silk Route, with trade networks stretching from Scandinavia to Sri Lanka, it served as a vital bridge between the Muslim East and the Catholic West. Its artists created somber icons and brilliant mosaics that inspired French kings and Arab emirs alike. Its priests and monks fostered the Orthodox Christianity that is the faith of millions today.

"This book fills the need for a capsule history of this neglected empire." --ForeWord, January, 2005

Byzantium: An Illustrated History offers more than 50 photographs and maps; and shows the innovative art that inspired French kings and Arab emirs. It includes a gazetteer of historic Byzantine sites and monuments that travellers can visit today in Greece, Italy, Turkey and the Middle East. A chronology of Byzantine history and a list of emperors complete this ideal resource for the student, traveller or generally curious reader.

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