Atlas of Medieval Greece (Kindle Edition)
Author: Konstantinos Melas
Publication: May 10, 2025.
Price: $4.50
The Atlas of Medieval Greece is one of the best eBooks on the topic of Byzantium that I have seen. While it is not printed book, its electronic form makes it affordable for many users. The cost of publishing is almost nothing in comparison to printed books and eBooks have an advantage in distribution to a wide audience that can easily access that information in order read these books on their sites or devices such as the Amazon Kindle or other readers.
The Atlas of Medieval Greece provides a concise and detailed description of the geography of the Byzantine Empire from the earliest years of Constantine to the Late Byzantine Empire in the 14th Century.
The book isn’t content enough to just focus on the Byzantine Empire. The author is also wise in giving a greater context to the particular periods of the empire. The great rivals of the Byzantines such as the Sassanids and the Abbasids are displayed on detailed maps.
The detail on the Byzantine provinces is of particular interest to readers.
The book divides its atlas in these various ages of the Byzantine Empire.
In the Early Byzantine Empire, the book shows maps of the provinces, a holdover of the older Principate and Republican eras.
In each map in the Middle Byzantine Period showcases the themes of the Byzantine Empire, you can the specific locations of cities and towns.
The Late Byzantine Maps show the more complex political situation after the Fourth Crusade in 1204 AD. It showcases the various successor states as well as the possessions of the Venetians and the military order of the Knights Hospitallers on the island of Rhodes that they conquered in 1310 AD. Such maps make it clear why the Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos had such a hard time rebuilding the state.
In the final section of the eBook, we have various maps focusing on unique linguistic groups in the Byzantine Empire resulting from various migrations in the Middle Ages. Such the inclusion of linguistic groups in the empire was a great addition to the atlas. Unlike most descriptions of the Byzantine Empire, this book actually shows that Byzantium was not a monolith and had many different types of people who contributed to the fabric of the empire through the many centuries.
In conclusion, Atlas of Medieval Greece by Konstantinos Melas is a true triumph of atlas making in eBook form. I highly recommend it to anyone who has any interest in studying Byzantine History. I would particularly emphasize that this book is a great companion for teachers who may need a visual aid to put the Byzantine Empire into context. Such books are rather rare or too broad in scale to be truly useful. This atlas is truly a success in making this information accessible to more people across the globe. That is what Konstantinos Melas has accomplished here.
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