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Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome (History of Civilization)

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Professor Cyril Mango provides the Byzantinist out there a work of high quality and meticulous research in "Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome". Conventional social histories may survey the accomplishments of the Byzantine-era Romans on the surface, yet this specific title goes one step further by descending into the collective mind of the Byzantines and assessing their views on the present world and the world to come; in essence, we have a study of Byzantine culture blending sociology and psychology. The result is a fascinating account of a people whose outlook on life and their surroundings was strongly influenced by theological speculation, especially in the area of eschatology. Professor Mango's narrative makes it clear how much the theocentrism of Byzantine thought permeated every aspect of life practically, whether it be court ceremonial, the nature of relationships, literature, or the arts. Even the physical world, including the Earth and the rest of the universe, needed to be explained from a Scriptural context. In dissecting the beliefs, prejudices, and superstitions of the Byzantines, Professor Mango is objective; his overall admiration for the legacy of his subjects does include an acknowledgement of their weaknesses and deficiencies as well. "Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome" is to be read carefully in order to be better understood; it helped me learn much about where the Byzantines "were coming from."

Apparently, retired Oxford Professor, Cyril Mango is extremely well respected in his field so I was surprised when I read the first chapter of this book for a humanities class and found it tedious and inaccessible. Perhaps the rest of the book is written in a more eludite style, but chapter one was a blindingly "rapid tour" of Byzantium in 586 AD (Mango never explained the significance of the date) that is little more than an inventory of the regional tribenames and their languages. I have a passion for history, but found chapter one a total bore. I couldn't help but think of people who dislike history because it's "just a bunch of names and dates." Mango certainly managed to reduce a fascinating period to nothing more than a list.