TABLE OF CONTENTS: List of Illustrations ix
List of Maps xii
Introduction: A Different History of Byzantium xiii
Part I: Foundations of Byzantium
Chapter 1: The City of Constantine 3
Chapter 2: Constantinople, the Largest City in Christendom 12
Chapter 3: The East Roman Empire 22
Chapter 4: Greek Orthodoxy 33
Chapter 5: The Church of Hagia Sophia 50
Chapter 6: The Ravenna Mosaics 61
Chapter 7: Roman Law 70
Part II: The Transition from Ancient to Medieval
Chapter 8: The Bulwark Against Islam 83
Chapter 9: Icons, a New Christian Art Form 98
Chapter 10: Iconoclasm and Icon Veneration 105
Chapter 11: A Literate and Articulate Society 119
Chapter 12: Saints Cyril and Methodios,'Apostles to the Slavs' 131
Part: III: Byzantium Becomes a Medieval State
Chapter 13: Greek Fire 141
Chapter 14: The Byzantine Economy 148
Chapter 15: Eunuchs 160
Chapter 16: The Imperial Court 170
Chapter 17: Imperial Children,"Born in the Purple" 185
Chapter 18: Mount Athos 192
Chapter 19: Venice and the Fork 203
Chapter 20: Basil II,"The Bulgar-Slayer" 212
Chapter 21: Eleventh-Century Crisis 220
Chapter 22: Anna Komnene 232
Chapter 23: A Cosmopolitan Society 242
Part IV: Varieties of Byzantium
Chapter 24: The Fulcrum of the Crusades 255
Chapter 25: The Towers of Trebizond, Arta, Nicaea and Thessalonike 266
Chapter 26: Rebels and Patrons 281
Chapter 27: "Better the Turkish Turban than the Papal Tiara" 299
Chapter 28: The Siege of 1453 310
Conclusion: The Greatness and Legacy of Byzantium 321
Further Reading 339
List of Emperors Named in the Text 354
Chronology 357
Maps 363
Acknowledgements 375
Index 377
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