History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian Volume 2

by John Bagnell Bury

Volume 2 of classic history. One of the world's foremost historians chronicles the major forces and events in the history of the Western and Byzantine Empires from the death of Theodosius (A.D. 395) to the death of Justinian (A.D. 565). "An important and valuable contribution to our knowledge of a period the history of which has been too much neglected." — Classical Review.

Genres: History, Ancient History, Medieval History, Nonfiction, Roman History, Roman, Classics

512 pages, Paperback

Published November 2, 2011

About the author

John Bagnell Bury (often published as J.B. Bury) was a classical scholar, historian, and philologist. He held the chair in Modern History at Trinity College, Dublin, for nine years, and also was appointed Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity, and Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University.

Reviews

[Lamar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being roughly 100 years old, this account of Justinian and the empire he built with the aid of generals like Belisarius and Narses is excellent. As far as I know most of Bury's conclusions about Justinian and the significant people in his court still hold up after all this time. While the main focus is on the Eastern Roman empire and its developments under Justinian, Bury doesn't leave out commentary about the barbarian kingdoms like the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Avars, Gepids, ect. To be clear, this is an excellent introduction to the time period, but if you are looking for a in depth military analysis into the wars of Justinians you would probably be better off looking elsewhere. While Bury is an excellent writer his lack of maps makes battlefield analysis can be frustrating and difficult to picture. All in all a fantastic conclusion to Bury's History of the Later Roman Empire

[Frank Grobbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume kedua ini meliputi kurun waktu yang lebih sedikit dari volume pertama, yaitu dari wafatnya Kaisar Anastasius I hingga wafatnya Justinianus I. Jauh lebih banyak detil dalam narasi di volume ini, karena memang jauh lebih banyak sumber primer yang selamat dari zaman yang diliput. Bury juga banyak keluar dari narasi dan membahas topik-topik tertentu seperti diplomasi Romawi, negara-negara tetangga dan as always konflik gereja.

Sangat penting untuk membaca buku ini. J. B. Bury adalah pionir dan raksasa di bidangnya, sedikit yang bisa disejajarkan. Banyak penelitian dan ide Bury yang masih tidak berubah sedikitpun, padahal volume ini rilis sebelum Abad ke-20! Wajib baca untuk rekan Byzantinist!

[Hans Kerrinckx · Rating 5 out of 5]

I repeat my comment for the first part of the book, the second is also outstanding:
" John B. Bury (16 October 1861 – 1 June 1927) was was an Irish historian, classical scholar, Medieval Roman historian and philologist. He objected to the label "Byzantinist" explicitly in the preface to the 1889 edition of his Later Roman Empire.

Bury's career shows his evolving thought process and his consideration of the discipline of history as a "science". From his inaugural lecture as Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge in 1902 comes his public proclamation of history as a "science" and not as a branch of "literature". He stated:

"I may remind you that history is not a branch of literature. The facts of history, like the facts of geology or astronomy, can supply material for literary art; for manifest reasons they lend themselves to artistic representation far more readily than those of the natural sciences; but to clothe the story of human society in a literary dress is no more the part of a historian as a historian, than it is the part of an astronomer as an astronomer to present in an artistic shape the story of the stars."

Since his time, research interests of historians changed, and there has been a shift away from traditional diplomatic, economic, and political history (history of facts) toward newer - more theoratical -approaches, especially social and cultural studies. The "cultural turn" of the 1980s and 1990s affected scholars in most areas of history. Inspired largely by anthropology, it turned away from leaders, ordinary people and famous events to look at the use of language and cultural symbols to represent the changing values of society

Despite the "old school" approach of "Byzantinists" such as J.B. Bury, Steven Runciman, Alexander Vasiliev, George Ostrogorsky, John Julius Norwich and even the 18th century Edward Gibbon, they taught us a not to be underestimated knowledge of the Eastern Roman Empire. They digged into the prime sources, they paid attention to anecdotes, they knew their ancient languages and offer us details we can't find anymore in recent (theoretical/analytical) historiography.

So if you want to study the history of the Late Antiquity, don't forget to read this generations - sometimes momumental - work"