Explores the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire, including important figures who shaped its history and the role it played in protecting Christianity from Islam's expansion across western Europe.

Introduction: A different history of Byzantium -- Foundations of Byzantium. The city of Constantine ; Constantinople, the largest city in Christendom ; The East Roman Empire ; Greek Orthodoxy ; The church of Hagia Sophia ; The Ravenna Mosaics ; Roman law -- The transition from Ancient to Medieval. The bulwark against Islam ; Icons, a new Christian art form ; Iconoclasm and icon veneration ; A literate and articulate society ; Saints Cyril and Methodios, 'apostles to the Slavs' -- Byzantium becomes a Medieval state. Greek fire ; The Byzantine economy ; Eunuchs ; The imperial court ; Imperial children, 'born in the purple' ; Mount Athos ; Venice and the fork ; Basil II, 'the bulgar-slayer' ; Eleventh-century crisis ; Anna Komnene ; A cosmopolitan society -- Varieties of Byzantium. The fulcrum of the crusades ; The towers of Trebizond, Arta, Nicaea and Thessanlonike ; Rebels and patrons ; 'Better the Turkish turban than the Papal tiara' ; The siege of 1453 -- Conclusion: The greatness and legacy of Byzantium.