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Byzantium (II): The Apogee (Byzantium) | 
 enlarge | Author: John Julius Norwich
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $49.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 254914
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.5
ISBN: 0394537793
Dewey Decimal Number: 949.5
EAN: 9780394537795
ASIN: 0394537793
Publication Date: January 8, 1992
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Product Description
Volume 2 of the series. With 32 pages of illustrations, and 7 maps.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
 Byantium II The Apogee July 27, 2008
Norwich's narrative can only be described as "Epic". It is difficult to imagine how someone could do the research and gain such insight in one human lifetime. Perhaps it is heresy to compare this work to Gibbon's authoritative work, but I can think of no other comparison to make. I find Norwich to be much easier to read than Gibbon and just as insightful. I would not hesitate to sight Norwich as a source, were I to attempt a treatise on any related subject.
 Another first-rate political history of Byzantium May 26, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
In _Byzantium: the Apogee_, Norwich continues his excellent history of the Eastern Roman empire, beginning with the regin of Empress Irene (775 - 810) and concluding with the defeat of the Byzantines at Manzikert in 1071. While a considerably shorter time span than the previous work (_Byzantium: the early centuries_, a history from 330 - 811), Norwich give the political zenith of the empire meticulous attention.
The role Byzantium played as a major political force in the Mediterannean is frequently overlooked in histories of the early and high middle ages. Norwich does much to remind us that Europe - and the world - owe much to the Byzantines. Beginning with the failed political relationship between Charlemagne and Irene in 802 (and the resulting union of Christendom that would have resulted), Norwich goes on to illustrate the profound impact Byzantium had on the Balkans, Russia and the near east, particularly as the Abbysid Caliphate, il Khanid Caliphate and subsequent Sekjuk Turks grew in power in the region. The brilliant (and frequently mercurial and trecherous) political manoeverings of the Byzantines is the strongest portion of the book.
However, as with his previous book, Norwich's focus is almost exclusively towards the political. While the econcomic issues Byzantium faced are discussed at more length thatn in _The Early Centuries_, they are empahsized primarily as they impacted or were the consequences of political decisions. The role of women or common citizens were scarcely mentioned at all. For this, I had to deduct a star from my rating.
This remains an excellent history on the subject, and I do recommend it particularly to those wanting a broader view of Christendom in the high middle ages; merely be aware of the shortcomings of the historial narrative.
BYZANTIUM: THE APOGEE - JOHN JULIUS NORWICH January 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Dark Ages prove not as dark. Illuminated by a wealth of detail and insight, the second part of Norwich's trilogy proves as captivating as the first. Where Western Europe struggled for centuries to overcome the effects of the barbarian invasions, Byzantium struggled for centuries to avoid sinking as low. Beset on all sides it survived and acted as a beacon as well as a prize for all those around it and pace Pirenne, acted as the third leg if not the main prop of the post Roman oikumene that surrounded the Mediterranean by 800 A.D.
The desperate external and vicious internal struggles are crackingly well told with plenty of maps appendices and bibliographies to help what could be a struggle for the reader unfamiliar with such an exotic and almost alien period of history.
You can almost taste the wine and smell the incense
Byzantium: The Apogee October 19, 2007
This tome is volume II out of an inclusive series of III detailing the history of the Roman Empire from Diocletian to Constantine XI. This volume covers the Iconoclasm to the Battle of Manzikert, which as the subtitle implies is the period of the greatest glory of the Christian Roman Empire. Norwich is unique as a Byzantinist in that he is not a chauvenistic and cynical elitist like the writers of the school of Gibbon, nor is he complete-but-boring like Ostrogorsky. These three volumes are written as high adventure by a scholar who has an eye for international politics and diplomacy.
If you have an interest to read about the only Light which shined during the so-called Dark Ages then do yourself a favor and get all three complete volumes and do not settle for the abridged single volume "A Short History of Byzantium"
Like its predecessor and its successor, surprisingly readable. February 18, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book, in combination with its two sister volumes (Byzantium: The Early Years, and Byzantium: The Decline and Fall) is an exhaustive, voluminous history of the Byzantine Empire. As such, one might expect it to be informative but horribly dry reading. If so, one would be extremely pleasantly surprised; it IS informative, to the point that the sheer volume of information can be daunting to the neophyte, but the writing style is actually quite enjoyable; Norwich has a dry but nonetheless droll sense of humor, and he manages to make the narrative about as comprehensible as it is possible for the subject (which, after all, is the very source for the word "byzantine") to be. I am given to understand that he is not a professional historian, which may explain his willingness to speculate in those cases in which sources either are contradictory or nonexistent; nonetheless, he always labels his speculation as such, and always gives the other possible interpretations as well, along with his reasons for discounting them and the arguments against his conclusions. So if he's more willing to speculate than a "professional" would be, he's very even-handed about it, which seems to me to mitigate any complaint one might have. If you are already knowledgable about Byzantine history, I really cannot guess as to whether this book would be useful to you, although it might be worthwhile even so to have a pleasant and readable narration of the history. But for the beginner with no previous background in the subhject, interested but somewhat daunted by the prospect, this is an absolutely marvellous set of volumes.
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