Byzantium: The Bridge from Antiquity to the Middle Ages

236 Pages·2001·11.17 MB·English

by  Michael Angold

ISBN 0-312-28429-2 $24.95
Michael Angold’s book is a clear,
concise, and authoritative history
of Imperial Rome’s successor:
the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium was a
Greek polls on the Bosphorus that gained
importance in A.D. 324 when it was refounded
by Constantine the Great and named
Constantinople. One of the preeminent cities
of the Middle Ages, Constantinople played
a vital role in the emergence of the medieval
order in which Byzantium, western Christen­
dom, and Islam became three distinct
civilizations.
This book charts precisely the develop­
ment and characteristics of Byzantine art and
society. Angold begins in Constantinople and
examines the city in relation to the world of
the early Middle Ages. He shows how the
foundation and subsequent growth of the
city altered the equilibrium of the Roman
Empire and shifted the center of gravity east­
ward; he describes the emergence of political
factions and their impact on political life,
analyzes the disintegration of the culture of
late antiquity, and elucidates the reaction
among Muslims and western Europeans to
Byzantine iconoclasm.
Angold concludes with an account of
Byzantium’s collapse. His book is an excellent
introduction to one of the most important,
but least studied, European civilizations.

BYZANTIUM

BYZANTIUM
THE BRIDGE FROM ANTIQUITY
TO THE MIDDLE AGES
W
M ichael A ngold
St. Martin's Press & New York
Byzantium. Copyright © 2001 by Michael Angold. All rights reserved. Printed in the United
States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or
reviews. For information, address St. Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www. stmar tins .com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Angold, Michael.
Byzantium: the bridge from antiquity to the Middle Ages / Michael Angold.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-312-28429-2
1. Byzantine Empire—Civilization. I.Tide.
DF521 .A55 2001
949.5'02—dc21 2001041619
First published in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
First U.S. Edition: November 2001
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
List of illustrations vii
Notes for travellers ix
Maps XV
The city of Constantine i
Byzantium 16
The parting of the ways 38
The forging of Islamic culture 57
Byzantine iconoclasm 70
Byzantium and the West 96
The triumph of orthodoxy 122
Norman Sicily: an epilogue 146
Glossary 165
Bibliography 169
Index 175
v