The new walls of Nikephoros Phokas from The Making of Byzantium by Mark Whittow
Monastery of Megisti Lavra (Great Lavra) in Athos – the oldest monastery on Mount Athos
Nicephorus stays at home to administer his realm and manages to alienate every strata of society.
Period: 967-8
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The History of Byzantium 
Wonderful episode again. I’ve been looking forward to what happens in the next episode for months – winning back one of the three great metropoleis of the classical empire is grand, even if times have changed. If you haven’t chosen a title for the episode yet, might I suggest “Welcome Back To Antioch” to tie up with your first Byx Stories episode and also as a cue to disabuse starry eyed romantics like myself about what the classical metropolis looked like 300-odd years after it was lost (not to mention sacks, plague, earthquake etc).
🙂
Funny how quickly can public opinion turn against you, even if you just gave the people the greatest military victories they experienced in centuries.
It’s understandable from the point of view of the citizens of Constantinople at that time, but knowing the grand scheme of things centuries later, the people of Constantinople seem very narrow minded. But I guess you can say that about people at any point in human history 🙂
Great episode again! If I may come with a suggestion: perhaps, if you have time, you could do a special episode about Mount Athos. It is such a unique and, for the most of the non-Orthodox, an unknown place, being more than just a territory with monasteries on it. It is a structure that traces its origins back to the Byzantine times and even earlier. And as you mentioned in the episode, still holds an invaluable amount of old scripts, icons and other relics.
It may well come up anyway in later centuries but remind me if it doesn’t 🙂
@22:15 “Nicephorus, what is best in life?” “To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of their women.”