Byzantium survived for 800 years, yet its dominions and power fluctuated dramatically during that time. John Haldon tells the story from the days when the Empire was barely clinging on to survival, to the age when its fabulous wealth attracted Viking mercenaries and Asian nomad warriors to its armies, their very appearance on the field enough to bring enemies to terms. In 1453 the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XII, died fighting on the ramparts, bringing to a romantic end the glorious history of this legendary empire.

This work offers a comprehensive study of warfare and the Byzantine army in the social context. It deals with Byzantine attitudes to warfare, the effects of war on society as a whole both culturally and physically, as well as relationships between soldiers, leaders and society.

The transformation of the eastern provinces of the Roman empire from the middle of the seventh century CE under the impact of Islam has attracted a good deal of scholarly attention in recent years, and as more archaeological material becomes available, has been subject to revision and rethinking in ways that radically affect what we know or understand about the area, about state-building and the economy and society of the early Islamic world, and about issues such as urbanisation, town-country relations, the ways in which a different religious culture impacted on the built environment, and...

The dominant Mediterranean power in the fifth and sixth centuries, by the time of its demise at the hands of the Ottomans in 1453 the Byzantine empire was a shadow of its former self restricted essentially to the city of Constantinople, modern Istanbul. Surrounded by foes who posed a constant threat to its very existence, it survived because of its administration, army and the strength of its culture, of which Orthodox Christianity was a key element. This historical atlas charts key aspects of the political, social and economic history of a medieval empire which bridged the Christian and...

Major new revisionist survey of this most elusive and fascinating period in medieval history.

This is a history of the wars between Byzantium and its numerous foes, among them the Goths, Arabs, Slavs, Crusaders, and Ottoman Turks. By the middle of the 6th century the Byzantine emperor ruled a mighty empire that straddled Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Within 100 years, this powerful empire had been cut in half. Two centuries later the Byzantine empire was once again a power to be reckoned with that soon recovered its position as the paramount East Mediterranean and Balkan power, an empire whose fabulous wealth attracted Viking mercenaries and central Asian nomad warriors to its...

The Taktika, ascribed to the hand of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI "the Wise" (886-912), is perhaps one of the best-known middle Byzantine texts of an official or semi-official genre. Presented in the form of a book of guidance for provincial generals, it served as both a statement of imperial authority and power, as well as a reminder of earlier "good practice" and the centrality of the values of a Christian society in the struggle against its enemies. In particular, the Taktika identified Islam, for the first time, as a fundamental threat to the very existence of the Christian...

Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World is the first comprehensive study of warfare and the Byzantine world from the sixth to the twelfth century.
The book examines Byzantine attitudes to warfare, the effects of war on society and culture, and the relations between the soldiers, their leaders and society. The communications, logistics, resources and manpower capabilities of the Byzantine Empire are explored to set warfare in its geographical as well as historical context. In addition to the strategic and tactical evolution of the army, this book analyses the army in campaign and...

Hagiographical writing, including the Lives of saints and martyrs and collections of their miracles, were one of the most popular, perhaps the most popular from of literature accessible to ordinary people in the medieval world. St. Theodore 'the Recruit' was one of the best-known of the so-called 'military saints' or 'soldier saints', particularly in the medieval eastern Roman, or Byzantine, and the eastern Christian world, where churches dedicated to him were to be found in towns, cities and in the countryside. While the cult of St. Theodore has been studied in the context of hagiographical...

Iconoclasm, the debate about the legitimacy of religious art that began in Byzantium around 730 and continued for nearly 120 years, has long held a firm grip on the historical imagination. Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era is the first book in English to survey the original sources crucial for a modern understanding of this most elusive and fascinating period in medieval history. It is also the first book in any language to cover both the written and the visual evidence from this period, a combination of particular importance to the iconoclasm debate. The authors, an art historian and a...