The Byzantines - People of Europe Series

Averil Cameron

Wiley-Blackwell 2007

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    • Byzantium occupies an uncertain place in European history. Though often misconstrued as a vanished successor to the classical world, Byzantium belongs in the mainstream history of Europe and the Mediterranean; its impact is still felt throughout the Balkans, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. This book introduces the reader to the complex history, ethnicity, and identity of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine world was also where early Islam and Christianity met, and the Byzantines engaged with and existed alongside Muslims, from the Arabs in the seventh century to the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth. During its long history the size and shape of the Byzantine empire underwent many dramatic changes, and the pluralist world of late Byzantium was very different from that of the eastern Roman empire when Constantinople was founded in the fourth century AD. The world around it also changed dramatically during that time, yet Byzantine identity was both tenacious and distinctive. The tension between change and continuity in Byzantine society is one of the main themes explored in this book.

    Back cover copy

    Byzantium occupies an uncertain place in European history. Though often misconstrued as a vanished successor to the classical world, Byzantium belongs in the mainstream history of Europe and the Mediterranean; its impact is still felt throughout the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. This book introduces the reader to the complex history, ethnicity, and identity of the Byzantine empire.

    The Byzantine world was also where early Islam and Christianity met, and the Byzantines engaged with and existed alongside Muslims, from the Arabs in the seventh century to the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth. During its long history the size and shape of the Byzantine empire underwent many dramatic changes, and the pluralist world of late Byzantium was very different from that of the eastern Roman empire when Constantinople was founded in the fourth century AD. The world around it also changed dramatically during that time, yet Byzantine identity was both tenacious and distinctive. The tension between change and continuity in Byzantine society is one of the main themes explored in this book.

    Table of contents

    Figures. Maps. Preface. Abbreviations. Acknowledgements. 1. What was Byzantium? 2. The changing shape of Byzantium: from late antiquity to the tenth century. 3. The changing shape of Byzantium: from the tenth century to 1453. 4. The Byzantine mirage. 5. Ruling the Byzantine state. 6. An orthodox society? 7. How people lived. 8. Education and culture. 9. Byzantium and Europe. 10. Byzantium and the Mediterranean. Conclusion. Chronology. References. Index.

    Review quote

    "The Byzantines is a welcome addition to the renewal of Byzantine Studies in contemporary academia." (Canadian Journal of History, winter 2009) Winner of the 2006 John D. Criticos Prize "Seeks consistently to place Byzantium in Context and to make the reader question fundamental preconceptions about the Byzantine empire." (Anglo-Hellenic Review)

    About Averil Cameron

    Averil Cameron is Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History at the University of Oxford and the Warden of Keble College, and was recently awarded a DBE. Her publications include Changing Cultures in Early Byzantium (1996) and Eusebius, Life of Constantine (ed. with Stuart G. Hall, 1999), and she is a co-editor of volumes XII, XIII and XIV of the Cambridge Ancient History.