Research Catalog

Title

Byzantium : a very short introduction / Peter Sarris.

Author

Sarris, Peter

Publication

Oxford, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, United Staes of America : Oxford University Press, 2015.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvi, 142 pages : illustrations, maps; 18 cm.

Summary

"After surviving the fifth century fall of the Western European Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire flourished as one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe for a thousand years. In this Very Short Introduction Peter Sarris introduces the reader to the unique fusion of Roman political culture, Greek intellectual tradition and Christian faith that took place in the imperial capital of Byzantium under the emperor Constantine and his heirs. Using examples from Byzantine architecture, art and literature, Sarris shows how their legacy was re-worked and re-invented in the centuries ahead, in the face of external challenges and threats. Charting the impact of warfare with the Persian and Islamic worlds to the east, Sarris explores the creativity of Byzantine statecraft and strategy, as well as the empire's repeated (but ultimately forlorn) attempts to enlist aid from the Christian powers of Western Europe to ensure its survival."--

Series Statement

A very short introduction ; 437

Uniform Title

Very short introductions 437.

Subject

• Byzantine Empire > History
• Byzantine Empire
• Bysantinska riket > historia

Genre/Form

History

Note

• Series number on spine.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 129-135) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

What was Byzantium? -- Constantinople the ruling city -- From antiquity to the Middle Ages -- Byzantium and Islam -- Strategies for survival -- Text, image, space, and spirit -- End of empire.

ISBN

• 9780199236114
• 0199236119

LCCN

^^2015931306

OCLC

• 907657616
• SCSB-10702036

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library