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Robert Graves
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Count Belisarius Unknown Binding

by Robert Graves (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 540 ratings
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A vigorous tale, lacking the completely distinctive qualities of a hero that made Claudius so exceptional, Belisarius retains the same meticulously arranged background & skilful recapturing of a period--the Byzantine empire of the 6th century. Here are the lives of the Christian knight & his wife closely linked with those of Justinian & Theodora. Belisarius was a superb soldier & combined all types of warfare to his advantage. He fought the Vandals in Africa, the Goths in Italy, the Persians. Justinian is painted from a critical angle. Theodora, Belisarius & his wife, Antonina, are highlighted sympathetically. There is again the snob appeal of Graves' previous books, but this is more definitely gauged to men's interests, with tales of battle & strategy. Less colorful than Claudius, but a brilliant piece of scholarship.--Kirkus
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B001KTSZLG
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.55 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 540 ratings

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Robert Graves

Robert Graves

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ROBERT GRAVES (1895-1985) was an English poet, translator, and novelist, one of the leading English men of letters in the twentieth century. He fought in World War I and won international acclaim in 1929 with the publication of his memoir of the First World War, Good-bye to All That. After the war, he was granted a classical scholarship at Oxford and subsequently went to Egypt as the first professor of English at the University of Cairo. He is most noted for his series of novels about the Roman emperor Claudius and his works on mythology, such as The White Goddess.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
540 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the reading experience wonderful and engaging. They also describe the content as richly detailed and historical fiction. Opinions differ on the writing style, with some finding it richly detail and engaging, while others find it riddled with typos and confusing.

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ContentReading experienceWriting style
26 customers mention "Content"22 positive4 negative

Customers find the book engaging, marvelous, and exciting. They also describe the historical figure as fascinating and the book as historically accurate.

"...Count Belisarius is richly detailed, filled with anecdotes and unfolding the "reality" of the time, the 6th century, and what it could have been..." Read more

"The story is very good, it certainly makes Justinian look bad to say the least...." Read more

"...As Graves notes at the beginning of this book, the story of Belisarius is well known, and he relied on more or less contemporary sources well known..." Read more

"But I really didn’t enjoy the process of reading it. It was great history, and filled in some blanks for me but otherwise, it’s not an engrossing..." Read more

22 customers mention "Reading experience"22 positive0 negative

Customers find the book a wonderful read, narrated in the old style with reason and humor. They also say the book is consistently interesting, well worth the time invested, and readable throughout.

"...But Raptor, while a highly rewarding reading experience that I was sorry had to end, was hard to get started on, as many great books are in my..." Read more

"...A real shame as this is a very good novel." Read more

"...I don't think the book cuts too deep but it's consistently interesting...." Read more

"...was a superb poet and his White Goddess remains one of the most extraordinary books of the 20th Century...." Read more

23 customers mention "Writing style"10 positive13 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing style. Some find the book richly detailed, well written, and engaging, while others say it's riddled with typos, archaic, stilted, and confusing.

"...I downgraded my rating due to extensive word errors in the ebook format, generally you can figure out the intended word but it is very distracting..." Read more

"...Count Belisarius is richly detailed, filled with anecdotes and unfolding the "reality" of the time, the 6th century, and what it could have been..." Read more

"The book is great fun. However, the number of typos was incredible...." Read more

"The scholarship is deeply researched, and detail of description is evocative...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Scurjovgawd
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping from the first pages
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2007
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The more reviews I read and compare to my own impression of the same text and moving images, the less I understand about how people process information and come to conclusions. I couldn't disagree more with some of the reviewers below.

Count Belisarius is richly detailed, filled with anecdotes and unfolding the "reality" of the time, the 6th century, and what it could have been like living in the Eastern Roman Empire and Constantinople/Byzantium. I find myself re-reading paragraphs because of the richness of the language, the images evoked, the deep characterization and the fascinating stories the narrator tells within the novel. I haven't read Procopius, he is on the shelf with the rest of my classics books, but my impression is that Graves has sifted through the source material with a fine toothed comb.

I could make a comparison to Gary Jennings, another master historical fiction writer, and his book, Raptor, which takes place about the same time as Count Belisarius. But Raptor, while a highly rewarding reading experience that I was sorry had to end, was hard to get started on, as many great books are in my experience.
14 people found this helpful
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John Stults
4.0 out of 5 stars outstanding novel lousy transcription to ebook format
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2022
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The story is very good, it certainly makes Justinian look bad to say the least. Some of the treatment of Belisarius at the end may not be true (the blinding) but it certainly shows his punishment for success. A good example of politics over whelming true ability.
I downgraded my rating due to extensive word errors in the ebook format, generally you can figure out the intended word but it is very distracting sort of like playing words with friends while reading the novel. A real shame as this is a very good novel.
19 people found this helpful
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JAK
3.0 out of 5 stars Good Historical Novel
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2022
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Count Belisarius is an account of the Eastern Roman Empire aka Byzantine Empire in the days of Emperor Justinian , who is portrayed as an absolutely miserable human being. Belisarius , on the other hand is a model of military virtue. I don't think the book cuts too deep but it's consistently interesting. The Claudius novel show a greater depth of characterization .Still if Graves thought this was a potboiler, it's a superior one. Graves apparently had a real grasp of theology( some of the various Christian heresies described utterly baffled me) and a feel for military tactics, which is a bit overdone. The most fascinating character in the book has to be Empress Theodora , who is a minor character here. It's not every empire that gets a powerful empress who is an ex prostitute. She was really something !
5 people found this helpful
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Julian Sturgeon
5.0 out of 5 stars have proved to be extremely popular and much loved. 'Belisarius' was his third such novel
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2015
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Robert Graves was a superb poet and his White Goddess remains one of the most extraordinary books of the 20th Century. But his historical novels, which he regarded as potboilers to bring in some cash, have proved to be extremely popular and much loved. 'Belisarius' was his third such novel, and while it is a 'ripping yarn' of a book, Graves's rich knowledge of the history of Christianity and his grasp of the theological conflicts of the day infuse this story of the exploits of one of the greatest generals in history with the Byzantine complexities of Emperor Justinian's reign. What a city Constantinople must have been! And what an extraordinarily rich and complex mix of cultures went into that melting pot.

It is worth contemplating the fact that the Roman empire in the 6th Century, essentially eastern in character following the fall of Rome to the invading Goths, was engaged in more or less constant war with the Sassanid Persian empire, prior to the rise of Islam. This long drawn-out struggle was played out in Mesopotamia, with huge armies and epic battles, not forgetting the bubonic plague, which killed even more people than the wars did. That same region is today the battleground where Isil is conducting its demonic campaign, which has plunged huge parts of Iraq and Syria into bitter civil war, and has drawn America, Europe and now Russia into the conflict. Isil apparently believe in a prophecy from that time and place, which foretells the fall of the west. We live in interesting times, but Robert Graves tells us that there is nothing new under the sun.
36 people found this helpful
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James M. Cannan
4.0 out of 5 stars The book is great fun. However
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2014
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The book is great fun. However, the number of typos was incredible. I doubt an English speaker did the type setting or whatever is done in the digital age. Clearly, no editor was involved. I read this book years ago in paperback and found no such faults.
2 people found this helpful
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Charles Kovacs
5.0 out of 5 stars Fortunately for all of us
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2017
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All of Robert Graves' books are worth reading. In my high school in the USA, Goodbye to All That: Graves' book about his service in the trenches of WWI was required reading and it was head shoulders above the other books on the required reading list. Fortunate;y for all of us, Graves survived WWI and went on to write many books about ancient Greece and Rome. Count Belisarius is one of the few that takes place after the Fall of Rome. It is about Belisarius the Byzantine Empire's greatest general who reconquered North Africa and Italy from the Vandals and Goths, but was hindered and eventually destroyed by his rivals, the courtiers around the Emperor, and by the insecure Emperor himself. As Graves notes at the beginning of this book, the story of Belisarius is well known, and he relied on more or less contemporary sources well known to scholars of early Byzantine history. What makes this book unique is Graves' literary genius which has produced a series of historical novels so readabe that they make learning a pleasure.
27 people found this helpful
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Book expert
5.0 out of 5 stars I’m very glad I read it
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2023
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But I really didn’t enjoy the process of reading it. It was great history, and filled in some blanks for me but otherwise, it’s not an engrossing book. Still, because I am so glad I read it. I gave it a five.
One person found this helpful
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Corricopat
4.0 out of 5 stars Gives the Reader a good understanding of the era
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2018
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The scholarship is deeply researched, and detail of description is evocative. Graves develops the characters within the constraints of the culture and period described. I prefer the historical fiction of Mary Renault, and do not care for Stephen Prssfield at all; but Graves deserves to be read for his own style. I enjoyed RG’s “Good-bye to All That” and then decided on this book. I shall likely move next to his “I,Claudius” and “Claudius the God” in due course. I am a polymath, and enthusiastic about learning and understanding perspectives other than my own. Historical fiction, when well-crafted, can offer both, and is my favorite category of literature.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Colleen
5.0 out of 5 stars had it read to me) and always remembered the great Belisarius, the empress Theodora
Reviewed in Australia on December 5, 2017
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I read this as a child (actually, had it read to me) and always remembered the great Belisarius, the empress Theodora, and the peevish and downright evil Emperor. Re-reading the book now, I appreciate its scholarship and I agree with Graves that, though Belisarius seems too good for this world - well, some people really are! A terrific read about ancient Constantinople.
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bozana janus
5.0 out of 5 stars Count Belisarius
Reviewed in Canada on January 12, 2013
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Byzantium deserves full attention from historians that choose material for studying history in the high schools.
If you reed the book "Sailling from Byzantium" you will see that Humanizm an Renesance would not exist
without Byzantine culture. Robert Graves gives , in the old fashion way that is so rare and, therafore, refreshing,
a story of the man and the times so crucial for the human history.
Narativ is vivid, fast and archaic, goes with the time of the story
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Robert Nowak
5.0 out of 5 stars Hervorragende Biographie
Reviewed in Germany on April 25, 2014
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Ich hatte das Buch eigentlich als "zweite Meinung" zur Geschichte der Goten in Italien von Felix Dahn gekauft, aber für sich sehr genossen - kein Wunder, Robert (Ranke) Graves ist ja bekannt, um nicht zu sagen berühmt
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Pappashanga
5.0 out of 5 stars A giant among pygmies.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 3, 2013
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I am new to Byzantine history but not to the codes of Justinian, having had to translate various of them in the course of studying Roman Law. Latin had become much simpler by then.
This is an entertaining novel. How accurate the history is I will not venture to assess,although the hero must have been a pretty handy general.
Belisarius is presented as an outstandingly decent and talented man amongst a bunch who would have done credit to those surrounding Hitler.
Belisarius' relationship with Justinian is the most interesting study. When simplified it amounts to Justinian's ego resenting the success of his best general and doing as much harm to him as was possible without destroying him outright. Who knows what the truth was, but Graves's hypothesis is very plausible. The trumped up trial for treason has echoes in that of Ann Boleyn many centuries later.
It is ironic that people so keen on an altruistic religion-Christianity- should be so selfish and hypocritical. But nothing changes.
I feel better informed about Byzantine history, and certainly the Goths and Vandals come out of things well.
Graves has a crisp,factual style and I admit I couldn't put the book down.
5 people found this helpful
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TAMAYO Ivan
5.0 out of 5 stars Fine
Reviewed in France on May 24, 2013
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Ce n'est pas le même tour de force que "I, Claudius", mais c'est très intéressant. Malheureusement notre héros est aussi bon que niaisé ...
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