A Short History of Byzantium — John Julius Norwich

A Short History of Byzantium is renowned historian and author of A History of Venice John Julius Norwich s classic history of Byzantium Constantine the Great moved the seat of Roman power to Constantinople in AD 330 and for eleven brutal bloody centuries the Byzantine Empire became a beacon of grand magnificence and depraved decadence Here then are the centuries dominated by ferocious arguments over the nature of Christ and his Church By knowledge where scholars and scribes preserved the heritage of the ancient world By emperors like Justinian the Great and Basil the Bulgar Slayer men pious heroic or monstrous By creativity as art and architecture soared to new heights In this abridgement of his celebrated trilogy John Julius Norwich provides the definitive introduction to the savage scintillating world of Byzantium Norwich has the gift of historical perspective as well as clarity and wit Few can tell a good story better than he Spectator A real life epic of love and war accessible to anyone Independent on Sunday Norwich tells a remarkable story with boundless zest He offers character sketches of the appalling personages who infest his narrative with the assurance of a Macauley or a Gibbon Daily Telegraph