The Byzantine Hellene
The Life of Emperor Theodore Laskaris and Byzantium in the Thirteenth Century

Tells the story of Theodore Laskaris, a thirteenth-century Byzantine emperor, imaginative philosopher, and ideologue of Hellenism.

Dimiter Angelov (Author)

9781108727952, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 March 2023

493 pages, 30 b/w illus. 3 maps
24.4 x 17 x 2.5 cm, 0.945 kg

'… [The Byzantine Hellene] is a deeply impressive piece of work demonstrating a detailed grasp of the surviving sources. It is elegantly and engagingly written, blending a strong sense of narrative progression and geopolitical context with the life and works of this remarkable individual … this book is in the happy situation of possessing both the authority of a major scholarly monograph and the accessibility of a work of history suitable for the general reader.' Nicholas Morton, Nottingham Medieval Studies

This book tells the extraordinary story of Theodore II Laskaris, an emperor who ruled over the Byzantine state of Nicaea established in Asia Minor after the fall of Constantinople to the crusaders in 1204. Theodore Laskaris was a man of literary talent and keen intellect. His action-filled life, youthful mentality, anxiety about communal identity (Anatolian, Roman, and Hellenic), ambitious reforms cut short by an early death, and thoughts and feelings are all reconstructed on the basis of his rich and varied writings. His original philosophy, also explored here, led him to a critique of scholasticism in the West, a mathematically inspired theology, and a political vision of Hellenism. A personal biography, a ruler's biography, and an intellectual biography, this highly illustrated book opens a vista onto the eastern Mediterranean, Anatolia, and the Balkans in the thirteenth century, as seen from the vantage point of a key political actor and commentator.

Introduction
1. Byzantium in exile
2. 'The Holy Land, my mother Anatolia'
3. 'I was brought up as usual for a royal child'
4. Pursuit of learning
5. Power-sharing
6. Friends, foes, and politics
7. Elena and the embassy of the Marquis
8. Sole emperor of the Romans
9. The philosopher
10. The proponent of Hellenism
Epilogue
Appendix I: the chronology of the works of Theodore Laskaris
Appendix II: chronology of the letters
Appendix III: the mystery illness
Appendix IV: the manuscript portraits
Appendix V: the burial sarcophagus.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD]