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A review by dkevanstoronto
Count Belisarius by Robert Graves
4.0
Lots of detail, perhaps a little too much. It raises interesting questions but they are lost in the detail of an immense erudition of Graves. He attempts another "I Claudius" but goes overboard in explaining things.
In essence the moral is that you can't turn back the hands of time. Even if the Eastern Empire could have regained the west the fundamental problems of a society so dependent on Slaves (40% of the work force) created a problem of scale. It was broken something else was arising. To some extent this book gives a good grounding in Byzantium and the changes that were fundamental to the period.
Not a bad read, but for those who know some of the history you will find the speculations a bit dated. Also Graves distinction between the Germanic peoples and the others of Europe and the world to be jaded. No doubt it was influenced by the times he lived in which seem totally irrelevant to both modern scholarship and modern tastes.
In essence the moral is that you can't turn back the hands of time. Even if the Eastern Empire could have regained the west the fundamental problems of a society so dependent on Slaves (40% of the work force) created a problem of scale. It was broken something else was arising. To some extent this book gives a good grounding in Byzantium and the changes that were fundamental to the period.
Not a bad read, but for those who know some of the history you will find the speculations a bit dated. Also Graves distinction between the Germanic peoples and the others of Europe and the world to be jaded. No doubt it was influenced by the times he lived in which seem totally irrelevant to both modern scholarship and modern tastes.