![]() ![]() First, there's the rather obvious point that the East Roman Empire could not have lasted a thousand years unless it had had some valiant defenders. It's not that simple, of course, and Edward Luttwak's The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire is a useful corrective. ![]() They squabbled over fine points of theology, while failing to fight with the courage of their Roman predecessors, making their history one long, sad decline and they lacked a sense of individualism, an idea of the freedom and worth of each human being, unlike the West, flawed though it has been. I did go on to read other books, notably Runciman's Byzantine Civilization, but I nonetheless had a rather soured view of the Byzantines. Blame it on reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall back when I was young and impressionable. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |