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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
What a fantastic, fun, and informative read! I can't wait to delve into the next volume.
John Julius Norwich's Byzantine trilogy (this book, The Apogee, and The Decline and Fall) is THE definitive work. The three volumes together are around 1300 pages, although you can also read a much-abridged single volume, A Short History of Byzantium, which is only around 500 pages. Norwich's trilogy is not quite an academic work, although it is a bit heavy for the general public; even 1300 pages can't reasonably cover over a thousand years of a civilisation, particularly one with so much richness and diversity of history. You could easily fill that page space with the story of Byzantium's growth away from the Roman Empire alone. But as a general introductory overview, Norwich's trilogy is unparalleled: it is, for good reason, THE definitive work.
I don't usually write serious reviews, but I do want to explain my rating here since the book seems to be really well-regarded. To me, it seemed very focused on military and political history, almost exclusively discussing the succession of leaders and changes of the territory of the empire (which I'm sure is in part because it's an older book and that kind of history was more in vogue when it was written.) The book is very well-written, but the emphasis on only these areas of Byzantine history seemed reductive to me and doesn't really align with my own interests, so on a personal level, it wasn't as compelling as I'd hoped. If you're primarily interested in that type of history, though, I do recommend it!
In spite of the startling biases that the author is quite comfortable holding (in the 1970s), his storytelling is sassy and companionable, and a lot of fun to read. I love the way he quotes Gibbon as though his buddy Gibbon (who precedes Norwich by 200 years and is even more sassy) laid this quip on him the other day at dinner. It's sort of like being told the history of the Byzantine Empire by an old British university professor, waving a cigar and holding a glass of brandy, by the fire, while he punctuates the narrative with indefensible slurs or a wink and nudge that makes you uncomfortable, but you're still sitting there in awe of the effect of the setting, and of being in the presence of academic royalty. It's a little like that.
Norwich admits that this work is an over view of Byzantine history, and it meets that requirement in spades. Well written, a few writer detours in history, but not many and they add to the story, and well cited. What more could a history buff ask for. Great overview and I have already started the next in the series.
This had some really good parts and overall was a comprehensive look at the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire from ~300 CE to 800 CE. There’s some amazing anecdotes in here, about how the Byzantine Emperor had the Pope arrested and exiled to the Black Sea for excommunicating the Patriarch of Constantinople, or how the Byzantine Empress almost married Charlemagne!
But also Norwich is racist, sexist, and homophobic by turns, nor is there any real interrogation of what it means to be a ‘barbarian’ and why that’s worse than being ‘Roman’.
I don't usually write serious reviews, but I do want to explain my rating here since the book seems to be really well-regarded. To me, it seemed very focused on military and political history, almost exclusively discussing the succession of leaders and changes of the territory of the empire (which I'm sure is in part because it's an older book and that kind of history was more in vogue when it was written.) The book is very well-written, but the emphasis on only these areas of Byzantine history seemed reductive to me and doesn't really align with my own interests, so on a personal level, it wasn't as compelling as I'd hoped. If you're primarily interested in that type of history, though, I do recommend it!
I fell in love with John Julius Norwich's writing when I read A History of Venice when I was around 12 and on vacation in Italy with my family. Byzantium: The Early Centuries lived up to my high expectations, and is an incredibly readable, and often downright thrilling, history of the first several centuries of the empire. Despite the byzantine nature of the Eastern Roman Empire's history--filled as it is with soap opera like intrigue and complex religious debates impacting state policy--Norwich writes with a breezy authority, and one never feels confused or overwhelmed. Although he freely admits that his book breaks no new scholarly ground, this is the first volume of what is assuredly the most comprehensive history of Byzantium for a newcomer.
A compelling broad history of Byzantium. From the founding of the new Imperial Capital by Constantine through the upheavals of dynastic strife, religious infighting, court intrigue, the rise of Islam and closing with the crowning of a rival emperor in the west.
Well written, very throughly sourced with insightful and often amusing footnotes, covering a large span of time and offering a broad stroke insight into one of the most fascinating polities of world history.
Well written, very throughly sourced with insightful and often amusing footnotes, covering a large span of time and offering a broad stroke insight into one of the most fascinating polities of world history.
Readable style. Pretty good coverage of the first five centuries of the empire from Constantine the Great up to Irene and the iconoclasts. Definitely gonna read the next two in the series.