The History of Byzantium

The first five years of Justinian's reign (527-532) are so incident-filled that it will take us a few episodes to get through them. In part one we stay on the Eastern front for the Battle of Dara. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast examines the foreign policy developments of Emperor Justin and the tensions between Byzantium and Persia. It also delves into the life of Theodora, a former pantomime dancer turned empress. Lastly, it explores Justinian's efforts to rebuild the Roman Empire after an earthquake in Antioch.

We get a thorough introduction to Justinian, Justin's nephew and presumed heir. We look as Justinian's education and the kind of worldview he was developing. We follow his rise up the ranks from Palace guard to potential Caesar. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We restart the narrative with the death of the Emperor Anastasius and the accession of Justin, Count of the Excubitors. The new Emperor is decidedly orthodox and begins a persecution of the monophysites and heals the schism with Rome. We also introduce our sources for the period with particular attention paid to Procopius of Caesarea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Part 2 is the church and the army. We look at the administration of the church and its affects on society. Then we look at the size and disposition of the army and wrap up the tour. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We finally end our tour of the Empire by examining the Byzantine state. By focussing on the government, the church and the army we see how the Empire is shaping up since the fall of the West and how it is set up to deal with the world we explored in the previous five episodes. Part 1 is the government as we look at the Emperor, his ministers and the wider civil service. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we move across the Bosporus into the Eastern Provinces and explore Anatolia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. We then take a look at the neighbours of the Empire and see what the Persians are up to before moving on to the Arabs, Armenians and other peoples from the Caucus mountains. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We explore the capital of the Byzantine Empire: Constantinople. We look at the origins of the city and trace its development from Greek city to Imperial centre. Then we see why it had such a strategically valuable location. After that we visit the city itself in the 6th century from the Great Palace to the streets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We take a look at the remaining Byzantine Balkan Provinces along with the northern neighbours of the Empire. We also take a glance at the Black Sea Coast and the Byzantine military interest in the Crimea. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We take a look at the former Roman Provinces of  Italy and Africa and see what Theodoric’s Ostrogoths and the Vandals, respectively, have been up to in the last century. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.