The Roman Empire in the East: From Arcadius to Theophilus AD 395 842

History of the Ancient World

by Paul Stephenson

Three hundred action-packed years of Roman history, encompassing the fall of Rome and the rise of a new empire in the East.

'Fascinating ... illuminating ... Stephenson examines ordinary life, painting a vivid and intriguing picture.'

The Times

Long before Rome fell to the Ostrogoths in AD 476, a new city had risen to take its place as the beating heart of a late antique empire, the glittering New Rome.

In this magisterial work, Professor Paul Stephenson charts the centuries surrounding this epic shift of power. He traces the cultural, social and political forces that led to the empire being ruled from a city straddling Europe and Asia, placing all into a rich natural and environmental context informed by the latest scientific research.

Blending narrative with analysis, he shows how the city and empire of New Rome survived countless attacks and the rise of Islam. By the end, the wide world of linked cities had changed into a world founded on new ideas about government and God, art and war, and the very future of a Christian Byzantium.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, Roman History, Classics, Ancient, Greece

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 18, 2022

About the author

Paul Stephenson studies the early and middle Byzantine periods (A.D. 300-1204). His published work has focused on middle Byzantine political and cultural history; the history and historiography of Southeastern Europe, medieval to modern; and religious warfare. Currently he is: completing a cultural history of a Byzantine monument, the Serpent Column; researching late antique and Byzantine views of sacred warfare and spiritual combat; editing separate volumes on the desire for Byzantium outside former Byzantine lands, and on the fountains of Byzantion - Constantinople - Istanbul; writing a general history of the Late Roman Empire in the East, c. 400-843, for Harvard Univ. Press and Profile Books. Stephenson has taught in the UK, Republic of Ireland, and the USA, and has held research fellowships from the British Academy (in Oxford), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (in Mainz), the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation (in Athens), and the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (in Uppsala). Before coming to Nijmegen, he was for five years Professor of Medieval History at Durham University, and for six year before that the Rowe Professor of Byzantine History at Dumbarton Oaks and the University of Wisconsin - Madison. In 2011-12 he was Vassiliadis Visiting Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego. Stephenson is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society (UK).

Stephenson offers instruction across a range of areas in medieval and Byzantine history. Notably, he offers a themacollege (senior seminar) on the transition from late antiquity to Byzantium and a research seminar devoted to medieval Rome and Constantinople for the MA Roma Aeterna. He is a co-convenor of the Duae Romae seminar, and teaches core elements of the HLCS research MA. He offers lectures for the undergraduate surveys of "Medieval History" and "Europa".

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and detailed book looking at the development of the new Rome or the Eastern roman empire and its struggles and victories with its neighbours

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our understanding about history gets reassessed as we evolve our own understanding of our current place in history. It is a massive undertaking to tackle a general history of the Eastern Empire and tell such a compelling story as this author does while describing all the moving pieces and weaving them into a coherent narrative.

Recent historians wisely latch on to more than just literary sources and attach archeological findings and scientific understandings of modern understanding of diseases, famines, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and so on. This book illustrates why today’s historians are not your father’s historians because the author expertly weaved science into the story, and makes the relevance of New Rome more than just a temporary bridge between old Rome and Constantine.

Esoteric arguments concerning arcane points of religious dogma never cease to entertain me and as the nexus of Western Civilization moved towards New Rome (Constantinople) they started to help differentiate the us from the them, and the dogmatic points are necessarily laid out in this book.

I understand why the traditional story of Western Civilization gets told such that the Eastern Empire is mostly a footnote. Except for the time-period in this book, from 400 A.D. to 650 A.D. and even most of that time-period, Constantinople is struggling with survival from plagues, wars from outside and inside, climate events, and a soon to be period when coined money starts to disappear making what for all intents and purposes could be called a dark age. Without the pretense of a Roman empire in the East and the soon to be Islamic domination for most of the Roman world, there would never have been a Charlamagne and the continuation of what would be called Western Civilization or as Gibbon’s would call it ‘the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.’

New history books such as this one, tell us the stories that we are all familiar with, and it has the wisdom to re-interpret them with recent science, archeology, coin discoveries, and so on since ‘all understanding is interpretation, and being that can be understood is language’, it is for us to reassess our past by constantly updating our understanding and for us to seek out gifted writers who explain the past to us in terms of who we have become through our previous understandings. In the last chapter, the author makes the point, that New Rome after 650 A.D. kept the label for itself as Romans, but it no longer retained an identity with the Romans as an integral part of their zeitgeist. The story they told about themselves through the statues, literature, art, monuments and so on no longer looked backwards but looked at the now as leverage for tomorrow.

[Terence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stephenson divides New Rome into three parts. The first part is a topical history of the period covered (c. 450 – c. 700) that focuses on the lives of the empire’s citizens. For me, this is the strongest part of the book; I learned genuinely new information about the period. The second part is a narrative history centered around the imperial court and the emperors. It’s length limits it to a synopsis rather than an in-depth discussion but it was interesting and reasonably well written. Even though I’m familiar with the period, it’s still interesting to see differing interpretations. The third part is the weakest, IMO. It again moves to a more thematic view of the empire, focusing on population trends, religious interpretations of the period and imperial iconography. It is unfocused and ends abruptly without tying things together.

Another positive about this volume is a 14-page selection of maps. They’re political maps, without much physical detail beyond the rivers, but they’re nicely drawn and helpful in situating yourself when reading.

Overall, I would recommend the book. The third part reads like a draft but the first two sections are well written and interesting, and it’s accessible to the general reader who might not have a deep background in late Roman history.

[Simon Goldenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Byzantines can't sit still for one second, all they do is murder, mutilate and burn each other

[Anne Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The later part of the Roman Empire isn't one that gets as much attention and here Paul Stephenson examines the empire from the 'New Rome' (aka Constantinople) point of view- roughly 395-700. Mostly the eastern part of the empire- Constantinople, and what today would be called Asia, Turkey, parts of Africa, etc.

I found the first part of this three part book the most interesting. Looking at life in the later empire, from family and religion to the changes of culture and cities overall was interesting and informative. Part 2 covered the emperors and their attempts or successes at dynasties which got drawn out and repetitive and more resembled a text book you'd read in college focusing on battles and who killed who than anything else. The end of each chapter summarized everything the chapter had just said and I might recommend reading only that part to just get the gist of it and move on. Part 3 gets slightly more general as it looks at the age as a whole, mostly religious, also highly repetitive. By then I was more than ready for the book to be over. Repetitive and focusing on religious changes, by this point I wasn't getting anything out of the book.

Probably this is a book more for scholars than the casual reader, although since it seems to be more general in terms of the information provided, I can't imagine scholars are going to find anything new in reading this long and dry textbook-like tome.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an magisterial account of the rise of Constantinople (the "New Rome") and the Eastern Roman Empire, which after 476 CE was just The Roman Empire (the citizens of which simply called themselves "Romans," and this explains the fury of the Byzantines whenever someone in the West declared themselves a "king" or "emperor" of "the Romans"). A weighty tome, not light reading, but fascinating for any scholar of late antiquity and the middle ages.

[Tamara]

I didn't actually finish this. It was interesting, but very detailed, and I had many books to read. In the end, it didn't keep my interest/attention enough to give it priority.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Isn’t it better to live in an age where science can piece together the past by studying the very dust where humans once lived? Gone are the glory days when Gobeklitepe could be proclaimed Eden. The storytelling becomes less dramatic, but in its stead the minutiae revels their secrets.
Adding such precise scholarship to the usual mix of physical evidence, such as papyri, architecture, and objects of ivory, silver and gold, Stephenson put his shoulder into the challenges Rome in the east faced during the interregnum between the Roman-controlled Mediterranean and the advent of Islam.
He builds his position carefully. By the end of the book we understand why Antioch, which had a population between 150,000 and 300,000 in 400 CE, had only an estimated population in the tens of thousands by 600 CE. Once one of the three great cities of the Roman Empire, the city had been sacked, devastated by fires and earthquakes, not to mention climate change brought on by volcanic eruptions.
It is an academic read, what with 353 pages and copious notes, but I still found it quite readable. And it was a perfect companion as I’ve finished Robin Pierson’s History of Byzantium podcast and several books by Anthony Kaldellis, who sold me on this book when he blurbed it. Though these sorts of books can be a lot for the layman to take in—for I know I missed more than a few details—I better understand how the secular basilica design of The Studion evolved into Hagia Sophia, or why Byzantine mosaics decorate the Dome of the Rock and the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus where John the Baptist is said to be buried.

[Peter Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book. Unlike the works of John Julius Norwich, this isn't a maps and chaps history with a nice line in gossip. Instead, it opens by talking about lead. This was fascinating and the background provided by this gave a lot of context for the middle section of the book. It's nice when a book shows more of a slice of life than who was up and who was down.

The middle section is the chronological history and this rattles along at a nice pace. I'll be honest, the niceties of the many theological arguments were beyond me, but they mattered deeply to the folk at the time and so are something of a necessary evil to follow. It was great to see some of the less fashionable emperors discussed, as much as the sources permitted, rather than just Justinian and Heraclius taking centre stage and the rest passed over.

The final section was more of a mixed bag, with the many examples of life changing and the decline feeling rather repetitive. However, it did make the point that unlike some of the challengers to Pirenne who date these changes to the Vandal occupation of North Africa, the 7th century is much more plausible.

It would have been nice to have seen something about the establishment of the Themes, as these have long intrigued me, but this is a minor quibble.

I hope that Stephenson writes some successor volumes to this, as I'd like to read his thoughts on the rule of Romanus Lecapenus.

[Alec · Rating 2 out of 5]

They say don't judge a book by its cover, in this case I did and the topic and cover looked interesting. However, I ended up disappointed. The book has way to much detail for what I perceive as the intended audience and there was nothing to hold the reader interested, and yes I managed to make it through all 353 pages. Each chapter and section reads like a Wikipedia page and there is essentially no story-telling or attempt to write an exciting history book. I get that for many "exciting history" is an oxymoron but I read a lot of history and this was one of the most boring books I have read.

The topic is interesting enough and I am not as familiar with Eastern Roman history as other time-periods so that is why I picked it up. However, I would look elsewhere for a primer on this time period (300-700 CE).

[Martin White · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful new approach to the rise of Byzantium. The first part is remarkable, original, compelling. So much I never knew, and I have read a very great deal in this area. The second part rather less so, with perhaps more detail than anyone needs. Political narrative. The final part is a return to form, with great insights into archaeology and ideology. Just saw that this has been reviewed very favorably in New York Review by my favorite author, Peter Brown, truly the expert on Late Antiquity.

[Mike Hohrath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review: New Rome: The Empire in the East (History of the Ancient World) by Paul Stephenson

Introduction

New Rome: The Empire in the East by Paul Stephenson provides an engaging examination of the Byzantine Empire’s early centuries, from its inception in 325 AD to its evolution by 750 AD. Often eclipsed by the narrative of Western Rome, this eastern empire takes center stage in Stephenson’s work, offering a fresh perspective on its formative years. This review reflects on the book through three angles—my fascination with the Byzantine Empire’s early significance, my appreciation for its use of photography and scientific evidence, and my interest in how its urban network shaped its identity—before concluding with a speculative “what if” inspired by external sources.

Part 1: The Byzantine Empire’s Early Endurance

My interest in the Byzantine Empire lies in its role as Rome’s eastern successor, a vibrant civilization that thrived long after the Western Empire’s fall in 476 AD. Stephenson’s New Rome dives into this story, spanning from the city’s founding as Constantinople in 330 AD—born from Constantine the Great’s vision of a new imperial capital—through its rise to prominence by 750 AD. The book highlights key triumphs, like Justinian’s legal and architectural achievements, alongside struggles against invaders like the Persians and Huns. Ending in the 700s, it captures Byzantium at a crossroads, resilient and adaptive, with a Greek-infused Roman identity that sets it apart. This focus on its early vitality drew me in, presenting Byzantium as a dynamic force rather than a fading echo of Rome.

Part 2: A Visual and Scientific Lens

As someone who enjoys photography, I was struck by Stephenson’s creative use of visual and material evidence to bring early Byzantium to life. The book pairs primary sources—such as Procopius’s writings—with secondary analyses, but its real strength lies in its architectural photography and environmental data. Images of Constantinople’s early landmarks, like the Hagia Sophia and its nascent walls, vividly showcase the empire’s grandeur between 325 and 750 AD. Stephenson goes further, using soil samples from mining sites to track economic trends, with mineral and leaf analyses revealing industrial activity—like lead from Anatolian silver mines—across these centuries. This blend of striking visuals and scientific insight captivated me, making the empire’s past feel immediate and concrete.

Part 3: The Urban Network of Byzantium

My passion for history found a vivid connection in Stephenson’s depiction of the Byzantine Empire as a network of thriving cities from 325 to 750 AD. The book begins with the birth of Constantinople, established in 330 AD on the site of ancient Byzantium, strategically positioned between Europe and Asia. Stephenson traces its rise as the empire’s political and cultural heart, but he doesn’t stop there. He brings in the era’s other major cities—Antioch, a bustling trade and intellectual hub in Syria, and Alexandria, Egypt’s beacon of learning and commerce—showing how they formed a constellation of power alongside Constantinople. This urban network, Stephenson argues, was the empire’s backbone, linking diverse regions through trade, administration, and shared Roman heritage.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is separated into three parts. The first details the late antique Roman Empire, particularly noteworthy is it's intermixing of climate science, archaeology, and textual records from Egypt (where preserved papyri shows us the mundane bureaucracy of the romans) to demonstrate the economic and political changes that resulted in the creation of a New Rome, an economically prosperous and bureaucratically powerful regime centered on Constantinople, but retaining powerful peripheral cities such as Alexandria, Antioch, and Carthage.

The second portion bridges the beginning and the end by delving into a long yet concise narrative history from the late 300s to the 600s. This is the weakest portion of the book as it is quite long yet doesn't delve into details, so I didn't gain any fantastically new insights.

The last third details the fall of the civilisation of New Rome the rise of the civilisation we call Byzantium. Bolstered by archaeology and climate science with scarce textual records, New Rome's civic, institutional, military, and economic fall is detailed. Plague, wars, earthquakes, climate change, and powerful enemies crumble an empire to a mighty city that maintains fortified outposts on a dangerous frontier. A great focus is given to cultural and political shifts that centre the whole Roman world on Constantinople and its Davidian warrior emperor.

In short, a worthwile and engaging read!

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book, providing an insightful exploration of the final years of the Roman Empire, the transition to a Christian Mediterranean world, and the genesis of the Byzantine Empire. The author, American historian Paul Stephenson, offers a comprehensive analysis of a transformative period in western history. Stephenson’s narrative covers the complex dynamics that marked the end of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Byzantine Empire. The author examines the political, social, and religious changes that facilitated the transition, highlighting the forces that shaped the post-classical world and their influence on the governance and cultural identity of the political entities which replaced Rome. The analysis is backed by a wealth of historical evidence and scholarly insight, making for an informative and engaging book. A great book for anyone interested in the final years of the Roman Empire, the transition from the Ancient World to “Christendom,” and the initiation of medieval Byzantium.

[CASPER HILEMAN · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor and author Paul Stephenson provides a look at the Eastern Roman Empire and its downfall not just from the perspective of warfare and the loss of territory but also the other more fundamental events that lead to the downfall of society such as internal strife, environmental degradation, and disease. Well worth both the cost and the time for not just those interested in the classics but also anyone interested in the big things that matter.

[Berkay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doğu Roma tarih anlatımı, genelde savaşlar ve siyasî tarih üzerinden anlatılır. Ancak Paul Stephenson bu kitabında, siyasi ve askeri tarihin yanı sıra şehir hayatının ve imparatorluk zümresinin yaşantılarına dair çok renkli ve akıcı anlatımlar sunuyor. Özellikle Roma’nın Doğu ve Batı olarak ikiye ayrılmasındaki süreci anlamak için bu kitap okura çok yardımcı olacaktır.

Doğu Roma’nın erken tarihine farklı bir bakış açısıyla bakmak isteyenler mutlaka bu eseri edinmeli.

[Ernest Spoon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fact-filled, hardly a riveting narrative but interesting, nonetheless. The Emperor Heraclius seems to be the main focus of this book, and he comes off as a tragic hero of sorts. If there is any fault with this book is, it attempts to encompass too much. As a leisurely summer read I don't recommend, but were I writing a paper for a college history class I'd reach for it first.

[Salomé Cheysson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting content, but the central part is lacking in cohesion, choosing to follow a mostly chronological exposition of the roman emperors from that period that quickly turns tedious. I had to force myself to read through these parts.

[Anscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slightly lighter on political detail than previous instalments of this series, but it makes up for it with archaeological and scientific details that flesh out the broader Eurasian context of the events. All very engaging, I'm certainly a convert to the interest of late Roman history!

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 / 5.0

Good job enlivening dry subject and creating a sense of atmosphere. First treatment of rise of Islam in opposition to Byzantium I have read--Enlightening

[Casty · Rating 1 out of 5]

wikipedia >>>

[John Wegener · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good rundown of the history of Constantinople between 395 and 700AD. But I felt it was spoiled by the last section of the book which didn't fit in with the rest of it.

[Mallory Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

was not expecting it to be so academic but was incredibly exhausting - great man history at its best

[Frank Grobbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sangat bagus!

[Kirsten Muller · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me waaaay too long to finish this book. Way more time than it should have. Ugh.

Did I get absolutely no enjoyment out of this book? No, I wouldn't say that. But it had a hard time keeping my interest, and I could put it down fairly easily. There were plenty of days where I just gave in to laziness and didn't read anything - which is probably the main reason it took so long.

I think the main issue- especially in the middle chapters when he's talking about individual people and figures - is that he just throws information and names at you and expects it/them to stick. So. many. names. - and no way to differentiate them. At one point, he literally talking about two men named Theoderic who are both from the same ethnic group (forget which one, honestly). In the same paragraph. Even keep monikers/nicknames like "the Great" or even just the numbers (like "Leo II" or "Leo the Great" instead of just "Leo"), but he doesn't, or stops after one mention. Instead, I have to infer which Justinian or Leo or Theodosius or Heraclius he means, and it's just...then he backtracks and switched back and forth between centuries and time periods a lot. All to add to my confusion. This repeat of names certainly occurs when I look at, say, British or French history. But they usually add the number, title, or nickname to avoid confusion. Also, I have enough of a background to understand who's who, which helps. I don't have that with Byzantine history. I think it's really this frustration that hampered my ability to like this book. The book has a lot of beautiful maps in the beginning (which are definite pluses), but no family trees to help you figure out who's who, or helpful timeline to help summarize or move things along.

Adding to the point I just made, maybe this isn't a bad book, but a bad book for a beginner; i.e. someone new to Byzantine history (like I am). We in the West aren't really exposed to a lot of it - most people are lucky if they can name Justinian (the Great) and Constanine. To be clear, I think this is a shame and shouldn't be the case, but it's the reality. By contrast, most people can name at least a few British or French monarchs. We have that familiarity. You can't assume that for most people when it comes to Byzantine history. Most people might be confused as to what it even is. I feel like he assumes you have a familiarity that you probably don't - at least, it seems that way, based on how he breezes through the events and the succession of Emperors. Maybe he just assumes you're not a beginner, but still...

As a side note, BOY is Byzantine history wild. I lost count of the number of times the city was set on fire, suffered an earthquake or a flood. Also how many times the people rioted. And how many Royals are going to have the noses cut off or their tongue cut out. And the eunuchs, too. God. The way the book is just like. "...This guy started off his reign by murdering his uncle...then was promptly overthrown, he and his entire family being murdered. His usurper would then be overthrown himself in just a few short months." I mean...no words. I don't know why we don't study this more. Again, the author writes it in a very quick way which makes the content seem dry, despite what it actually is, which creates a jarring experience ("Wait, he did WHAT now?!?").

All in all, it didn't deter me from wanting to know more about this time period, which is good. It kept my interest enough to finish it. But I don't feel like I absorbed anything he read (again, especially in regards to the middle chapters). Make of all this what you will.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little scattered and unfocused in its early stages as it attempts an explanation of late antiquity with reference to scientific factors, then it becomes a comprehensive history that covers everything with admirable clarity.

[Roy Kenagy]

PLDM. AUDIBLE - JOYCE?. NYRB rave. 2/10/2022.