Byzantine Civilisation

Byzantine Civilisation by Steven Runciman, 300 pages

The survival of the Roman Empire in the East has often been a puzzle or a problem for modern Western historians.  On the one hand, its very existence complicated the tidy picture of Dark Age and Renaissance, on the other, its unique history and culture were famously intricate.  Steven Runciman's brief survey of the twelve centuries of Christian Constantinople seeks to at least sketch some of those intricacies.  After giving the basic sequence of events in Byzantine history, Runciman turns to his primary task of examining the changing social, religious, economic, and cultural conditions during that history.  

While this book is much too short to permit a detailed analysis of its many subjects over such a long span of time, Runciman manages to illuminate those subjects while providing plentiful suggestions for further investigation.  The author's sympathy for the Byzantines is evident throughout, and while this is generally a strength, it does become a weakness when dealing with the Empire's rivals.