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Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization
Without the Byzantine Empire, there never would have been Western civilization.
Western civilization is generally regarded as the child of Athens, Jerusalem, and Rome. That is, in the West, our philosophical and political thought is derived from that of the ancient Greeks; our Christian religion comes from the Jewish religion, and both of these came to us via the Roman Empire and the civilization and culture it created.
Western society has other forefathers as we would be unwise to give the Byzantine Empire short shrift. The ways in which it has influenced our world for the good, and indeed, created the parameters of our society at its healthiest and strongest, are insufficiently appreciated today. In its confusion, uncertainty, and lack of direction, the West has lost its way. There is a great deal it can, and should, learn from Byzantium.
If the United States were to last as long as the Roman Empire, including its Byzantine period, it would have to continue as an independent country, with political and cultural continuity, until the year 2899. To maintain a unified nation state for over eleven hundred years is a remarkable achievement by any standard, and the Romans accomplished it while facing existential threats and efforts to extinguish their polity during virtually every period of their existence. Now, nearly six hundred years after the demise of the empire, its influence still resonates in a number of fields, albeit almost entirely unnoticed and unappreciated.
There is no arguing with success. It’s time we took notice.
Western civilization is generally regarded as the child of Athens, Jerusalem, and Rome. That is, in the West, our philosophical and political thought is derived from that of the ancient Greeks; our Christian religion comes from the Jewish religion, and both of these came to us via the Roman Empire and the civilization and culture it created.
Western society has other forefathers as we would be unwise to give the Byzantine Empire short shrift. The ways in which it has influenced our world for the good, and indeed, created the parameters of our society at its healthiest and strongest, are insufficiently appreciated today. In its confusion, uncertainty, and lack of direction, the West has lost its way. There is a great deal it can, and should, learn from Byzantium.
If the United States were to last as long as the Roman Empire, including its Byzantine period, it would have to continue as an independent country, with political and cultural continuity, until the year 2899. To maintain a unified nation state for over eleven hundred years is a remarkable achievement by any standard, and the Romans accomplished it while facing existential threats and efforts to extinguish their polity during virtually every period of their existence. Now, nearly six hundred years after the demise of the empire, its influence still resonates in a number of fields, albeit almost entirely unnoticed and unappreciated.
There is no arguing with success. It’s time we took notice.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published November 21, 2023
31 people are currently reading
146 people want to read
About the author
Robert Spencer
117 books328 followersROBERT SPENCER is the director of Jihad Watch, a program of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and the author of seventeen books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book is The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Free Speech (and Its Enemies). Coming in November 2017 is Confessions of an Islamophobe (Bombardier Books).
Spencer has led seminars on Islam and jihad for the FBI, the United States Central Command, United States Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), the Justice Department’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council and the U.S. intelligence community. He has discussed jihad, Islam, and terrorism at a workshop sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the German Foreign Ministry. He is a consultant with the Center for Security Policy.
Spencer is a weekly columnist for PJ Media and FrontPage Magazine, and has written many hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism. His articles on Islam and other topics have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, the New York Post, the Washington Times, the Dallas Morning News, Fox News Opinion, National Review, The Hill, the Detroit News, TownHall.com, Real Clear Religion, the Daily Caller, the New Criterion, the Journal of International Security Affairs, the UK’s Guardian, Canada’s National Post, Middle East Quarterly, WorldNet Daily, First Things, Insight in the News, Aleteia, and many other journals. For nearly ten years Spencer wrote the weekly Jihad Watch column at Human Events. He has also served as a contributing writer to the Investigative Project on Terrorism and as an Adjunct Fellow with the Free Congress Foundation.
Spencer has appeared on the BBC, ABC News, CNN, FoxNews’s Tucker Carlson Show, the O’Reilly Factor, Megyn Kelly’s The Kelly File, the Sean Hannity Show, Geraldo Rivera Reports, the Glenn Beck Show, Fox and Friends, America’s News HQ and many other Fox programs, PBS, MSNBC, CNBC, C-Span, CTV News, Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News, France24, Voice of Russia and Croatia National Television (HTV), as well as on numerous radio programs including The Sean Hannity Show, Bill O’Reilly’s Radio Factor, The Mark Levin Show, The Laura Ingraham Show, The Herman Cain Show, The Joe Piscopo Show, The Howie Carr Show, The Curt Schilling Show, Bill Bennett’s Morning in America, Michael Savage’s Savage Nation, The Alan Colmes Show, The G. Gordon Liddy Show, The Neal Boortz Show, The Michael Medved Show, The Michael Reagan Show, The Rusty Humphries Show, The Larry Elder Show, The Peter Boyles Show, Vatican Radio, and many others.
Robert Spencer has been a featured speaker across the country and around the world and authored 17 books. Spencer’s books have been translated into many languages, including Spanish, Italian, German, Finnish, Korean, Polish and Bahasa Indonesia. His Qur’an commentary at Jihad Watch, Blogging the Qur’an, has been translated into Czech, Danish, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
Spencer (MA, Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history in depth since 1980. His work has aroused the ire of the foes of freedom and their dupes: in October 2011, Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups wrote to Homeland Security Advisor (and current CIA director) John Brennan, demanding that Spencer be removed as a trainer for the FBI and military groups, which he taught about the belief system of Islamic jihadists; Brennan immediately complied as counter-terror training materials were scrubbed of all mention of Islam and jihad. Spencer has been banned by the British government from entering the United Kingdom for pointing out accurately that Islam has doctrines of violence against unbelievers. He has been invited by name to convert to Islam by a senior member of al-Qaeda.
Spencer has led seminars on Islam and jihad for the FBI, the United States Central Command, United States Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), the Justice Department’s Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council and the U.S. intelligence community. He has discussed jihad, Islam, and terrorism at a workshop sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the German Foreign Ministry. He is a consultant with the Center for Security Policy.
Spencer is a weekly columnist for PJ Media and FrontPage Magazine, and has written many hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism. His articles on Islam and other topics have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, the New York Post, the Washington Times, the Dallas Morning News, Fox News Opinion, National Review, The Hill, the Detroit News, TownHall.com, Real Clear Religion, the Daily Caller, the New Criterion, the Journal of International Security Affairs, the UK’s Guardian, Canada’s National Post, Middle East Quarterly, WorldNet Daily, First Things, Insight in the News, Aleteia, and many other journals. For nearly ten years Spencer wrote the weekly Jihad Watch column at Human Events. He has also served as a contributing writer to the Investigative Project on Terrorism and as an Adjunct Fellow with the Free Congress Foundation.
Spencer has appeared on the BBC, ABC News, CNN, FoxNews’s Tucker Carlson Show, the O’Reilly Factor, Megyn Kelly’s The Kelly File, the Sean Hannity Show, Geraldo Rivera Reports, the Glenn Beck Show, Fox and Friends, America’s News HQ and many other Fox programs, PBS, MSNBC, CNBC, C-Span, CTV News, Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News, France24, Voice of Russia and Croatia National Television (HTV), as well as on numerous radio programs including The Sean Hannity Show, Bill O’Reilly’s Radio Factor, The Mark Levin Show, The Laura Ingraham Show, The Herman Cain Show, The Joe Piscopo Show, The Howie Carr Show, The Curt Schilling Show, Bill Bennett’s Morning in America, Michael Savage’s Savage Nation, The Alan Colmes Show, The G. Gordon Liddy Show, The Neal Boortz Show, The Michael Medved Show, The Michael Reagan Show, The Rusty Humphries Show, The Larry Elder Show, The Peter Boyles Show, Vatican Radio, and many others.
Robert Spencer has been a featured speaker across the country and around the world and authored 17 books. Spencer’s books have been translated into many languages, including Spanish, Italian, German, Finnish, Korean, Polish and Bahasa Indonesia. His Qur’an commentary at Jihad Watch, Blogging the Qur’an, has been translated into Czech, Danish, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
Spencer (MA, Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history in depth since 1980. His work has aroused the ire of the foes of freedom and their dupes: in October 2011, Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups wrote to Homeland Security Advisor (and current CIA director) John Brennan, demanding that Spencer be removed as a trainer for the FBI and military groups, which he taught about the belief system of Islamic jihadists; Brennan immediately complied as counter-terror training materials were scrubbed of all mention of Islam and jihad. Spencer has been banned by the British government from entering the United Kingdom for pointing out accurately that Islam has doctrines of violence against unbelievers. He has been invited by name to convert to Islam by a senior member of al-Qaeda.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 3, 2024
Spencer thinks it's unfair to dismiss the Byzantine Empire for stagnation, intrigue, mutilation, assassination, and secular decline, so he's written a workmanlike narrative history of its stagnation, intrigue, mutilation, assassination, and secular decline. He's not a scholar, but the narrative is enlivened with illuminating quotations from contemporaneous writers. He does not take much if anything from current historical scholarship (that's not necessarily a bad thing). His narrative is marred by occasional snarky remarks related to contemporary politics. He thinks the Byzantines should get more credit for shielding Christendom from the Islamic onslaught for 700 years. That's fair enough. A final chapter reviews the major cultural contributions of the Byzantines: the Code of Justinian, some gorgeous religious art, and preserving many classical works long enough for them to make it to Renaissance Italy.
December 22, 2023
This book didn't exactly explain "how the Byzantines saved civilization" - it was more of a breezy history of the 11 centuries that this civilization endured in about 400 pages than anything else. There are other books that have done the same thing by Lars Brownworth and John Julius Norwich.
The material the author covered was pleasantly superficial but was occasionally interspersed with comments re: how the Byzantine Empire's situations are similar to certain modern ones. I certainly recognize those similarities, but having a history of the Byzantine Empire be interrupted by reminders of modern day foolishness defeats the purpose of avoiding thinking about modern things I can't fix.
Then there was the mistake of stating that Basil Lekapenos was the son of Romanos II, when he was actually the illegitimate son of Romanos I Lekapenos, so was Romanos II's half-uncle. Maybe a minor point, but one that Byzantinists will note.
I also take issue with his depiction of Romanos IV Diogenes. The author seems have swallowed Michael Psellos's acid description of Romanos IV's reign and his battles against the Turks hook, line and sinker. There is no mention of the battlefield betrayals of Andronikos Ducas and another general of the Ducas affinity that led to the Manzikert defeat, nor does he seem to realize that Psellos's patron when he was writing his history was Caesar John Ducas, the father of Andronikos and the architect of said betrayal and defeat. Romanos Diogenes really deserves better!
Things I liked about the book included the translations of documents that haven't often made it into histories - letters by Julian the Apostate, a few patriarchs, and others. Julian's reign, as short and forgettable as it was, doesn't often get much info on why he was not mourned. I also appreciated the author's recognition of the very long-term impact of the tax benefits Alexios I Comnenus granted to the Venetians. Another history I read recently dismissed the impact of those "small" benefits without realizing how large they can accrue over a hundred years, which was to the detriment of the Byzantine people. Understanding how money issues are important throughout history is a plus!
As someone who loves Byzantine history, I always appreciate anyone bringing it into the limelight. This book is mostly ok, but to really grasp Byzantine greatness you have to dig deeper into individual eras rather than try to cover everything in 400 pages.
The material the author covered was pleasantly superficial but was occasionally interspersed with comments re: how the Byzantine Empire's situations are similar to certain modern ones. I certainly recognize those similarities, but having a history of the Byzantine Empire be interrupted by reminders of modern day foolishness defeats the purpose of avoiding thinking about modern things I can't fix.
Then there was the mistake of stating that Basil Lekapenos was the son of Romanos II, when he was actually the illegitimate son of Romanos I Lekapenos, so was Romanos II's half-uncle. Maybe a minor point, but one that Byzantinists will note.
I also take issue with his depiction of Romanos IV Diogenes. The author seems have swallowed Michael Psellos's acid description of Romanos IV's reign and his battles against the Turks hook, line and sinker. There is no mention of the battlefield betrayals of Andronikos Ducas and another general of the Ducas affinity that led to the Manzikert defeat, nor does he seem to realize that Psellos's patron when he was writing his history was Caesar John Ducas, the father of Andronikos and the architect of said betrayal and defeat. Romanos Diogenes really deserves better!
Things I liked about the book included the translations of documents that haven't often made it into histories - letters by Julian the Apostate, a few patriarchs, and others. Julian's reign, as short and forgettable as it was, doesn't often get much info on why he was not mourned. I also appreciated the author's recognition of the very long-term impact of the tax benefits Alexios I Comnenus granted to the Venetians. Another history I read recently dismissed the impact of those "small" benefits without realizing how large they can accrue over a hundred years, which was to the detriment of the Byzantine people. Understanding how money issues are important throughout history is a plus!
As someone who loves Byzantine history, I always appreciate anyone bringing it into the limelight. This book is mostly ok, but to really grasp Byzantine greatness you have to dig deeper into individual eras rather than try to cover everything in 400 pages.
December 29, 2023
I'm enjoying this book (still not finished), and not being very familiar with this era of Western history found it a very helpful and informative primer (on a vast, complex, and fascinating story). I thought it interesting how the author made some of the parallels with the ancient Roman's mistakes and 21st century America and Europe so obvious (esp. the naive and eventually disastrous immigration policy of open borders and lax defenses). This apparent axe-grinding by an author is not what I'm used to in history books, but it reflects the reality of today when modern civilization is again under attack (from without and within), it's very survival in doubt as it was during the decline of the Roman Empire, which this book so clearly documents.
"Nowadays, of course, the Goths' refusal to undergo Romanization would be celebrated, as a manifestation of the "diversity" that is, we are constantly reminded, "our strength." The story of the Goths inside the Roman Empire, however, tells a vastly different tale and serves as a bracing reminder of the dangers of mass migration, non-assimilation, and cutting corners with one's military." (p. 44)
What I don't like about this book is the quality of the printing (first edition, hardcover). The cover quality is fine, but the pages and print within are only of mediocre quality (like you'd expect in a cheap paperback edition). What was especially frustrating is that about every 20 pages the top edge was joined together for half the page and so had to be cut apart. Hopefully this production flaw is found in only a limited number of copies, but it's something I've never encountered before, and shows yet again how we live in an age of degenerating standards...
"Nowadays, of course, the Goths' refusal to undergo Romanization would be celebrated, as a manifestation of the "diversity" that is, we are constantly reminded, "our strength." The story of the Goths inside the Roman Empire, however, tells a vastly different tale and serves as a bracing reminder of the dangers of mass migration, non-assimilation, and cutting corners with one's military." (p. 44)
What I don't like about this book is the quality of the printing (first edition, hardcover). The cover quality is fine, but the pages and print within are only of mediocre quality (like you'd expect in a cheap paperback edition). What was especially frustrating is that about every 20 pages the top edge was joined together for half the page and so had to be cut apart. Hopefully this production flaw is found in only a limited number of copies, but it's something I've never encountered before, and shows yet again how we live in an age of degenerating standards...
April 24, 2024
This book filled in some gaps for me regarding Roman/Byzantine history.
No plot spoilers, but...
They certainly wasted a LOT of time squabbling about minor matters of religion.
Fantastic that they codified Roman law.
Too bad they did NOT cover succession planning for their emperors.
A lot of eyes gouged out. Eeeeeuww.
Amazing that less than 40 years after the fall of Constantinople, Columbus set out on his voyage.
Spencer's book encourages me to read more about Roman/Byzantine history.
No plot spoilers, but...
They certainly wasted a LOT of time squabbling about minor matters of religion.
Fantastic that they codified Roman law.
Too bad they did NOT cover succession planning for their emperors.
A lot of eyes gouged out. Eeeeeuww.
Amazing that less than 40 years after the fall of Constantinople, Columbus set out on his voyage.
Spencer's book encourages me to read more about Roman/Byzantine history.
September 6, 2024
This account of the Roman Empire and its downfall filled in many historical gaps for me. It also brought into stark relief the oft quoted axiom that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I can see the mistakes made during the Byzantine period living out again in my country now. ....which is not only astounding but also profoundly depressing.
A worthwhile read for anyone attempting to understand the calamities currently being endured by citizens of Western 'democracies".
A worthwhile read for anyone attempting to understand the calamities currently being endured by citizens of Western 'democracies".
May 24, 2025
This is a short history of the Byzantine Empire. His argument is that if the Byzantine Empire was not there and if Martel had not stopped the Muslims at Poitier, they would have conquered Europe. Also, that the defeat of the Iconoclasts allowed the development of Western Art. Neither one of these suggestions is convincing. Moreover, he uses the events of that time to support his opinions about current affairs, such as Biden’s policies, COVID, etc. Really not worth reading it.
April 4, 2024
If you want a broad overview of the Byzantine Empire this book is for you. Not a bad read, but because of the complexity of the subject and the many people invoking its history, it is easy to get confused as to who is who. None the less, the author does a decent job giving the important details in a nicely written narrative.
June 26, 2024
Great history of the Byzantine empire. Though I don't necessarily I think I want to enjoyed the book more if it wasn't for the heavy political commentary of today's time
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2024
Decent book, only gets 2 stars because the last few chapters have way too much modern politics.
January 6, 2025
Excellent book! Real history with emphasis on its positive Christian legacy.
October 6, 2025
I got the book to learn about ancient history not modern politics. I should have read the author's bio before I bothered to pick it up.
April 20, 2025
straight up right wing propaganda. Ew
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews