A History of the Later Roman Empire
From Arcadius to Irene (395 A.D. to 800 A.D)

This two-volume 1889 work examines Byzantine history from the division of the empire in 395 to 800.

J. B. Bury (Author)

9781108083171, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 5 March 2015

524 pages
21.7 x 13.9 x 3 cm, 0.681 kg

The classical historian J. B. Bury (1861–1927) was the author of a history of Greece which was a standard textbook for over a century. He also wrote on later periods, and, in this two-volume work of 1889, examines Byzantine history from 395 to 800. Arguing for the underlying continuity of the Roman empire from the time of Augustus until 1453, Bury nevertheless begins his account in the year in which, on the death of Theodosius I, the empire was divided into eastern and western parts, and Constantinople began to take on the metropolitan role formerly held by Rome. Broadly chronological, but with an extended section on the state of the empire at the end of the fourth century, Volume 1 covers the period to the deaths of Belisarius and Justinian in 565, examining the decline of paganism, the inroads of 'barbarians', and the cultural milieu of the early Byzantine empire.

Book I. Introduction: 1. Christianity and paganism
2. Influence of Christianity on society
3. Elements of disintegration in the Roman empire
4. The administration of the empire
5. Constantinople
Book II. The House of Theodosius: 1. Rufinus and Eutropius
2. The Germans in the East
3. John Chrysostom
4. Stilicho and Alaric
5. Theodosius II and Marcian
6. Beginnings of the dismemberment of the empire
7. Invasions of the Huns
8. The patrician Aetius
9. The church in the fifth century
10. Life and manners in the fifth century
11. A glimpse of Hun life
Book III. The House of Leo the Great: 1. Leo I
2. Ricimer the Patrician
3. Zeno
4. The Ostrogoths in Illyricum and Thrace
5. Odovacar the Patrician and Theodoric the Patrician
6. Anastasius I
7. The Persian war
8. Greek literature of the fifth century
Book IV, Part I. The House of Justin: 1. The reign of Justin I and the earlier years of Justinian's reign
2. Justinian and Theodora
3. The legal works of Justinian
4. First Persian war (528–532 AD)
5. The reconquest of Africa and Italy
6. The great plague
7. The final conquest of Italy and the conquest of south-eastern Spain
8 Second Persian war (540–545 AD)
9. The Lazic war (549–556 AD)
10 The later years of Justinian's reign.

Subject Areas: Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]