Originally published by Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1966.

Focusing on the middle period in Byzantium's eleven-century history as its most imperial era, Jenkins considers a number of events that changed the course of world history: the repulse of the Saracens from the gates of Constantinople in 678 and 718, the reign of Michael III, which marked the greatness of Middle Byzantium, the resolution in 843 of the quarrel over images, the conversion of the Bulgar Khan Boris to Christianity, and a splendid revival of painting, which culminated in the apse mosaic of St Sophia.

Originally published in 1940, this book contains the first English biography of the Greek poet Dionysius Solomos, a contemporary of Byron and author of the poem Hymn to Liberty, which formed the basis for the Greek and Cypriot national anthems. Jenkins quotes at length from Solomos' poems and provides the original Greek text at the end of the book. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in nineteenth-century poets or the role played by poetry in the Greek revolution."