Byzantium

The Byzantine Empire was one of the longest-surviving empires in world history, spanning nine centuries and three continents. It originated as the eastern half of the mighty Roman Empire, and established its centre at Constantinople, a glittering capital straddling the frontier of Europe and Asia. From the outset, Byzantium was surrounded by potential enemies. Persians, Arabs and Ottoman Turks in the east, Slavs and Bulgars in the north, Saracens and Normans in the west; all vied to control the rich empire of the Bosphorus. John Haldon's comprehensive short history tracks the chequered past of an historical enigma, a 'lost empire' which stood for a thousand years against the might of Islam and which preserved and transmitted the literary and linguistic heritage of ancient Greece and Rome. He tells the story of the cycle of conquest and reconquest of its lands and finally its complete destruction by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.