Publisher's Synopsis
Byzantium's cultural legacy has few equals. From the time Constantine the Great moved the imperial capital from Rome to the city that would bear his name in 330 A.D. to the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, Byzantium flourished as the most powerful empire in the world. For more than a thousand years the Eastern Roman Empire exerted powerful and profound influences on neighboring civilizations. At the same time Byzantium helped preserve the works and thoughts of the ancient Greeks and produced transcendent works of religious art. Exciting recent scholarship and renewed interest in this fascinating lost empire have propelled Byzantium studies the forefront of academia. Reflecting this long overdue trend, A Companion to Byzantium offers a comprehensive overview of Byzantium history along with illuminating insights into the unique new scholarship that is transforming the field. Accessible and enlightening, this original work emphasizes the social and cultural history of Byzantium from its ascension with Constantine to its demise in 1453, when time finally ran out on the great empire. A Companion to Byzantium will shed important new light on the profound influences of Byzantium in contemporary art and culture.
