Empire of Gold : A History of the Byzantine Empire

by Thomas F. Madden

Publication: Prince Frederick, MD, [Boulder, Colo Recorded Books, 2007.
Subject: Istanbul (Turkey)--History.
Rome--History.
Byzantine Empire--History.
Downloadable audio books.Audiobooks. Language: English
Duration: 8 Hours 19 Minutes
Product ID: 199850
EISBN: 9781429482554
ISBN: 9781428132672
File Size: 116 MB (CD Quality)
16 MB (Radio Quality)

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Medieval, Historical

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Thomas F. Madden is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Saint Louis University. As an author and historical consultant he appears in such venues as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and The History Channel.

Dr. Madden's latest book is The Fall of Republics: A History from Ancient Carthage to the American Constitution. His previous books include Venice: A New History, The Concise History of the Crusades, Istanbul: City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World, Empires of Trust, and Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice. He has also written and lectured extensively on the ancient and medieval Mediterranean as well as the history of Christianity and Islam.

Awards for his scholarship include the National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar Award, the Medieval Academy of America's Haskins Medal, and the Medieval Institute's Otto Grundler Prize. He is a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Medieval Academy of America.

Reviews

[Vasi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, this was a very good sum up of the history of Byzantine Empire. And I can confidently say so, since I’ve read a fair share of said history. So I would definitely recommend these lectures for someone who wants to get started on this and has been feeling intimidated (it’s an Empire spanning through 11 centuries after all, the content is just massive).

Admittedly, there were some more important happenings that could have been added to this course, but nonetheless it was a great listen!

[Spencer Crabb · Rating 3 out of 5]

“If I just get the pope to recognize me as the emperor, the East and West will be united again!” - Constantine the xth, probably…

Honestly pretty good, nice overview of a lot of history, would listen to another lecture of his. Also if you ever don’t want someone to be emperor, I guess the best thing to do is blind them?!

[Emanuele Pezzani · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative outline of the history of the Byzantine (pardon: Eastern Roman :D ) Empire from Constantine to the Fall of Constantinople. It's useful if you want just that, a historical outline, but I must say I'm a bit disappointed because I was hoping to find some more in-depth discussions of historiographical issues. Much of the history the ERE has been determined by its being both the heir to Rome and a mostly Greek-speaking state, but also a state that had a very idiosyncratic approach to religion, something that as Western Europeans we are not always very aware of and that for a thousand years we struggled to come to terms with. The iconoclasm in the VIII century (the crowning of Charlemagne follows shortly thereafter and only deepens a rift that was getting worse by the decade), the gross misunderstanding of the 1054 schism (would Manzikert have happened, or would it have been as serious, if the schism hadn't happened?...), the disaster of 1204, the religious hatred that led both Western and Eastern Christians to become convinced at some point that Muslims were a better fate than each other... Could things have been different at some point? Was there ever a chance to make peace with each other? Was the unity of the Church salvageable at any point? Was the restoration of the Roman Empire in the West an acknowledgement of a de facto separation, or a slight and an insult that only made things worse with Constantinople? Should the Popes have compromised more in order to preserve the integrity of the Body of Christ? Was the "filioque" debate really such an important issue after all?... For better or worse, Constantinople halted for centuries the Muslim advance on Europe, but this role was taken for granted or even openly obstructed by the West: how would European history have changed if we had been more tolerant of each other? Would we have been more tolerant of Islam, too, if we had learnt more about tolerance early on? Or indeed, would we see now Islam as truly the Other to fight with words and sword? I honestly have no answer (and I do think these questions are ultimately unanswerable), but I finished this course with the distinct feeling that many of these questions could have been explored, to some extent, but instead I got none of this. I'm not saying it's a bad thing per se, but again: know what you are going to get u.u

[Scipio Africanus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Id have given it 4 stars if i hadnt already read alot about byzantium. Great overview, but he skips over all the really good stuff. Greatest Empire in history. Prove me wrong. Rome - Byzantium - Constantinople - Pax Romana - Othodoxy

[Mary Pat · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's amazing that the Byzantine Empire lasted so long, given its location & how its history reads like an extended soap opera. If eye stabbings make you queasy, best not learn about the Byzantines.

Good lecturer, and was pretty good at helping me distinguish between all the similarly-named eye-stabbers-and-stabbees.

(And yes, I know there's more to the Eastern Roman Empire than eye stabbings. But it features far more often than any other empire out there...)

[Anatolikon · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Lars Brownworth did his '12 Byzantine Rulers' podcast, no one could expect much. Here was an amateur working primarily from John Julius Norwich's archaic and flawed works. And yet, he managed to put together an entertaining series of lectures. This is why this particular audiobook is such a travesty. The expectations are much higher for Thomas Madden, because he is a published, peer-reviewed scholar with a PhD. My own expectations were high because his academic work is quite good. Instead, what we get here is a hideously overpriced history of Byzantium in which the bulk of it is really no better than Brownworth's, and yet this one costs $40 compared to the other being free.

As another reviewer has noted, it is superficial, but such things are expected when trying to cover over a thousand years of history in eight and a half hours. The problem is much of the focus of that content. Almost half of the audiobook covers Byzantium from the crusade period until the fall of Constantinople. The content here is quite good, because Madden is a scholar of this period. The problem is that the other period, from Diocletian (ca. 284) to the crusader period (end of the eleventh century) gets squeezed into that space, which also includes a sizable (although rather good) description of Constantinople. The content on this earlier period of history is not very remarkable, either. Many of Madden's ideas are quite similar to the archaic ones contained in Norwich and Ostrogorsky, and it is quite clear that despite being part of the "Modern Scholar" series, Madden is not at all acquainted with modern scholarship of the early and middle Byzantine periods. It does not help that it feels like Madden is doing much of this impromptu. There are frequently seemingly random pauses in the lectures which badly interrupt the flow. He also does not seem very interested in what he's talking about, and the recording really lacks enthusiasm.

The sections on Byzantium and the crusades is quite good in here, but this attempt to lecture on a complete history of Byzantium fails. Had it focused entirely on Madden's own areas of expertise, this would have certainly earned four or five stars, but as it is this is a mediocre, overpriced history that has to compete against a mediocre, free history.

[Rodney Harvill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Early on in this lecture series, I learned that “Byzantine” is a modern designation to distinguish this empire from the Roman Empire. Those we call “Byzantine” actually viewed themselves as Romans. In the waning days of the Roman Republic, the conflict in which Octavius Caesar defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra represented a victory of the Latin West over the Greek East. With the rise of Constantinople, the time of the Greek East had come, and the Greek East would preserve the heritage of Rome for another thousand years. Prior to listening to these lectures, I had viewed the Byzantine empire as consisting of the eastern part of the Roman empire. Now, I stand corrected. At its height, The Byzantine empire held much of the old Roman empire, including the Italian peninsula, the Iberian peninsula and north Africa. Many of the western holdings had previously fallen to Goths, Vandals, etc., but the Byzantines were able to retake these lands as the Germanic tribes weakened.

The greatest threat and ultimate undoing of the empire was Islam, the timing of whose arrival on the scene was impeccable. The Byzantines and the Persians had just waged a war to the death that broke the power and of the Persians and severely weakened the Byzantines. It was into this vacuum of strength that the Islamic hordes emerged from Arabia and quickly overran the Persian empire, Syria, North Africa and the Iberian peninsula. Gradually, they advanced into Anatolia and eventually gained a foothold in the Balkan peninsula of Europe. As if these challenges weren't enough, western Europeans made moves on the Italian peninsula, and Bulgars, Avars and Serbs challenged the Byzantine presence on the Balkan peninsula. In short, much of Byzantine history involved warfare with neighboring empires, kingdoms and tribes.

For a “Christian” empire, the Byzantine empire seemed to have a cottage industry in palace intrigues. There were nearly constant plots to overthrow the emperor, often resulting in bloodshed, sometimes at the level of civil war. Because blindness would disqualify someone for the throne, rival claimants were often blinded. It was not unusual for a Patriarch to crown an emperor while simultaneously assigning him penance for the misdeeds that garnered himself the crown.
Because the Greek church and the Latin church had various differences in theology and liturgy, Byzantine history was fraught with tension between the two branches of the church, tension that sometimes produced serious schisms. Furthermore, differences within the Greek church sometimes erupted in schism there, as well.

- Byzantine emperor Leo III believed that defeats by Islamic forces were a sign of God's anger at sin in the empire and concluded that the problem was the veneration of icons, which was inconsistent with the second commandment. As a result, he banned icons and their veneration. The Latin church resisted and condemned this iconoclasm as a heresy.
- When Patriarch Ignatius resisted a policy of Emperor Michael III, the emperor dismissed him and appointed Photius, an ally who would back him. When Pope Nicholas I insisted that Ignatius be restored, Photius excommunicated him and declared various Western practices heretical: Saturday fasting, unleavened bread, excluding married men from the priesthood, and the Filioque Clause (The Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son and not just the Father.). These differences would represent battle lines between the two branches of the church.
- Pope Leo IX, in an effort to obtain Byzantine support against the Normans, sent a papal legate, Humbert, to Constantinople. Theological differences produced tension between him and Patriarch Michael Cerularius. Humbert didn't help matters when he wrote and published a tract about the errors of the Greek church while he was in Constantinople. By the end of the matter, the pope and the patriarch had excommunicated each other.

These theological conflicts were also part of the context of the Crusades. Often misunderstood by modern minds, the Crusades represented counter-offensives against the Muslim Turks who were moving into Anatolia and threatening Constantinople although they did morph with time. Western European Christians, recognizing that Constantinople was a barrier between themselves and the Muslim Turks, called a number of Crusades to push them back and preserve the Byzantine empire. The First Crusade, after pushing the Turks out of Anatolia, managed to recapture the Holy Land. Later Muslim reconquest of parts of and finally the entire Holy Land, resulted in Crusader efforts there. This is what moderns think of as the crusades, but there were later crusades fighting the Turks in Anatolia and in the Balkans as the Turks advanced into Europe.

At times the Byzantines actually viewed the westerners as a threat and worked against them in favor of the Turks threatening to overrun them. This actually happened during the Third Crusade when the Byzantine emperor gave the Crusaders half-hearted support. In addition, there was conflict between him and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, who was trying to move his armies overland to the Holy land. His efforts to coordinate with the Byzantine emperor ran into a snag. The Byzantine emperor, who saw himself as the emperor of Rome, wouldn't receive any communication from the Emperor of Rome, and the Holy Roman Emperor wouldn't receive any communication that did not refer to himself as the Emperor of Rome. He finally got Byzantine support after sacking a Byzantine city. I don't doubt that this tension was a contributing factor behind the Fourth Crusade's conquest and sacking of Constantinople itself, resulting in nearly seven decades of Latin rule there.

The constant internal and external conflicts took their toll on the Byzantine empire, gradually weakening it. Sometimes, claimants to the throne would seek aid from foreign kingdoms and empires, even from the Turks. This frequent use of Turk support allowed them to gain inroads in Anatolia and, finally, in Europe, reducing Constantinople to a vassal state of the Turkish Sultan. After briefly throwing off the Turkish yoke, Constantinople was conquered and turned into the capital of an Islamic Turkish empire. The barrier between the Islamic Turks and Europe had finally fallen.

Christians under Turkish rule were reduced to Dhimmi status, second-class citizens who had to pay a head tax and faced a glass ceiling. The Patriarch would henceforth be appointed by the Sultan. The most heart-breaking aspect of this for me was the devshirmeh, which required Christians to surrender some of their sons between the ages of seven and twelve years to be trained for service in the Sultan's Janissary corps, his elite guard of slave soldiers. No longer under the Christian influence of their families, many of these boys would convert to Islam.

Now that I have discussed various aspects of Byzantine history presented by Professor Madden, I would like to discuss his style. His lectures are well organized, and he does a good job of presenting erudite topics in a way that is easily understood.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recently I've been a bit more inclined to learn about European (or near-European history), partly because I realize there is probably some interesting stuff to learn, but more because I've worked my way through all of the interesting non-European history lectures I can find. I enjoyed some of this lecturer's other works, namely The Lost Warriors of God and Medieval Mysteries, so this seemed like a good choice.

Overall, it was decent. It gave me some new insights into how European history developed (for example, part of Venice's rise to prominence in the Medieval period is that it was a remnant of Rome that was unconquered by barbarians, but also independent from the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire which we call the Byzantine empire), and perspectives on how different people viewed themselves and the world around them (perhaps the most interesting is how the creation of the modern country of Greece was in part inspired by a desire to resurrect the Roman (Byzantine) Empire which had been incorporated into the Muslim Ottoman Empire; though overtly stating that goal would have pissed off Western European nations). However, I felt like most of the content of the lectures just sort of glided past me. It never really hooked me and held my attention, it was just kind of a background to driving. Still, managed to absorb some information from it, and that is most of what I want from these.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are pretty cool

14 lectures on a topic from a professor, it's like going to class only without Geddie convincing me that I really don't want to go.

I have always been intrigued by Byzantium...the Crusades...Patriarch.

I also really like the song "Istanbul not Constantinople"

This went through start to finish and was just really interesting and enlightening. Afterwards, I really felt I had learned a lot.

Each lecture is about 50 minutes--and the time goes fast.

If you see these things, pick them up. You learn a lot, and you don't have to write papers.

[John Mendez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a series of lectures by The Modern Scholar. It is about the history of the Byzantine Empire.

What these lectures do, they do very well. This is a very well researched narration of the beat-by-beat history of Byzantium, from it's foundation by the Roman Constantine, to it's dissolution by the Ottoman Mehmed. I can't really say more about it than that, because that's what this is. The lecturer spent his time talking about the internecine details of how important religious leaders(the Popes, the Patriarchs), warriors (crusaders, califs, emperors, generals) and schemers(spies, traitors, backstabbers). This lecture series is very, VERY good at providing the year-by-year breakdown of what happened, who did it, and who it happened to.

What this lecture series doesn't do much of is talk about Byzantine culture, art, religion (except for the Catholic vs Orthodox dynamic). The lecture doesn't humanize the important actors in Byzantine history, providing backgrounds and fully fleshed out stories. It does provide some of this information- such as when the lecturer briefly discusses topics like 'medieval themes' and 'Justinian's reign.' I wanted more of that.

These lectures aren't bad because the lecturer didn't cover these topics- far from it- but that lack makes this series as dry as a bone. Approach this lecture series as a history of Byzantium, talking about all the major events (and a good number of the minor events) from the entire 1000 year history of Constantinople. However I don't think it's where you want to start when you're just beginning to learn about the Eastern Roman Empire, it's too much of a bird's-eye-view.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fascinating series of lectures presents the history of the Byzantine Empire from the time Western and Eastern Rome were contiguous up to and through the many battles that continued from the 5th century until its fall under the Ottoman empire in 1457. The Byzantine Empire, often called the Eastern Roman Empire or simply Byzantium, existed from 330 to 1453. Its capital founded at Constantinople by Constantine I (r. 306-337 CE), the Empire varied in size over the centuries, at one time or another, possessing territories located in Italy, Greece, the Balkans, Levant, Asia Minor, and North Africa. Thomas F. Madden paints a compelling picture of the life and times of the many leaders from both the Eastern and Western sides of the empire who strove for dominance over the centuries.
The study guide is a great help in summarizing each chapter and drawing out the primary themes with a few questions for thought and summation. Loaded with detail and vivid descriptions of battles it brings life to an important period in European history. Recommended for history buffs.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to listen to this after I found out that Edward Gibbons's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire spends a lot of time on the Byzantine Empire. I thought my knowledge of the empire was pretty thin. It turns out that I knew more than I realized because I've read about Medieval Europe, which plays a large role in the empire in its later years. The litany of emperors can be dizzying at times, but Madden does have a few nice stories about life in Constantinople.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand that a thousand years of history is a lot to cover, but I was expecting more than just a list of its leaders and a little of what was going on in the actual empire. I was very disappointed, as there is so much potential, and a lot of names could have been left out and spent the time talking about the Byzantine Empire. It should be re-titled to "Emperors of the Byzantine Empire".

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best survey of the Byzantine Empire I've come across, as it devolves into a pretty bald and somewhat repetitive rendition of one thousand years worth of successions, conquests and coups. Judith Herrin's 'Byzantium' delves rather deeper into the thought, culture and legacy of the city and it's empire.

[Dennis Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Empire of Gold: A History of the Byzantine Empire by Thomas Madden is pretty good! Its the first Modern Scholar course I took that was about as good as the offerings of the Teaching Company. I will say it still lacks the analytical portion of the course, coming across more as an abridged history of the Byzantines. Still, lots of good material, especially after the first Crusade.

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucrarea reprezintă primul meu contact mai detaliat cu istoria Imperiului Bizantin. Am avut o oarecare intuiție a ”profundei necunoașteri a Bizanțului de către occidentali” (Neagu Djuvara). Mi-ar plăcea să cunosc mai multe despre Civilizația bizantină.

[Grace Of Liddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as audiobook. Narrated by professor and part of the Modern Scholar collection. Terrific!

[Nicușor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Byzantine history is fascinating, but this course is not the best on this subject. The author sometimes seems tired and in the end this course offers a series of dates and names for the most part.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Restore the Byzantine Empire!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good recap of the long Byzantine history.

[Amber Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

These lectures were well researched and presented.

[Lily]

This was interesting and really helped me consolidate some of the information I'm learning in my course. A really good overview of the empire.

[Jan Chlapowski Söderlund · Rating 4 out of 5]

* * * - I liked the book.

Empire of Gold - A History of the Byzantine Empire, is a series of lectures read by the author professor Thomas Madden. The title is rather self-explanatory when it comes to the contents. It starts roughly with the decision to have two emperors instead of one ruling the Roman Empire, and then on through the fall of the Western part and on to what I feel is a partly forgotten continuation of the Roman Empire in the east. This might be very basic knowledge to some, but the fact that the Byzantine Empire was in fact the uninterrupted continuation of the previous Roman Empire (at least if you ask the Byzantines themselves) - was a useful piece of information to add to my historical world-view. The story continues mainly by following and naming the succession of kings and dynasties, their main feats, various crusades and a little about Constantinople itself (a little too little I might feel now afterwards). This work also gives a neat little intro to the Ottoman Empire (of course).

As you might have gathered - I am quite a noob when in comes to medieval history. I might have a bit more understanding of the ancient world - although this is a work in progress too. With this in mind - I can happily recommend this book for anyone who wants an easy start in this epoch and part of the world. I presume the information here is very basic, because it was fairly easy even for me to follow. And therefore for anyone with more knowledge about the Byzantine Empire, this series of lectures might not be interesting.

[Nilesh Jasani · Rating 2 out of 5]

The lecture series epitomises what a drably written history book can be.

The subject is absolutely fascinating. But for fourteen lectures, all that one gets are a series of names who happened to be kings, regents and other royal nobles. We get some details about their siblings, how they come to power, lose it and die to make way for the next name.

In between the chronicling, one will be repeatedly told that how this empire was always decaying and on the verge of a collapse to survive/revive. With the exceptions of a chapter on Constantinople, there is hardly anything that describes its rise, glory and other defining characteristics. So why was this empire great? Did they invent anything? How did they treat their subjects? What did they worship? What were the courts like? Or even much simpler: which rulers were kind/close to their population and which were despised?

Apart from the absence of any description of the era and the lives including commerce, taxation, philosophies, beliefs etc, there is no true analysis of the impact of these supposedly important dynasty on future. To be fair, one does get 15-minute session right at the end. That summary is no better than one is likely to get on the web from any of the hundreds of articles linked to the subject.

There is a lot of factual information which is somewhat good for anyone interested in the subject.

[Dwain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never studied the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, in as much detail as I have the empire before the fall of Rome. It was fascinating, and utterly amazing to me that an empire established centuries before Christ still survived in part until 1453. Only once in the empire's history was the capital city of Constantinople conquered, and that was due to the Byzantines not realizing they were in any real danger (read up on the fourth crusade). It took the invention of cannons to finally batter the walls down and conquer the city. I recommend this audiobook as a fascinating look at military history, the history of Christianity, and the decline of western civilization during the middle ages.

[Jackie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Roman empire never stopped, since the division into East and West Roma, started the Byzantine Empire in the East. I am interested in reading more about the myths and legends from this era, as well as learning more about the Eastern Orthodox faith, and the beautiful icons. I was overwhelmed by the list of emperors who fought one another, and then had offspring, and repeat. Is there no other way to list the history of a people?

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was disappointed by these lectures. If they included more storytelling they would be much more enjoyable. I recommend the lectures of J. Rufus Fears. He covers history without it being a dry conglomeration of dates, names, and facts.

[Benjamin Ferrari · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second half of the roman empire, up until its fall in 1453. It's an ok description of all the rulers and wars until its fall. I most enjoyed an early chapter that describes how the city looked like around 700b.c.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit dry but interesting.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a course of lectures on the Byzantine empire. Since I knew essentially nothing, it was quite interesting. Very little depth but a nice overview for a long drive in the car.