Product Description

In Byzantium: The Early Centuries John Julius Norwich told the epic tale of the Roman Empire's second capital up to Christmas Day AD 800 – when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as a rival emperor. This second volume of his magnificent history covers the following three centuries. In it he continues his compelling chronicle up to the coronation of the heroic Alexius Comnenus in 1081. The other two volumes in the trilogy, Byzantium: The Early Centuries and Byzantium: The Decline and Fall, are also published in Penguin.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30850 in Books
• Published on: 1996-10-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

About the Author
Born in 1929, John Julius Norwich served in the foreign office for twelve years before resigning in 1964 in order to write. His many publications include his two-book history published by Penguin in one volume entitled The Normans in Sicily; two travel books, Mount Athos (with Reresby Sitwell) and Sahara; The Architecture of Southern England; Glyndebourne; three anthologies of poetry and prose, Christmas Crackers, More Christmas Crackers and Still More Christmas Crackers; A History of Venice; and his three-volume history of the Byzantine empire of which this is the first, Byzantium: The Apogee is the second, and Byzantium: The Decline and Fall is the third. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Geographical Society and the Society of Antiquaries, a Companion of the Royal Victorian Order and a Commendatore of the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana.

Customer Reviews

Byzantium The Apogee
I found "Byzantium The Apogee" to be a wonderful book, breathing life into a fascinating yet neglected area of history. I thought that J J Norwich's witty and perceptive commentary lifted a veil on the passions, ambitions and the (sometimes bizzare) obsessions of the procession of emperors - along with their numerous consorts, mistresses, eunuchs, officials, generals, rivals and enemies. The result is an epic story - sometimes high drama, sometimes tragedy and at other times breathtaking farce.

Please take my advice and read the three separate volumes: although there is a single volume edition, it is abridged - you really don't want to miss anything from this fascinating saga.

Continuing the remarkable saga...
Whilst this book is not an academic text it is a blistering account of the middle years of the Eastern Roman Empire. I like the fact that Norwich does not examine everyday life in Byzantium - we have plenty of texts which do that. No, this book's sole purpose is to introuduce the reader to a remarkable forgotten empire. His narrative pace is wonderful and he nevers leaves you behind on his whirlwind tour of Byzantine history. A great history book - you'll not be dissapointed.

excellent
the apogee of the 1123 years of byzantium is masterly written by perhaps one of the best writers in this field, JJ Norwich. Like in all history books the important is to explain the political backround for each and every occasion. Norwich does this beatifully without the bordem of spoon feeding, and with fluidity that makes reading pleasent for the normal reader.

The only negative point one can highlight is that it explain very little on the behaviour and culture at the time. I rated the book 4 has it is a very good book for the amature historian but difficult to be used for advanced rescearch