Description
Book SynopsisKevin Lygo is an expert in Islamic and Byzantine art who has travelled across Europe and the Middle East extensively. He has previously edited the publications
Portraits of the Masters: Bronze Sculptures of the Tibetan Buddhist Lineages (2003) and
Pages of the Qur'an. A study of Islamic Calligraphy (2011). He is Director of Television at ITV and was formerly Director of Television at Channel 4. Bettany Hughes is an award-winning historian, author and broadcaster. Robert Peston is a journalist, writer and the Political Editor of ITV News.
Trade Review'I love this book. The strangeness, the darkness, the madness, the gruesomeness, the politics, the families, the feuding, the deaths! It makes Game of Thrones look like a scrap in the playground' - Russell T. Davies
'This revelatory and brilliantly researched book opens the door to one of the best-kept secrets in art – the magnificent empire of Byzantium' - Waldemar Januszczak
'Kevin Lygo is a connoisseur, collector and specialist in the Byzantine era, which when combined with his flair for storytelling, make this a publication to savour' - Will Gompertz
'A highly readable, beautifully illustrated survey of the rulers of a great medieval empire that spanned more than a thousand years, from Constantine the Great to the fall of the Eastern Empire. Lygo has succeeded brilliantly in bringing this fascinating but strangely neglected subject to life' - Paul Lay, Editor, History Today, and author of Providence Lost: the Rise and Fall of Cromwell’s Protectorate
'A vivid and gorgeously illustrated study of Byzantium and its emperors' - Roger Crowley
'A fascinating read and superb production standards' - The Armourer
'Highly readable … Confirm[s] that a millennium’s worth of political upheaval and imperial strife coincided with a stunning, artistic florescence. The only thing ‘orthodox’ about Byzantium was the name given to its religion' - Art Quarterly
'An informed and accessible survey of the men and women who ruled the empire over its 1,100 years ... Excellent' - The New Criterion
Table of ContentsFOREWORD by Robert Peston
INTRODUCTION by Bettany Hughes
Constantinian Dynasty (306–363)
Non-Dynastic Ruler (363–364)
Valentinian Dynasty (364–379)
Theodosian Dynasty (379–457)
Leonid Dynasty (457–518)
Justinian Dynasty (518–602)
Non-Dynastic Usurper (602–610)
Heraklian Dynasty (610–695)
Twenty Years of Anarchy (695–717)
Isaurian Dynasty (717–802)
Nikephorian Dynasty (802–813)
Non-Dynastic Ruler (813–820)
Amorian Dynasty (820–867)
Macedonian Dynasty (867–1056)
Non-Dynastic Ruler (1056–1057)
Komnenian Dynasty (I: 1057–1059)
Doukid Dynasty (1059–1081)
Komnenian Dynasty (II: 1081–1185)
Angelid Dynasty (1185–1204)
Latin Constantinople and the Empire in Exile (1204–1461)
The Empire of Nicaea (1208–1261)
Palaiologan Dynasty (1261–1453)
