CONTENTS

Note to Reader

Guide to Maps

Introduction

Prologue: Roman Roots

1. Diocletian’s Revolution

2. Constantine and the Church Ascendant

3. The Pagan Counterstroke

4. Barbarians and Christians

5. A Dreadful Rumor from the West …

6. The Fall of Rome

7. The Rise of Peter Sabbatius

8. Nika!

9. Of Buildings and Generals

10. Yersinia Pestis

11. A Persian Fire

12. The House of War

13. The Image Breakers

14. The Crumbling Empire

15. The Turning Tide

16. The Glorious House of Macedon

17. The Brilliant Pretender

18. Death and His Nephew

19. Basil the Bulgar Slayer

20. The March of Folly

21. The Comneni Recovery

22. Swords That Drip with Christian Blood

23. The Empire in Exile

24. The Brilliant Sunset

25. The Eternal Emperor

Epilogue: Byzantine Embers

Selected Bibliography

Appendix: Emperors of Constantinople

Acknowledgments