Byzantium. The Amazing Life of a Medieval Empire

The unique book by Professor Judith Herrin of King's College London is dedicated to the millennium-long history of the Eastern Roman Empire - from the founding of Constantinople to its capture by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. An authoritative researcher offers a new perspective on the confrontation between the Byzantine Empire and the Western world, the schism of the Christian church, and the reasons for the empire's fall. The author vividly portrays emperors and empresses, military usurpers, spiritual leaders, talented scholars, and famous courtesans. A separate chapter is devoted to eunuchs - a particularly influential caste that wielded great political power. A subtle connoisseur of the era, Judith Herrin recreates images of everyday life at the imperial court: the glitter of gold, the luxury of garments, complex rituals, and exquisite entertainments of the "born in purple." With special attention, the author highlights the spiritual side of the empire's life, explains the reasons for the return from iconoclasm to icon veneration, and once again proves that it was Byzantium - the first Christian empire that embraced spiritual achievement as its foundation - that was able to hold back Islamic expansion and prevent the conquest of Europe.