George Akropolites: The History

ISBN-13: 9780199210671 / Angielski / Twarda / 2007 / 400 str.

Macrides, Ruth

Opis

This is the first English translation and study of George Akropolites' History, the main Greek source for the history of Byzantium between 1204 and 1261. Akropolites relates what happened to Byzantium after the Latin conquest of its capital, Constantinople, by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. He narrates the fragmentation of the Byzantine world, describing how the newly established 'empire' in Anatolia prevailed over its foreign and Byzantine enemies to recapture the capital in 1261. Akropolites was an eyewitness to most of the events he relates and a man close to the emperors he served, and his account has therefore influenced modern perceptions of this period. It has been an essential source for all those studying the eastern Mediterranean in the thirteenth century. However, until now historians have made use of his History without knowing anything about its author. Ruth Macrides remedies this deficiency by providing a detailed guide to Akropolites' work and an analysis of its composition, which places it in the context of medieval Greek historical writing.

Recenzje

While Macrides translation is not the first translation of Akropolites into a modern language, it certainly is the most punctilious one. And it will undoubtedly be very useful to all those who are interested in the history and the history writing of the Byzantine thirteenth century.

O autorze

Ruth Macrides is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman, and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham.