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.<\/p>\n
Seawriter<\/p>\n
By Mark Lardas<\/strong> Published September 3, 2006<\/p>\n \u201cSailing From Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World,\u201d by Colin Wells, Delacorte Press, 335 pages, $22<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In \u201cSailing From Byzantium,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n You may never have heard of Byzantium, or if you have, you may think of it in terms of the phrase \u201cByzantine politics\u201d \u2014 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.<\/p>\n Yet the influence Byzantium had on today\u2019s society is significant. Had this successor to the Roman Empire disappeared along with the Western Empire, our world would be very different \u2014 and not for the better. The heritage of Ancient Rome and Greece would have been lost.<\/p>\n Neither the Western Renaissance nor the Islamic Enlightenment that preceded it would have happened.<\/p>\n Civilization of Russia and Eastern Europe would have been delayed \u2014 that part of Europe would have remained Iron Age barbarians for another 500 years.<\/p>\n Colin Wells presents that story in this book. Like a Byzantine triptych, the book has three sections, one for each of Byzantium\u2019s neighbors, where the reader follows the history of Byzantium\u2019s interactions with and influences upon each neighbor.<\/p>\n This book is not an oriental \u201cHow the Irish Saved Civilization.\u201d Byzantium\u2019s contributions were widely acknowledged by those that received them. It is still recognized by the Slavonic World. Moscow styles itself \u201cThe Third Rome,\u201d with Constantinople as the acknowledged \u201cSecond Rome.\u201d<\/p>\n But Byzantium\u2019s contributions have been largely forgotten in Western Civilization, in favor of Ancient Rome and Greece.<\/p>\n In part, this is due to Byzantium\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSailing from Byzantium\u201d is a slim volume, but it is a book that fascinates, as well as informs.<\/p>\n Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, amateur historian and model-maker, lives in League City. His website is marklardas.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Seawriter<\/p>\n By Mark Lardas<\/strong> Published September 3, 2006<\/p>\n \u201cSailing From Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World,\u201d by Colin Wells, Delacorte Press, 335 pages, $22<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In \u201cSailing From Byzantium,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n You may never have heard of Byzantium, or … Continue reading
\nThe Daily News<\/p>\nAuthor outlines influence of Byzantium<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Daily News<\/p>\n