Byzantium: The Bridge from Antiquity to the Middle Ages

by Michael Angold

Book Overview

Michael Angold's book is a clear, concise and authoritative history of the successor to Roman imperial power: the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium was a Greek polis on the Bosphorus that gained importance in 324 AD when it was re-founded by Constantine the Great and named Constantinople. One of the pre-eminent cities of the Middle Ages, Constantinople played a vital role in the emergence of the medieval order in which Byzantium, western Christendom and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312284292
• ISBN13: 9780312284299
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 186 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

More an essay than a broad introduction

The author appears to write about those aspects of the subject that interest him, without intending to give a broad introduction to Byzantium. In fact, many topics, such as Charlemagne and Norman Sicily, which are not strictly Byzantine, are coverd at some length. The major focus of the Byzantine material itself is Iconoclasm. So while the book is very readable, and without footnotes, it is probably not the best first book on Byzantium for the general reader, but better suited to those who already have some background and want to learn more about the topics covered. Included are four maps, and a large section of black-and-white plates, most being photos of things religious.