The Byzantine Empire was a world power for more than 1,000 years, from the founding of its magnificent capital, Constantinople (modern Istanbul) by Constantine the Great in 330 to its fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. In this sweeping history, Judith Herrin examines the life and legacy of this great civilisation that evolved out of the Roman Empire – its emperors and empresses, conquests and Crusades, desperate sieges, and importance as a bulwark between the West and the burgeoning Islamic world, making possible the ascent of modern Europe. Byzantium’s cultural glories are displayed in 32 pages of dazzling colour images, including great churches and monasteries, gold and silver work, painted and ivory icons, and vivid mosaics. In a new preface, Herrin rejoices that recent interest has taken Byzantium ‘out of its East Mediterranean corner to reveal its brilliant contributions to global civilisations’ – an ambition achieved in this fascinating introduction by a gifted scholar of late antiquity.