Gregory Timothy E. A History of Byzantium

Wiley-Blackwell, 2005. — 400 p. — ISBN10: 0631235124 ISBN13: 9780631235125.This book is a concise narrative of Byzantine history from the time of Constantine the Great (AD 306) to the fall of Constantinople in 1453.Argues that Byzantium was important in its own right but also served as a bridge between East and West and ancient and modern society.
Uses the chronological political history of the empire as a narrative frame.
Considers social and economic life and the rich culture of the Byzantine Empire.
Integrates visual documents, such as photographs of art, architecture, and implements from daily life.
Makes the latest scholarship accessible to a wide audience.
Includes a chronological list of emperors, a glossary and maps.This is a book on the history of the Byzantine Empire, one of the longest-lived and most important cultures in Western civilization, but also one of the least understood. The book is meant to be both concise and comprehensive, and as such it has been necessary to make a variety of decisions and sacrifices. The history of Byzantium is well over a thousand years in duration and any reasonable book on the subject must prepare the ground with consideration of the institutions and the issues of what came before; it must also consider the aftermath of the empire and the ways in which its culture has continued to affect our lives over the past 500 years. Given all that, serious thought had to be devoted to organization and to questions of inclusion and focus.