The "Secret Sauce" of the Byzantine Empire: Stable Currency, Social Mobility

How did Byzantium endure for 1,000 years after the fall of Rome?

One of my reading projects over the past year is to learn more about empires:how they are established, why they endure and why they crumble.

To this end, I’ve recently read seven books on a wide variety of empires. The literature on empires is vast, so this is only a tiny slice of the available books. Nonetheless, I think these 7 titles offer a fairly comprehensive spectrum:

How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower (Adrian Goldsworthy) How Rome Fell: Death o... Adrian Goldsworthy Best Price: $5.49 Buy New $17.89 (as of 05:20 UTC - Details)

War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires (Peter Turchin)

The Rise of Rome: The Making of the World’s Greatest Empire (Anthony Everitt)

428 AD: An Ordinary Year at the End of the Roman Empire (Giusto Traina)

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (Jack Weatherford)

Venice: A New History (Thomas F. Madden)

Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire (Judith Herrin)

I was not exposed to much history of the Byzantine Empire in high school or college, so I found the last book of particular interest, despite its dry academic style.

War and Peace and War:... Peter Turchin Best Price: $2.19 Buy New $6.00 (as of 10:40 UTC - Details) The Byzantine Empire, based in Constantinople (now Istanbul), began as the Eastern Roman Empire when the Roman Empire was split into East and West to facilitate defense.

In the original conception, the two halves would be jointly ruled by two emperors. But as the Western Roman Empire frayed and devolved, power shifted to the still-vibrant Eastern Roman Empire, which spoke Greek rather than Latin and was Orthodox Christian rather than Catholic.

The Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire endured from the western empire’s fall in 476 A.D.  to 1453 A.D., when Constantinople fell to invading Turkish forces.

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Thus the Byzantine Empire endured for roughly 1,000 years after the Fall of Rome (977 years, to be exact).  It was an Empire that spanned the Medieval ages, that reached its zenith around 1025 A.D., and lasted right up to the dawn of the Renaissance.

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The Rise of Rome: The ... Everitt, Anthony Best Price: $2.25 Buy New $8.87 (as of 11:55 UTC - Details)

428 AD: An Ordinary Ye... Traina, Giusto Best Price: $6.91 Buy New $14.22 (as of 04:30 UTC - Details)

Genghis Khan and the M... Weatherford, Jack Best Price: $1.67 Buy New $5.07 (as of 01:45 UTC - Details)

Venice: A New History Madden, Thomas F. Best Price: $2.00 Buy New $14.56 (as of 09:40 UTC - Details)

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