What do you think?
Rate this book
Phantom Byzantium: Europe, Empire, and Identity from Late Antiquity to World War II
How the West appropriated aspects of the eastern Roman empire while portraying it as inferior.
Unveiling the ideological foundations of Byzantine studies, Phantom Byzantium is a pioneering survey of western European perceptions of the eastern Roman empire (also known as Byzantium) spanning late antiquity to World War II. Through ten chronological chapters, Anthony Kaldellis makes the case that western Europe gradually formed its identity by adopting prestigious cultural elements from the eastern empire but simultaneously portraying the east as inferior. The West modeled its Roman imperial style on Constantinople while minimizing the latter as Greek rather than Roman; appropriated a host of Christian traditions from the east while casting the east as schismatic, heretical, or treacherous; and, during the Renaissance, used classical Hellenic philology from Greek scholars before marginalizing them as unworthy bearers of that tradition. This orientalizing impulse worked to buttress western exceptionalism and resulted in the fictitious construction of “Byzantium” as Europe’s evil doppelgänger, embodying the worst versions of traditions fundamental to European identity and casting the region as despotic, superstitious, and degenerate.
Explaining the creation, history, and functions of the ideological construct of Byzantium in the western imagination and European self-fashioning, this book has critical implications for contemporary views of European history.
Unveiling the ideological foundations of Byzantine studies, Phantom Byzantium is a pioneering survey of western European perceptions of the eastern Roman empire (also known as Byzantium) spanning late antiquity to World War II. Through ten chronological chapters, Anthony Kaldellis makes the case that western Europe gradually formed its identity by adopting prestigious cultural elements from the eastern empire but simultaneously portraying the east as inferior. The West modeled its Roman imperial style on Constantinople while minimizing the latter as Greek rather than Roman; appropriated a host of Christian traditions from the east while casting the east as schismatic, heretical, or treacherous; and, during the Renaissance, used classical Hellenic philology from Greek scholars before marginalizing them as unworthy bearers of that tradition. This orientalizing impulse worked to buttress western exceptionalism and resulted in the fictitious construction of “Byzantium” as Europe’s evil doppelgänger, embodying the worst versions of traditions fundamental to European identity and casting the region as despotic, superstitious, and degenerate.
Explaining the creation, history, and functions of the ideological construct of Byzantium in the western imagination and European self-fashioning, this book has critical implications for contemporary views of European history.
- GenresHistory
240 pages, Hardcover
Published April 3, 2026
About the author
Anthony Kaldellis
35 books182 followersPh.D. University of Michigan, Department of History (2001)
Anthony Kaldellis’ research explores the history, culture, and literature of the east Roman empire from antiquity to the fifteenth century. An earlier phase of it focused on the reception of ancient Hellenic culture, for example on how authors conceived their projects in relation to classical models (Procopius of Caesarea, 2004), as well as the history of identities (Hellenism in Byzantium, 2007), monuments (The Christian Parthenon, 2009), and genres (Ethnography after Antiquity, 2013). A second phase brought to light the enduring Roman matrices of Byzantine life and thought, focusing on its political sphere (The Byzantine Republic, 2015) and ethnic identities (Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium, 2019). He has translated into English the works of many medieval Greek writers, such as Prokopios, Genesios, Psellos, Attaleiates, and Laonikos Chalkokondyles. His own monographs have been translated into other modern languages, including Turkish, French, Romanian, Russian, and Greek. In 2019, he created the first academic podcast for his field, Byzantium & Friends. He has just published a new, comprehensive history of Byzantium, The New Roman Empire (2023), which embeds social, economic, religious, and demographic developments within a lively narrative framework.
Anthony Kaldellis’ research explores the history, culture, and literature of the east Roman empire from antiquity to the fifteenth century. An earlier phase of it focused on the reception of ancient Hellenic culture, for example on how authors conceived their projects in relation to classical models (Procopius of Caesarea, 2004), as well as the history of identities (Hellenism in Byzantium, 2007), monuments (The Christian Parthenon, 2009), and genres (Ethnography after Antiquity, 2013). A second phase brought to light the enduring Roman matrices of Byzantine life and thought, focusing on its political sphere (The Byzantine Republic, 2015) and ethnic identities (Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium, 2019). He has translated into English the works of many medieval Greek writers, such as Prokopios, Genesios, Psellos, Attaleiates, and Laonikos Chalkokondyles. His own monographs have been translated into other modern languages, including Turkish, French, Romanian, Russian, and Greek. In 2019, he created the first academic podcast for his field, Byzantium & Friends. He has just published a new, comprehensive history of Byzantium, The New Roman Empire (2023), which embeds social, economic, religious, and demographic developments within a lively narrative framework.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 7, 2026
As a former Byzaboo, this book was very interesting to read and somewhat of a vindication on some previously held conceptions about the concept of Byzantium (or the (Eastern) Roman Empire).
Yet the book feels very incomplete and sometimes biased in itself. The first citation he has is of Edward Saids Orientalism, and yet he makes Orientalist takes himself on various Islamic examples in his book. He misrepresents the positions of several historians and makes reductive claims about Islam's place in the historical record, omitting vast bodies of negative attitudes that complicate his picture. Ultimately "the Islamic world" functions as a straw foil against which Western attitudes to Byzantium can be set in relief. In a book about how the Eastern Romans were othered, it is neither self-aware not persuasive.
Despite accusing the so called anti-Byzantinists throughout history of operating in certain political programmes, Kaldellis never makes explicit his own interests in trying to rehabilitate the image of Byzantium. Sure, he is a well respected scholar, with good reason. But so were many of the authors he cites. So what is his angle? This omission is suspect.
The level of argumentation also has some misses, and he does not adequately deal with current historiographical positions.
Yet some other claims land, in particular the arbitrariness with which the temporal delineation between Roman and Byzantine is considered. The chapter on the split between east and west after the reign on Theodosius was also very interesting, and could have expanded greatly. The fuzzyness of the extent to which imperial authority, control and influence went up until the 8th century throughout the west was also something I would have liked to read more about. The break with that, exemplified by the increasing independence of The Papal States could have been expanded with more examples.
Overall, a very interesting book, but it comes with glaring issues.
Yet the book feels very incomplete and sometimes biased in itself. The first citation he has is of Edward Saids Orientalism, and yet he makes Orientalist takes himself on various Islamic examples in his book. He misrepresents the positions of several historians and makes reductive claims about Islam's place in the historical record, omitting vast bodies of negative attitudes that complicate his picture. Ultimately "the Islamic world" functions as a straw foil against which Western attitudes to Byzantium can be set in relief. In a book about how the Eastern Romans were othered, it is neither self-aware not persuasive.
Despite accusing the so called anti-Byzantinists throughout history of operating in certain political programmes, Kaldellis never makes explicit his own interests in trying to rehabilitate the image of Byzantium. Sure, he is a well respected scholar, with good reason. But so were many of the authors he cites. So what is his angle? This omission is suspect.
The level of argumentation also has some misses, and he does not adequately deal with current historiographical positions.
Yet some other claims land, in particular the arbitrariness with which the temporal delineation between Roman and Byzantine is considered. The chapter on the split between east and west after the reign on Theodosius was also very interesting, and could have expanded greatly. The fuzzyness of the extent to which imperial authority, control and influence went up until the 8th century throughout the west was also something I would have liked to read more about. The break with that, exemplified by the increasing independence of The Papal States could have been expanded with more examples.
Overall, a very interesting book, but it comes with glaring issues.
Displaying 1 of 1 review