A short history of Byzantium: No. 25 Emperor Valens: A reign under siege!
Valens was beset by serious problems from the moment he was first appointed by his older brother Valentinian, to ruleContinue Reading
Tag: Byzantine Empire
A conversation with Byzantine luminary Averil Cameron.
Averil Cameron is one of the leading English-speaking scholars of late antiquity and Byzantium. She has made Byzantium, in particular,Continue Reading
Treasure and mystery in Byzantine Cappadocia.
Before the Romans, other ancient civilisations, notably the Achaemenid Empire, once inhabited the mountainous region of central Anatolia called Cappadocia.Continue Reading
Valentinian I: The last of the triumphant Roman emperors in the west.
Valentinian is sometimes described as a brooding and violent man. Ammianus Marcellinus, in particular, does not mince his words describingContinue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 22 The Last Pagan Emperor
Julian is such an interesting character that it is impossible to ignore him, even though some tend to treat himContinue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 21 They raised him on their shields in a moment of great happiness and triumph!
The astounding success of Julian’s rise in five short years, from a bookworm to Caesar, was genuinely celebrated by hisContinue Reading
The sixth century Basilica Cistern.
One of the most amazing sights or structures in Istanbul today lies beneath our feet. In the subterranean depths belowContinue Reading
Robin Pierson’s Grand Strategy: The history of Byzantium podcast.
About three years ago, when Mike Duncan stopped producing his ‘History of Rome’ podcast, thousands of podcast listeners mourned inContinue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 20 The Rise of Julian: Caesar in Gaul.
When Julian first took command of his Gallic armies at the end of 355, he was almost twenty-four years ofContinue Reading
A short history of Byzantium: No. 19 Julian the Apostate.
By the end of Constantine’s reign, there were an estimated twenty-four million Christians living in the Roman Empire. These numbersContinue Reading
Rearview Mirror 