Citation Information
Article Title: Byzantine Empire
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 31 July 2019
URL: https://www.britannica.com/place/Byzantine-Empire
Access Date: August 13, 2019
Additional Reading General works
Alexander P. Kazhdan (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3 vol. (1991), treats all aspects of Byzantine studies. Donald M. Nicol, A Biographical Dictionary of the Byzantine Empire (1991), is a useful reference work. The geography of the Byzantine Empire is treated in Alfred Philippson, Das byzantinische Reich als geographische Erscheinung (1939); and its church and theology in Hans-Georg Beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich, 2nd ed. (1977); and John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology, 2nd ed. (1979, reissued 1987). Useful collections of translated extracts from primary sources are Ernest Barker, Social and Political Thought in Byzantium: From Justinian I to the Last Palaeologus (1957, reissued 1961); and Deno John Geanakoplos (compiler), Byzantium: Church, Society, and Civilization Seen Through Contemporary Eyes (1984).
The following surveys and analyses provide brief introductions to Byzantine history and civilization: Norman H. Baynes and H.St.L.B. Moss (eds.), Byzantium: An Introduction to East Roman Civilization (1948, reissued 1969); J.M. Hussey, The Byzantine World, 4th ed. (1970); and Philip Whitting (ed.), Byzantium: An Introduction, new ed. (1981). Deeper study of Byzantine history should begin with George Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State, rev. ed. (1969, reissued 1980; originally published in German, 3rd ed., 1963); The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 4, The Byzantine Empire, 2nd ed., 2 parts (1966–67), which contains extensive bibliographies; and John Julius Norwich, Byzantium, 3 vol. (1988–95). Various aspects of Byzantine history and civilization are discussed in Norman H. Baynes, Byzantine Studies and Other Essays (1955, reprinted 1974); Robert Browning, The Byzantine Empire, rev. ed. (1992); Franz Dölger, Byzanz und die europäische Staatenwelt (1953, reprinted 1976); H.W. Haussig, A History of Byzantine Civilization (1971; originally published in German, 1959); Alexander Kazhdan and Giles Constable, People and Power in Byzantium: An Introduction to Modern Byzantine Studies (1982); Cyril Mango, Byzantium, the Empire of New Rome (1980); and Steven Runciman, Byzantine Civilisation (1933, reissued 1994), and The Byzantine Theocracy (1977). A.A. Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire, 324–1453, 2nd ed. rev. (1952, reissued 1980; originally published in Russian in different eds., 1917–25), is still of interest, although now somewhat out-of-date.
Ongoing research is found in these periodicals: Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (annual), published in Birmingham; Byzantinische Zeitschrift (semiannual), published in Munich; Byzantion (semiannual), published in Brussels; Byzantinoslavica (semiannual), published in Prague; Dumbarton Oaks Papers (annual), published in Washington, D.C.; Jahrbuch der österreichischen Byzantinistik (annual), published in Vienna; Revue des Études Byzantines (annual), published in Paris; Travaux et Mémoires (irregular), published in Paris by the Centre de Recherche d’Histoire et Civilisation Byzantines; and Vizantiĭskiĭ Vremennik (annual), published in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The empire to 867 The Roman and Christian background
H.St.L.B. Moss, “The Formation of the East Roman Empire, 330–717,” in The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 4, part 1, 2nd ed. (1966), pp. 1–41, is an introduction to the problems discussed in this section. Further reading might include A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 284–602: A Social, Economic, and Administrative Survey, 3 vol. (1964, reprinted in 2 vol., 1986); Norman H. Baynes, Constantine the Great and the Christian Church (1930, reprinted 1975); Gilbert Dagron, Naissance d’une capitale: Constantinople et ses institutions de 330 à 451, 2nd ed. (1984); and the survey by Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity, ad 150–750 (1971, reissued 1989; also published as The World of Late Antiquity: From Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad, 1971). The 5th and 6th centuries