Jonathan Harris - The Lost World of Byzantium

Copyright 2015 Jonathan Harris

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Harris, Jonathan.

The lost world of Byzantium / Jonathan Harris.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-300-17857-9 (hardback)

1. Byzantine EmpireCivilization. 2. Byzantine EmpireRelations. I. Title.

DF521.H275 2015

949.5'02dc23

2015016348

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In memory of Mabel (18961966), Ethel (18921974) and Grag (19001992)

Contents

Illustrations and Maps

Remains of Preslav, Bulgaria (Little_Desire/Shutterstock.com)

Maps

1 Part of a monumental marble statue of Constantine from the Capitoline Hill in Rome.

2 Copper coin of Constantine from 327. On the reverse, the Chi-Rho symbol has been placed above a standard.

3 Silver ceremonial dish depicting Emperor Theodosius I and his court, probably dating from 388. Note the halo around the emperor's head.

4 Theodosius I in the imperial box in Constantinople's Hippodrome, clasping a garland to award to the winning charioteer.

5 The remains of the Serapeum in Alexandria, demolished by a Christian mob in 391.

6 A basilica-type church: Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, built in around 440.

7 The church of St Symeon Stylites, Qalaat Semaan, Syria, erected after the hermit's death in 459.

8 The church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, completed in 504.

9 Justinian I, a mosaic from the church of San Vitale, Ravenna.

10 Justinian's cathedral of the Holy Wisdom, or Hagia Sophia.

11 The church of St Sergius and St Bacchus, one of thirty-three reconstructed during the reign of Justinian.

12 A gold coin, or nomisma, of Emperor Heraclius.

13 A reconstructed section of the Land Walls of Constantinople, which clearly shows their three-tier structure.

14 A modern icon of the Hodegetria, showing the Virgin gesturing towards Christ with her right hand.

15 The so-called Dark Church, Cappadocia, Asia Minor, one of many Byzantine underground structures in the region.

16 Mosaic of Virgin and Child from Hagia Sophia, Constantinople.

17 The church of Myrelaion monastery, Constantinople, built during the reign of Romanos I Lekapenos.

18 A Byzantine church at Ochrid, the town that became the seat of the archbishop of Bulgaria.

19 The cathedral of St Sophia, Kiev. The lower parts of the building date from its inception in 1037.

20 A statue of Prince Vladimir of Kiev, London.

21 The Great Lavra, Mount Athos.

22 The remains of Preslav, Bulgaria, capital of Tsar Symeon.

23 Interior of the monastery of Hosios Loukas, central Greece, dating from the eleventh century.

24 Empress Zoe, niece of Basil II, depicted in a mosaic from Hagia Sophia.