The History of Byzantium

I answer the final batch of questions which came in after 1453. They are mostly fun speculation or about me and the podcast. 

Our Constantine Acrostic

Christianized the Roman state,

Oldest offspring of the Great.

Nearly reigned one hundred days,

Saved the city, so they say.

Theophanes called him dung,

Assassinated by his mum.

Noted writer, purple born,

The Slayer's brother earns our scorn.

If Monomachos tried his best,

No Doukas cou...

This is our last chance to talk about the Crusades on this podcast. So I put listener questions to Dr Nicholas Morton.

Dr Morton is Associate Professor in Middle Eastern and Global history at Nottingham Trent University in the UK. His research focuses on the history of the Crusades and the Medieval Middle East between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries. He has written four other books on Crusading and the Crusader states as ...

We explore the history of Trebizond under the Grand Komnenoi. Today I cover the period from 1297-1453.

The music for these episodes comes from the brilliant Youtube channel of Farya Faraji. Farya is a musicologist who collaborates with traditional musicians around the world to present music from different cultures on his channel, with an emphasis on authenticity and accurate cultural representation. This track is called Trapezun...

We explore the history of Trebizond under the Grand Komnenoi. Today I cover the period from 1204-1297.

The music for these episodes comes from the brilliant Youtube channel of Farya Faraji. Farya is a musicologist who collaborates with traditional musicians around the world to present music from different cultures on his channel, with an emphasis on authenticity and accurate cultural representation. This track is called Trapezun...

Professor Leonora Neville joins us to make the case for getting rid of the term Byzantium for good. She wants to replace it with a different term and a different understanding of Roman history.

Professor Neville is the John W and Jeanne M Rowe Chair of Byzantine History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She specialises in the 9-12th centuries of the Empire’s history. And her research has focussed on gender, civic rel...

As we look back at Byzantium I turned once more to Professor Anthony Kaldellis. I asked him to present a list of ten influential East Romans who were not featured heavily in the political narrative.

Anthony Kaldellis is a Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Chicago. He is the author of over a dozen books on Byzantium including the definitive history (The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium). Fi...