New Rome: The Empire in the East (History of the Ancient World)

A comprehensive new history of the Eastern Roman Empire based on the science of the human past. As modern empires rise and fall, ancient Rome becomes ever more significant. We yearn for Rome's power but fear Rome's ruin—will we turn out like the Romans, we wonder, or can we escape their fate? That question has obsessed centuries of historians and leaders, who have explored diverse political, religious, and economic forces to explain Roman decline. Yet the decisive factor remains elusive. In New Rome , Paul Stephenson looks beyond traditional texts and well-known artifacts to offer a novel, scientifically minded interpretation of antiquity's end. It turns out that the descent of Rome is inscribed not only in parchments but also in ice cores and DNA. From these and other sources, we learn that pollution and pandemics influenced the fate of Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire. During its final five centuries, the empire in the east survived devastation by natural disasters, the degradation of the human environment, and pathogens previously unknown to the empire's densely populated, unsanitary cities. Despite the Plague of Justinian, regular "barbarian" invasions, a war with Persia, and the rise of Islam, the empire endured as a political entity. However, Greco-Roman civilization, a world of interconnected cities that had shared a common material culture for a millennium, did not. Politics, war, and religious strife drove the transformation of Eastern Rome, but they do not tell the whole story. Braiding the political history of the empire together with its urban, material, environmental, and epidemiological history, New Rome offers the most comprehensive explanation to date of the Eastern Empire's transformation into Byzantium. "A comprehensive new history of the Eastern Roman Empire based on the science of the human past. As modern empires rise and fall, ancient Rome becomes ever more significant. We yearn for Rome's power but fear Rome's ruin--will we turn out like the Romans, we wonder, or can we escape their fate? That question has obsessed centuries of historians and leaders, who have explored diverse political, religious, and economic forces to explain Roman decline. Yet the decisive factor remains elusive. In New Rome, Paul Stephenson looks beyond traditional texts and well-known artifacts to offer a novel, scientifically-minded interpretation of antiquity's end. It turns out that the descent of Rome is inscribed not only in parchments but also in ice cores and DNA. From these and other sources, we learn that pollution and pandemics influenced the fate of Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire. During its final five centuries, the empire in the east survived devastation by natural disasters, the degradation of the human environment, and pathogens previously unknown to the empire's densely populated, unsanitary cities. Despite the Plague of Justinian, regular "barbarian" invasions, a war with Persia, and the rise of Islam, the empire endured as a political entity. However, Greco-Roman civilization, a world of interconnected cities that had shared a common material culture for a millennium, did not. Politics, war, and religious strife drove the transformation of Eastern Rome, but they do not tell the whole story. Braiding the political history of the empire together with its urban, material, environmental, and epidemiological history, New Rome offers the most comprehensive explanation to date of the Eastern Empire's transformation into Byzantium."-- Provided by publisher Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Acknowledgements List of Illustrations List of Maps Introduction Part 1: Life in the Later Roman World Chapter 1. Life at the End of the ‘Lead Age’ Chapter 2. Family and Faith Chapter 3. An Empire of Cities Chapter 4. Culture, Communications and Commerce Chapter 5. Constantinople, the New Rome Part 2: Power and Politics Chapter 6. The Theodosian Age, ad 395–451 Chapter 7. Soldiers and Civilians, ad 451–527 Chapter 8. The Age of Justinian, ad 527–602 Chapter 9. The Heraclians, ad 602–c.700 Part 3: The End of Antiquity Chapter 10. The End of Ancient Civilisation Chapter 11. Apocalypse and the End of Antiquity Chapter 12. Emperors of New Rome Bibliography Notes Index Part 1. Life in the later Roman world: Life at the end of the 'Lead Age' -- Family and faith -- An empire of cities -- Culture, communications, commerce -- Constantinople, the new Rome -- Part 2. Power and politics: The Theodosian Age, AD 395-451 -- Soldiers and civilians, AD 451-527 -- The Age of Justinian, AD 527-602 -- The Heraclians, AD 602-c. 700 -- Part 3: The end of antiquity: The end of ancient civilisation -- Apocalypse and the end of antiquity -- Emperors of New Rome. Three hundred action-packed years of Roman history, encompassing the fall of Rome and the rise of a new empire in the East.