Here is a perceptive review of my latest book, Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization, from my PJ Media colleague Lincoln Brown.
“Book Review: Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization,” by Lincoln Brown, PJ Media, January 9, 2024:
As you may recall, toward the end of last year, some wag decided that another problem vexing society was that men spend too much time thinking about the Roman Empire. This, of course, resulted in multiple articles ridiculing the idea. And it probably got men thinking about the Roman Empire. Why someone would try to invent a tempest in a cultural tea cup over such a thing is a mystery to me. The truth is that people, not just men, fail to pay enough attention to the Roman Empire.
I do not mean the Roman Empire offered up to us in movies such as “Gladiator,” or depictions of chariot races, lascivious emperors, or legions of soldiers thumping their breastplates and shouting “Integritas!” And I do not mean the photos of ruined aqueducts and courtyards in my Latin textbooks in high school or the empire depicted in documentaries on the History Channel, back when it actually offered its viewers programs about history. This is not to say that those documentaries provided nothing of substance. But for many, their knowledge of the Roman Empire, the split between East and West, and its ultimate fall has unfortunately been limited to a paragraph or two in a world history textbook. Many believe the empire breathed its last when the Goths overran and sacked Rome in 410 or perhaps when the Western empire finally collapsed in 476. What is generally not known is that the Roman Empire, in one form or another, existed until 1453 and the fall of Constantinople.
Robert Spencer’s latest offering, “Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization,” changes that. I ended up with a review copy when I reached out to Spencer, a PJ Media colleague, inquiring how I might get my hands on the book. I am an armchair religious scholar with an interest in history, so it is the kind of book I would have read anyway. And, if you are anything like me, you tend to cast a wary eye at the stacks in your local bookstore.
“Empire of God” is more than just a chronology of the empire. While it picks up where most history lessons leave off in terms of the empire in the East, it also details a myriad of factors that contributed to the flourishing and demise of the empire throughout its history. Of note, the Byzantines considered themselves to be Romans and rightful heirs and keepers of the empire up until the bitter end. The effects of the work the Byzantines did in preserving and refining Roman laws, economics, and education, including the preservation of classical philosophy and literature, can be felt to this very day. Our justice and our educational systems, when they work, are heirs to the Byzantine’s efforts.
There is more. Read the rest here.
Devasur says
It is India(Hindus) which saved civilization by stopping the islamic hordes taking over Asia. Otherwise world would have been in dire situation.
Jayell1 says
Here’s a different interpretation on who might have saved civilisation (for the time being):-
‘Siege of Vienna, (July 17–September 12, 1683), expedition by the Ottomans (i.e., muslims) against the Habsburg Holy Roman emperor Leopold I that resulted in their defeat by a combined force led by John III Sobieski of Poland. The lifting of the siege marked the beginning of the end of Ottoman domination in eastern Europe’………and cut short Ottoman ambitions to take over the rest of Europe, and thence the rest of the West. Meanwhile, I believe that the muslims weren’t doing too badly on the Indian subcontinent, to the extent that it had to be partitioned around 1947 to keep life bearable for everyone else – until fairly recently, I believe.
Devasur says
Ironically it was due to interference of Europeans. It seems you don’t have knowledge of Indian history. Not really it was actually Hindus who saved civilization not West. As whole of Asia turning islamic would have been a apocalypse compared to Europe.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
That was in Asia – thanks to India, islam didn’t travel beyond to Burma, Thailand, Tibet, although it did take a sea route to Indonesia and Malaysia. In Europe, it was first the Byzantines, and later different European empires – the Spanish, the Poles, the Holy-Romans who put the brakes on islamic incursions into Europe
As far as enabling the muslims went, it was solely the Brits & French who were guilty of that. The Russians – talking here about the Romanovs, not the Soviets – destroyed the myriad Turkish dynasties in Turkistan, like in Buqhara, Xeva, Qoqon, Qashliq et al, which were the main sources of islamic invasions of India, all of which were Turk. Had the Brits not been around, they’d probably have taken Afghanistan and Iran as well, and put an end to islamic rule there too: it would just have been everything West and South-West of Iran
gravenimage says
‘Empire of God’ ‘provides valuable lessons for today that we ignore at our peril’
……………………………………………
So true.