Constantinople: Capital of Byzantium - Hardcover

Harris, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184725179X ISBN 13: 9781847251794

Verlag: Hambledon Continuum, 2007

Inhaltsangabe

Book by Harris Jonathan

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Críticas:

Article by author - mentions book.History Today, May 2007 Title mentioned in The Historian, October 2009 Choice Outstanding Academic Titles, 2008 - January 2009. Article by author - mentions book. History Today, May 2007 "It is a tribute to Harris's skill as a writer that his book produces in the reader a sense of loss. Wisely, Harris does not attempt to give us an exhaustive history of Constantinople; instead he concentrates on the city as it was in 1200 C.E. The year is not a random choice. In 1204, a Crusader army sacked the city, triggering its descent into depopulation and ruin. But the city that the Crusaders despoiled was unsurpassed in its splendor. For centuries, Roman emperors and courtiers underwrote grand projects, constructing magnificently adorned buildings. Harris describes the physical highlights of the city, and from there launches brief expositions into politics, religion, and trade. The layout and decor of the Byzantine imperial palace, for example, leads to an exploration of dynastic politics; an examination of religious beliefs follows a description of the city's churches. Harris concludes with a brief overview of Constantinople's last years as the Byzantine capital up to its fall to an Ottoman Turkish army in 1453. A readable, informative, and vivid book, offering an evocative picture of the city in the context of the culture that produced it. Highly recommended." -"Library Journal"--Sanford Lakoff "Harris (Royal Holloway, Univ. of London) modestly claims that his book is neither a survey of the surviving buildings of the city nor a chronological survey of Byzantine history; it is "a book about power and those who wielded it" beneath "a veil of grandeur and myth." The author ably succeeds in revealing the potent mystique of ceremony, wealth, and legend that enveloped the ruling class and the role of the diverse classes who supported it. But, despite his disclaimer, he deftly portrays key moments of Byzantine history and the physical space of the capital in a beautifully written study that is accessible yet rich in substance and source analysis...An excellent, pithy introduction to Byzantine history and culture, and a convincing analysis of the role of myth and pageantry in Byzantine ruling power. Summing up: Highly recommended." -N. Bisaha, CHOICE, December 2008

Reseña del editor:

During the early Middle Ages, travellers to the East returned with stories of a place called Miklagarth, a city so vast that its churches, palaces and monasteries covered the land and so rich that its ruler could scatter bagfuls of gold among his astonished guests. This was no legend or tall tale for Miklagarth was a real place. Better known as Constantinople, it was the capital city of the empire of Byzantium and a major political force in the eastern Mediterranean for over a thousand years. The mythical aura that surrounded Constantinople was no accident. It was assiduously cultivated by the Byzantine emperors to bolster their power, wealth and prestige. Jonathan Harris examines the intriguing interaction between the spiritual and the political, the mythical and the actual and reconstructs the awe-inspiring city in its heyday in 1200.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: Hambledon Continuum
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2007
• ISBN 10: 184725179X
• ISBN 13: 9781847251794
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 304