The narrative returns as we head back to 1204 and the sack of Constantinople. The arrival of the Latins had actually splintered the Roman world into at least 13 different states.
With a little help from the 2008 film ‘Vantage Point’ we will be following the different perspectives of these actors as they deal with the fallout from the sack.
We begin with the story of Alexios V Doukas who fled the city just before it fell.
I speak to Rob and Jamie from the podcast Totalus Rankium. Their show is a light hearted ranking of every Roman Emperor from Augustus to Constantine XI. It’s a really fun listen and they include all the amusing stories which I edited out of Byzantine history.
They have a sister show where they rank American Presidents. Find both shows here.
Alexander Christie-Miller was the Turkish correspondent for the Times Newspaper between 2010 and 2017. He has written a book called ‘To the City’ about the people who live along the Theodosian Walls in Istanbul today. He tells the story and charts the sweeping changes they’ve experienced in Turkey over the past 50 years. It’s a brilliant read, ideal for those of you who have visited Istanbul or plan to.
Alexander Christie-Miller is from Wiltshire in the UK, studied in Dublin and was then in Istanbul for 7 years. He was the Times Turkish correspondent during that period and his writing has also appeared in Newsweek, The Atlantic, Der Spiegel and the White Review amongst other publications.
Professor Kaldellis’ new history of Byzantium is out now in the USA and on Kindle everywhere.
In the final episode in this series he answers more of your questions. Amongst the topics we cover are citizenship, class, counter-factuals, academia and AI.
I’m very excited to announce that we have dates for the 2024 History of Byzantium tours to Turkey!
The Basilica Cistern in Istanbul (above)
We will be running our classic podcast tour in May and September. This includes five days in Istanbul followed by visits to Cappadocia and Ephesus. Cappadocia offers a stunning landscape where we visit the cave towns where the Romans lived in hard times. Ephesus is the best preserved Roman city after Pompeii.
The Golden Gate in Istanbul (above)
We wanted to give you a choice of dates and so are running two tours. But I’ve found it hard to be away from my family for such a long period. So I will be on the May tour for the first six days and then leave you to explore Cappadocia (2 days) and Ephesus (1 day) with Serif Yenen (our brilliant tour leader). By then you will have made friends with other listeners and you can ask Serif about the time he gave Oprah Winfrey a guided tour!
On the September trip I am going to stay at home. Guests will be in the capable hands of Serif and David Hendrix. David is the man behind the fabulous Byzantine Legacy website (www.thebyzantinelegacy.com) and social media channels. David is American but now lives in Istanbul and is cataloguing all the Byzantine sites that have survived. They are both brilliant guides and will bring Byzantium to life for you.
Here are the dates and details:
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Email me if you have any questions (thehistoryofbyzantium at gmail.com), Robin The History of Byzantium podcast
A new book has come out about that most famous of Byzantines. It’s called Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint by Peter Sarris and it is excellent. It is not a dramatization of his career but a brilliantly researched account of his life and time in office.
Track his evolving thinking through the amazing range of sources we have for his reign and gain a deeper understanding of the interesting times he lived in.
The book is on sale everywhere including on Audible.com. To listen to the book for free check out Audible’s service here.
This beautiful map of the Crusader States has just been put on sale. Adomas, the artist, is offering 15% off any map at his store for podcast listeners. Just use the code Byzantium at his online store. mapklimantas.etsy.com
‘The Emperor’ by Matthew Storm: http://tinyurl.com/juj44cdb. The Heraclius story is so epic that it took two books to cover. Book 1 is called the Exarch’s son. And Book 2 is THE EMPEROR: Heraclius Battles Persia for the Life of Rome.
‘The Gardens of Byzantium’: http://tinyurl.com/nhh6b4jw A romance about Asana (a Persian woman) and a Roman soldier who are brought together by Heraclius’ war.
Professor Kaldellis’ new history of Byzantium is out now in the USA and on Kindle everywhere.
In our third conversation we walk through the narrative picking out interesting things to talk about. The creation of Constantinople, Justinian’s personality, Heraclius’ achievements and life under the Sassanian occupation to name a few.
Pic: Map of the Sassanid Empire during the war with Heraclius
50 episodes ago Dr Maximilian Lau came on the podcast to talk about John II Komnenos. Max kindly shared his book with me before publication to guide the podcast through John’s reign.
Now he is back on the show to catch up on the next century of Byzantine history and to give us the great news that the book has been published.
The book is ‘Emperor John II Komnenos: Rebuilding New Rome 1118-1143’. You can buy the book here and if you use the discount code AAFLYG6 you can 30% off.
The History of Byzantium 