Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome

Cyril Mango's "Byzantium: The Empire of the New Rome" is a very readable survey of various aspects of Byzantine life, culture and civilization. This is not a chronological history, but is instead divided into three major topics ("Aspects of Byzantine Life", "The Conceptual World of Byzantium" and "The Legacy"), each of which is divided into more specific subjects. The first section begins with a brief tour of the Byzantine Empire of Justinian's day, focussing on the peoples languages spoken in each region. Professor Mango even suggests some contemporary sources that such a traveller might use as a tour guide. The following chapter on the Byzantine economy provides, among other things, a look at typical incomes and the purchasing power of the gold solidus (for example, 1 solidus could get you a good second-hand cloak). I found the second section on the conceptual world of the Byzanines to be the most interesting. It covers the invisible world of good and evil spirits, as well as the average Byzantine's concept of the physical world and its inhabitants. Additional sections discuss the Byzantine concept of time, past history, and the future. In all of these areas, religion seems to be the dominant force - natural science, geography and the like merely serve as minor adjuncts to Biblical explanations of the world. Fascinating examples of the efforts of theologians to reconcile the physical world with Biblical concepts are generously used. The final section on the Byzantine legacy has just two sections: "Literature" and "Art and Architecture" (this last seemingly a particular interest of Professor Mango, as he has written a book about it). I am not sure how useful this book would be to a reader who is unfamiliar with a general outline of Byzantine history. If, however, one has read one of the standard chronological histories (Treadgold, Ostrogorsky, Vasiliev or Norwich), this fills in gaps that are inevitably left by works which focus on historical events and movements. I highly recommend this book to anyone who, having a decent general knowlege of Byzantine history, would like to take their interest the next level. "Byzantium" does an excellent job of shedding light on numerous facets of Byzantine civilization, and does a better job than many other general surveys of giving the reader a feel of what it was really like to be a Byzantine - how they thought, what they believed, and how they viewed the world. Another interesting, non-chronological book that details various Byzantine "professions" from beggar and peasant to emperor and saint is "The Byzantines", a collection of essays edited by Guglielmo Cavallo (one of which is written by Professor Mango).

In a brief book like this Mango has succeeded in giving an overall view of such a complex entity as the Byzantine empire. And, as it is traditional in the best British historians, the book does not lack, here and there, of a pinch of humor.Very commendable.