Empress Pulcheria: A woman truly ahead of her time.
One might wonder what the early fifth century Byzantine world would have been like if Aelia Pulcheria was not aroundContinue Reading
Tag: A short history of Byzantium
Portrait of an Emperor: John VIII Palaiologos.
An Italian Renaissance painter from Florence, by the name of Benozzo Gozzoli, was commissioned to paint a three-walled cycle ofContinue Reading
A conversation with Byzantine luminary Averil Cameron.
Averil Cameron is one of the leading English-speaking scholars of late antiquity and Byzantium. She has made Byzantium, in particular,Continue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 23 Do not forsake us Emperor Jovian: The shameful peace of the year 363 AD.
We first fleetingly hear of Jovian, in Ammianus Marcellinus narrative in the year 361AD just after Constantius’ death. He wasContinue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 22 The Last Pagan Emperor
Julian is such an interesting character that it is impossible to ignore him, even though some tend to treat himContinue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 21 They raised him on their shields in a moment of great happiness and triumph!
The astounding success of Julian’s rise in five short years, from a bookworm to Caesar, was genuinely celebrated by hisContinue Reading
The Peacock, in all its splendour and glory.
The peacock has a long history of being worshipped as a pagan deity or used as a symbol by royaltyContinue Reading
Byzantium and Europe: Croatia, between a rock and a hard place.
For centuries Byzantium’s influence over the Croats waxed and waned, first beginning in the early seventh century. Heraclius was theContinue Reading
My Five Favourite Byzantine Emperors
Imagine yourself sitting in a lecture hall with a small body of students studying Roman history and as a wholeContinue Reading
Robin Pierson’s Grand Strategy: The history of Byzantium podcast.
About three years ago, when Mike Duncan stopped producing his ‘History of Rome’ podcast, thousands of podcast listeners mourned inContinue Reading
Rearview Mirror 