The Byzantine Empire

Description

PREFACE. FIFTY vear.:; a~ro the word "R)'Zalltine " was used ~ ., a:; a synonym for all that \'as corrupt and decadent, and the tale of the East-Roman Empire was dismisscc1 by modern historians as depressing and monotonous. The great Gibbon had branded the successors of Justinian and lIeraclius as a series of vicious weaklings, and for SC'cral gcnerations no one dared to contradict him. Two books ha'e served to undeceive the English reader, the monumenta.l work of Finlay, published ill I ~ 56, and the more 1l1Odcrn volumes of 1"1 r. Bury, which appeared ill 1889_ Since they ha'c writtell, the Byzantines no lon~er need an apologist, and the great vork or the' Eas.!-RumaILEmpire. in holdingback fhc Saracen, and in keeping aliye throll~hout the parK Ag.~tl.1e_J.amp Of le·arning,i:i..b.cgionjng to be realized. -the writer of thjs book has endeavoured to tell the story of Byzantium in the spirit of Finlay and Bury, not in that or Gibbon. 1 Ie wishes Table of Contents