Forgotten Power: Byzantium, Bulwark of Christianity

For centuries, the Byzantine Empire was the center of Christendom, mistress of the Mediterranean, and the symbol for all the rest of the world of splendor, wealth, and cultural ascendancy until it fell to the Ottoman Turks. This book vividly brings to life the glittering emperors, the hotbed of religious controversy, the politics, art, military action, and the lives of ordinary citizens.