The World of Byzantium

good

An absolutely engrossing course on a sadly neglected subject. We owe a great deal to Byzantium, perhaps even our culture itself! It was they, highly cultured, well administered and with an excellent military that was in near constant battle - especially with Islam after it's eruption onto the scene. Had the Byzantine state not been where it was, the Islamic armies would have had little trouble penetrating DEEP into what was once called Christendom. It is far from unlikely that they would have reached as far north as the Baltic and as far west as Frankia. Charlemagne was, when all is said and done, was lucky to have staved them off when they came from Spain - and that was after being given a couple of centuries to consolidate the peoples there. What if they had come from both east and south? Learn of, arguably, the reason we enjoy the 'best-in-class culture we do now, all thanks to the little known Byzantines.

Bought this course after a trip to Istanbul, when we realized that we knew nothing about the Byzantine Empire. Like many other people, we assumed that the Roman Empire ended circa 450 AD.What actually happened is that the capital of the Empire had moved to Constantinople about 350 AD, where it continued for the next 1,000 years until the sacking by the Muslims in 1453 AD.Professor Harl, a popular Tulane professor, does an excellent job of describing the history of the Byzantine Empire. He is both knowledgeable and entertaining. Highly recommended, especially for those contemplating a trip to Istanbul.

It is a good course but some of the professor's conclusions/speculations I didn't completely agree with based on my reading and studying of Byzantium.