Byzantium: The Early Centuries (1989) is a popular history book written by English historian John Julius Norwich, published by Viking.
Byzantium: The Early Centuries (1989) is a popular history book written by English historian John Julius Norwich, published by Viking.
In the book, Norwich covers the period 286-802 AD, from the establishment of the Tetrarchy by Diocletian and the beginning of the Dominate in the Roman Empire to the coronation of Charlemagne and the deposition of the Empress Irene of Athens, generally proceeding chronologically, and commenting on the social and religious forces and conflicts as he continues.
Norwich progresses through the demise of the tetrarchic system and the rise of Constantine the Great as sole emperor, the foundation of Constantinople at the site of ancient Byzantium and the declaration of Christianity as state religion and the failure of Julian the Apostate's pagan reaction. Norwich then describes the period when the empire was split into two entities, one in the west and one in the east, which became known as the Byzantine Empire. Norwich narrates the fall of the western empire and the era of Justinian I, the wars with the Persians under Heraclius, the beginning of the Muslim conquests and the eastern empire's fight for survival in the 7th century. The reaction to Byzantine Iconoclasm and the fall of the Isaurian dynasty lead to the ascension of Irene of Athens, and in turn to the coronation of the Frankish king Charlemagne as emperor in Christmas 800 in Rome by the Pope. Norwich chooses this event, which marks the end of the Byzantines' sole claim to imperial status and the unquestioned acceptance by the West of the emperor at Constantinople as sole head of all Christendom, as the decisive moment which defines the end of the early Byzantine period.
For close questions, Norwich discusses the primary sources, and where they disagree or agree as the case may be. For example, regarding the miraculous appearance of a cross in the sky at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Norwich notes that the earliest writings do not mention this and only the latest writing by a contemporaneous source discloses the putative event. Further, he infers the emotions of the principal players and renders judgment on most of the Byzantine Emperors and some others. Concerning Justinian I he asserts that his death "was not deeply mourned," noting that "the tyranny of his tax-gatherers had caused serious discontent ... ." But he also avers that Justinian had left the Empire, "infinitely richer in amenities, services and public works, and incomparably more beautiful."
Norwich also comments on historical issues. In discussing the appearance of iconoclasm, after noting a belief by many that it was engendered by Islamic influence, he asserts that it was, "an obvious corollary to the monophysite belief: if we accept only the divine nature of Christ — which is by nature impossible to depict — and reject the human, we cannot logically approve of a 2- or 3- dimensional portrayal of him as a human being."
Every chapter is introduced with a contemporaneous quote, for example Chapter 7 "Of Heresies and Huns" [410-53] begins with this cultural comment from St. Gregory of Nyssa: "If you ask a man for change, he will give you a piece of philosophy about the Begotten and the Unbegotten; if you enquire the price of a loaf, he replies: 'The Father is greater and the Son inferior'; or if you ask whether the bath is ready, the answer you receive is that the Son was made out of nothing."
"The reader is conveyed in comfort, as it were in a very superior hovercraft, which glides smoothly over all the unevenness of the ground, to the regular, melodious sound of the author's prose." ( Sunday Times ) [1]
"He is brilliant... He writes like the most cultivated modern diplomat, attached by a freak of time to the Byzantine court, with intimate knowledge, tactful judgement and a consciousness of the surviving monuments." ( The Independent ) [2]
The book received a lukewarm review from The New York Times . Norwich's writing was described as "plummy" and the historical detail he brings to the period is praised, but the reviewer thought at times the narrative was distant and the descriptions overly ornate. [3] The book became a New York Times bestseller. [4]
Justinian I, also known as Justinian the Great, was the Eastern Roman emperor from 527 to 565.
The 8th century is the period from 701 through 800 (DCCC) in accordance with the Julian Calendar.
Justinian II, nicknamed "the Slit-Nosed", was the last Byzantine emperor of the Heraclian dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711. Like his namesake, Justinian I, Justinian II was an ambitious and passionate ruler who was keen to restore the Roman Empire to its former glories. However, he responded brutally to any opposition to his will and lacked the finesse of his father, Constantine IV. Consequently, he generated enormous opposition to his reign, resulting in his deposition in 695 in a popular uprising. He only returned to the throne in 705 with the help of a Bulgar and Slav army. His second reign was even more despotic than the first, and in 711 he was killed by mutinous soldiers.
Irene of Athens, surname Sarantapechaena, was Byzantine empress consort to Emperor Leo IV from 775 to 780, regent during the childhood of their son Constantine VI from 780 until 790, co-ruler from 792 until 797, and finally empress regnant and sole ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire from 797 to 802. A member of the politically prominent Sarantapechos family, she was selected as Leo IV's bride for unknown reasons in 768. Even though her husband was an iconoclast, she harbored iconophile sympathies. During her rule as regent, she called the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, which condemned iconoclasm as heretical and brought an end to the first iconoclast period (730–787). Her public figure was very polarizing during her 5 year reign, as most saw it as wrong for a woman to rule solely. Her reign as such made her the first ever empress regnant, ruling in her own right, in Roman and Byzantine imperial history.
Staurakios was the shortest-reigning Byzantine emperor, ruling for 68 days between 26 July and 2 October 811.
Tiberius III, born Apsimar, was Byzantine emperor from 698 to 705. Little is known about his early life, other than that he was a droungarios, a mid-level commander, who served in the Cibyrrhaeot Theme. In 696, Tiberius was part of an army sent by Byzantine Emperor Leontius to retake the North African city of Carthage, which had been captured by the Arab Umayyads. After seizing the city, this army was pushed back by Umayyad reinforcements and retreated to the island of Crete. As they feared the wrath of Leontius, some officers killed their commander, John the Patrician, and declared Tiberius the emperor. Tiberius swiftly gathered a fleet and sailed for Constantinople, where he then deposed Leontius. Tiberius did not attempt to retake Byzantine Africa from the Umayyads, but campaigned against them along the eastern border with some success. In 705, former emperor Justinian II, who had been deposed by Leontius, led an army of Slavs and Bulgars from the First Bulgarian Empire to Constantinople, and after entering the city secretly, deposed Tiberius. Tiberius fled to Bithynia, but was captured a few months later and beheaded by Justinian between August 705 and February 706. His body was initially thrown into the sea, but was later recovered and buried in a church on the island of Prote.
The continuation, succession, and revival of the Roman Empire is a running theme of the history of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. It reflects the lasting memories of power, prestige, and unity associated with the Roman Empire.
Byzantine Greece has a history that mainly coincides with that of the Byzantine Empire itself.
Byzantine art comprises the body of artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of western Rome and lasted until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the start date of the Byzantine period is rather clearer in art history than in political history, if still imprecise. Many Eastern Orthodox states in Eastern Europe, as well as to some degree the Islamic states of the eastern Mediterranean, preserved many aspects of the empire's culture and art for centuries afterward.
Hagia Irene or Hagia Eirene, sometimes known also as Saint Irene, is an Eastern Orthodox church located in the outer courtyard of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. It is the oldest known church in the city and one of the only Byzantine churches in Istanbul that was never converted into a mosque, alongside the Church of Saint Mary of the Mongols, as it was used as an arsenal for storing weapons until the 19th century. The Hagia Irene today operates as a museum and concert hall.
The Byzantine Iconoclasm were two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when the use of religious images or icons was opposed by religious and imperial authorities within the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the temporal imperial hierarchy. The First Iconoclasm, as it is sometimes called, occurred between about 726 and 787, while the Second Iconoclasm occurred between 814 and 842. According to the traditional view, Byzantine Iconoclasm was started by a ban on religious images promulgated by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian, and continued under his successors. It was accompanied by widespread destruction of religious images and persecution of supporters of the veneration of images. The Papacy remained firmly in support of the use of religious images throughout the period, and the whole episode widened the growing divergence between the Byzantine and Carolingian traditions in what was still a unified European Church, as well as facilitating the reduction or removal of Byzantine political control over parts of the Italian Peninsula.
The Byzantine economy was among the most robust economies in the Mediterranean for many centuries. Constantinople was a prime hub in a trading network that at various times extended across nearly all of Eurasia and North Africa. Some scholars argue that, up until the arrival of the Arabs in the 7th century, the Eastern Roman Empire had the most powerful economy in the world. The Arab conquests, however, would represent a substantial reversal of fortunes contributing to a period of decline and stagnation. Constantine V's reforms marked the beginning of a revival that continued until 1204. From the 10th century until the end of the 12th, the Byzantine Empire projected an image of luxury, and the travelers were impressed by the wealth accumulated in the capital. All this changed with the arrival of the Fourth Crusade, which was an economic catastrophe. The Palaiologoi tried to revive the economy, but the late Byzantine state would not gain full control of either the foreign or domestic economic forces.
The Byzantine Empire was ruled by emperors of the dynasty of Heraclius between 610 and 711. The Heraclians presided over a period of cataclysmic events that were a watershed in the history of the Empire and the world. Heraclius, the founder of his dynasty, was of Armenian and Cappadocian (Greek) origin. At the beginning of the dynasty, the Empire's culture was still essentially Ancient Roman, dominating the Mediterranean and harbouring a prosperous Late Antique urban civilization. This world was shattered by successive invasions, which resulted in extensive territorial losses, financial collapse and plagues that depopulated the cities, while religious controversies and rebellions further weakened the Empire.
The Byzantine Empire was ruled by the Isaurian dynasty from 717 to 802. The Isaurian emperors were successful in defending and consolidating the empire against the caliphates after the onslaught of the early Muslim conquests, but were less successful in Europe, where they suffered setbacks against the Bulgars, had to give up the Exarchate of Ravenna, and lost influence over Italy and the papacy to the growing power of the Franks.
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred in Constantinople during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The eastern half of the Empire survived the conditions that caused the fall of the West in the 5th century AD, and continued to exist until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in the Mediterranean world. The term "Byzantine Empire" was only coined following the empire's demise; its citizens referred to the polity as the "Roman Empire" and to themselves as "Romans". Due to the imperial seat's move from Rome to Byzantium, the adoption of state Christianity, and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin, modern historians continue to make a distinction between the earlier Roman Empire and the later Byzantine Empire.
The Byzantine Empire's history is generally periodised from late antiquity until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD. From the 3rd to 6th centuries, the Greek East and Latin West of the Roman Empire gradually diverged, marked by Diocletian's formal partition of its administration in 285, the establishment of an eastern capital in Constantinople by Constantine I in 330, and the adoption of Christianity as the state religion under Theodosius I, with others such as Roman polytheism being proscribed. Under the reign of Heraclius, the Empire's military and administration were restructured and adopted Greek for official use instead of Latin. While there was an unbroken continuity in administration and other features of Roman society, historians have often distinguished the Byzantine epoch from earlier eras in Roman history for reasons including the imperial seat moving from Rome to Constantinople and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin.
Aetios or Aetius was a Byzantine eunuch official and one of the most trusted advisers of Byzantine empress Irene of Athens. After Irene's rise to sole rule, Aetios developed an intense rivalry with her eunuch chief minister Staurakios. After Staurakios's death, Aetios became the leading man in the state. He plotted to usurp the throne for his brother, Leo, but lost power when Irene was deposed in 802.
A Short History of Byzantium (1997) is a history of the Byzantine Empire by historian John Julius Norwich. It is a condensed version of his earlier three-volume work on the same subject, published from 1988 to 1995 in 1200 pages, which is approximately one page per year of historical time covered.
Byzantine Anatolia refers to the peninsula of Anatolia during the rule of the Byzantine Empire. Anatolia was of vital importance to the empire following the Muslim invasion of Syria and Egypt during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in the years 634–645 AD. Over the next two hundred and fifty years, the region suffered constant raids by Arab Muslim forces raiding mainly from the cities of Antioch, Tarsus, and Aleppo near the Anatolian borders. However, the Byzantine Empire maintained control over the Anatolian peninsula until the High Middle Ages, when imperial authority in the area began to collapse.
The situation of women in the Byzantine Empire is a subject of scientific research that encompasses all available information about women, their environments, their networks, their legal status, etc., in the Byzantine Empire.