There are many things that can be said about the city of Constantinople. It was the capital of the one of the richest states in the middle ages. It was originally called “Nova Roma”, or New Rome by the founder, Constantine the Great. It was meant to serve as new capital of a transformed empire. This empire would be more defensive and tactical in its engagements with barbarian tribes and have its capital being place in an area where the emperor could respond to threats more effectively. The book tells the story of that city with all its nooks and crannies, getting to the details to bring a city into your imagination through the pages.
Johnathan Harris is an important Byzantine scholar and his book shows the depth and width of his knowledge. His writing is designed more around the stories surrounding the city as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. It is not overly academic and provides a perspective into the nature of life in the capital city. It follows a historical narrative mixed in with how the city managed to gain such a great reputation. I get a sense of a city that is living and breathing, beyond that of a historical object. There are many little events that he covers in this book, sprinkling little snippets of how bustling Constantinople was. His writings cover the city’s immense size and wealth and how that attracted people to it. He also goes into the great diversity of people who lived in Constantinople.
Overall, I find this book to be highly readable, unlike other academic books that tend to get bogged down in historian and anthropologic jargon. I rate this book a high 4.5 out 5 stars.
Byzantine-Empire.com 