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jonfaith 's review for:
Byzantium: The Early Centuries
by John Julius Norwich
The fourth century had been a fateful one indeed for the Roman Empire. It had seen the birth of a new capital on the Bosphorus--a capital which, although not yet the sole focus of a united political state, was steadily growing in size and importance while the world of the Western Mediterranean subsided into increasing anarchy; and it had seen the adoption of Christianity as the official religion of the Emperor and his subjects.
Late in this volume I contemplated my decision not to read the abridged compendium of the three volumes. That matter remains unresolved. What we have is a vast narrative history without much in terms of cause or flavor. The details provided are usually salacious or grim. There isn't much self awareness on display. A more glib reader would view this as a monument to Daddy Duff: see, I haven't wasted my potential.
There was an awareness towards the end that the Eastern Mediterranean was irrevocably changed in the sixth and seventh centuries with first the arrival of the Slavs to the Balkans and then in the Arabian Peninsula with the advent of Islam. Those happenings run at odds with the geography-only thesis of Braudel, but not entirely, as Constantinople held so the Saracens were forced to travers North Africa and enter Europe through Iberia. I didn't care for this as much as I did [b:The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean|6107|The Middle Sea A History of the Mediterranean|John Julius Norwich|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1324233442l/6107._SY75_.jpg|1469383] but alas I am but a third of the way through the project.
Late in this volume I contemplated my decision not to read the abridged compendium of the three volumes. That matter remains unresolved. What we have is a vast narrative history without much in terms of cause or flavor. The details provided are usually salacious or grim. There isn't much self awareness on display. A more glib reader would view this as a monument to Daddy Duff: see, I haven't wasted my potential.
There was an awareness towards the end that the Eastern Mediterranean was irrevocably changed in the sixth and seventh centuries with first the arrival of the Slavs to the Balkans and then in the Arabian Peninsula with the advent of Islam. Those happenings run at odds with the geography-only thesis of Braudel, but not entirely, as Constantinople held so the Saracens were forced to travers North Africa and enter Europe through Iberia. I didn't care for this as much as I did [b:The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean|6107|The Middle Sea A History of the Mediterranean|John Julius Norwich|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1324233442l/6107._SY75_.jpg|1469383] but alas I am but a third of the way through the project.