Byzantine Empire
Also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire (330-1453) lasted more than 1100 years.
Many library resources on the Byzantine Empire will be found in the DG11-999 and DF501-649 LC call number range. Keep in mind a that well-crafted thorough search is vital as resources may be found in other call number ranges, as well. The list below is far from exhaustive and serves as an introduction to available sources on the Byzantine Empire.
Michael Palaiologos and the publics of the Byzantine empire in exile, c.1223-1259 by
Explores the construction and importance of the public sphere in thirteenth-century Byzantium
Moves beyond narrative history to explore the social and political agency of others in the empire
Draws on Habermas' concept of the public sphere, and Hauser's idea of multiple publics
Call Number: Available onlineISBN: 9783031092787Publication Date: 2022
City of Caesar, City of God by
When Emperor Constantine triggered the rise of a Christian state, he opened a new chapter in the history of Constantinople and Jerusalem. In the centuries that followed, the two cities were formed and transformed into powerful symbols of Empire and Church. For the first time, this book investigates the increasingly dense and complex net of reciprocal dependencies between the imperial center and the navel of the Christian world. Imperial influence, initiatives by the Church, and projects of individuals turned Constantinople and Jerusalem into important realms of identification and spaces of representation. Distinguished international scholars investigate this fascinating development, focusing on aspects of art, ceremony, religion, ideology, and imperial rule. In enriching our understanding of the entangled history of Constantinople and Jerusalem in Late Antiquity, City of Caesar, City of God illuminates the transition between Antiquity, Byzantium, and the Middle Ages.
Call Number: Available online (Open Access)ISBN: 3110718448Publication Date: 2022
The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity by
This thoroughly revised and expanded edition of The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, now covering the period 395-700 AD, provides both a detailed introduction to late antiquity and a direct challenge to conventional views of the end of the Roman empire. Leading scholar Averil Cameron focuses on the changes and continuities in Mediterranean society as a whole before the Arab conquests. Two new chapters survey the situation in the east after the death of Justinian and cover the Byzantine wars with Persia, religious developments in the eastern Mediterranean during the life of Muhammad, the reign of Heraclius, the Arab conquests and the establishment of the Umayyad caliphate. Using the latest in-depth archaeological evidence, this all-round historical and thematic study of the west and the eastern empire has become the standard work on the period. The new edition takes account of recent research on topics such as the barbarian 'invasions', periodization, and questions of decline or continuity, as well as the current interest in church councils, orthodoxy and heresy and the separation of the miaphysite church in the sixth-century east. It contains a new introductory survey of recent scholarship on the fourth century AD, and has a full bibliography and extensive notes with suggestions for further reading. The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity 395-700 AD continues to be the benchmark for publications on the history of Late Antiquity and is indispensible to anyone studying the period.
Call Number: DE71 .C25 2012ISBN: 9780415579629Publication Date: 2012
Byzantium, the Empire of New Rome by Call Number: DF521 .M36 1980xISBN: 0684167689Publication Date: 1980
A History of Byzantium by
This book is a concise narrative of Byzantine history from the time of Constantine the Great (AD 306) to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Argues that Byzantium was important in its own right but also served as a bridge between East and West and ancient and modern society. Uses the chronological political history of the empire as a narrative frame. Considers social and economic life and the rich culture of the Byzantine Empire. Integrates visual documents, such as photographs of art, architecture, and implements from daily life. Makes the latest scholarship accessible to a wide audience. Includes a chronological list of emperors, a glossary and maps.
Call Number: DF552 .G68 2005ISBN: 0631235124Publication Date: 2005
The Byzantine Commonwealth by
This text is a historical account of the political, diplomatic, ecclesiastical, economic and cultural relations between the Byzantine Empire and the peoples of Eastern Europe. It shows that these nations came to share a common cultural tradition.
Call Number: DF552 .O25ISBN: 9781597407571Publication Date: 1971
New Rome : the empire in the east by
A comprehensive new history of the Eastern Roman Empire based on the science of the human past. As modern empires rise and fall, ancient Rome becomes ever more significant. We yearn for Rome's power but fear Rome's ruin--will we turn out like the Romans, we wonder, or can we escape their fate? That question has obsessed centuries of historians and leaders, who have explored diverse political, religious, and economic forces to explain Roman decline. Yet the decisive factor remains elusive. In New Rome, Paul Stephenson looks beyond traditional texts and well-known artifacts to offer a novel, scientifically minded interpretation of antiquity's end. It turns out that the descent of Rome is inscribed not only in parchments but also in ice cores and DNA. From these and other sources, we learn that pollution and pandemics influenced the fate of Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire. During its final five centuries, the empire in the east survived devastation by natural disasters, the degradation of the human environment, and pathogens previously unknown to the empire's densely populated, unsanitary cities. Despite the Plague of Justinian, regular "barbarian" invasions, a war with Persia, and the rise of Islam, the empire endured as a political entity. However, Greco-Roman civilization, a world of interconnected cities that had shared a common material culture for a millennium, did not. Politics, war, and religious strife drove the transformation of Eastern Rome, but they do not tell the whole story. Braiding the political history of the empire together with its urban, material, environmental, and epidemiological history, New Rome offers the most comprehensive explanation to date of the Eastern Empire's transformation into Byzantium.
Call Number: DF553 .S74 2022ISBN: 9780674659629Publication Date: 2022- The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025 by
Mark Whittow presents a clear, up-to-date reassessment of the Byzantine empire during a crucial phase in the history of the Near East. Against a geopolitical background (superbly illustrated with fourteen maps), his book covers the last decade of the Roman empire as a superpower, the catastrophic crisis of the seventh century, and the means whereby the embattled Byzantine empire hung on in Constantinople and Asia Minor until the Abbasid Caliphate's decline opened up new perspectives for Christian power in the Near East. A special feature is Whittow's coverage of Byzantium's neighbors, allies, and enemies in Europe and Asia. He stresses the geographical context of events, often overlooked in other accounts of this period. The origins of Russia, relations with the nomad powers of the steppe world, the competition between Bulgars, Romans, and Slavs in the Balkans, and the frequently ignored region of the Transcaucasus are all given extended treatment. No such wide-ranging work has appeared in English for nearly 30 years, and Whittow's book will be invaluable for all scholars, students, and enthusiasts of medieval history.
Call Number: DF556 .W45 1996ISBN: 9780520204966Publication Date: 1996
Secret History by
Written with passion and personal malice, the Secret History of Procopius is a scathing indictment of the emperor Justinian and his sixth-century Byzantine court. Never has there been a more calculated attempt to ruin an entire reign in the eyes of posterity. Procopius writes of: . . . How the Great General Belisarius was hoodwinked by his wife, whose lover became a monk. . . . How Theodora, most depraved of all empresses, won Justinian's love. . . . How she saved five hundred harlots from a life of sin, made off with her own natural son, and other curious incidents of her passion.
Call Number: DF572 .P83 1963xISBN: 9780472087280Publication Date: 1960
Fourteen Byzantine Rulers by
This chronicle of the Byzantine Empire, beginning in 1025, shows a profound understanding of the power politics that characterized the empire and led to its decline.
Call Number: DF591 .P713 1966ISBN: 9780140441697Publication Date: 1966- The World of Late Antiquity, 150-750 by Call Number: DG77 .B73ISBN: 9780155976337Publication Date: 1971
The Later Roman Empire, 284-602 by Call Number: DG311 .J6 1964ISBN: 0801832853Publication Date: 1964
