Byzantium

By Judith Herrin,

Book cover of Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire

Book description

Byzantium. The name evokes grandeur and exoticism - gold, cunning, and complexity. In this unique book, Judith Herrin unveils the riches of a quite different civilization. Avoiding a standard chronological account of the Byzantine Empire's millennium - long history, she identifies the fundamental questions about Byzantium - what it was,…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Byzantium as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is the ideal introduction to the thousand-year, Greek-speaking empire of Byzantium that lasted right through the Middle Ages until the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. A joy to read, and beautifully illustrated, it brings together the strange contradictions of an empire that was at once intensely Christian and spiritual but also loved power and wealth and invented the arts of diplomacy as we know them today.

Want books like Byzantium?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Byzantium.

Browse books like Byzantium

Book cover of The Last of the Wine
Book cover of Democracy: A Life
Book cover of The Greek Revolution: 1821 and the Making of Modern Europe

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in the Byzantine Empire, Greece, and Constantine the Great?

Greece 184 books