Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32863 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-08-14
• Formats: Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 208 minutes

Customer Reviews

"Byzantium: The Lost Empire (1997) ... John Romer ... Koch Vision (2007)"
Koch Vision presents "BYZANTIUM: THE LOST EMPIRE" (1997) (208 mins/Color) (Dolby Digital) --- Centered around the ancient Greek port of Byzantium, then called Constantinople, the Eastern Roman Empire outlasted the fall of Rome by a thousand years --- A new culture rose to replace the old, sheltering the last vestiges of Western learning during the Dark Ages, thriving off the silk and spice trade from the East, and eventually succumbing to the ruthless advance of the Ottoman Turks --- If you want an excellent survey of Byzantine history done in colorful fashion, this is for you --- This documentary would also be excellent for educators, who are teaching about Roman, or medieval history --- divided into three portions, first dealing with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the rise of Christianity and the beginning of the Byzantine Empire --- The second section deals with Byzantine diplomacy and the iconoclastic controversy --- the third and final part explains the decline and fall of Byzantium --- shot in several countries, and beautifully integrates Byzantine history into the realities of the modern world, showing the place of this civilization as part of human civilization in general --- Historian John Romer leads a fascinating journey back in time to discover the wondrous treasures of a fallen and forgotten realm --- John Romer is to be credited not only for his excellent production but also for his joyful enthusiasm for the subject which is most refreshing --- President Harry S Truman was quoted, "The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know." --- how true, how very true!

Great job by Koch Vision --- looking forward to more high quality titles from the BBC Collection film market --- order your copy now from Amazon or Koch Vision where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch releases --- where they are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector.

Total Time: 208 mins on DVD ~ Koch Vision KOCV6472 ~ (8/14/2007)

Not bad, but could have been better...
Although I'd broadly agree with the other review already published about this product, I did feel a little let-down in some respects...
Yes this DVD was insightful and informative, but....

I was slightly disappointed that there was very little mention of the military and defence forces of the Byzantine Empire, or any information on the military campaigns, battles and commanders. (There were some significant battles won where massive numbers of enemy forces were defeated through the tactics employed by small numbers of highly trained Byzantine forces).
Also all the information is presented here verbally, with the presenter eagerly examining ruins or old buildings. Its interesting to a point, but I began to remember my old history lessons at school and being talked-at by the teacher.
I'd have liked to have seen some computerised re-constructions of what things looked like originally or some re-enactments with actors dressed as Byzantine citizens.
It would have been nice to have compared the weapons and technology of Byzantines to other peoples of the day, in some ways there were radically advanced and in others hopelessly archaic (i.e., Greek Fire-ships and yet slow to adapt to gunpowder, e.t.c).
More information on more of their Emperors would have been nice - one or two were covered, but there were many and some were quite colourful characters who even had Viking Kings as their personal guards.

All this being said, it is still interesting and engaging (if a little unvaried) and at the moment it seems there no other DVDs available about the Byzantine Empire anyway !