Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Belief, ideology and practice in a changing world; 2. Leo III: iconoclast or opportunist?; 3. Constantine V and the institutionalisation of iconoclasm; 4. The triumph of tradition? The iconophile intermission, 775–813; 5. The second iconoclasm; 6. Economy, society and state; 7. Patterns of settlement: urban and rural life; 8. Social elites and the court; 9. Society, politics and power; 10. Fiscal management and administration; 11. Strategic administration and the origins of the themata; 12. Iconoclasm, representation, and rewriting the past.

Promotional Information

A major revisionist survey of this most elusive and fascinating period in medieval history.

About the Author

John Haldon is Professor of Byzantine Studies and Head of School of Historical Studies at the University of Birmingham. His previous publications include Byzantium in the Seventh Century (052131917X, 1990, rev. ed. 1997) and Byzantium in History (Stroud, 2000). Dr Leslie Brubaker is a lecturer at the Centre of Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham. Her previous publications include Vision and Meaning in Ninth-century Byzantium (0521 621534, 1999) and The Sacred Image East and West (co-editor) (University of Illinois Press, 1995).

Reviews

'This is the most important book on Byzantium to appear in my lifetime. The authors admirably fulfil their stated intention to discuss political recovery and institutional reshaping, the final stages in the evolution of eastern Orthodox dogma, the emergence of a new political and social elite, the transformation of urban life and also urban-rural relations, and the generation of a new 'medieval' perspective on the past.' Thomas F. X. Noble, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

'… scholars and students interested in iconoclasm and Byzantine history cannot afford to ignore this volume.' Arctos