FOR ANDERS,

the great storyteller of our youth

CONTENTS

Note to ReaderGuide to MapsIntroduction

Prologue: Roman Roots

1. Diocletian’s Revolution2. Constantine and the Church Ascendant3. The Pagan Counterstroke4. Barbarians and Christians5. A Dreadful Rumor from the West …6. The Fall of Rome7. The Rise of Peter Sabbatius8. Nika!9. Of Buildings and Generals10. Yersinia Pestis11. A Persian Fire12. The House of War13. The Image Breakers14. The Crumbling Empire15. The Turning Tide16. The Glorious House of Macedon17. The Brilliant Pretender18. Death and His Nephew19. Basil the Bulgar Slayer20. The March of Folly21. The Comneni Recovery22. Swords That Drip with Christian Blood23. The Empire in Exile24. The Brilliant Sunset25. The Eternal EmperorEpilogue: Byzantine Embers

Selected BibliographyAppendix: Emperors of Constantinople

Acknowledgments

The interested reader can find a complete list of dynasties and emperors at the back of the book.

GUIDE TO MAPS

The Empire of Diocletian: Division Between East and West Byzantium and the Barbarian West Justinian’s Reconquest The Empire in 1025: Macedonian Dynasty The Empire in 1180: Manuel Comnenus The Splinter Empires

INTRODUCTION