The destruction of Constantinople finally happened in 1453 (p. 293). The Ottoman Empire rained cannonballs on the city and brought its walls down. On the last Monday of May in the same year, people began to gather the Hagia Sophia. A sermon was given in both Latin and Greek; the divisions that had separated the two churches of the East and West forgotten. But it was to no avail. In the end, Ottoman flags were hoisted up to celebrate their victory. At last the wheel comes full circle, from the founder of Byzantium, Constantine, to the final emperor, who was, fittingly enough, also named Constantine (p. 298; 299). The argument the author makes is very hard to refute with the amount of evidence he offers; one would find it difficult not to be
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It condenses the history of the Byzantine Empire into a brief read that will introduce the reader to what can only be known as a Roman Empire reborn. The book tells of the heroics and significance of people and their land that should not have been lost-but was. It is a brilliant book that ought to be recommended, although perhaps not for everybody. There are some reviling descriptions and activities talked about in Lost to the West that would be unfitting for younger eyes to read or know about. For instance, the emperor Valerian of Rome led an attack against Persia and failed miserably, serving out the rest of his life as a footstool for the Persian king. And after he had passed, “the Persians had him flayed, dying the skin a deep red color and stuffing it with hay.” (p. 2). When Constantine the Great assumed the throne under a Christian banner, he banned pagan practices such as sacrifice, ritual orgies, and sacred prostitution (p. 17). Needless to say, the last two activities do not need to be in a child’s vocabulary. This book should only be recommended to high school students and onwards. The author did a magnificent job at accomplishing his purpose of exposing readers to Byzantine history and arguing his points of Byzantine recuing Rome and influencing the modern world. Overall, this book was well-written and sophisticated; it should to be read by all those
It condenses the history of the Byzantine Empire into a brief read that will introduce the reader to what can only be known as a Roman Empire reborn. The book tells of the heroics and significance of people and their land that should not have been lost-but was. It is a brilliant book that ought to be recommended, although perhaps not for everybody. There are some reviling descriptions and activities talked about in Lost to the West that would be unfitting for younger eyes to read or know about. For instance, the emperor Valerian of Rome led an attack against Persia and failed miserably, serving out the rest of his life as a footstool for the Persian king. And after he had passed, “the Persians had him flayed, dying the skin a deep red color and stuffing it with hay.” (p. 2). When Constantine the Great assumed the throne under a Christian banner, he banned pagan practices such as sacrifice, ritual orgies, and sacred prostitution (p. 17). Needless to say, the last two activities do not need to be in a child’s vocabulary. This book should only be recommended to high school students and onwards. The author did a magnificent job at accomplishing his purpose of exposing readers to Byzantine history and arguing his points of Byzantine recuing Rome and influencing the modern world. Overall, this book was well-written and sophisticated; it should to be read by all those