Iconoclasm, the debate about the legitimacy of religious art that began in Byzantium around 720 and continued for nearly one hundred and twenty years, has long held a firm grip on the historical imagination. This is the first book in English for over fifty years to survey this most elusive and fascinating period in medieval history. It is also the first book in any language to combine the expertise of two authors who are specialists in the written, archaeological and visual evidence from this period, a combination of particular importance to the iconoclasm debate. The authors have worked together to provide a comprehensive overview of the visual, written and other materials that together help clarify the complex issues of iconoclasm in Byzantium. In doing so they challenge many traditional assumptions about iconoclasm and set the period firmly in its broader political, cultural and social-economic context.

Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c. 680–850: A History

Arts & Photography

Haldon, John

Brubaker, Leslie

History & Criticism

Cambridge University Press

Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World 560-1204 (Warfare and History)

Routledge

The eastern Roman Empire was the largest state in western Eurasia in the sixth century. Only a century later, it was a fraction of its former size. Surrounded by enemies, ravaged by warfare and disease, the empire seemed destined to collapse. Yet it did not die. In this holistic analysis, John Haldon elucidates the factors that allowed the eastern Roman Empire to survive against all odds into the eighth century.
By 700 CE the empire had lost three-quarters of its territory to the Islamic caliphate. But the rugged geography of its remaining territories in Anatolia and the Aegean was strategically advantageous, preventing enemies from permanently occupying imperial towns and cities while leaving them vulnerable to Roman counterattacks. The more the empire shrank, the more it became centered around the capital of Constantinople, whose ability to withstand siege after siege proved decisive. Changes in climate also played a role, permitting shifts in agricultural production that benefitted the imperial economy.
At the same time, the crisis confronting the empire forced the imperial court, the provincial ruling classes, and the church closer together. State and church together embodied a sacralized empire that held the emperor, not the patriarch, as Christendom’s symbolic head. Despite its territorial losses, the empire suffered no serious political rupture. What remained became the heartland of a medieval Christian Roman state, with a powerful political theology that predicted the emperor would eventually prevail against God’s enemies and establish Orthodox Christianity’s world dominion.

The Empire That Would Not Die: The Paradox of Eastern Roman Survival, 640–740 (Carl Newell Jackson Lectures)

History

Ancient Civilizations

Harvard University Press

Byzantium: A History

The History Press

Byzantium a History

Europe

Tempus Pub Ltd

John Haldon’s beautifully illustrated book tracks the checkered history of an oriental enigma, a lost empire’ which stood for a 1,000 years against the might of Islam. He retells the story of the cycle of conquest and re-conquest of its lands by Goths, Arabs, Slavs, and Crusaders, and finally its complete destruction by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Tempus Publishing Ltd.

A history of the wars between Byzantium and its numerous foes - the Goths, Arabs, Slavs, Crusaders and Ottoman Turks. By the middle of the sixth century the Byzantine emperor ruled a mighty empire that straddled Europe, Asia and North Africa. Within 100 years, this powerful empire had been cut in half. Two centuries later the Byzantine empire was once again a power to be reckoned with, and soon recovered its position as the paramount East Mediterranean and Balkan power, whose fabulous wealth attracted Viking mercenaries and central Asian nomad warriors to its armies, whose very appearance on the field of battle was sometimes enough to bring enemies to terms. No book has ever attempted a survey of Byzantine wars, and few accounts of Byzantine battles have ever been translated into a modern language. This book will provide essential support for those interested in Byzantine history in general as well as a useful corrective to the more usual highly romanticised views of Byzantine civilisation. The original hardback was critically acclaimed and was selected as one of the Bbc History Magazine Books of the Year 2001.

The Byzantine Wars

Tempus

Iconoclasm, the debate about the legitimacy of religious art that began in Byzantium around 730 and continued for nearly 120 years, has long held a firm grip on the historical imagination. Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era is the first book in English to survey the original sources crucial for a modern understanding of this most elusive and fascinating period in medieval history. It is also the first book in any language to cover both the written and the visual evidence from this period, a combination of particular importance to the iconoclasm debate. The authors, an art historian and a historian who both specialise in the period, have worked together to provide a comprehensive overview of the visual and the written materials that together help clarify the complex issues of iconoclasm in Byzantium.

Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era (ca 680–850): The Sources: An Annotated Survey (Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Studies)

The Taktika, ascribed to the hand of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI "the Wise" (886-912), is perhaps one of the best-known middle Byzantine texts of an official or semi-official genre. Presented in the form of a book of guidance for provincial generals, it served as both a statement of imperial authority and power, as well as a reminder of earlier "good practice" and the centrality of the values of a Christian society in the struggle against its enemies. In particular, the Taktika identified Islam, for the first time, as a fundamental threat to the very existence of the Christian Roman Empire and Christianity itself. Yet despite its significance for the history of Byzantine administration, culture, language, and society, no study has ever been devoted to this fascinating text. John Haldon offers the first critical commentary to appear in any language, addressing in detail the many varied subjects touched on in the treatise itself and accompanied by three introductory chapters that examine the context, sources, language, structure and content of the text, as well as the military administration of the empire in Leo's time.

A Critical Commentary on The Taktika of Leo VI (Dumbarton Oaks Studies)

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Iconoclasm, the debate about the legitimacy of religious art that began in Byzantium around 720 and continued for nearly one hundred and twenty years, has long held a firm grip on the historical imagination. This is the first book in English for over fifty years to survey this most elusive and fascinating period in medieval history. It is also the first book in any language to combine the expertise of two authors who are specialists in the written, archaeological and visual evidence from this period, a combination of particular importance to the iconoclasm debate. The authors have worked together to provide a comprehensive overview of the visual, written and other materials that together help clarify the complex issues of iconoclasm in Byzantium. In doing so they challenge many traditional assumptions about iconoclasm and set the period firmly in its broader political, cultural and social-economic context.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Haldon, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Haldon, John

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Haldon, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c. 680–850: A History

Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World 560-1204 (Warfare and History)

The Empire That Would Not Die: The Paradox of Eastern Roman Survival, 640–740 (Carl Newell Jackson Lectures)

Byzantium: A History

Byzantium a History

Byzantium: A History

The Byzantine Wars

Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era (ca 680–850): The Sources: An Annotated Survey (Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Studies)

A Critical Commentary on The Taktika of Leo VI (Dumbarton Oaks Studies)

Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c. 680–850: A History