This work presents a comprehensive history of the Byzantine Empire, from the establishment of Constantinople by Emperor Constantine around 330 AD to the decline of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Byron evaluates the highs and lows of the empire over thousands of years. Moreover, he provides insights into trade, culture, religion, the imperial rulers, and the battle with the Ottoman Empire that ultimately ended in the downfall of the Byzantine Empire and the end of the final remains of the Roman Empire.

Robert Byron believed that the summit of ancient Greek civilization was not to be found in 5th century B.C.E. Athens, but in post-classical Byzantium, also called Constantinople by the Romans. Byzantine civilization was truly glorious, as we see by looking through Byron's fresh eyes. Byron was a brilliant writer and dashing figure whose life was cut short in WWII. The introduction is by Richard Luckett, Byron's biographer.

First published in 1929, this highly influential study offers a historical perspective on the Byzantine Empire, from the establishment of Constantinople by Emperor Constantine around 330 AD, through to the fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Byron’s work considers the empire in its entirety, assessing the highs and lows across a thousand year period. He provides insights into trade, culture, the organs of state, religion, the imperial rulers, and the battle with the Ottoman Empire, which would ultimately end in the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the end of the final remnants of the Roman Empire.

This work presents a comprehensive history of the Byzantine Empire, from the establishment of Constantinople by Emperor Constantine around 330 AD to the decline of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Byron evaluates the highs and lows of the empire over thousands of years. Moreover, he provides insights into trade, culture, religion, the imperial rulers, and the battle with the Ottoman Empire that ultimately ended in the downfall of the Byzantine Empire and the end of the final remains of the Roman Empire.

"Of that Byzantine Empire the universal verdict of history is that it constitutes, without a single exception, the most thoroughly base and despicable form that civilization has yet assumed...There has been no other enduring civilization so absolutely destitute of all the forms and elements of greatness, and none to which the epithet mean may be so emphatically applied...Its vices were the vices of men who had ceased to be brave without learning to be virtuous. Without patriotism, without the fruition or desire of liberty...slaves, and willing slaves, in both their actions and in their thoughts, immersed in sensuality and in the most frivolous pleasures, the people only emerged from their listlessness when some theological subtlety, or some chivalry in the chariot races, stimulated them to frantic riots...They had continually before them the literature of ancient Greece, instinct with the loftiest heroism: but that literature, which afterwards did so much to revivify Europe, could fire the degenerate Greeks with no spark or semblance of nobility. The history of the empire is a monotonous story of the intrigues of priests, eunuchs, and women; of poisonings, of conspiracies, of uniform ingratitude, of perpetual fratricides."

Although perceived since the 16th century as the most impressive literary achievement of Byzantine culture, historical writing nevertheless remains little studied as literature. This book, devoted to literary interpretations of Byzantine historical writing and analyses of pictorial narratives, illustrates how analyses of texts and images from the 6th to the 14th century work hand in hand with an evaluation of the work as a document of historical value.