From the FOLIO SOCIETY
www.FolioSociety.com

Three volumes.

Bound in full cloth.

Set in Monotype Garamond.

1480 Pages.

75 pages of colour plates.

10" x 6¾".

MINT CONDITION

When Constantine the Great gained control of the ailing Roman Empire in AD 323, he proclaimed his new capital would be built on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium. A dazzling vision in gold, porphyry and marble rose up, an architectural splendour surpassing Rome itself and the heart of an empire that, remarkably, would endure for 1,000 years.

Almost from the moment of its foundation, Constantinople was a focus for conflict. Under siege from Persians, Avars, Saracens and Bulgars, the city inspired legends about its impregnability, while inside its massy walls popular factions vied for supremacy and Byzantium drifted away from its Roman origins.

Greek rather than Latin was the official language and relations between the Western and Eastern Churches were soured by centuries of disputes (they parted irreconcilably in the Great Schism of 1054). No emperor was safe from the intrigues of an ambitious minister or general; close friendship could be fatal.

In spite of internal strife, emperors like Justinian I (527-65), Heraclius (610-41), John Tzimisces (969-76) and Basil II the 'Bulgar-Slayer' (976-1025) provided periods of respite, but by the 12th century the cracks were permanent. Asia Minor was gradually overrun by a new enemy - the Turks - and, when Ottoman forces erupted into the city in 1453, Constantinople was finally lost to Christendom. John Julius Norwich's classic history tells the epic story in all its lurid, magnificent and compelling detail.

Product SKU: Byz