Lost to the West

the forgotten Byzantine Empire that rescued Western civilization

1st pbk. ed.
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Lost to the West
Lars Brownworth
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Last edited by ImportBot
December 17, 2022 | History

Lost to the West

the forgotten Byzantine Empire that rescued Western civilization

1st pbk. ed.
  • 0 Ratings
  • 1 Want to read
  • 0 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

In AD 476 the Roman Empire fell--or rather, its western half did. Its eastern half, which would come to be known as the Byzantine Empire, would endure and often flourish for another eleven centuries. Though its capital would move to Constantinople, its citizens referred to themselves as Roman for the entire duration of the empire's existence. Indeed, so did its neighbors, allies, and enemies: When the Turkish Sultan Mehmet II conquered Constantinople in 1453, he took the title Caesar of Rome, placing himself in a direct line that led back to Augustus.For far too many otherwise historically savvy people today, the story of the Byzantine civilization is something of a void. Yet for more than a millennium, Byzantium reigned as the glittering seat of Christian civilization. When Europe fell into the Dark Ages, Byzantium held fast against Muslim expansion, keeping Christianity alive. When literacy all but vanished in the West, Byzantium made primary education available to both sexes. Students debated the merits of Plato and Aristotle and commonly committed the entirety of Homer's Iliad to memory. Streams of wealth flowed into Constantinople, making possible unprecedented wonders of art and architecture, from fabulous jeweled mosaics and other iconography to the great church known as the Hagia Sophia that was a vision of heaven on earth. The dome of the Great Palace stood nearly two hundred feet high and stretched over four acres, and the city's population was more than twenty times that of London's.From Constantine, who founded his eponymous city in the year 330, to Constantine XI, who valiantly fought the empire's final battle more than a thousand years later, the emperors who ruled Byzantium enacted a saga of political intrigue and conquest as astonishing as anything in recorded history. Lost to the West is replete with stories of assassination, mass mutilation and execution, sexual scheming, ruthless grasping for power, and clashing armies that soaked battlefields with the blood of slain warriors numbering in the tens of thousands.Still, it was Byzantium that preserved for us today the great gifts of the classical world. Of the 55,000 ancient Greek texts in existence today, some 40,000 were transmitted to us by Byzantine scribes. And it was the Byzantine Empire that shielded Western Europe from invasion until it was ready to take its own place at the center of the world stage. Filled with unforgettable stories of emperors, generals, and religious patriarchs, as well as fascinating glimpses into the life of the ordinary citizen, Lost to the West reveals how much we owe to this empire that was the equal of any in its achievements, appetites, and enduring legacy.From the Hardcover edition.

Publish Date
Publisher
Crown Publishers
Language
English

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Edition Availability
Cover of: Lost to the West
Lost to the West: the forgotten Byzantine Empire that rescued Western civilization
2010, Crown Publishers
in English - 1st pbk. ed.
Cover of: Lost to the West
Lost to the West
2009, Crown Publishing Group
Electronic resource in English
Cover of: Lost to the West
Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization
September 15, 2009, Crown
Hardcover

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Book Details


Table of Contents

Diocletian's revolution
Constantine and the Church ascendant
The pagan counterstroke
Barbarians and Christians
A dreadful rumor from the West
The fall of Rome
The rise of Peter Sabbatius
Nika!
Of buildings and generals
Yersinia pestis
A Persian fire
The house of war
The image breakers
The crumbling empire
The turning tide
The glorious House of Macedon
The brilliant pretender
Death and his nephew
Basil the Bulgar slayer
The march of folly
The Comneni recovery
Swords that drip with Christian blood
The empire in exile
The brilliant sunset
The eternal emperor
Epilogue: Byzantine embers.

Edition Notes

"Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Crown Publishers in 2009"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

Published in
New York
Genre
Biography

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
949.5/02
Library of Congress
DF552 .B76 2010, DF552.B76 2010

The Physical Object

Pagination
p. cm.

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL24080614M
ISBN 13
9780307407962
LCCN
2010005788
OCLC/WorldCat
462882517

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Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
December 17, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
November 13, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
April 28, 2011 Edited by OCLC Bot Added OCLC numbers.
March 16, 2010 Edited by WorkBot add editions to new work
March 6, 2010 Created by ImportBot Imported from Library of Congress MARC record.