Averil Cameron is Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History at the University of Oxford and the Warden of Keble College, and was recently awarded a DBE. Her publications include Changing Cultures in Early Byzantium (1996) and Eusebius, Life of Constantine (ed. with Stuart G. Hall, 1999), and she is a co-editor of volumes XII, XIII and XIV of the Cambridge Ancient History.

"The Byzantines is a welcome addition to the renewal of Byzantine Studies in contemporary academia." (Canadian Journal of History, winter 2009) Winner of the 2006 John D. Criticos Prize"Seeks consistently to place Byzantium in Context and to make the reader question fundamental preconceptions about the Byzantine empire." (Anglo-Hellenic Review)

• List of Figures viList of Maps viiPreface viiiAcknowledgements xiiiAbbreviations xv1 What was Byzantium? 12 The Changing Shape of Byzantium: From Late Antiquity to 1025 203 The Changing Shape of Byzantium: From 1025 to 1453 404 The Byzantine Mirage 635 Ruling the Byzantine State 786 An Orthodox Society? 967 How People Lived 1168 Education and Culture 1339 Byzantium and Europe 16310 Byzantium and the Mediterranean 179Conclusion 197Chronology 199References 207Notes 229Index 260

Averil Cameron is Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History at the University of Oxford and the Warden of Keble College, and was recently awarded a DBE. Her publications include Changing Cultures in Early Byzantium (1996) and Eusebius, Life of Constantine (ed. with Stuart G. Hall, 1999), and she is a co-editor of volumes XII, XIII and XIV of the Cambridge Ancient History.

"The Byzantines is a welcome addition to the renewal of Byzantine Studies in contemporary academia." (Canadian Journal of History, winter 2009) Winner of the 2006 John D. Criticos Prize"Seeks consistently to place Byzantium in Context and to make the reader question fundamental preconceptions about the Byzantine empire." (Anglo-Hellenic Review)

• List of Figures viList of Maps viiPreface viiiAcknowledgements xiiiAbbreviations xv1 What was Byzantium? 12 The Changing Shape of Byzantium: From Late Antiquity to 1025 203 The Changing Shape of Byzantium: From 1025 to 1453 404 The Byzantine Mirage 635 Ruling the Byzantine State 786 An Orthodox Society? 967 How People Lived 1168 Education and Culture 1339 Byzantium and Europe 16310 Byzantium and the Mediterranean 179Conclusion 197Chronology 199References 207Notes 229Index 260

Averil Cameron is Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine History at the University of Oxford and the Warden of Keble College, and was recently awarded a DBE. Her publications include Changing Cultures in Early Byzantium (1996) and Eusebius, Life of Constantine (ed. with Stuart G. Hall, 1999), and she is a co-editor of volumes XII, XIII and XIV of the Cambridge Ancient History.

"The Byzantines is a welcome addition to the renewal of Byzantine Studies in contemporary academia." (Canadian Journal of History, winter 2009) Winner of the 2006 John D. Criticos Prize"Seeks consistently to place Byzantium in Context and to make the reader question fundamental preconceptions about the Byzantine empire." (Anglo-Hellenic Review)

• List of Figures viList of Maps viiPreface viiiAcknowledgements xiiiAbbreviations xv1 What was Byzantium? 12 The Changing Shape of Byzantium: From Late Antiquity to 1025 203 The Changing Shape of Byzantium: From 1025 to 1453 404 The Byzantine Mirage 635 Ruling the Byzantine State 786 An Orthodox Society? 967 How People Lived 1168 Education and Culture 1339 Byzantium and Europe 16310 Byzantium and the Mediterranean 179Conclusion 197Chronology 199References 207Notes 229Index 260