This is a reprint of a review I wrote published over a decade ago in the Daily News of Galveston County. It was one of my favorites leading to a long article in National Herald, where I did an extended interview with the author.
Seawriter
Author outlines influence of Byzantium
By Mark Lardas
The Daily News
Published September 3, 2006
“Sailing From Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World,” by Colin Wells, Delacorte Press, 335 pages, $22
In “Sailing From Byzantium,” Colin Wells explains how Byzantium influenced the development of three civilizations: that of Western Europe, the Arab World and Slavonic culture. The influence of the Byzantine Empire on these three civilizations is a story largely forgotten today.
You may never have heard of Byzantium, or if you have, you may think of it in terms of the phrase “Byzantine politics” — corruption and complexity tied together in a package. Byzantium is barely touched upon in world history classes, generally mentioned as an afterthought to the unit on the Dark Ages and the Renaissance. If you slept through that part of the lecture, you missed it.
Yet the influence Byzantium had on today’s society is significant. Had this successor to the Roman Empire disappeared along with the Western Empire, our world would be very different — and not for the better. The heritage of Ancient Rome and Greece would have been lost.
Neither the Western Renaissance nor the Islamic Enlightenment that preceded it would have happened.
Civilization of Russia and Eastern Europe would have been delayed — that part of Europe would have remained Iron Age barbarians for another 500 years.
Colin Wells presents that story in this book. Like a Byzantine triptych, the book has three sections, one for each of Byzantium’s neighbors, where the reader follows the history of Byzantium’s interactions with and influences upon each neighbor.
This book is not an oriental “How the Irish Saved Civilization.” Byzantium’s contributions were widely acknowledged by those that received them. It is still recognized by the Slavonic World. Moscow styles itself “The Third Rome,” with Constantinople as the acknowledged “Second Rome.”
But Byzantium’s contributions have been largely forgotten in Western Civilization, in favor of Ancient Rome and Greece.
In part, this is due to Byzantium’s role as a caretaker for the knowledge of the earlier civilizations. The Byzantines preserved Greek and Roman writings, passing them on to both Arab and Italian scholars long after copies of those manuscripts had been lost by the other cultures.
Wells restores Byzantium to the prominence that it has earned. He shows how this civilization fought to preserve its ancient heritage, how it went through its own sets of dark ages and enlightenments, and how the knowledge it had was passed on to three other civilizations.
“Sailing from Byzantium” is a slim volume, but it is a book that fascinates, as well as informs.
Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, amateur historian and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com.



Thanks, Seawriter!
Here’s a link to the book.
I listened to Lars Brownworth’s Lost to the West sometime back. I have the book on my Kindle. So sad what is happening there.
Just bought it. It will be interesting to read.
Isn’t it interesting how the words Constantinople and Instanbul have such different meanings? I heard Churchill preferred the former over the latter.
The former is Greek and the latter Turkish. Is there any uncertainty about which one someone like Churchill, educated in a classical English tradition, would prefer?
Seawriter
Splain, please.
In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries British education emphasized a classical background – as in Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. Greek and Latin was a requirements. That is why all those British warships have Greek and Roman names: Agamemnon, Ajax, Bellerophon, and for you Horatio Hornblower fans, Atropos. (And Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty.) Given that, the man would prefer a classical Greek name to a modern Turkish name.
Seawriter
My comment was direct at Dime and the different meanings of the two names.
But thanks for your comment!
Constantinople = Constantine’s city in Greek.
Istanbul = Turkish contraction for Constantinople. Work it this way: Constantinople -> ‘Stanopole -> Istanbul (where the ‘st’ becomes aspirated (Hist) and bull replaces Pull – pole).
Seawriter
This is clearer.
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=istanbul
I thought Instanbul came more from Islam but it seems it came from the Greek “eis ten polin”, “in the City” which was the way Constantinople was referred to by the locals. Like Seawriter said, the p and the b change in some languages. In Japanese the h sound changes to b or p by marks made near the letter.
Was the Byzantine Empire mainly what is now Turkey?
When I hear Byzantium I think of mosaics (art history class).
Byzantium comes from Byzas the legendary founder of the city.
Much more at it’s height:
http://kids.britannica.com/kids/assembly/view/54544