The Lost World of Byzantium, by Jonathan Harris
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The Lost World of Byzantium, by Jonathan Harris
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For more than a millennium, the Byzantine Empire presided over the juncture between East and West, as well as the transition from the classical to the modern world. Jonathan Harris, a leading scholar of Byzantium, eschews the usual run-through of emperors and battles and instead recounts the empire’s extraordinary history by focusing each chronological chapter on an archetypal figure, family, place, or event. Harris’s action-packed introduction presents a civilization rich in contrasts, combining orthodox Christianity with paganism, and classical Greek learning with Roman power. Frequently assailed by numerous armies—including those of Islam—Byzantium nonetheless survived and even flourished by dint of its somewhat unorthodox foreign policy and its sumptuous art and architecture, which helped to embed a deep sense of Byzantine identity in its people. Enormously engaging and utilizing a wealth of sources to cover all major aspects of the empire’s social, political, military, religious, cultural, and artistic history, Harris’s study illuminates the very heart of Byzantine civilization and explores its remarkable and lasting influence on its neighbors and on the modern world.
The Lost World of Byzantium, by Jonathan Harris- Amazon Sales Rank: #244804 in Books
- Published on: 2015-10-27
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.40" h x 1.30" w x 6.50" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 298 pages
Review “Harris has succeeded triumphantly in producing a fresh and highly readable account of this extraordinary institution…An acute eye for detail is sustained throughout the book: Harris never fails to find the best story to focus readers’ attention on each chapter’s central subject. More fundamentally the book is beautifully constructed on the back of highly intelligent narrative choices… he triumphantly overcomes the limits of his brief to take the reader to the heart of what it meant to be Byzantine.”—Peter Heather, BBC History (Peter Heather BBC History Magazine 2015-10-01)“Harris presents his case not only with lightness of hand but also surety of foot… The writing is elegant, the facts are carefully controlled and the narrative enlightened by revealing anecdotes and suggestive extracts from the primary sources”—Peter Sarris, Literary Review (Peter Sarris Literary Review 2015-10-01)“Harris’ aim is to present a more nuanced account of Byzantine history, which emphasises the vibrancy of the empire’s culture, the extent of its influence, and, above all, the empire’s remarkable adaptability… [the book] strikes a good balance between succinct exposition and elucidation of broader themes in political, military, social, religious and cultural history, thereby providing an excellent and engaging introduction to Byzantine history.”—Doug Lee, History Today (Doug Lee History Today 2015-12-01)“Harris is an efficient writer with an eye for entertaining detail, and as a result, the volume can be read with pleasure by general readers and younger students.”—Choice (Choice)“Drawing on a diverse array of sources from numerous disciplines, Harris presents an accessible introduction to the major personalities, important disputes, and defining events of the Byzantine polity. . . . Casual readers as well as specialists will appreciate Harris's insightful and well-informed paean to an intriguing and resilient culture.”—Publishers Weekly (Publishers Weekly)
About the Author Jonathan Harris is professor of the history of Byzantium at Royal Holloway, University of London. He lives in London.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. ‘What is the legacy of Byzantium?’ By Jennifer Cameron-Smith In what he describes as a personal journey built around puzzling questions, and intriguing personalities and events, Jonathan Harris has looked at Byzantium’s long history. Most importantly, Mr Harris wanted to investigate why Byzantium lasted for as long as it did given the upheavals and invasions that threatened its existence and why, when it did end, it disappeared so completely. These are intriguing questions: Byzantium lasted for more than a millennium, in the location where East and West joined and during the period of transition between the classical and modern worlds. As a city and an empire, it was complex and full of contrasts.Mr Harris has organised his book chronologically, with each chapter focussed on an event, a family, a person or a place. This presentation enables the reader to see events, and some of the key individuals, within a broader contextual setting. It makes it easier too, for me, an interested reader who is not an historian, to appreciate the development of Byzantium. It is also easier to understand how paganism combined with Orthodox Christianity (at least in part) rather than being totally supplanted by it. In some ways, Byzantium combined the best aspects of two classical worlds: Roman power, and classical Greek learning. And as the world expanded, Byzantium was well placed geographically for diplomacy and trade, to absorb new knowledge and to influence others.Different emperors had different ways of defending Byzantium against invasion, of maintaining trade, and of building magnificent monuments. Some were far more successful than others. Byzantium survived because of its strength, and because it was willing to absorb (rather than resist) both people and ideas from outside. Over time, great strengths can become weaknesses: walls that once kept out invaders become weakened and provide points of entry.I found this book interesting, and I’m keen to read some of the material Mr Harris has identified in his ‘Further Reading’ section. By describing a broad history and posing some interesting questions, this book sets the scene for a more detailed look at different aspects of Byzantium history and culture. If you are interested in the history of the Middle East, specifically of the role of Byzantium, you may also enjoy reading this book. I feel that I’ve only just scratched the surface. ‘Thus if Byzantium has one outstanding legacy it is not perhaps Orthodox Christianity or its preservation of classical Greek literature. Rather it is the lesson that the strength of a society lies in its ability to adapt and incorporate outsiders in even the most adverse circumstances.’Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Yale University Press, London for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.Jennifer Cameron-Smith
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful. By-the-numbers listing of who succeeded who and which armies fought when, adds little new to earlier popular introductions By Christopher Culver Jonathan Harris is professor of the History of Byzantium at Royal Holloway, University of London. In THE LOST WORLD OF BYZANTIUM, he promises to describe what gave the eastern heir to Ancient Rome its remarkable longevity: even if it shrunk from an empire to hardly more than the city of Constantinople over that time, Byzantium managed to survive as an institution from the 4th century to the 15th -- and that's in the face of hostile foreign powers on every side, and economic and social upheavals over the centuries.But really, what this book mainly is, is an overview of Byzantine political and military history from AD 325 to 1453: who succeeded who as emperor, and which powers Byzantium fought on the battlefield when. Having read John Julius Norwich's classic three-volume history of Byzantium for a layman readership, I was disappointed to find Harris's book very much a retread. Harris gives us only the same view of the political elite and battles that Norwich did, even as people have been complaining for years since Norwich's work that such an approach ignores the ordinary people in society and the daily life of the population.A thought-provoking way in which this book differs from its predecessors is that it evinces modern social trends in academia. Earlier English-speaking scholars, even if some of them had a distaste for features of late Byzantine politics or the Orthodox Church, were nonetheless writing within the context of a (Nicaean) Christian society that could ultimately be traced back together with Byzantium to Constantine and the early Church. Harris, on the other hand, voices very early on his distaste for Byzantium's prohibition of homosexual acts and its sanctions against Arianism and other heretical movements (and he reiterates his feelings later). For Harris, a symphonia of secular and spiritual authority isn't a beautiful ideal, or even just how things were back then, but something that an author must expressly denounce for the reader. We'll probably be seeing a lot more books with this negative tone, but it is a big turnoff for a distinct demographic of consumers of books about Byzantium, namely Orthodox Christians.All in all, I would recommend a combination of books published earlier. If you want the kind of concise introduction to Byzantine politics that Harris's book ended up being, and you don't want to read three bulky volumes that Norwich originally published, then get Norwich's single-volume abridgement. For a look at how the Byzantines spent most of their time -- it wasn't wars and intrigues all the time -- Marcus Rautman's Daily Life in the Byzantine Empire is a fun book. Finally, when it comes to the theme of how Byzantium managed to hold out against the Slavs through "soft power" cultural exports (taming your enemies by making them want to live like you do), the work of Sir Dimitri Obolensky (e.g. Byzantium and the Slavs) is more insightful than Harris's book.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. The Lost World of Byzantium By J. Hamby This is a dense tightly and well written overview of the Byzantine Empire. At times it can be overwhelming at how much history is covered here. And yet it is also not an in depth approach to certain matters that some already familiar with the material might want to explore. This is the under grad level course, not the masters study one.But for those simply wanting to learn about the Byzantine Empire, this is a good introduction. Harris edits himself rather perfectly here; giving a good strong focused picture of events without getting too mired in one detail or another. In the end the book feels balanced and delivering pretty much the right amount of information on each pivotal and defining moment.
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