Haldon J.F. Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture

Cambridge University Press, 1997. — 524 p. — ISBN: 0521264928; 052131917X.This book presents the first analytical account in English of major developments within Byzantine culture, society and the state in the crucial formative period from c.610-717. The seventh century saw the final collapse of ancient urban civilization and municipal culture, the rise of Islam, the evolution of patterns of thought and social structure that made imperial iconoclasm possible, and the development of state apparatuses--military, civil and fiscal--typical of the middle Byzantine state. Also, during this period, orthodox Christianity finally became the unquestioned dominant culture and a religious framework of belief (to the exclusion of alternative systems, which were henceforth marginalized or proscribed).List of plates

Preface and acknowledgements

The sourcesThe background: state and society before Heraclius
The East Roman world c. 610–717: the politics of survival
Some relations and the economy: the cities and the land
Social relations and the economy: rural society
The state and its apparatus: fiscal administration
The state and its apparatus: military administration
Society, state and law
The imperial church and the politics of authority
Religion and belief
Forms of social and cultural organisation: infrastructures and hierarchies
Forms of representation: language, literature and the icon
Conclusions: the transformation of a culture
Addendum: further observations on the question of the late ancient city

Index