A History of the Byzantine State and Society Free Ebook

Home , Byzantine economy, Excubitors, Logothete

FREEA HISTORY OF THE BYZANTINE STATE AND SOCIETY EBOOK

A masterly survey, with the virtue of Convenient arrangement of political and some cultural and religious history. Treadgold runs a sort of scorecard on Emperor effectiveness and does introduce some The last few years have seen a renewed interest in Byzantium e. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Warren Treadgold. This is the first comprehensive and up-to-date history of Byzantium to appear in almost sixty years, and the first ever to cover both the Byzantine state and Byzantine society. It begins in A. Spanning twelve centuries and three continents, the Byzantine Empire linked the ancient and modern worlds, shaping and transmitting Greek, Roman, and Christian traditions—including the Greek classics, Roman law, and Christian theology—that remain vigorous today, not only in Eastern Europe and the Middle East but throughout Western civilization. Though in its politics Byzantium often resembled A History of the Byzantine State and Society third-world dictatorship, it has never yet been matched in maintaining a single state for so long, over a wide A History of the Byzantine State and Society inhabited by heterogeneous peoples. Drawing on a wealth of original sources and modern works, the author treats political and social developments as a single vivid story, told partly in detailed narrative and partly in essays that clarify long-term changes. He avoids stereotypes and rejects such old and new historical orthodoxies as the persistent weakness of the Byzantine economy and the pervasive importance of holy men in Late Antiquity. Without neglecting underlying social, cultural, and economic trends, the author shows the often crucial impact of nearly a hundred Byzantine emperors and empresses. What the emperor or empress did, or did not do, could rapidly confront ordinary Byzantines with economic ruin, new religious doctrines, or conquest by a foreign power. Much attention is paid to the complex life of the court and bureaucracy that has given us the adjective "byzantine. Byzantine civilization emerges as durable, creative, and realistic, overcoming repeated setbacks to remain prosperous almost A History of the Byzantine State and Society the end. With illustrations and 18 maps that complement the text, A History of the Byzantine State and Society should long remain the standard history of Byzantium not just for students and scholars but for all readers. He is the author of, most recently, Byzantium and Its Army, Stanford, A history of the Byzantine state and society

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. A History of the Byzantine State and Society rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. This is the first comprehensive and up-to-date history of Byzantium to appear in almost sixty years, and the first ever to cover both the Byzantine state and Byzantine society. It begins in a. Spannin This is the first comprehensive and up-to-date history of Byzantium to appear in almost sixty years, and the first ever to cover both the Byzantine state and Byzantine society. Spanning twelve centuries and three continents, the Byzantine Empire linked the ancient and modern worlds, shaping and transmitting Greek, Roman, and Christian traditionsthat remain vigorous today, not only in Eastern Europe and the Middle East but throughout Western civilization. Though in its politics Byzantium often resembled a third-world dictatorship, it has never yet been matched in maintaining a single state for so long, over a wide area inhabited by heterogeneous peoples. Drawing on a wealth of original sources and modern works, the author treats political and social developments as a single vivid story, told partly in detailed narrative and partly in A History of the Byzantine State and Society that clarify long-term changes. He avoids stereotypes and rejects such old and new historical orthodoxies as the persistent weakness of the Byzantine economy and the pervasive importance of holy men in Late Antiquity. Without neglecting underlying social, cultural, and economic trends, the author shows the often crucial impact of nearly a hundred Byzantine emperors and empresses. What the emperor or empress did, or did not do, could rapidly confront ordinary Byzantines with economic ruin, new religious doctrines, or conquest by a foreign power. Much attention is paid to the complex life of the court and bureaucracy that has given us the adjective "byzantine. Byzantine civilization emerges as durable, creative, and realistic, overcoming repeated setbacks to remain prosperous almost to the end. With illustrations and 18 maps that complement the text, A History of the Byzantine State and Society should long remain the standard history of Byzantium not just for students and scholars but for all readers. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. Published November 1st by Stanford University Press first published More Details Original Title. Other Editions 5. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Mar 16, Artur Olczyk rated it it was amazing. If you're looking for a comprehensive book on the history of Byzantium, look no further: this is the book. Treadgold managed to write a book that critically examines almost every aspect crucial to the Byzantine history, including politics, society, theology and state-affairs. Each item covered by the author is elegant and versatile, and even though there are certain minor inconsistencies, the overall reception is one of awe due to the book's picturesque take on the subject. Instead of focusing so If you're looking for a comprehensive book on the history of Byzantium, look no further: this is the book. Instead of focusing solely on palace intrigues and on overemphasizing minor events, however appealing they might seem, Treadgold draws our attention to matters essential to functioning of a state. In this regard, he gives a very instructive description of a fiscal reform of under the emperor Anastasius, with its chief principle to substitute cash payments for most of the remaining payments in kind, a move first initiated by emperors Constantine I and Theodosius I. That, in turn, changed the situation of frontier soldiers who A History of the Byzantine State and Society paid in food anymore and instead started to receive monetary allowances, which stimulated state's economy. Everyone interested in the reign of one the most skilled Roman emperors, Justinian I, will surely be satisfied, as the emperor receives more than significant attention. The author provides an extensive description of his political, fiscal and theological reforms. Brilliantly described by Treadgold is the securing of the empire's borders, reconquering the former Roman territories and conquering the new ones temporary and straining though they might've been. Also, you might find interesting the Nika Revolt ofwhen a mob of two rivalling chariot racing factions, the Blues and the Greens, broke out in an open revolt against Justinian, who, after initial setback, managed to subjugate the rebels by use of force of his two loyal generals, Belisarius A History of the Byzantine State and Society Mundus, and cemented power within Constantinople itself. One could only hope for a better treatment of Justinian's four-part legal codifications: the Codex Iustinianusthe Digestathe Institutiones and the Novellaethat - combined - constituted Corpus Iuris Civilislater reintroduced in its Greek translation by the emperor Leo VI the Wise as the Basilika important inasmuch as it was valid until the fall of the Byzantine empire. As you'll surely find out, even though Justinian during his reign spent lavishly on his projects, he proved himself to be a capable ruler, both externally and internally. His accomplishments might only be surpassed by that of Augustus' and Trajan's. After his death, and in some matters even slightly before that event, there had been noticeable decay in political as well as in everyday life. And yet, Byzantium still managed to prosper under other competent ruler, whose profiles are well-described in the book, alongside thrilling events, such as the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders among many others. Treadgold also offers a riveting description of heated theological debates that in some cases A History of the Byzantine State and Society to have shaken the empire to its very core. His account presents itself as a good exposition of differences between major sects and the official orthodoxy. What is the relation between God and Christ and the Holy Spirit in later centuries? That question sparked a debate that lasted for hundreds of years. If you think that Christ was created by the Father and had a beginning in time, you're a follower of a heretic Arian. If, on the other hand, your belief is that Jesus Christ had two loosely united natures, you're a Nestorian. On the other end of the extremity, there's Monophysitism, with a notion that Christ had only one nature: divine. If you think that Christ, after all, had two natures but only one will, it's not official Christianity but a heresy called Monotheletism. There's a delicate distinction between orthodoxy and heresy, and the author draws a fine line for anyone interested in the dispute. It's a pity Treadgold dismissed other influential heresies with only limited deliberation A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Manichaeism, Iconoclasm, Paulicianism, Bogomilism. What I can't agree with is Treadgold's claim that Christians were persecuted because their religion was distinct from the official one. Ancient Romans were really tolerant of other religions; they had to be since their empire was becoming more and more culturally diverse. Apart from obvious polytheism, they had encountered other monotheist religions before Christianity had become visible so it wasn't a fear of the unknown e. Judaism, Zoroastrianism. They were, however, highly intolerant of groups that tried to undermine the public peace by preaching to disobey earthly pagan authorities and scaring rural communities with images of eternal hell and damnation. As fascinating as the book clearly is, in the end, my image of the Byzantine Empire is somewhat negative: it seems to have been on the verge of financial catastrophe and military annihilation since its inception. Dotted with a fair number of skilled rulers Leo I, Zeno, Justinian, emperors of the Macedonian dynastyByzantium's history is one of constant struggle of its emperors to self-sustain themselves at all costs, without regard to the state's treasury or constant depredation of society. Oct 26, Aaron Arnold rated it it was amazing Shelves: historybiographywarread-in Surely the best single-volume history of the late Roman and Byzantine Empire I've read, and perhaps the best one out there, despite being published in While the Roman Empire will forever be more highly esteemed by laymen for how they steadily assembled their pan-Mediterranean state everyone loves watching winners conquer one enemy after anotherover the course of the book I developed a grudging and then unabashed respect for how the Byzantines did their best to adapt that rigid, ethnocentric, coup-prone Roman governance model to maintain a surprising amount of coherent identity in a multi-ethnic, multi-faith, multifariously- threatening world. They may have failed eventually, but you A History of the Byzantine State and Society creating an empire that lasts for over a millennium! One of my A History of the Byzantine State and Society thoughts when reading was that I'd been previously been underrating the Great Man theory of history, or at least the ability of powerful individuals to redirect nations on different courses. Treadgold is scrupulously polite towards even plainly inept rulers - he will refrain from more A History of the Byzantine State and Society a few mildly critical adjectives of inarguably terrible emperors, and well-meaning emperors who had circumstances beyond their control wreck their reigns get "he did as best as could be expected given the circumstances" - but it's striking how even the vast machinery of an ancient empire could be utterly upended by the whims of its leader. In this the Byzantines were hardly unique, of course, but A History of the Byzantine State and Society exceptionally long existence gives you many more opportunities to watch one emperor carefully save money, reconquer land, and heal religious divisions, only for his idiot son to ruin everything and waste golden opportunities to defend against their enemies. This fundamental instability was exacerbated by their tendency A History of the Byzantine State and Society conspiracy, famously memorialized today in the adjective "byzantine". Here was one of my favorite incidents of conspiracy, from the year AD, in the midst of the Iconoclasm debate: "Irene, an orphan in her mid- twenties from the shrunken provincial town of Athens, had keen political instincts, a strong will, and some devoted allies in the bureaucracy. The precariousness of her position seems to have given her a sense of urgency. A month and a half after her husband's death, she foiled a plot, led by the postal logothete and the domestic of the Excubitors, to put Constantine V's second son Nicephorus on the throne. Now imagine that tended to happen every few decades! Every other major power struggled with the same issues of succession and legitimacy to some degree, but despite their impressive longevity the flaws of the Roman governance model were clearly key to Byzantine difficulties. It's no way to run a country. The Byzantine religious controversies, which have earned the rightful scorn of scholars going back to Gibbon, are another great example of unnecessary conflict, given the sheer amount of time wasted and blood spilled over them. So to some extent you would have to expect some major disagreements as diverse traditions chafed under a single unified theology, particularly as the Patriarchs determined orthodoxy more or less independently from the geographically and culturally distant Popes in the west. But to a modern reader it's striking how frequently the empire was nearly brought to its knees at key moments by violent conflicts over arcane controversies that, one thinks, a calmer scholar like Thomas Aquinas would have wasted barely a few pages resolving with some choice Aristotle quotes. It's poignant to watch the East and West churches slowly squabble each other into the permanent Great Schism for no real theological reason, periodically attempting half-hearted reunions like a broken-up couple that can't quite bring themselves to move on, repeated Crusades and ecumenical councils achieving nothing but greater recrimination. But again, whatever criticisms you have of the Byzantines, you have to be impressed by their surprising resilience in the face of continuous threats from all directions. While the western half of the Roman Empire collapsed and faded fewer than two centuries after A History of the Byzantine State and Society division under Diocletian, the eastern half maintained its heritage for a millennium. And what the Byzantines did was arguably harder than what the Romans did: it's very common for a single high-asabiya warlike group to expand their empire until there are no more worlds left to conquer, but it's far more difficult to then stably administer that empire, particularly if it's much more heterogeneous as it should be, if your wars have gone wellparticularly if you're not interested in further expanding your territory, and particularly in a high-risk area with multiple vulnerable frontiers. The Byzantines never really tried to conquer outside of what the Romans had built during the Augustan Age, and aside from occasional attempts like Justinian's to reclaim parts of the ancient west, for the most part they simply tried to maintain their territorial integrity against fairly staggering odds. In some ways the flexibility of Byzantine identity was actually a strength; most but not all Byzantines were Greek, or Orthodox, or followed Byzantine law, or were even necessarily under Byzantine rule, so the A History of the Byzantine State and Society of the frontiers back and forth was not as immediately traumatic as it could have been. When Greece finally won its eventual independence in the 20th century, that its capital was not at Constantinople and its borders excluded the Ionian coast was due to the expulsion of the Greeks after the war with Turkey, which easily could have turned out differently, and thus had the collapse of the Ottoman Empire unfolded slightly differently, the entire Aegean might still reflect the political, cultural, and ethnic boundaries of a thousand years ago. There are also other legacies, less prominent but just as enduring, in Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Armenia, Italy, and everywhere else that was once part of the empire. There's too much more to say about the Byzantine Empire, so I will just compliment Treadgold on his intensive research many of the photos of Byzantine churches are credited to him and his family and skill at presenting a coherent narrative out of nearly a millennium and a half of history, much of which was built out of inherently unreliable ancient accounts. A History of the Byzantine State and Society by Warren Treadgold

This is A History of the Byzantine State and Society first comprehensive and up-to-date history of Byzantium to appear in almost sixty years, and the first ever to cover both the Byzantine state and Byzantine society. It begins in A. Spanning twelve centuries and three continents, the Byzantine Empire linked the ancient and modern worlds, shaping and transmitting Greek, Roman, and Christian traditions—including the Greek classics, Roman law, and Christian theology—that remain vigorous today, not only in Eastern Europe and the Middle East but throughout Western civilization. Though in its politics Byzantium often resembled a third-world dictatorship, it has never yet been matched in maintaining a single state for so long, over a wide area inhabited by heterogeneous peoples. Drawing on a wealth of original sources and modern works, the author treats political and social developments as a single vivid story, told partly in detailed narrative and partly in essays A History of the Byzantine State and Society clarify long-term changes. He avoids stereotypes and rejects such old and new historical orthodoxies as the persistent weakness of the Byzantine economy and the pervasive importance of holy men in Late Antiquity. Without neglecting underlying social, cultural, and economic trends, the author shows the often crucial impact of nearly a hundred Byzantine emperors and empresses. What the emperor or empress did, or did not do, could rapidly confront ordinary Byzantines with economic ruin, new religious doctrines, or conquest by a foreign power. Much attention is paid to the complex life of the court and bureaucracy that has given us the adjective "byzantine. Byzantine civilization emerges as durable, creative, and realistic, overcoming repeated setbacks to remain prosperous almost to the end. With illustrations and 18 maps that complement the text, A History of the Byzantine State and Society should long remain the standard history of Byzantium not just for students and scholars but for all readers. He is the author of, most recently, Byzantium and Its Army, Stanford, A History of the Byzantine State and Society Drawing on the latest scholarship and written for both the general reader and the scholar, this work may well become the standard English-language history of Byzantium. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Description Desc. More in History—World.

https://cdn.sqhk.co/jameswatkinsyt/uxMWgdw/a-shepherd-looks-at-psalm-23-44.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4574278/normal_5fc6ce2c63836.pdf https://static.s123-cdn-static.com/uploads/4569899/normal_5fc5368549677.pdf https://cdn.sqhk.co/wendygarciaqq/0ii4gj4/stalker-3.pdf https://cdn.sqhk.co/williamreddhp/v9gMbLM/earth-day-hooray-69.pdf https://cdn.sqhk.co/shannonwillesontd/Yhcst5l/the-teeny-weeny-walking-stick-83.pdf