Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization

^*The name was not officially changed to Istanbul until 1930.^*The crescent moon had actually been chosen by the citizens of Byzantium as the symbol of their city as early as 670 BC in honor of the patron goddess Artemis. Mehmed adopted it for his own banner and—once adapted to show a more appropriate waxing moon—it soon spread to become the official Islamic standard.†The identification with the Byzantine past was also shown linguistically, since up until the nineteenth century the Greek word for themselves was Romioi, not Hellene.^*The eagle is also the symbol of Iraq and Egypt—a dim reflection of a time when Justinian’s empire embraced most of the known world.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

PRIMARY SOURCES

330–600

The following two books have been of invaluable service in researching the conversion of Constantine the Great (especially Eusebius’s account found in Maas), as well as theology, everyday life, and imperial edicts from the fourth century until the Muslim invasions of the seventh.

Lactantius. De Mortibus Persecutorum, J. L. Creed, ed. & trans. Oxford: Clarendon, 1984.

Maas, Michael. Readings in Late Antiquity. London: Routledge, 2003.

For the reign of Julian the Apostate I drew heavily on his principal biographer:

Ammianus Marcellinus. The Later Roman Empire (A.D. 354–378), W. Hamilton, ed. & trans. New York: Penguin Classics, 1986.

as well as:

Wright, Wilmer C. Julian: Volume III. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003.

The latter is a collection of letters and polemics that the emperor wrote throughout his public life, from first donning his armor in Gaul to leaving for his ill-fated Persian campaign in 363.

Procopius was of immense assistance in researching the reign of Justinian, both the official “Buildings” and “Wars” and of course the scandalous “Secret History.”

Procopius. Buildings. H. B. Dewing, ed. & trans. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002.

Procopius. History of the Wars: The Persian War Books 1 & 2. H. B. Dewing, ed. & trans. New York: Cosimo Classics, 2007.

Procopius. History of the Wars: The Vandalic War Books 3 & 4. H. B. Dewing, ed. & trans. New York: Cosimo Classics, 2007.

Procopius. The Secret History. G. A. Williamson, ed. & trans. London: Penguin Classics, 1966.

600–1000

This time period covers the Byzantine “dark ages” where literary sources become somewhat scarce. Fortunately the “Chronicle of Theophanes” sheds some much-needed light. This work by a ninth-century monk describes the rise of Heraclius and the empire’s struggle for survival amid religious dissension and external attack. The two major epochs of the period—the Iconoclastic controversy and the rise of the Macedonian dynasty—are detailed in Alice-Mary Talbot’s wonderful translations of Leo the Deacon and Eight Saints’ Lives.

Talbot, Alice-Mary. Byzantine Defenders of Images: Eight Saints’ Lives in English Translation. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1998.

Talbot, Alice-Mary. The History of Leo the Deacon: Byzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth Century. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 2005.

Turtledove, Harry. The Chronicle of Theophanes. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.

1000–1453

For the period from the First to the Fourth Crusades, I have depended on the lively eyewitness accounts provided by Anna Comnena, John Kinnamos, Michael Psellus, and Niketas Choniates for the Eastern perspective, and on Joinville and Villehardouin for the Western.

Choniates, Niketas. O City of Byzantium: Annals of Niketas Choniates. Trans. Harry J. Magoulias. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1986.

Comnena, Anna. The Alexiad. London: Penguin Classics, 1969.

Kinnamos, John. Deeds of John and Manuel Comnenus. C. M. Brand, ed. & trans. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976.

Psellus, Michael. Fourteen Byzantine Rulers. London: Penguin Classics, 1966.

Shaw, M. R. B. Joinville and Villehardouin: Chronicles of the Crusades. New York: Penguin, 1963.

SECONDARY SOURCES