Honorius

Congratulations, did you get into MacQ? if you did i hate you

Ahh DC you beat me to making this thread but for this christmas i've decided to splurge on myself and bought 3 books, all regarding the late Byzantine Empire The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society, 1204-1453 By Mark C Bartusis http://www.amazon.com/Late-Byzantine-Army-...6220&sr=8-1 I wasn't sure if i should by this book by Bartusis as my interest in Byzantium is moving away from military aspects to points more cultural and religious, but i decided to get it anyway The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453 By Donald M Nicol - http://www.amazon.com/Last-Centuries-Byzan...360&sr=1-16 I've been waiting to buy this book for a year or two now, and havent heard a bad thing about Nicol, so finally decided to buy it seeing as it concerns my favourite period and ruling family the Paleologi The Lost Capital of Byzantium: The History of Mistra and the Peloponnese - Steven Runciman http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Capital-Byzanti...6506&sr=8-1 This book i only recently discovered in a local bookstore and concerns the last flourishing of byzantine culture in the city of Mistra, written by Runciman we know that it can be both finely written and gripping, eventually hope to get a review of this book done for unrv

Probably each of the Angeli emperors - the level of corruption and the loss of bulgaria and Constantinople itself to the latins in 1204, would seal the fate of the empire, when it was retaken in 1261 - the empire would be only a shadow of its former self.

thanks everyone

looks good, especially with all those maps on the campaign, much talk about Narses in it?

um. supposedly it appeared in the sky before the battle and then again in a dream to Constantine, (so he claimed), i recently read that some people have suggested that a natural phenomena did take place that a number of stars lined up and produced the symbol

Constantine the great? anyway that event before the Battle of the Milvian bridge, there are differing accounts on if Constantine saw it in a dream or his soldiers also saw it before the battle. The former is far more believable, anyway the symbol that he saw was the greek name for Christ, P = CHI, X = RHO, the P intersects the X. Further more there was other writing that proclaimed that "in this sign you will conquer" anyway primary sources would be Lactantius and the early church historian Eusebius of Caesarea edit: the symbol is my avatar with the addition of the greek letters Alpha and omega signifying that christ is the beginning and the end

concerning Liutprand, if i remember correctly Rice explained that the bulgarian diplomats were given precedence of Liutprands party at certain banquets which resulted in outrage amongst the westerners

Rice doesnt give specifics on the emperors shes just saying how every emperor dealt with diplomacy and the strict courtly etiquette that had to be adhered to. i Figure though that she is focussing on like the court of the Macedonian, and Commenian emperors.

Well lately i've been busy reading through a book by Tamara Talbot Rice called 'Everyday life in Byzantium' although fairly old written in 1967, it provides alot of interesting info on court life aswell as the life of everday Romans. Anyway i came across a peculiar passage in the chapter that deals with the Emperor, his family and court. This is the emperor in reply to a diplomatic mission. "...in the case either of the king of Persia or of the caliph of islam referring to him as his brother, but in that of a European ruler calling him his son." it bought me to think of how the Emperor would address a diplomat from the Western empire (talking about the holy roman empire here), would he call him his son? or as a brother?

might be good to point out that the 'shoes' that the byzantine emperors wore were Purple Buskins that were calf length half boots, and not slippers, incase anyone interpreted shoes that way

Just finish Capponis book on Lepanto - altogether it was a fantastic read and one i would recommend to anyone interested in the 16th century, though i do have a few disapointments 1. Maps - the maps Capponi uses for the actual battle itself are so small and boring, In comparison Hugh Bicheno who also wrote about the battle uses maps which actually point out the position of individuals and galleys in the battle aswell as other maps of both seiges of Famagusta and Malta 2. the actual battle - Capponi dedicates very little bookspace to the actual battle of Lepanto to which he calls although perhaps rightly so but irritatingly Curzolaris (referring to the nearby islands that the battle was fought near) i just expected a bit more in this area those are really my only two complaints, it was nice to see Capponi expanding on the characters of the battle and actually telling us what happened to them in the end from the Marquis of Santa Cruz to the turkish vizier Sokullu mehmed and the lowly common soldiers anyway...ive just picked up a copy of Judith Herrin's 'The Formation of Christendom' which deals with the late empire to the crowning of Charlemagne in 800, so far so good only about 30 pages in.

Asclepiades i am yet to come across a contemporary account thats been translated from turkish into english, which is sad, Id like to read one from a turks perspective

currently reading Niccolo Capponi's book called 'victory of the west' in regards to the battle of lepanto, about a 1/3 of the way in and so far so good, he gives alot of info on the build up to the battle which is good in the case it sets the scene, but the details of the battle, just have to wait and see

University libraries are usually accessible to 'outsiders' as well. At the very least you should be able to make photocopies. i recall having that western aritocracies book in my favourites and luckily enough its at a university library only 20kms from me, thanks for reminding me - to bad that generalissimos book is out of print looked really good ><

Do it! you wont regret it, im doing a BA in Art history/Theology major branching off into secondary teaching, its suprisingly good and there is space for movement, but anyway if your enthusiastic about history why not do it ?

I was just wondering if anyone was aware of any books that deal specifically with Stilicho and the Theodosian era, ive grown over t he books in my local library and was seeing if anyone had some good suggestions

Interesting topic, i always thought homosexuality was although semi common, kinda looked down on to a small degree if done publicly. You know i never thought of it being widespread in the army... might want to read into this now lol.

Tobias already addressed the topic rather well...in my opinion and most other Australians agree that the feats on both sides at Gallipoli was nothing more then heroic...

atleast you didnt accidently boil your poor fishy like i did...i was changing my siamese fighting fishs' water and i moved it into a warm bowl of water.. unbeknownst to me it was steaming hot... and yer you get the picture ..

I think the fact that the eastern half of the empire didnt fall until 1453AD gives it the right to continue to call itself Roman, even if it was racially greek, i mean the eastern half never fell until 1204/1453 and up until the sack of 1204 the Empire still maintained Roman traditions and customs. On another note the 'Holy Roman Empire' was only founded on the belief of the Pope that the eastern throne was empty because in it was the Emperor/Emperess Irene (she styled herself as basileos)

dont know if this is relevant at all but its interesting to note that the commeni emperor Manuel had acquired a taste for everything western, even going so far as to introduce jousting events - he later married Mary i think a princess of Antioch, which increased the western feel in his court... and if i do r ecall later emperors after 1204 would practice jousting to a degree. im aware this has nothing to do with the land administration but thought it was an interesting note...

I was just going through the byzantium1200 site... and I just noticed that he released a book with 3d pictures of the models and the city, it looks alright http://www.zerobooksonline.com/eng/product...mp;product=2567 on the main site he has pictures of it

add to that list...the fourth crusade and the sack of Constantinople - Jonathan Phillips (pretty easy read although he writes it from the view of the crusaders, it is writing narratively but at times is innecessant block quoting can get irritating, nevertheless a good read) could anyone suggest books concerning the period from the sack in 1204 to the fall of Trebizond in 1461, with particular emphasis on the divided empire in that period like the Nicean, Epirote and Pontic... I've failed to find much at all on this particular period.