Title: Streams of gold, rivers of blood : the rise and fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade /
Authors: Kaldellis, Anthony,
Year: 2017
Subjects: Crusades; Byzantine Empire History; Byzantine Empire History; Byzantine Empire
Abstract: "In the second half of the tenth century, Byzantium embarked on a series of spectacular conquests: first in the southeast against the Arabs, then in Bulgaria, and finally in the Georgian and Armenian lands. By the early eleventh century, the empire was the most powerful state in the Mediterranean. It was also expanding economically, demographically, and, in time, intellectually as well. Yet this imperial project came to a crashing collapse fifty years later, when political disunity, fiscal mismanagement, and defeat at the hands of the Seljuks in the east and the Normans in the west brought an end to Byzantine hegemony. By 1081, not only was its dominance of southern Italy, the Balkans, Caucasus, and northern Mesopotamia over but Byzantium's very existence was threatened.
Contents: Introduction: the Byzantine Empire in the tenth century -- Part I. Conquest and consolidation -- Part II. New enemies and the return of politics -- Part III. Collapse -- General considerations: Imperial collapse -- Epilogue: A Byzantine history of the First Crusade -- Guide to the ten most important narrative sources.