In Empire of Gold, Professor Thomase F. Madden covers over 1,000 years- from ~300 to 1453- as he looks at the history of the Byzantine empire. Many people forget that when Rome fell in 476, it wasn't the end of the entire empire- just the western portion. It had been split into east and west almost two centuries prior, and the eastern half (today we call them the Byzantines, though they viewed themselves as Roman) persisted for almost 1,000 years longer. This empire was (among other things) the Christian 'buffer' between the increasingly powerful Islamic empires in the east and the Christian kingdoms in the west. It was finally overrun in 1453 by the Ottoman Turks (whose empire in turn lasted centuries, finally falling after WWI).
A lot happens in a thousand years. As this course was just 14 lectures (about 7 hours), we get only a taste. Madden surveys the highlights, to include:
- the expansion or contraction of its borders, to include 'encounters' (wars or negotiations with) Venice, Genoa, Arabic, Persian, Ottoman, Balkan (Bulgarian/etc.) and western European powers
- the Crusades (which began, it can be argued, due to the Byzantines, who requested western European assistance to fight off the Arabs in the 1090s)
- the schism/conflict between the Catholic and Orthodox Church (with the latter being centered in Constantinople, capital of the empire)
- the line of succession of Byzantine Emperors (lots of betrayal/court intrigue here)
- the legacy of the empire (he takes it right up to its influence on the present day)
Some reviews panned this, so my expectations weren't high; I was pleasantly surprised. Madden's delivery is straightforward, without a lot of flair or side stories of interest (which is what people want, apparently), but he's informative, succinct, and knows his stuff. Certainly, tons of things are skipped, but that's necessary in a survey course of such short length. In the end, I wished it had been a bit longer, to connect more of the story.
Rating: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment