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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.
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you call yourself a Westerner, then you owe everything that you are to the West and East Roman empires. Lars Brownsworth reveals his passion for the wonderful 1000 year Byzantine empire.
In the UK and beyond most people have completely forgotten how, following the collapse of the West Roman Empire shortly before AD500, the East Romans shielded Europe and the nascent West from repeated attempts at its conquest and destruction by those who detested our Greco-Roman, Christian and ultimately free-thinking civilisation. Some of their heirs still do.
When Constantinople finally fell to the Turks in 1453, the Byzantines (who of course went down fighting) had already bought the West the necessary time - a thousand years - to recover its intellectual advantage and then to out-think and geographically to outflank its hereditary foes, many of whom remained mentally trapped in a counter-intuitive time warp.
This inspiring author in effect reminds us that intra-West conflicts such as Agincourt & Yorktown are a good deal less significant events than the very survival of the West itself - a near miracle made possible largely due to the incredible tenacity of the Byzantines in shielding Europe during an entire millenium. Thanks largely to them, Western civilisation today (and that of course includes the present day byzantine civilisations of Russia and the Balkans) offers the greatest (and possibly only) future hope for freedom in the world.
This book is both gripping and deeply moving. Some more please Lars!
In the UK and beyond most people have completely forgotten how, following the collapse of the West Roman Empire shortly before AD500, the East Romans shielded Europe and the nascent West from repeated attempts at its conquest and destruction by those who detested our Greco-Roman, Christian and ultimately free-thinking civilisation. Some of their heirs still do.
When Constantinople finally fell to the Turks in 1453, the Byzantines (who of course went down fighting) had already bought the West the necessary time - a thousand years - to recover its intellectual advantage and then to out-think and geographically to outflank its hereditary foes, many of whom remained mentally trapped in a counter-intuitive time warp.
This inspiring author in effect reminds us that intra-West conflicts such as Agincourt & Yorktown are a good deal less significant events than the very survival of the West itself - a near miracle made possible largely due to the incredible tenacity of the Byzantines in shielding Europe during an entire millenium. Thanks largely to them, Western civilisation today (and that of course includes the present day byzantine civilisations of Russia and the Balkans) offers the greatest (and possibly only) future hope for freedom in the world.
This book is both gripping and deeply moving. Some more please Lars!
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
For those who followed Lars Brownworth's podcast, this book will not come as a total surprise as is builds upon that series with additional information. However, it is more than just a repeat performance with greater details, material, facts and a deeper sense of context, in particular concerning the Muslim invasions.
Things that happened less than 1,500 years ago are clearly still affecting us today in a most extreme fashion; Lars' new book will asisst anyone who values history in grasping a sense of the historical background that tragically propels certain cultures today. When you see all the mistakes present day decision makers who never opened a history book make by repeating the same mistakes as others did 1,500 years ago, this book becomes highly relevant in ways one might not at first imagine....
If you want to learn more about this period of history and get a compact overview of its most salient events, this book is the perfect starting point, and it is filled with suggestions for further research if you feel so inclined. Heartily recommended!
Things that happened less than 1,500 years ago are clearly still affecting us today in a most extreme fashion; Lars' new book will asisst anyone who values history in grasping a sense of the historical background that tragically propels certain cultures today. When you see all the mistakes present day decision makers who never opened a history book make by repeating the same mistakes as others did 1,500 years ago, this book becomes highly relevant in ways one might not at first imagine....
If you want to learn more about this period of history and get a compact overview of its most salient events, this book is the perfect starting point, and it is filled with suggestions for further research if you feel so inclined. Heartily recommended!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a very well written book that tries to cover too much in too little time. There are 1000 years of history being covered here, and that simply cannot be covered in 352 pages. If you think about it, that means that there are about 3 years covered every page. The five emperors after Heraclius are covered in one sentence so that he can skip on to Leo III who comes over 100 years later. One hundred years dismissed in a single sentence. It isn't as if they were boring years either, during that time the Muslims took over Africa and Spain and almost conquered the Byzantines. Obviously this isn't going to give anybody a good idea of what happened. If you must read a single book summary of Byzantine civilization I would recommend John Julius Norwich's A Short History of Byzantium. It covers the same material in slightly more pages (495) and is even better written. Perhaps it isn't fair to judge this book stating that it is not as good as another, but that book has been out for years. If Brownworth had anything of his own to add I wouldn't be as harsh but he doesn't. There is nothing in this book that you can't learn from Norwich's, and more besides. Both of them are little more than records of the emperors of Byzantium. The economic and social systems get very little mention. If you want to read up on Byzantium I would recommend strongly Norwich's trilogy on the subject, of which the Short History is merely an abridgement. The trilogy consists of The Early Centuries, The Apogee, and Byzantium: The Decline and Fall. These are probably the best place to begin for the the Byzantines.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Absolutly fantastic!
I just finishes "Lost to the West". It is very seldom that a book on ancient history captivates me as much as this one did. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Strv 74
Caveat Lector!
The back cover of my review copy proclaims that "Lost to the West" is "no dry, scholarly work"; that the author "vividly evokes wars, bloody usurpations, and conspiricies"; that... Read more
Published on 18 Dec 2009 by F. S. L'hoir
This book is not recommended
Lars Brownworth knows Constantine was hailed as emperor in 306. He mentions this fact on page 12. He knows Constantine defeated one of his rivals (Maxentius) in 312. Read more
Published on 16 Nov 2009 by Torben Retboll
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