Byzantine Empire
Santiago Machain
Byzantine Empire traces the dramatic transformation of the Roman Empire’s eastern half into a distinct Byzantine civilization, charting its arc from the founding of Constantinople in 330 to the empire’s high-water mark under the Macedonian dynasty around 1025. Beginning with Constantine’s 'New Rome,' the book explores how geography, law, and faith fused to create a durable imperial culture. It follows the legalization and institutionalization of Christianity, the political theology that bound church and state, and the cultural splendors that culminated in Hagia Sophia’s luminous dome.
Through narrative chapters, readers encounter Justinian’s daring—his legal codification, the reconquest of lost provinces, the trauma of plague, and the brilliance of Hagia Sophia—before pivoting to the Arab conquests that reshaped frontiers and identities. The emergence of the theme system, the icon debates that tested the soul of Byzantine devotion, and the everyday economy of farms, markets, and guilds reveal an empire constantly reinventing itself. The story crescendos with the Macedonian Renaissance: a disciplined revival of letters, law, art, and arms that reconquered lands, codified governance in Greek, choreographed courtly ceremony, and exported Byzantine culture through missions to the Slavs and Rus’.
Written for general readers, this volume blends political narrative with human-scale vignettes—scribes and soldiers, merchants and monks—showing how resilience, administration, and a theology of beauty created a civilization at once traditional and experimental. It sets the stage for the empire’s later crises and transformations, while celebrating the ingenuity that made Byzantium the City of the World’s Desire.
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