Byzantine Book Request
Hugh Reilly
I just finished John Julius Norwich's 3 volumes on the history of
Byzantium and would like to get more specific. I was hoping the
members of this group would be kind enough to recommend some texts
that would be informative and fun to read that would give me more
details on the subject.
Thanks to one and all who help.
Hugh
Hugh Reilly
http://home.att.net/~aodh
mailto:ao...@att.net
"I can resist everything except temptation."
-Oscar Wilde
"De gustibus non est disputandum."
-Anonymous
David Read
<ao...@att.net> writes
>Hello,
>I just finished John Julius Norwich's 3 volumes on the history of
>Byzantium and would like to get more specific. I was hoping the
>members of this group would be kind enough to recommend some texts
>that would be informative and fun to read that would give me more
>details on the subject.
>Thanks to one and all who help.
>Hugh
>
This is getting in need of a FAQ all of its own...
You have not narrowed down your interest to a specific period or topic
from Byzantium. The following are just a small selection, paying
particular attention to both the "informative" and "fun to read" aspects
of your request, and are good follow-ups to Lord Norwich's trilogy..
Readily available in Penguin Classics translations are Procopius's _The
Secret History_, Michael Psellus's _Fourteen Byzantine Rulers_ and Anna
Comnena's _Alexiad_. _The Fall of Constantinople 1453_ by Sir Stephen
Runciman is easily digestible, and is published by Cambridge University
Press.
cheers,
--
David Read
Curt Emanuel
>
> On Sun, 16 Jul 2000 20:27:38 GMT, Hugh Reilly <ao...@att.net> wrote:
>
> >Hello,
> >I just finished John Julius Norwich's 3 volumes on the history of
> >Byzantium and would like to get more specific. I was hoping the
> >members of this group would be kind enough to recommend some texts
> >that would be informative and fun to read that would give me more
> >details on the subject.
> >Thanks to one and all who help.
> >Hugh
> >
>
> considered the best general history, though it's about thirty years
> old.
Treadgold's _A History of the Byzantine State and Society_ (published
1997) was written specifically as a replacement for Ostrogorsky. I'm not
sure he covers much new ground (though it's twice as long) but it does
take advantage of newer scholarship.
The old recommendation used to be to read Ostrogorsky and follow up with
Vasiliev.
I don't think I'd classify any of these as fun to read. Anna Comnena is
much more entertaining.
--
Curt Emanuel (cema...@accs.net)
Brant Gibbard
<jonme...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>Oh, if you want _fun_, there's Procopius ...
>
"The Buildings"? ;-)
Brant Gibbard
bgib...@inforamp.net
http://home.inforamp.net/~bgibbard/gen
Toronto, Ont.
Edmond Dantes
Hugh
Dave Singer
<da...@dreadful.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <gm64nsci22gf3u4bs...@4ax.com>, Hugh Reilly
> <ao...@att.net> writes
> >Hello,
> >I just finished John Julius Norwich's 3 volumes on the history of
> >Byzantium and would like to get more specific. I was hoping the
> >members of this group would be kind enough to recommend some texts
> >that would be informative and fun to read that would give me more
> >details on the subject.
> >Thanks to one and all who help.
> >Hugh
> >
>
> This is getting in need of a FAQ all of its own...
>
> You have not narrowed down your interest to a specific period or topic
> from Byzantium. The following are just a small selection, paying
> particular attention to both the "informative" and "fun to read" aspects
> of your request, and are good follow-ups to Lord Norwich's trilogy..
>
> Readily available in Penguin Classics translations are Procopius's _The
> Secret History_, Michael Psellus's _Fourteen Byzantine Rulers_ and Anna
> Comnena's _Alexiad_. _The Fall of Constantinople 1453_ by Sir Stephen
> Runciman is easily digestible, and is published by Cambridge University
> Press.
>
> cheers,
Other possibilities:
Cambridge Medieval History (regular or shorter)
Romilly Jenkins' -- Byzantium, the Imperial Centuries
Obviously, the classics (though they are out of date): Gibbon, JB Bury
Runciman has written a lot; I liked his book on Mistra. Likewise DM
Nichol ('Fourteen Byzantine Women' is by him, I think).
An interesting insight into the society is Kazhdan and Epstein's Changes
in Byzantine Culture in the 10th and 11th Centuries
There is a book "Justinian and Theodora" by one of these guys. Likewise
a highly entertaining bio of Justinian II (the golden-nosed). I'm
currently reading "The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and his regin". Many
of the books about Venice contain fair amounts of Byzantine history, of
course.
Brant Gibbard
wrote:
>There is a book "Justinian and Theodora" by one of these guys.
Actually, none of the people you mentioned, it's by Robert Browning.
Melancthon
mentioned; Procopius and Anna Comnena. Try "The Deeds of John &
Manuel Comnenus", by John Cinnamus, which is adventurous in style,
and "O City of Byzantium", by Nicetas Chionates. If you want detail,
you should post what kind of detail you want, whether it's ecclesiastical,
literary, philisophical, military, etc....
If it's fun you're after, try "King Harald's Saga". There is a section on
his
time as a mercenary in the Varangian guard that's a pretty neat read.
Dave Singer <sin...@apple.com> wrote in message
news:singer-037142....@news.apple.com...
Afropea
about Byzantine art, there are a few good
basic books that I'd like to recommend. All
are available in paperback and are
affordable.
Thomas Mathew has a short book out from
the "Perspective" series. This deals more
with ideas than chronology. Mathew breaks
a lot of preconceptions about Byzantine art,
such the Byzantine use of naturalism and
emotion. He also gives a credible link to
Byzantine art as a continuation of the art of
classical antiquity, and as a precursor to the Renaissance. The color
illustrations were
also a big plus.
I've just begun John Lowden's "Early Christian
and Byzantine Art" from Phaidon. It looks
good thus far, and I've had good experiences
with this series (a very interesting volume
on "Gothic Revival, BTW). I have seen it
used as a reference elsewhere. It also has
the advantage of extensive color illustrations.
However, I don't feel I've read enough to
give my opinion on the book's content at this
time.
Three books that I read ages ago include
David Talbot Rice's "Art of the Byzantine
Era" from the Oxford World of Art series,
Steven Runciman's "Byzantine Style and
Civilization" from Pelican's Style and
Civilization series, and John Beckman's
"Early Christian and Byzantine Art" from
the Pelican History of Art Series. I plan to
read them again since its been so long.
If I recall, Rice gave a good overview of the
art of Constantinople and the rest of the
Eastern Christian world, as well as
other areas influenced by the art of
Byzantium. There are color and black and
white illustrations.
Runicman's book was quite amazing to me
at the time, and integrated historic events
to the art with great clarity. It dealt with
concepts as well as style. Unfortunately, it
lacked colored illustrations.
Beckwith gave the most detailed chronology
of the these titles. He also integrated the
history with the art, and dealt with both
concepts and style. There are extensive illustrations, but unfortunately, they
are
only in black and white.
Hope that helps in some way.
Eve
Dave Singer
afr...@aol.com (Afropea) wrote:
> If you find you would also like to learn
> about Byzantine art,
...I also liked Gervase Matthews' book Byzantine Aesthetics.