The Horses of St. Mark's: A Story of Triumph in Byzantium, Paris, and Venice

The Horses of St. Mark's in Venice are among art's finest creations-and certainly one with a story like no other.

Celebrated historian Charles Freeman, author of the 2009 surprise hit A.D. 381, explores the mysterious origin of the statues and their turbulent movements through Europe over the centuries: in Constantinople, at both its founding and sacking in the Fourth Crusade; in Venice, at both the height of its greatness and fall in 1797; in the Paris of Napoleon, and the revolutions of 1848; and back in Venice, the most romantic city in the world. In this remarkable new book, Freeman shows how the horses came to stand at the heart of European history time and time again.