The Byzantine Revival 780-842

Author: Warren Treadgold
Title: The Byzantine Revival 780-842
Publication: Stanford University Press, 1988

Description: Hardcover. Like new hardcover with blue cloth to boards and gilt lettering to spine. Live new dust jacket with faint scuffs from shelf wear. Sound binding. 8vo. (6.5 x 1.5 x 9.5 inches) Clean text free of marks or underlining. Includes maps, illustrations, notes, glossary, bibliography and an index. 504 pp.


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"It represents the only attempt in over 70 years to give a comprehensive account of Byzantine history from 780 to 842 and offer a reasoned explanation of the empire's revival. The work is based throughout on a personal reassessment of original sources, while the bibliography gives a complete picture of recent scholarship. In sum, an eminently useful book both for beginners and specialists." —Cyril Mango, Oxford University

''To read it is to make a kind of voyage of dis-covery. This is a work of solid and lasting schol-arship. It is a major contribution to an important theme, the durability and adaptability of the Byzantine state and Byzantine society."
—Robert Browning, University of London

This is the story of how the Byzantine Em-pire, led by a succession of extraordinary rulers, emerged from a long decline to reclaim its place as the leading state of the medieval world. It is the first book in 75 years to give a comprehensive account of Byzantine history in this crucial period, and the first ever to venture a detailed explanation of the empire's revival.

In the year 780, Byzantium, the medieval continuation of the Roman Empire, held only a ravaged and shrinking fraction of its former territory. Its army was too weak to ward off its many enemies, but its state revenue was too small to pay more troops.

Trade, education, literature, and art were at a low point. Yet only 60 years later, the empire had begun a remarkable recovery. Greece had been reconquered and recolonized, the Byzantine army had increased by half, state revenue had risen even more, and learning and culture had begun to flourish. Byzantium had regained its vigor, and was to expand steadily for another two centuries.

A vivid historical narrative and a definitive scholarly account, this book tells the story of the revival and the people who brought it about. Among scores of prominent personalities, the key figures are the pious but ruthless Empress Irene, the iron-willed Emperor Nicephorus I, the uncompromising Abbot Theodore of Studius, and the brilliant young Emperor Theophilus.

The book is illustrated with 48 half-tones, 6 diagrams, and 10 maps.

Warren Treadgold teaches ancient and medieval history at Florida International University. He is the author of The Nature of the Bibliotheca of Photius and The Byzantine State Fi-nances, and the editor of Renaissances Before the Renaissance: Cultural Revivals of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. His current project is a general history of Byzantium.

Seller ID: 203615

Subject: Ancient History , Europe , Religion