{"title":"Anthony Kaldellis","description":"\u003cp\u003eDiscover the captivating works of \u003cem\u003eAnthony Kaldellis\u003c\/em\u003e, a distinguished historian renowned for his insightful exploration of Byzantine history. With a profound dedication to unveiling the nuances of this fascinating era, Kaldellis provides readers with an engaging blend of rigorous scholarship and accessible narratives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003ePhantom Byzantium\u003c\/em\u003e, Kaldellis offers a fresh perspective on the enigmatic Byzantine Empire, challenging common perceptions and shedding light on lesser-known aspects of its civilisation. Meanwhile, \u003cem\u003eRomanland\u003c\/em\u003e invites readers to reconsider the cultural identity of Byzantium, highlighting the Roman elements that persisted within the empire’s complex sociopolitical tapestry. Finally, \u003cem\u003eThe Byzantine Republic\u003c\/em\u003e presents a bold reinterpretation of Byzantine government, arguing for the presence of republican elements within the seemingly autocratic regime.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKaldellis' works are essential for anyone interested in the intricacies of History \u0026amp; Military studies, providing a deeper understanding of how Byzantine culture continues to influence the modern world. Browse our collection to embark on a thought-provoking journey into the empire that bridged antiquity and the medieval world.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"romanland-by-anthony-kaldellis-9780674986510","title":"Romanland","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA leading historian argues that in the empire we know as Byzantium, the Greek-speaking population was actually Roman, and scholars have deliberately mislabeled their ethnicity for the past two centuries for political reasons.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWas there ever such a thing as Byzantium? Certainly, no emperor ever called himself \"Byzantine.\" And while the identities of minorities in the eastern empire are clear—contemporaries speak of Slavs, Bulgarians, Armenians, Jews, and Muslims—the identity of the ruling majority remains obscured behind a name made up by later generations.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHistorical evidence tells us unequivocally that Byzantium's ethnic majority, no less than the ruler of Constantinople, would have identified as Roman. It was an identity so strong in the eastern empire that even the conquering Ottomans would eventually adopt it. But Western scholarship has a long tradition of denying the Romanness of Byzantium. In \u003cem\u003eRomanland\u003c\/em\u003e, Anthony Kaldellis investigates why and argues that it is time for the Romanness of these so-called Byzantines to be taken seriously.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the Middle Ages, he explains, people of the eastern empire were labelled \"Greeks,\" and by the nineteenth century, they were shorn of their distorted Greekness and became \"Byzantine.\" Only when we understand that the Greek-speaking population of Byzantium was actually Roman will we fully appreciate the nature of Roman ethnic identity. We will also better understand the processes of assimilation that led to the absorption of foreign and minority groups into the dominant ethnic group, the Romans who presided over the vast multiethnic empire of the east.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000731025644,"sku":"9780674986510","price":99.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/8366983482428.jpg?v=1763301118"},{"product_id":"the-byzantine-republic-by-anthony-kaldellis-9780674365407","title":"The Byzantine Republic","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough Byzantium is known to history as the Eastern Roman Empire, scholars have long claimed that this Greek Christian theocracy bore little resemblance to Rome. Here, in a revolutionary model of Byzantine politics and society, Anthony Kaldellis reconnects Byzantium to its Roman roots, arguing that from the fifth to the twelfth centuries CE the Eastern Roman Empire was essentially a republic, with power exercised on behalf of the people and sometimes by them too. \u003cem\u003eThe Byzantine Republic\u003c\/em\u003e recovers for the historical record a less autocratic, more populist Byzantium whose Greek-speaking citizens considered themselves as fully Roman as their Latin-speaking ancestors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKaldellis shows that the idea of Byzantium as a rigid imperial theocracy is a misleading construct of Western historians since the Enlightenment. With court proclamations often draped in Christian rhetoric, the notion of divine kingship emerged as a way to disguise the inherent vulnerability of each regime. The legitimacy of the emperors was not predicated on an absolute right to the throne but on the popularity of individual emperors, whose grip on power was tenuous despite the stability of the imperial institution itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKaldellis examines the overlooked Byzantine concept of the polity, along with the complex relationship of emperors to the law and the ways they bolstered their popular acceptance and avoided challenges. The rebellions that periodically rocked the empire were not aberrations, he shows, but an essential part of the functioning of the republican monarchy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47000769921260,"sku":"9780674365407","price":85.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/2155953482428.jpg?v=1763303304"},{"product_id":"phantom-byzantium-by-anthony-kaldellis-9780226847139","title":"Phantom Byzantium","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow the West appropriated aspects of the eastern Roman empire while portraying it as inferior.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUnveiling the ideological foundations of Byzantine studies, \u003cem\u003ePhantom Byzantium\u003c\/em\u003e is a pioneering survey of western European perceptions of the eastern Roman empire (also known as Byzantium) spanning late antiquity to World War II. Through ten chronological chapters, Anthony Kaldellis makes the case that western Europe gradually formed its identity by adopting prestigious cultural elements from the eastern empire but simultaneously portraying the east as inferior.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe West modeled its Roman imperial style on Constantinople while minimizing the latter as Greek rather than Roman; appropriated a host of Christian traditions from the east while casting the east as schismatic, heretical, or treacherous; and, during the Renaissance, used classical Hellenic philology from Greek scholars before marginalizing them as unworthy bearers of that tradition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis orientalizing impulse worked to buttress western exceptionalism and resulted in the fictitious construction of \"Byzantium\" as Europe's evil doppelgänger, embodying the worst versions of traditions fundamental to European identity and casting the region as despotic, superstitious, and degenerate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eExplaining the creation, history, and functions of the ideological construct of Byzantium in the western imagination and European self-fashioning, this book has critical implications for contemporary views of European history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47306925834476,"sku":"9780226847139","price":71.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/6d204fdefb9590b1de7c81a05f2825ee.jpg?v=1771099939"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/anthony-kaldellis.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}