Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization

by Lars Brownworth

In AD 476 the Roman Empire fell–or rather, its western half did. Its eastern half, which would come to be known as the Byzantine Empire, would endure and often flourish for another eleven centuries. Though its capital would move to Constantinople, its citizens referred to themselves as Roman for the entire duration of the empire’s existence. Indeed, so did its neighbors, allies, and enemies: When the Turkish Sultan Mehmet II conquered Constantinople in 1453, he took the title Caesar of Rome, placing himself in a direct line that led back to Augustus.

For far too many otherwise historically savvy people today, the story of the Byzantine civilization is something of a void. Yet for more than a millennium, Byzantium reigned as the glittering seat of Christian civilization. When Europe fell into the Dark Ages, Byzantium held fast against Muslim expansion, keeping Christianity alive. When literacy all but vanished in the West, Byzantium made primary education available to both sexes. Students debated the merits of Plato and Aristotle and commonly committed the entirety of Homer’s Iliad to memory. Streams of wealth flowed into Constantinople, making possible unprecedented wonders of art and architecture, from fabulous jeweled mosaics and other iconography to the great church known as the Hagia Sophia that was a vision of heaven on earth. The dome of the Great Palace stood nearly two hundred feet high and stretched over four acres, and the city’s population was more than twenty times that of London’s.

From Constantine, who founded his eponymous city in the year 330, to Constantine XI, who valiantly fought the empire’s final battle more than a thousand years later, the emperors who ruled Byzantium enacted a saga of political intrigue and conquest as astonishing as anything in recorded history. Lost to the West is replete with stories of assassination, mass mutilation and execution, sexual scheming, ruthless grasping for power, and clashing armies that soaked battlefields with the blood of slain warriors numbering in the tens of thousands.

Still, it was Byzantium that preserved for us today the great gifts of the classical world. Of the 55,000 ancient Greek texts in existence today, some 40,000 were transmitted to us by Byzantine scribes. And it was the Byzantine Empire that shielded Western Europe from invasion until it was ready to take its own place at the center of the world stage. Filled with unforgettable stories of emperors, generals, and religious patriarchs, as well as fascinating glimpses into the life of the ordinary citizen, Lost to the West reveals how much we owe to this empire that was the equal of any in its achievements, appetites, and enduring legacy.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Medieval, World History, Audiobook, European History

352 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2009

About the author

Lars Brownworth is an author, speaker and broadcaster based in Maryland, USA.

Mr. Brownworth created the genre-defining 12 Byzantine Rulers podcast, which prompted the New York Times to liken him to some of history's great popularizers. His recent book titled Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization, is available in bookstores and online. He answers questions on his Finding History blog, speaks at conferences and is currently working on a new podcast that brings to life the reign of the Normans.

Reviews

[jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prospective readers of Lars Brownworth’s “Lost to the West” should be aware what they are getting. For those unfamiliar with Brownworth, he was made famous in a uniquely 21st century way when he produced a podcast called “12 Byzantine Rulers” a narrative retelling of 1,000 years of Roman history through the lives of 12 emperors who reigned from Constantinople. The podcasts, which were told with a mix of passion, humor, facts, and a dollop of melodrama, were a runaway hit, downloaded by over 100,000 listeners. From this success, Brownworth earned a book contract.

“Lost to the West” continues very much in the vein of the podcast. It isn’t an academic history by any stretch, but is instead what some might call with derision a “popular history.” The story is told as narrative with the same melodrama as the podcast. No reader will have a moment of trouble telling Brownworth’s anointed heroes from his villains in any of the chapters. His often shallow analysis would surely be read as laughable by serious historians, as he time and again points to decisions and battles which, if only they had gone differently, might have postponed the “Dark Ages” by “centuries” or even avoided them altogether. Likewise, as an apparently unabashed fan of the “great man” view of history, Brownworth sees the fate of the empire turning perpetually on the choices of individuals with little attention to the Empire’s severe structural deficiencies as a highly centralized autocratic economic and political system unable to readily adapt to changing circumstances. Careful readers knowledgeable about the period will also detect quite a few errors of fact in the text.

And for all that I loved the book and happily give it five stars. Condemning Brownworth for not writing an academic history would be pedantic in the extreme; his goal was plainly to write an entertaining book which would invite those unfamiliar with the Byzantine history he loves to take a quick tour and maybe even get hooked. I cannot imagine he was trying to exhaustively cover more than 1,000 years of history but was seeking to write a page turner, much as his podcast (of which I was a devoted fan) made listeners eagerly await the next episode. While likely any student producing a paper on the subject would hopefully receive a less than satisfactory grade if they based it on “Lost to the West,” readers will find endless entertainment in Brownworth’s gift for supplying salacious details and crafting larger than life characters into heroes.

While good history is rarely the stuff of good vs. evil (and Brownworth’s distaste for Persia and the Islamic east and outright distain for the Feudal west are both so plain that they drip from the page) they do make for the stuff of great reads. While one can quibble with his method as a historian, as a storyteller, he delivers a tale that will leave many wanting to know when they can expect his next work.

[Felicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a FASCINATING and wonderfully readable history of Byzantium, I was blown away by the detail and how REAL everything felt in the hands of this author. Such rich and forgotten things happened in this part of the world that we just don't appreciate because of our Western Bias. I would read this book again just because it's so detailed I could absorb more info on a second pass. Definitely recc for history fans!

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

My problem with the book is its clear anti-Muslim sentiment. Though Brownworth paints the Crusaders poorly, they're at best portrayed as roving bands of thugs, while the Ottomans are "jihadists." He describes the capture of Constantinople as an event which plunged Europe into "five centuries of a living hell" and "enslavement." The Muslims are routinely excoriated while other atrocious acts by Westerners are at best tisked at. Now, did Mehmet commit atrocities? Of course -- they all did! It was the Middle Ages, and it was common place to vanquish ones enemies. I'm not interested in alternative history, but if we're to look at history with Western, modern eyes, then let's apply the same standard to both sides. Why not mention that under the Ottomans, Jews and Christians were not forced to convert (though they did have to pay a tax for being allowed to remain Christian or Jewish)? Why not mention that under the Ottomans some Jews reached positions of power, second only to the sultan himself? Can we compare this to what the Crusaders did to every Jew, Christian and Muslim living in Jerusalem during the first Crusade, where they slaughtered everyone? C'mon.

Another shocking statement..."Christopher Columbus -- using a translated Byzantine text of Ptolemy's Geographia -- discovered America" (p304). Discovered America?! Is this history or fantasy?

[Jonathan Kent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert: The Byzantine Empire finally collapsed in 1453...

What an incredibly frustrating book. On the plus side the subect matter is great. The history of the Byzantine (or Eastern Roman) Empire is thoroughly neglected in Western Europe and this book goes some way to explaining why. It was an alien culture to most of the nascent Western nations emerging from the Dark Ages. It was ancient, cultured and sophisticated - probably decadent and declining too, the Western nations were vital and brutal and dismissive. It says a lot about our remote ancestors that they didn't see Constantinople as a bulwark against the spread of Islam and help prop it up, rather letting it fall and opening the way for Ottoman armies to reach the gates of Vienna.
But this is a lightweight history. It's not even a history in the modern sense really. It reduces the story of the Byzantine Empire to a series of vignettes about its emperors as if the only forces at work were those of the personalities that sat on the throne. Yet we can see so much more than that at play even from this inadequate narrative; for instance the relationship between the empire's rapcious and greedy aristocracy and its government - the former trying to grab land from the poor and avoiding taxes has all sorts of modern echoes, and indeed echoes in the late Western Roman Empire. That dynamic is mentioned time and again but never developed, explained or explored.
We never really understand how the empire is governed. We don't properly understand the impact of events like the Plague of Justinian, a global cataclysm that affected places as far apart as China and Britain where it hastened the fall of the remaining Romano British centres to the Saxons.
Most telling is the fact that this is written by a history teacher rather than a fully fledged academic. It's the sort of narrative that works well with 14 year old boys, but for anyone really interested in the 'why' of history rather than a partial account of the 'what' this doesn't even start to scratch the surface.
However having read this I might try to find something that looks at Byzantine history in the first millenium in greater depth because it's clear that there's something worth finding out more about.

[Robert Clancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've recently read three examinations of the fall of Rome and the Byzantine Empire and this is the easiest, most enjoyable, most interesting read. Gibbon's Decline & Fall is a seminal work and a must to understand the entire scope of Roman history since Augustus. However, it was written over 200 years ago. Peter Heather's new examination of the reasons for the fall of Rome is labored and frankly boring to read. Brownworth breathes life into the Byzantines while showing the differences between factions like Arianism and Monophysitism or Orthodoxy and Iconoclasm. Too often we dismiss the Byzantines as irrelevant to the history of Western civilization. Brownworth demonstrates that if it wasn't for the Byzantine Empire (saving much of Greek philosophical and scientific learning; a bulwark against Muslim invasion; maintaining the vestiges of Roman order for centuries after it was lost in the West to barbarians, etc), Western civilization wouldn't exist as we know it. Highly recommended.

[A.L. Sowards · Rating 4 out of 5]

I borrowed this from my library (in ebook form) because I’m skeptical about books that cover a thousand years of history in a few hundred pages. Quite often books like that only scratch the surface, and by not going into anything in any depth, they end up being boring. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case with this book. Brownworth included enough detail to keep things both interesting and informative, and I soon purchased a copy. Of course, given all the wars, internal squabblings, and poisonings, it would take effort to make a history of Byzantium boring. Naturally the book doesn’t go into great depth on any subject, but it was a good start for someone like me who hasn’t yet read all that much about the Byzantine Empire.

Even though I knew it was going to happen, I was still saddened when I read about the fall of Constantinople—it’s truly one of those heartbreaking moments of history. I enjoyed this last line from the book: “The greatest tragedy in its vast and glorious tapestry is not the way in which it fell, but that it has been consigned to irrelevance, its voices unheeded and its lessons unlearned. For those who have eyes to see, however, the lonely Theodosian walls still stand, battered and abused, marching along the Sea of Marmara to the waters of the Golden Horn. There they serve as a fitting testament to the epic struggle five centuries ago, an unwavering reminder that the Roman Empire didn’t expire in the humiliation of a little Augustus, but in the heroism of a Constantine.”

[Ash Jogalekar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never watched or read “Game of Thrones” and now I don’t think I ever will because the history of Byzantium seems to rival any of the violence and sexual and political intrigue that the show presents. Lars Brownworth’s “Lost to the West” is a terrific although somewhat sparse history of the glorious rise and tragic fall of the Byzantine Empire which lasted for more than a thousand years before the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Beginning with Diocletian’s division of the Roman Empire into East and West, Brownworth takes us through a series of personalities, episodes and world-changing events that are both as entertaining and as consequential as anything found in the great epics; towering and mercurial tyrants and generous kings like Justinian and Constantine and Theodosius, powerful and sadistic queens like Theodora and Irene, eunuchs, extraordinary generals like Nicephorus Phocas and Belisarius who won back thousands of square miles of lost territory from the Goths even without support from a jealous king, tons of sexual and political intrigue, unimaginable wealth including thrones of gold and mechanical diamond birds, the famous Hagia Sophia, and most importantly, the meeting of dozens of world-striding cultures, religions and civilizations including Roman, Greek, Christian and Pagan, Arab, Venetian, Magyar, Goth and Hun, Frankish and Russian to namer only a few.

It is sad that authors like Gibbon only saw the Byzantine Empire as a tragic footnote to the Roman Empire, and other writers seem to have followed suit later. It’s only recently that the key role of the empire in bridging East and West and in serving as a storehouse of Greek-derived knowledge when most of the rest of Europe was crumbling into darkness has become recognized. Brownworth makes a convincing case that Byzantium kept the flame of civilization and learning alive and for almost a thousand years served as a bulwark between Islam and the West, giving Europe a chance to step out of the Middle Ages and into modernity. So many themes that we now discuss are seen here, including the weakening of an empire from within, the setting in of decay and decadence, the worsening of affairs because of spineless leaders, the loss of empire due to mistrust and assassination and, in general, all the hues and complexities of human nature that can be found in any oof the great epics.

This volume suffers from only the flaw that that while very engaging it compresses a thousand years of history into 300 pages and seems rushed and sparse at places. I therefore cannot wait to dig into John Julius Norwich’s three-volume history of Byzantium now.

[Randall Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Without Byzantium, the surging armies of Islam would surely have swept into Europe in the seventh century, and as Gibbon mused, the call to prayer would have echoed over Oxford’s dreaming spires.” It was Byzantine’s most famous emperor Justinian, who created Roman law, the basis for most European legal systems. To appreciate Byzantine achievements, google images of Ravenna mosaics, and the interior of the Hagia Sophia. When Rome fell, its wide and easy to travel roads were used against it by rebels and barbarians. When Roman Emperor Valerian died, Persians flayed him, dyed his skin-deep red, stuffed it with hay, and hung it on a wall to show visitors. It is Diocletian who splits the Roman world into half-Byzantine, and half-Roman. “Commodus amused himself by clubbing thousands of amputees to death in the arena.” Commodus then dies by being strangled in his bath.

Why was the battle of Milvian Bridge a turning point in history? Because, by combining cross and sword, Constantine fused church and state together. To do it, Constantine simply had to boldly contradict the New Testament. Constantine is still revered by non-progressive Christians: yes, he murdered his wife and his eldest son, was deified as a pagan god and was baptized by a heretic, but since he clearly increased market share for Christianity by boldly defying the main teachings of Christ through personal and state violence; he is counter-intuitively …still great. Constantine made it legal to publicly say with a straight face that you know someone who both walked on water, and rose from the dead, without others thinking you were a nutter.

Theodosious signs the death warrant for the Roman West when he lets armed Goths settle on Roman land. Goths back then, just like today’s Goths in black clothing, didn’t attempt to blend in and stayed culturally to themselves. Within a generation these early Goths would dominate the government and the Dark Ages would begin. For today’s Goths, the very thought of the Dark Ages must sound like Heaven. Theodosius, feeling a devout fit of Constantinian Christianity coming on, trapped seven thousand conquered civilians in their own city’s hippodrome and slaughtered them. Guards kill Stilicho “safely out of the sight of his troops.” The Goths invade Rome (the first to do so in 800 years). “The city which had taken the whole world was itself taken.” Britain was now left alone to fight the Saxons. Theodosius II reacted to Rome’s sack, by ordering new walls around Constantinople “forty feet high and nearly sixteen feet deep.”

The Huns never bathed or changed clothes and wore delightful “tunics sewn from the skins of field mice”. Attila’s attacking Huns in 452 AD (and the Lombard’s invasion in 568 AD) largely created Venice. Citizens of Aquileia fled their village to a nearby lagoon. Once there they realized they were in a superior defensive position and stayed there first on Torcello and then spread defensively to nearby islands creating the Republic of Venice. First T shirt sold there: “Attila attacked my village and all I got was this massive maritime Empire”. Attila actually dies from a glorified nosebleed. This is why Venice’s Saint Mark’s cathedral and Torcello’s church with their mosaics look so Byzantine.

After promising not to spill his blood, Zeno encloses Basiliscus in a dry cistern in Cappadocia, leaving him to starve. Stylites were Christian ascetics who climbed pillars and stayed there, to withdraw from the world. Why pray tell, climb an expensive man-made pillar instead of a tree, to withdraw from society? That fashion falls out in the seventh century (perhaps with the invention of a ladder). Byzantine fun fact: “Although the practice was officially frowned upon, fathers would often castrate younger sons to ensure them a lucrative career in the civil service.” Justinian wins a victory over the nobility “ensuring a surprising degree of social and economic mobility for its citizens that added immeasurably to the prosperity and strength of the empire.” Justinian rebuilds the Hagia Sophia with gold from Egypt, porphyry from Ephesus, powdered white marble from Greece, and precious stones from North Africa and Syria. Columns repurposed from Rome also arrived. Hagia Sophia was rebuilt in under six years. Meanwhile, the uglier Westminster Cathedral in London took 33 years to rebuild (and even Notre Dame cathedral took over 100 years to build). The Vandals disappear from history a year after they lose Carthage, to Justinian’s general Belisarius. He also takes Sardinia, Corsica and Gibraltar. Siege warfare is often harder on the siege maker: staying healthy and getting supplies while living in a sea of mud. Belisarius hits Italy with the most force since Hannibal; and he only had “a few thousand men”. The Goths are chased away by him in one town after the other.

While all this conquest is playing out, the recently expanded Byzantine Empire is now clearly over-extended and not consolidated. The army started at 500,000 men but was down to 150,000. All this new stuff conquered without the manpower and resources needed to hold onto it. At home, Justinian’s over-extension wake-up call comes in 559, the Huns come within thirty miles of Constantinople. Justinian added more land than anyone but Augustus and Trajan, turning the Mediterranean once again, into a Roman lake. People in Constantinople still revere Belisarius and sing songs about him. “Imagine war and invasion, its easy if you try…” Persia makes peace with the Byzantines after Heraclius’s great victory, and the first elephants are seen in Constantinople. Greek becomes the official language, and Virgil, Horace and Cicero now needed to be translated from the Latin.

Sunnis focus on following Muhammad’s example, while the Shi’a focus on the lineage of Muhammad’s family through a series of Imans. Today, Shi’a are around 10% of the global Muslim population. After 135 years of Arab rule, Crete is returned to Byzantium. Russian prince Vladimir turns Russia to Orthodox Christianity. He thought Islam sucked because of the alcohol/pork ban, and thought the Jews were abandoned by God. The Latin churches were too dark for Vlad, but the Hagia Sophia looked great so the game was over and Russia went Orthodox. Byzantine Emperor Basil blinds 1,500 Bulgarian prisoners; one in every hundred are spared an eye so that the 1% could lead the others back home. When Egypt is lost to the empire, old manuscripts are then copied onto parchment rather than papyrus. Most of today’s Greek classics come from Byzantine copies from this time. The Byzantine army starts relying on mercenaries.

Serbians and Croatians spoke the same language yet came from opposing religious camps. Croatia adopts the Latin alphabet while Serbia goes Orthodox and writes in Cyrillic. In 1054, “Christendom had been ripped in half”, a break with the papacy occurs and “Christendom would never be united again”. The Turks gain strength and Anatolia is lost forever. Alexius takes power. At this time, Constantinople’s population was almost twenty times that of London and Paris. Did you know that when the (theoretically Christian) First Crusade reaches Jerusalem, they pretty much kill everyone: Christians and non-Christians alike. The killing goes on until the next day. “It was the work of several weeks to cleanse the city of the stench of rotting bodies.” Jerusalem should have been returned to the Byzantine Empire then according the sworn oaths of the Crusaders, but what is an oath to lawless religious hypocrites? Venice was built largely at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. Emperor Manuel II’s biggest mistake was “his failure to evict the armies of Islam from Anatolia.”

During the Fourth Crusade (1235), Constantinople is sacked. The Crusaders and Venice had agreed to divide Byzantium between them. One enterprising Venetian then climbed up the Carceres Gate to the Hippodrome in Constantinople and stole the four life sized bronze horses and moved them to Venice where ill-attired tourists can still see them in St. Mark’s Basilica today. Latin rule lasts 57 years before Byzantium regains control. The period of Latin rule is called either the Latin Empire, Imperium Constantinopolitanum, Frankokratia, or Romania. It brought a Catholic Emperor to replace the Eastern Orthodox one. The Nicacean Empire recovers Constantinople in 1261 and restores the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople is besieged thirty-four times in its history. Latin rule taught Byzantines that men with crosses on their outfits were hardly morally superior than the Muslims who had been threatening them. How do you forgive your Catholic brothers for the obvious invasion and religious desecration? Better ruled by an infidel than a heretic.

Cool fact: in 2004 Pope John Paul II apologized to the patriarch of Constantinople for the Crusaders crimes. In 1271, Pope Gregory gets a letter from Kublai Khan requesting oil from the Holy Sepulchre. Gregory sends Marco Polo to deliver it. Had he sent a Murray Rabinowitz, today our children would be shouting Murray? Rabinowitz! Murray? Rabinowitz! in swimming pools across the country. Good thing, Gregory didn’t send Ben Dover.

The longest running Byzantine dynasty lasted almost two hundred years. Osman I gains power in power through victories and his troops start calling themselves Ottomans, after the furniture. The plague hits Constantinople hard after six centuries away, and almost 90% of the population is wiped out. Timor the Lame was a Mongol warlord who, in Damascus, “herded its citizens into the Grand Mosque and burned it to the ground.” In Tikrit, each soldier had to show him two heads or lose his own. In Baghdad, 90,000 citizens were slaughtered, and Timor builds a pyramid out of their skulls. “Lands he passed through became deserts, cities became ghost towns, and whole populations fled.” Vlad the Impaler got his name from his great love of “impaling birds on little sticks.” We know him today as Count Dracula, Count Chocula, and Count von Count.

A massive cannon was dragged 140 miles by sixty oxen and two hundred men at 2.5 miles a day, from Adrianople to attack Constantinople in 1453. The cannon needed lots of time to cool down after firing, and so could only fire seven times a day. The Ottomans enter the city and “women and children were raped, men were impaled”, “altars were tipped over and used as a bed to rape the women and children hostages.” It shows the moral restraint of this century’s Catholic priests that they didn’t tip over the altars with their children hostages. The Hagia Sophia gets turned into a mosque, and its amazing mosaics are painted over. After 1,123 years, the Byzantine Empire was a goner. Exiles fled to Western Europe sparking the Renaissance with copies of Greek and Roman wisdom, and fled to Russia where Orthodox Christianity was still cool. Constantinople’s name is changed to Istanbul in 1930. Cool question: what two flags today still have the Byzantine Eagle on them? Albania and Montenegro. In the end, when you think Byzantine Empire, think of it as the force that kept the Muslim invasion of Europe away for 800 years. Those centuries allowed Europe to develop its own schtick, otherwise, as Gibbon wrote, you probably wouldn’t recognize it today. No Belgian beer, chilled French champagne or Bordeaux wine, as you watch your wife at the bathroom door ask you “Burqa? Or Chador?” A great book; I highly recommend it.

[Jameson · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are two kinds of history.



One is the dusty, desiccated version written by dusty, desiccated intellectuals and taught by dusty, desiccated professors. This is the history that teaches us empires rose or fell because a particular currency fluctuated by a particular percentage within a particular period, causing an already strapped and stressed middle class to be unable to purchase the grain that had been imported from overseas because trade tariffs had resulted in an embargo that made economic recovery impossible when it looks like Cindy Chapman isn’t wearing a bra and my God she’s got the best looking breasts of any girl I have ever seen, not to mention a tush that makes blue jeans the greatest invention since… What? Oh. I’m sorry, Sir. I didn’t hear the question.



The other is the version that teaches us that empires rose or fell because of the brilliance and daring, or the tragic flaws and weaknesses, of real people. Everyone knows the successes and failures of Robert E. Lee, but his refusal to fire on Ambrose Burnside’s headquarters at Chatham during the Battle of Fredericksburg because Lee had met his wife in that house, that makes Lee real and vulnerable. Everyone knows Richard the Lionhearted was the bloodiest and most violent soldier of a bloody and violent age, but the fact that he made a point of pardoning the archer who fired the arrow that ultimately killed him from gangrene, that makes Richard real and human. (Of course, the order to forgive was ignored as soon as Richard died, and the unfortunate archer was flayed alive.)



It’s the human factor that makes history come alive, and nowhere is that more brilliantly illustrated than in Lars Brownworth’s Lost to the West. The history of Byzantium, for most people, is a dimly known period that took place, uh, well, in the middle east somewhere. We know that for eleven hundred years an empire flourished (with concomitant ups and downs) from Spain to current-day Iran, and from north Africa to the Balkans, and that it lent its name to our synonym for “intricate” or “devious,” but beyond that, the center of Orthodox Christianity and the seat of some of the most spectacular art and architecture the world has ever known remains for most people an obscure afterthought to Roman history and a vague precursor to the Renaissance. Lost to the West brings those eleven hundred years into entertaining and colorful focus, and Brownworth achieves this by making use of the human factor.



Consider Justinian I, also referred to as Justinian the Great, known as the emperor who restored and expanded the empire, conquering vast swathes of land from the Atlantic to the Black Sea, the man who codified and modernized Roman law into a form that is still used in many places today, the man who inspired a cultural flowering and transformed Constantinople into an architectural gem, crowned by the renowned Hagia Sophia. All admirable stuff and well worth knowing, but how much more fascinating and human he becomes when we learn he married a lowly (and very young) performer named Theodora who, “…seems to have specialized in a particularly obscene form of pantomime involving geese…” Wow. The imagination reels. But just in case you think Justinian was just another dumb and randy male who allowed his judgment to play second fiddle to his hormones by marrying the child actress, give another thought to his judgment, because it was she who rallied her terrified husband and his senators and kept them from fleeing an angry mob:



“Every man who is born into the light of day must sooner or later die; and how can an Emperor ever allow himself to become a fugitive? If you, my Lord, wish to save your skin, you will have no difficulty in doing so. We are rich, there is the sea, and there too are our ships. But consider first whether, when you reach safety, you will not regret that you did not choose death in preference. As for me, I stand by the ancient saying: royalty makes the best shroud.”



Now that’s a wife to be proud of, never mind what she may have done for a living.



Consider this tidbit about the Persian king Chosroes II who was not noted for his tolerant understanding of failure on the part of his subjects. When his general, Shahin, was unable to destroy Constantinople and the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, the general decided suicide was preferable to his king’s tender mercies, “…but Chosroes II had the body packed in salt and transported to the capital. When it arrived, he had it whipped until it was no longer recognizable.”



Okie, dokie. Little wonder that when Heraclius’s army closed in on Chosroes II, and that courageous worthy called for women and children to defend him, his subjects turned on him: “Chosroes II was flung into the ominously named Tower of Darkness, where he was given only enough food and water to prolong his agony. When he had suffered enough, he was dragged out and forced to watch as his children were executed in front of him. After the last of his offspring had expired, his torment was finally brought to an end when he was shot slowly to death with arrows.”



Golly. I do wish we could make Lost to the West required reading for our congress and the current administration. They might learn some valuable lessons. They would also be richly entertained by this wonderfully written history that transforms eleven hundred years of bloodshed and beauty, religion and opulence, triumph and despair, into something as entertaining as a damned good novel.

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this title in the footnote of another history book (Civilization: The West and the Rest) and the reviews on Goodreads seemed to be universally quite good, so I was quite excited to pick up this book and perhaps broaden my knowledge of the Byzantine Empire.

However, after reading this book, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, because I hated it by the end of the second sentence of the introduction. Maybe this is because I have a degree in Medieval Studies, but I take extreme umbrage at the usage of "Dark Ages" even in a somewhat un-scholarly work such as this. The fact that Lars Brownworth is a high school teacher makes me hope (beyond hope!) that he isn't spreading this nonsense to his students, but I suspect he is more than happy to spread his Petrarchian concept of Medieval Europe.

Moreover, this book really isn't saying anything new. Perhaps if you have no knowledge of the Middle Ages on the whole, the concept of a prospering Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople is a novel concept to you. If you've taken an introductory class or read an introductory work on the Middle Ages, however, all of the information in this book will be old hat (now with a Byzantine bias!) Mr Brownworth would argue that the Byzantine Empire was entirely to be thanked for preserving the legacy of classical Roman and Greek texts and teachings, but totally ignores the various renaissances happening in Europe contemporaneously that also ensured the preservation of texts (Merovingian Renaissance, Carolingian Renaissance, Twelfth Century Renaissance? Anyone?? ... Bueller?) This doesn't even touch upon the huge debt that Medieval Europe (and Byzantium!) had to the Muslim East and the texts they preserved. Rather, Mr Brownworth is happy to paint the Muslims in the same way that traditional histories paint the Vikings, the Mongols, and the various barbarian hoardes: as threats to peace, stability, and good Christian government.

If you actually enjoy some history in your history books, stay far away from this one.

[Czilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as the history of the great Eastern Roman Empire (stop saying Byzantine Empire!) goes, this book is probably the best "entry level" reading there is. Some of the chapters are a bit long winded with description of minutia, where other chapters completely forego particular details for sweeping swathes and broad generalizations; so it can definitely be a bit inconsistent.

However it touches on everything. Constantine and the rise of Christianity, the Gothic-Roman Kingdoms, the Sassanian campaigns, iconoclasm and the schism, the rise of the Turks, Trebizond and Epirus after the fall. Very comprehensive and impressive work done here.

If I had to recommend any one book for someone to pick up and learn about Eastern Rome, Constantinople, Constantine, Justinian, Belisarius, Stilicho, Theodosius...and many more historical characters that you will learn to respect or despise; this is the one. There are many, many lessons to be learned from the Eastern Roman Empire, most of them being tremendous mistakes.

[Dorin Lazăr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lost to the West is a try at restoring the forgotten history of the Roman Empire. It tries to cover 1123 years of history in a few hundred pages, and it does this by skipping from important figure to important figure.

It's a pretty good read; the author doesn't bore us with details, and each page is crowded with fascinating detail. Where I feel that the book lacks in detail is in describing the lives of the common people, and although hints about their situation are dropped from time to time, I wish there was more detail and more information.

However, given the lack of popular reading on this topic, Lars Brownworth's book is definitely welcome, and at the same time his podcast, 12 byzantine rulers, is a welcome companion to the book, as it doesn't just present excerpts from the book, but comes with a bit more information that is not necessarily covered here.

All in all a compelling read.

[Rindis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a very good readable brief history of the Byzantine Empire, and I recommend it as such to anyone who would like to familiarize themselves with the subject.

However, the subtitle "The Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Saved Western Civilization" suggests a particular thesis for the book, which it does not follow. Byzantine culture is brought up on occasion, as well as the rise and fall of education during various periods. However, 'saving Western Civilization' only comes in at the end with the population fleeing the Ottoman Empire, and bringing copies of various Roman and Greek works that had lost in Western Europe.

I'd kind of like to see a detailed look at just how certain works have been transmitted down from ancient times to today, but that is a specialized subject, and not part of this book. Similarly, there is only passing mention, at the beginning and at the end, of how 'Byzantine' history has been 'lost' to Western culture, not least because of how it has been somewhat artificially removed from 'Roman' history.

But it is good, light, general history, and if you enjoy it, I highly recommend the author's podcast, 12 Byzantine Rulers, which was done to go along with this book. Conversely, if you enjoyed the podcast, you will enjoy the book.

[Liviu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad but makes you appreciate more JJ Norwich masterpiece; a good narrative keeps the the book entertaining and the pages turn by themselves, though I strongly recommend to try JJ Norwich trilogy for a full appreciation (and even the abridged one volume is deeper than this one, as well as being quite entertaining too)

[Doreen Petersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book but to me it lacked that certain something. I leave it to others to judge this book. I tried but it just wasn't for me.

[Belinda Vlasbaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars - English Ebook

In AD 476 the Roman Empire fell, or rather, its western half did. Its eastern half, which would come to be known as the Byzantine Empire, would endure and often flourish for another 11 centuries.

Though its capital would move to Constantinople, its citizens referred to themselves as Roman for the entire duration of the empire's existence.

Indeed, so did its neighbors, allies, and enemies: When the Turkish Sultan Mehmet II conquered Constantinople in 1453, he took the title Caesar of Rome, placing himself in a direct line that led back to Augustus.

For far too many otherwise historically savvy people today, the story of the Byzantine civilization is something of a void. Yet for more than a millennium, Byzantium reigned as the glittering seat of Christian civilization.

When Europe fell into the Dark Ages, Byzantium held fast against Muslim expansion, keeping Christianity alive. When literacy all but vanished in the West, Byzantium made primary education available to both sexes.

Students debated the merits of Plato and Aristotle and commonly committed the entirety of Homer's Iliad to memory.

Streams of wealth flowed into Constantinople, making possible unprecedented wonders of art and architecture, from fabulous jeweled mosaics and other iconography to the great church known as the Hagia Sophia that was a vision of heaven on earth.

The dome of the Great Palace stood nearly two hundred feet high and stretched over four acres, and the city's population was more than twenty times that of London's.

From Constantine, who founded his eponymous city in the year 330, to Constantine XI, who valiantly fought the empire's final battle more than a thousand years later, the emperors who ruled Byzantium enacted a saga of political intrigue and conquest as astonishing as anything in recorded history.


While reading this book, there were times when I wanted to learn more about the cultural shifts, the changes in languages and art and philosophy and science of what is called the Byzantine Empire.

I am not staying this isn't attended to, but it is glossed over a bit. Still, it offers a clear explication of the basic political and military struggles that go on during this period and he has a fine eye for the sensational aspects of this period, which I have to admit, I like reading about.

Lots of great footnotes. I have read several books on the history of Rome by Anthony Everitt, but this is only half of the story of the Roman Empire; the other half took place in Constantinople and I have a deeper appreciation and understanding for this now.

When I hear people talk about how interesting Game of Thrones is, I can now counter this. And I like both fiction and non- fiction.

Very interesting book.

[R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Most astonishing of all to the citizens of Constantinople, however, was the emperor’s habit of wandering in disguise through the streets of the capital, questioning those he met about their concerns and ensuring that merchants were charging fair prices for their wares. Once a week, accompanied by the blare of trumpets, he would ride from one end of the city to the other, encouraging any who had complaints to seek him out. Those who stopped him could be certain of a sympathetic ear no matter how powerful their opponent. One story tells of a widow who approached the emperor and made the startling claim that the very horse he was riding had been stolen from her by a senior magistrate of the city. Theophilus dutifully looked into the matter, and when he discovered that the widow was correct, he had the magistrate flogged and told his watching subjects that justice was the greatest virtue of a ruler.”

This was a wonderful history of the Eastern Roman Empire, otherwise known as Byzantium. I highly recommend it. It's been on my reading list since before it came out and I finally found it at the library and was able to get it without spending any money, hooray!

When I was younger I didn't think of the Eastern Roman Empire as a real part of Rome, but as I've gotten older I have reconsidered that and come around to the more popular belief that they were in fact the heir of the Roman Empire and a continuation of it's laws, traditions, customs, and beliefs. More interesting to think about is that if they hadn't been abandoned by Western Europe, the Catholic Church, and the Frankish Kingdoms, there is a good chance that Byzantium would have been able to weather the Islamic Storm from the east and might still be around today, or would have made it into the twentieth century at least. More than anyone else I blame the Catholic Church for shortsightedness and choosing to let them fall because they weren't the "right" kind of Christians.

“In 1004, a Byzantine aristocrat named Maria sparked enormous interest in Venice by eating with an ancient Roman double-pronged golden instrument. Touted as the latest word in sophistication, the device became enormously popular, and soon the fork was common throughout the West.”

So we can thank the Romans for forks. There's that which I didn't know about before which is pretty cool.

[Arne Laruweere · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives the reader a good insight on the history of a falling roman empire.
But mostly how the empire found its strength again in the east and still had its moments of brilliance, while the western kingdoms fell to the dark ages.

This book describes the most important events starting from the crisis of the third century to the eventual fall of the roman empire. How much the west owes to the eastern empire.

[Carin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is how history books should be written! No, it doesn't read like a novel (which only works really in a biography and also is highly difficult to pull off - and stay nonfiction - unless there are extensive background notes which there often just aren't.) But it reads like history should: informative, knowledgeable, and occasionally funny.

A previous boss had recommended this book to me, and as my boyfriend was a history major specializing in ancient cultures (mostly Greek and Roman) when I saw this book, I had to get it. After all, this book tells the story of whatever happened to the Roman Empire. In school we're taught about Greece and Rome until it's inconvenient and then we switch to Europe. Occasionally the Holy Roman Empire or Byzantium pops up out of seemingly no where, something big happens, and then they disappear again. To say that the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium gets a short shrift in American schools is an understatement.

Mr. Brownsworth starts with Diocletian in the third century and ends with Constantine XI in 1453. Some emperors were insane, some lazy, more than a few drunk and not just with power. In between were brilliant statesmen, gifted leaders, and trusted generals. There are certainly lessons to be learned about things they did right (don't let the aristocracy get too powerful or too rich) and wrong (hereditary succession). Many Byzantine lessons political leaders could afford to learn today about effective diplomacy, not letting the tax inequality grow too great, and the power of civic building projects to reinforce loyalty. But lest this sound like a pedantic list of emperors and their construction projects, let me tell you some of the more juicy tidbits Mr. Brownsworth throws in from time to time, unfairly relegating the best ones to footnotes. Some of them are quite gross, I warn you:

"While walking in the Forum of Constantinople, Arius [a powerful priest] was suddenly seized with a desire to relieve himself. Squatting down in the dust behind a column, his intestines spilled out, along with his liver and kidney, killing him almost instantly." (25)

When Britain was attacked by Saxons they asked Emperor Honorius for help but he told them "Look after your own fates." "Such advice was typical of the rather pathetic Honorius. When informed that Rome had fallen, he thought at first that something had happened to his pet rooster Roma and was relieved to find that it was only the city that had been sacked." (53)

"In 1004, a Byzantine aristocrat named Maria sparked enormous interest in Venice by eating with an ancient Roman double-pronged instrument. Touted as the latest word in sophistication, the device became enormously popular, and soon the fork was common throughout the West." (219)

"As a Muslim, the Mongol warlord didn't want to shed the blood of the heir of Muhammad, so he had the caliph wrapped in a carpet before trampling him with a horse. The invaders then settled down to a thorough sack of the city. According to legend, so many books from its great library were hurled into the Tigris that the river ran black from the ink for six months. The story is an obvious hyperbole, but Baghdad has never been the same since." (273)

It was fascinating to read about how, while the West and Europe were wallowing in the feudal Dark Ages, the Eastern Roman Empire was still a place to great learning where the arts flourished. Without Byzantium, all of the great classical works of Greece and Rome would have been lost forever. I was surprised to learn that while of course Catholicism endorsed the Crusades, the Orthodox church did not, condemning anyone who thought warmongering could lead to martyrdom, instead to excommunication.

I loved the author's thoroughness, but he skipped the boring parts which was great. I also loved that he didn't treat his subjects with too much reverence, a common flaw among historians I've found. Instead, Mr. Brownworth sometimes calls the Emperors idiots or worse, and I appreciated him calling a pot a pot. He does stick up for the great Emperors too, many of which were not recognized as such at the ends of their lives and therefore were buried ignominiously. And while the book was a great, galloping read, it sadly had to end, not with the fall of Rome, but the fall of Constantinople once its enemies acquired a cannon, rendering the walls which had protected the city for a millennium, impotent. Despite a valiant effort, the Turks ruled the day.

Lost to the West is a must-read for anyone with any interest in history, politics, or how the world got to where it is. I will think twice before using the adjective "byzantine" in the future as it has negative connotations I now find unfair.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most Westerners think the Roman Empire ended in 476 with Odoacer's conquest of Ravenna--or more accurately, they probably think it ended "a long time ago" for "reasons"--but the popular view is wrong. The empire continued for a millennium afterward, finally ending in a heroic last stand in 1453. Western Europeans dismissed Byzantium as the "Empire of the Greeks," but its continuity is reflected in how from 476 straight through to the empire's last day, the citizens of Byzantium referred to their country as Basileia Rhōmaiōn, "The Roman Empire."

I learned about this book from listening to one of Brownworth's podcasts, though not the obvious answer of 12 Byzantine Rulers, which I still haven't listened to, but rather Norman Centuries. However, with a name like "12 Byzantine Rulers," I can guess at the structure of the podcast. Lost to the West throws itself full-bodied into the pool of the Great Man theory of history, offering up a series of successive emperors, generals, shahs, sultans, kings, popes, and other personalities who enforced their will on history. Commoners, and even the aristocracy, mostly show up as undifferentiated mobs. This does not lead to a particularly nuanced view of history or even understanding of a lot of the basis of how the Eastern Roman Empire was governed. I don't remember the themata being mentioned for more than a paragraph, and the bureaucratic aspects that allowed the empire to function without collapsing into feudalism barely feature. If you read this book, you'd think that the emperors either accomplished everything singlehandedly or that they tried to do so and were checked by opposition from "the people" or "the aristocracy."

It does lead to great stories, though. The greatest is probably Constantine XI, the last Roman Emperor. The Theodosian Walls were breached by cannon after a millennium of defending the city--even the crusaders who sacked Constantinople had to go in through the harbor--and after a night of prayer and vigil, when the Janissaries came pouring into the breach, the emperor threw aside the Imperial regalia with a cry of "The city is fallen and I am still alive!" and charged forward. His body was never found, and legend had it that an angel turned him to marble and he would return someday to restore the lost glories of the empire.

Or Irene, wife of Emperor Leo IV and later Empress of the Romans in her own name (and who occasionally used the title basileus), who issued coins with her image on them. Her rule indirectly lead to the creation of the Holy Roman Empire, since Pope Leo III figured that a throne with a woman on it (gasp! hiss! spit!) was as good as empty and therefore the crown of the Roman Empire was his to grant.

Or Belisarius, general to Emperor Justinian, who put up with the emperor's widely varying levels of support and suspicion. His level of support ranged from having a formal triumph in the streets of Constantinople--the first outside the imperial family to be granted one in centuries--to being put on charge for corruption and imprisoned. And through it all, he stayed loyal to Justinian, never used his popularity to try to overthrow him, and kept winning battles.

I could go on, but the thing is that a bunch of stories like that does not history make. There's almost no discussion of trends or cultural achievements. Art is either flourishing or not, icons are being smashed or being venerated, and usually when these are mentioned it's in the context of some emperor's patronage or opposition.

Brownworth also does not bother to hide his partisanship. The Romans are the last keepers of the ancient traditions of Europe, in contrast to those barbarians in the West who don't even remember who the real emperor is. And no mention is made of Islam's own role in translating and maintaining Greek and Roman classics, even though that's one of the major plaudits the book gives to the Romans. And the line about the Turks plunging Eastern Europe into five hundred years of slavery seems quite a bit overblown. Ask the serfs in Western Europe how well their fellow Christian overlords treated them.

I give it four stars because it's an excellent introductory text and because it was an enormously enjoyable read, but if you're really interested in Roman history, something more in-depth would be a better option.

[David Corleto-Bales · Rating 5 out of 5]

Certainly one of the best books I've read this year, "Lost to the West" chronicles the Byzantine Empire, (or the Roman Empire in the east) from around 300 a.d. and the age of Constantine until 1453, when the empire fell to the Ottoman Turks. Amazing tales of intrigue with emperors, kings and generals over a thousand years. The Byzantine Empire served as a barrier between the East and West and was far in advance of Western Europe during the "Dark Ages" after the fall of the Western Empire. Brownworth points out how "Western Europe Centric" our study of history is in the west, and how little we really know of the glittering Byzantines, who kept the classics alive long after the fall of actual Rome. Most historical study in America is about Britain, France or Germany, countries that were mired in backwardness and chaos during the height of the Byzantines. Lots of good information about the Crusades, the fourth crusade of which sacked Constantinople in 1204, something never forgotten in that part of the world; it also has alot on the rise of Islam, the conversion of Rome from paganism to Christianity, and many other topics.

[Jordan Cloud · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, however I cannot rate higher than 2 stars in good conscience. As a work of history this book is hardly a success. While the author clearly knows his history, he appears to lack training in historical writing. Citations are few and far between and the book only offers a brief selected bibliography. The author also relies heavily on a handful of ancient sources, which are frequently unreliable. For some periods of history he reveals that he relies on a single source, a serious no-no when it comes to historical writing. Also, because citations or end notes aren't readily available, the author has no supporting evidence for the numerous claims made in the book. The reader is just supposed to assume everything is correct, which in ancient history, is hardly ever the case.

This is an enjoyable read and I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it. However, there are some serious flaws to keep in mind when reading it.

-Author takes ancient sources at face value
-Few sources used, secondary or primary
-Lacks end notes and seldom uses citations to support claims
-Repeats phrases like "he died a broken man," over and over

[Zouina Sid Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative account on the Byzantine Empire and its history. The narrative takes you right back to the heart of the events and was beautifully worded. However the author seemed to have faced difficulties in covering all the important events and seemed to skim on some very crucial parts of Byzantine History that I'd wished he'd explore in depth, he's hardly to blame though, summarizing over a thousand years of rich history full of turmoil is no easy task. This book offers a concise history of the empire, so if you're interested in a light read and want to get into the fascinating world of the Byzantines then I'd recommend this great book!

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this dramatic telling of the incredible 1000-year long Byzantine empires, from its highs to its lows, its troubled relations with the Western Roman Empire and the Pope in Rome, its battles with the Ottomans and Venetians and Mongols, and all its internal struggles, incredible mix of cultures, stunning artwork, architecture, and treacherous internal political struggles for power. Who needs fiction when history is so action-packed? Finished this audiobook in just 10 hours over two days!

[Torrey Gilday · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that does what it came to do and nothing more. Written in a readily accessible manner to the lay person, the author does a decent job in covering a millennium of history. As the author admits, this book is an overview, often painting in broad strokes. As an overview, it could be much worse and not a whole lot better.

[James (JD) Dittes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a remarkable, readable, short history of an empire that lasted 1000 years.

Brownworth has a deft hand with history. He knows how to bring out the key figures in the Eastern Roman Empire without getting bogged down in details that would drive away those, like me, with merely a casual interest in the empire.

We see the glories of Constantine, Justinian, and the Macedonian line. There are brilliant generals, among them Bellisarius, who race from east to west, defending the empire from a host of enemies: Arabs, Slavs, Bulgars, and others. In the end, though, the western Christian empires would prove to be Constantinople's greatest threat. While the Ottoman Turks eventually overran the city, the devastating Fourth Crusade, the machinations of Venetian and Genoan private navies, and other western feints brought about the end of the empire.

[Emma Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Covers the entire history of Byzantium in a relatively short span of pages. If you are looking for a good starting point or overview of Byzantium, this book is for you. If you are looking for a deep dive on the reign of Justinian or one of the subsequent emperors, then this book is not for you.

[RANGER · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and Essential Popular History of the Forgotten Eastern Roman Empire
IGNORE THE ONE-STAR REVIEWS BY JADED AND ENVIOUS ACADEMICS!
"Lost to the West" is one of those books that should be required reading in American classrooms... but it is not. And the reasons why are simple: It's a popular history (strike one) of a virtually banned subject (strike two).
That subject is the Byzantine Empire, AKA Byzantium, the ancient name for Constantinople (modern Istanbul in Turkey), that ancient successor to Rome that called itself the Roman Empire and outlasted its Western predecessor by hundreds of years.
Constantinople was found by Emperor Constantine in the fourth century on the ruins of an ancient Greek city called Byzantium. While Rome and the Western Roman Empire collapsed under the weight of invasions and moral decadence, Constantiniple and the Eastern Empire thrived and grew. The people of the Eastern Empire were Greeks and their empire consisted of modern day Turkey, the Levant, and North Africa. Despite their largely Greek population and language, they called themselves Romans while the West derisively called them Byzantines. Rome fell in 476 AD but Contantinople would remain the capital of the Eastern Romans until May 29, 1453, when the Islamic Turks finally overran the city and declared themeselves the Ottomon Empire, the longest running of the Sunni Caliphates. Istanbul is the corrupted Arabic-Turkish replacement name for Constantinople.
For a variety of reasons, some academic and some religious, Western intellectuals have ignored this important player in global history. In fact, to say there has been a conspiracy by Western Academics to cover up Byzantine historical relevance is an understatement. Most of Western Civilization was salvaged from the Roman collapse by the Roman Catholic Church. And the Roman Catholic Church was the arch enemy of the Orthodox faith and it's "pope", the Metropolitan of Constantinople. The entire history of conflict and competition between Western and Eastern Europe is tied to this. As is the current conflict in the Middle East, the role of Turkey in world affairs, the Russian (Orthodox) and Ukrainian (Roman Catholic) divide, yadda yadda. And this explains why Americans can't comprehend a variety of important but diverse topics ranging from Islamic history to the German and Turkish animosity toward Russia to Bible Prophecy. We have been taught that the intellectual flame of the most advanced ancient civilizations moved Westward from Egypt to Greece to Rome, then Paris, Berlin and Vienna (the Holy Roman Empire, which was neither) and then across seas to London then to NYC and Washington DC. And we forget that for 1000 years, Constantinople protected the Eastern Flank of Europe from the Arab and Central Asian Hordes, while being raped and pillaged by Franco-German Crusaders and Venetian Merchant-Soldiers... but I digress.
Look, just read this book. It's really well-done -- a readable, well-researched, fun history of a time and place you canot afford to be ignorant about.
Lars Brownworth is scorned by some for the gross sin of being a mere High School History Teacher instead of a University Academic. And not only did he choose this forbidden topic to popularize, he did so via a popular Podcast and a dozen YouTube videos before finally publishing this book.
Oh, the scandal!
If you think I am being facetious or writing with excessive hyperbole, read the one-star reviews here from academics. And after you do, put on your tinfoil hat, join me in the conspiracy nuttery and READ THIS IMPORTANT BOOK. If you like history, especially as related to the Medieval Period, the Crusades, and the Middle East in general, you will love this book.
It is HIGHLY Recommended!

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tremendous little book. I missed the podcast that was the genesis of Brownworth's history, though I've since listened to a few episodes and recommend it as a companion.

This is a quick skim of Byzantine history, covering 1,500 years in a compact volume. It's all politics and emperors with a pinch of battle and a dash of art and culture. So if you're looking for an in-depth treatment of the theological struggle over iconography, say, keep moving. If you'd like to fill in some gaps in your knowledge of Late Antiquity, etc., you've come to the right book. Brownworth is a better-than-serviceable writer and he knows how to keep his narrative moving along. No superfluous details here; just enough of a framework to hang his story on. Which is perfect when you've got a millenia and a half and a large part of three continents to cover.

Some things that caught my attention while reading:

• Feudalism. Constantine enacted legislation which limited sons to the occupation of their fathers. This wasn’t enforced strictly or for long in the East, but it was pushed hard in a turbulent, weakened West. And thus was feudalism born. Hello, Middle Ages.
• Theodora. One of the strong women of history, from prostitute (or thereabouts) to co-pilot of empire. Lots of blood on her hands, but a brave, smart lady and a natural politican.
• Justinian’s plague. I’ve read a book about this, but had forgotten how awful it was. 10,000 people died every day for months on end – just in Constantinople! – and when graveyard space gave out, they quite literally stuffed a castle to the brim with corpses.
• O, poor, loyal Belisarius! If only Justinian had trusted you! Alas!
• Chosroes II. Possibly the worst death I’ve read about, although see below. After bungling a war, this Persian monarch was locked by is own people in something called the “Tower of Darkness.” He was left until nearly dead, then dragged out to watch his children executed one by one. Allowed to contemplate that scene for a bit, he was then turned into a human pincushion and shot to death slowly with arrows.
• Nicephorus Phocas. A tough soldier who was murdered at the behest of his beautiful wife by his nephew – the two were lovers. His tombstone reads, “HE CONQUERED ALL BUT A WOMAN.” Incidentally , the nephew and his co-conspirators kicked a sleeping Nicephorus awake, ripped out his beard, smashed his jaw with their sword pommels, bashed his teeth out, tortured him for a bit, and then finished him off with a hammer. Then they lopped off his head and tossed his body out a window. Ouch.
• Don’t let your aristocrats get too powerful. Lesson to posterity.
• Venetians. You suck, Venice.
• Brownsworth says that Stalin’s distrust of the West was rooted in part in his Russian (Georgian) culture. This makes some sense to me – Stalin spent time in a seminary, and would've been exposed to Orthodox prejudices, for example – but I’d like to see a citation or two. I’m skeptical that Stalin distrusted the West any more or less than Stalin distrusted anything else. Stalin didn't trust anyone or anything, as far as I'm aware. To trace this Western distrust to Byzantine relations with Rome seems a stretch.
.

[Phoenix · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Empire in and of the Middle

The Roman Empire didn't fall in 476 AD with the surrender of the last Roman emperor, the teenage Romulus Augustus to the barbarian general Odoacer, it had merely shifted its home address eastward to Constantinople and had done so 150 years earlier. It finally disappeared on May 29, 1453 when Mehmed the II's army using massive cannon breached the walls of the city. Ironically the cannons' design was that of a Hungarian designer named Urban who had first offered his services to the Emperor Constantine XI, who was unable to afford the work.

In a relatively short 313 pages, Brownworth manages to cover the theological differences that caused the split between the Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, Byzantium's role in carrying the torch of Greek and Roman culture and law through Europe's dark age, the ebb and flow of Roman power and the outside pressures of competing Persian, Mongol, Abbasid, Mameluk, barbarian and European Empires.

It's a beautiful framework that successfully describes over a millennium of history. Fast paced and focusing mainly on the lives of the emperors themselves, the author skillfully handles diplomatic, political, economic and religious developments and shows how Byzantium bridges both its contemporary empires as well as linking the Roman past to its successors. The book also features a highly useful set of maps that illustrate how the size and influence of the empire changes over time.

IMV this is a keeper and well worth reading to get a sense not only of Byzantium itself, but also how different civilizations have connected with each other, and serves as a useful, but brief reference on specific time periods.