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Product: Book
ISBN-10: 0-553-38273-X
ISBN-13: 9780553382730
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Country:
Year: July 31, 2007
Size: 13.72 x 20.57 x 1.78cm
Number of pages: 368
Weight: 408gr
Binding: Paperback
ISBN-10: 0-553-38273-X
ISBN-13: 9780553382730
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Country:
Year: July 31, 2007
Size: 13.72 x 20.57 x 1.78cm
Number of pages: 368
Weight: 408gr
Binding: Paperback
editions
Colin Wells, Lloyd James (reader), Sean Pratt (reader)
Tantor Media; 2006
Audio CD
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Product Description
A gripping intellectual adventure story, Sailing from Byzantium sweeps you from the deserts of Arabia to the dark forests of northern Russia, from the colorful towns of Renaissance Italy to the final moments of a millennial city under siege…. Byzantium: the successor of Greece and Rome, this magnificent empire bridged the ancient and modern worlds for more than a thousand years. Without Byzantium, the works of Homer and Herodotus, Plato and Aristotle, Sophocles and Aeschylus, would never have survived. Yet very few of us have any idea of the enormous debt we owe them. The story of Byzantium is a real-life adventure of electrifying ideas, high drama, colorful characters, and inspiring feats of daring. In Sailing from Byzantium, Colin Wells tells of the missionaries, mystics, philosophers, and artists who against great odds and often at peril of their own lives spread Greek ideas to the Italians, the Arabs, and the Slavs. Their heroic efforts inspired the Renaissance, the golden age of Islamic learning, and Russian Orthodox Christianity, which came complete with a new alphabet, architecture, and one of the world’s greatest artistic traditions. The story’s central reference point is an arcane squabble called the Hesychast controversy that pitted humanist scholars led by the brilliant, acerbic intellectual Barlaam against the powerful monks of Mount Athos led by the stern Gregory Palamas, who denounced “pagan” rationalism in favor of Christian mysticism. Within a few decades, the light of Byzantium would be extinguished forever by the invading Turks, but not before the humanists found a safe haven for Greek literature. The controversy of rationalism versus faith would continue to be argued by some of history’s greatest minds. Fast-paced, compulsively readable, and filled with fascinating insights, Sailing from Byzantium is one of the great historical dramas–the gripping story of how the flame of civilization was saved and passed on. From the Hardcover edition.
A gripping intellectual adventure story, Sailing from Byzantium sweeps you from the deserts of Arabia to the dark forests of northern Russia, from the colorful towns of Renaissance Italy to the final moments of a millennial city under siege…. Byzantium: the successor of Greece and Rome, this magnificent empire bridged the ancient and modern worlds for more than a thousand years. Without Byzantium, the works of Homer and Herodotus, Plato and Aristotle, Sophocles and Aeschylus, would never have survived. Yet very few of us have any idea of the enormous debt we owe them. The story of Byzantium is a real-life adventure of electrifying ideas, high drama, colorful characters, and inspiring feats of daring. In Sailing from Byzantium, Colin Wells tells of the missionaries, mystics, philosophers, and artists who against great odds and often at peril of their own lives spread Greek ideas to the Italians, the Arabs, and the Slavs. Their heroic efforts inspired the Renaissance, the golden age of Islamic learning, and Russian Orthodox Christianity, which came complete with a new alphabet, architecture, and one of the world’s greatest artistic traditions. The story’s central reference point is an arcane squabble called the Hesychast controversy that pitted humanist scholars led by the brilliant, acerbic intellectual Barlaam against the powerful monks of Mount Athos led by the stern Gregory Palamas, who denounced “pagan” rationalism in favor of Christian mysticism. Within a few decades, the light of Byzantium would be extinguished forever by the invading Turks, but not before the humanists found a safe haven for Greek literature. The controversy of rationalism versus faith would continue to be argued by some of history’s greatest minds. Fast-paced, compulsively readable, and filled with fascinating insights, Sailing from Byzantium is one of the great historical dramas–the gripping story of how the flame of civilization was saved and passed on. From the Hardcover edition.
reviews
Too many unpronounceable names and not enough »why we should learn how to pronounce them« 
Survey of how Byzantium influenced the Western, Arabic, and Slavic cultures and religions it touched temporally and geographically, does a good job of setting the historical foundations of each interaction, but then gets bogged down in lists of names and places. Wells needs to spend less time typing unpronounceable names and more time explaining why we should try to figure out how to say them; that is to say, he needs to provide more context to explain why we need to care.
Survey of how Byzantium influenced the Western, Arabic, and Slavic cultures and religions it touched temporally and geographically, does a good job of setting the historical foundations of each interaction, but then gets bogged down in lists of names and places. Wells needs to spend less time typing unpronounceable names and more time explaining why we should try to figure out how to say them; that is to say, he needs to provide more context to explain why we need to care.
Treasure box of information 
This book is a real treasure box for those inclined in the history of Byzantium and its legacy. I've previously read several books on Byzantium, yet immensely enjoyed Colin Wells' special view on Byzantine history, i.e. Byzantium's legacy in the West and the East. The book reads extremely well and is written for a general audience and not much pre-existing knowledge of Byzantine history is required to fully enjoy it. I particularly liked the chapters on the Italian renaissance and the spread of the Orthodox Church to the Balkans and Russia. The book is well organized, contains 8 very useful maps of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine world, a map of Constantinople and a timeline. There are also ample references including primary sources. »Sailing from Byzantium« is a scholarly work written in the language of the people. It is one of the best history books I've read and I highly recommend it.
This book is a real treasure box for those inclined in the history of Byzantium and its legacy. I've previously read several books on Byzantium, yet immensely enjoyed Colin Wells' special view on Byzantine history, i.e. Byzantium's legacy in the West and the East. The book reads extremely well and is written for a general audience and not much pre-existing knowledge of Byzantine history is required to fully enjoy it. I particularly liked the chapters on the Italian renaissance and the spread of the Orthodox Church to the Balkans and Russia. The book is well organized, contains 8 very useful maps of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine world, a map of Constantinople and a timeline. There are also ample references including primary sources. »Sailing from Byzantium« is a scholarly work written in the language of the people. It is one of the best history books I've read and I highly recommend it.
ideal for the lay reader with a scholarly bent
This is a excellent popular history about the impact of Byzantine culture on Renaissance Italy, the Arabs during their Baghdad apogee, and the Slavic world as it was differentiating into nationalities. While it is best to have a good grasp of these four periods of history, in particular Byzantium's, the author offers good skeletal explanations of vast swaths of time. First, Byzantine scholars preserved most of what texts we know today as ancient Greek. They represented a crucial step in the evolution of the Renaissance as they contributed to the development of a secular understanding, a sense of history and philosophy not springing exclusively from Christian faith. As a classics major, this was very interesting to me, but I am not sure if it would interest most readers. This is the stuff of Plato v. Aristotle, mathematics, poetry, and the Greek historians. Interestingly, it was a mystic religious movement – the Hesychasm, which flourished as a reality-denying reaction to the decline of the Empire – that started pushing scholars out, well before the Turks conquered the city. Second, we learn of the Byzantine roots of the practical scientific and medical texts that were translated by Nestorian Christians in SYria. This fostered a rationalistic branch of Islam, which an Abassid Calif attempted to force onto an unwilling populace, leading directly to the establishment of the conservative, anti-rationalist philosophy that later would underpin Wahabism. Their translations of Aristotle, transmitted via moorish Spain, were the source that the Scholastics first used, as they attempted to logically reconcile every Biblical reference, also a precursor of modern science. But it is also a portrait of Islam during a period where it was at the cutting-edge, an eclectic and dynamic civilization that surpassed anything happening in the West during the dark ages. Third, over nearly 600 years, Byzantine monks decisively influenced the development of the Slavic world, as it evolved from a loose coalition of pagan tribes into the nations we know today. From Byzantines, they gained their Cyrillic alphabet, the first texts in their then undifferentiated languages, political-administrative organizational ideas, and lastly, their Orthodox (and in some cases Catholic) faith, based on the mystical Hesychasm. Unlike the Arabs and Italians with their intellectual pursuits, this is about the evolution of religious faith and doctrine. As I knew very little about this, it was the most fascinating part of the book. It also gave me a renewed sense of wonder at the sweep of human ambition, how civilizations collide, absorb, and borrow from each other. This is really great fun, if these things interest you. If not, it will be rough going and perhaps dry. Warmly recommended.
This is a excellent popular history about the impact of Byzantine culture on Renaissance Italy, the Arabs during their Baghdad apogee, and the Slavic world as it was differentiating into nationalities. While it is best to have a good grasp of these four periods of history, in particular Byzantium's, the author offers good skeletal explanations of vast swaths of time. First, Byzantine scholars preserved most of what texts we know today as ancient Greek. They represented a crucial step in the evolution of the Renaissance as they contributed to the development of a secular understanding, a sense of history and philosophy not springing exclusively from Christian faith. As a classics major, this was very interesting to me, but I am not sure if it would interest most readers. This is the stuff of Plato v. Aristotle, mathematics, poetry, and the Greek historians. Interestingly, it was a mystic religious movement – the Hesychasm, which flourished as a reality-denying reaction to the decline of the Empire – that started pushing scholars out, well before the Turks conquered the city. Second, we learn of the Byzantine roots of the practical scientific and medical texts that were translated by Nestorian Christians in SYria. This fostered a rationalistic branch of Islam, which an Abassid Calif attempted to force onto an unwilling populace, leading directly to the establishment of the conservative, anti-rationalist philosophy that later would underpin Wahabism. Their translations of Aristotle, transmitted via moorish Spain, were the source that the Scholastics first used, as they attempted to logically reconcile every Biblical reference, also a precursor of modern science. But it is also a portrait of Islam during a period where it was at the cutting-edge, an eclectic and dynamic civilization that surpassed anything happening in the West during the dark ages. Third, over nearly 600 years, Byzantine monks decisively influenced the development of the Slavic world, as it evolved from a loose coalition of pagan tribes into the nations we know today. From Byzantines, they gained their Cyrillic alphabet, the first texts in their then undifferentiated languages, political-administrative organizational ideas, and lastly, their Orthodox (and in some cases Catholic) faith, based on the mystical Hesychasm. Unlike the Arabs and Italians with their intellectual pursuits, this is about the evolution of religious faith and doctrine. As I knew very little about this, it was the most fascinating part of the book. It also gave me a renewed sense of wonder at the sweep of human ambition, how civilizations collide, absorb, and borrow from each other. This is really great fun, if these things interest you. If not, it will be rough going and perhaps dry. Warmly recommended.
wonderful reading
a wonderful reading detailing the relevance of the Byzantine Empire to todays world. Highly recommended to anyone interested in how the past influences the present.
a wonderful reading detailing the relevance of the Byzantine Empire to todays world. Highly recommended to anyone interested in how the past influences the present.
Concise and Informative 
Thjis book ties in the many threads which so often are overlooked when dealing with history from one viewpoint. For example, he said that one of the motivations for the iconoclastic controversy was that it followed a time when icons, particularly of the Virgin Mary were used to lead troops into battle. The icon-blessed troops did not fare well in several battles, so it was felt that the icons were the reason: they were offensive to God (as the Jews and Muslims held). I felt the handling of the Serbian – Bulgarian influences was particularly enlightening. Not a hard read –- well written and organized. A fresh [perspective.
Thjis book ties in the many threads which so often are overlooked when dealing with history from one viewpoint. For example, he said that one of the motivations for the iconoclastic controversy was that it followed a time when icons, particularly of the Virgin Mary were used to lead troops into battle. The icon-blessed troops did not fare well in several battles, so it was felt that the icons were the reason: they were offensive to God (as the Jews and Muslims held). I felt the handling of the Serbian – Bulgarian influences was particularly enlightening. Not a hard read –- well written and organized. A fresh [perspective.
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