Byzantium by Cyril A. Mango - February, 1981: The Empire of New Rome

This book is in very good condition. There is very little wear on the front, back, edges, and spine of the cover boards. There is no bumping and very little fraying on the cover boards. The pages are crisp, white, and clear of any markings.

"All empires have ruled over a diversity of peoples and in this respect the Byzantine Empire was no exception. Had its constituent population been reasonably well fused, had it been united in accepting the Empire's dominant civilization, it would hardly have been necessary to devote a chapter to this topic. It so happens, however, that even before the beginning of the Byzantine period - indeed, when the grand edifice of Rome started to show its first cracks towards the end of the second century AD - the various nations under Roman sway tended to move apart and assert their individuality. The rise of the Christian religion, far from healing this rift by the introduction of a universal allegiance, only accentuated it. We must, therefore, begin with the question: Who were the 'Byzantines'? In an attempt to answer it we shall undertake a rapid tour of the Empire, noting as we proceed the populations of the various provinces and the languages spoken by them. The time I have chosen is about 560 AD, shortly after the recovery by the Emperor Justinian of large parts of Italy and North Africa and several decades before the major ethnographic changes that were to accompany the disintegration of the Early Byzantine State...." - Chapter One from Byzantium: The Empire of New Rome