Byzantium....How historical?

[sarkamen]

I was wondering... I am sure this has been covered a thousand times for the historical books but can anyone tell me what is and is not historical in the book? I saw the post about the Emperors and stuff but I am wondering about main characters.

[dinadan]

I just saw this post (shame on me, it's over a year old!), so I thought I'd help.

Certainly SRL's depiction of Basil II is pretty accurate. He was a ruthless, bloodthirsty man who took the imperial throne by force...but, to his credit, he brought stability to the Empire. Basil is also the Byzantine emperor who forged the alliance with the vikings from Kievan Rus, which eventually became the center of the first Russian kingdom.

As for the story about St. Aidan...well, it is certainly possible, although not for the most famous Celtic saint of the name (who lived much earlier and died at Lindisfarne). I look at Aidan's story as more of a "what if" rather than a "it was like this." The places and historical personages he meets along the way seem accurate enough, and SRL did a lot of travel and research on that book. If you are looking for info on St. Aidan, you could check out orthodoxengland.org.uk/hp.htm. They have links to info about lots of early Celtic saints.

[Treskillard]

Thanks for the post and info.

I ran across something the other day on wikipedia ... a Norse king named "Magnus Barefoot", which reminded me of Harald and the famous "walking in air" barefoot scene. Even though Magnus' name was not Harald, he did have a son named Harald.

I doubt there is any historical connection, but when I saw "Magnus Barefoot", it made me laugh.

[dinadan]

I often spend time (too much!) reading random historical articles on Wikipedia.

If you are interested in Byzantine history, I suggest looking at John Julius Norwich's History of Byzantium (3 volumes, but available in a single, albeit abridged, volume as well), Vasiliev's Byzantine Empire, also the Oxford History of Byzantium is good. You might also enjoy looking over Timothy Ware's The Orthodox Church, the first half of which is devoted exclusively to the history of the Church (which, as the official Church of the Byzantine Empire, means it covers a lot of Byzantine history).

I'm something of a Byzantine history fan, as you can tell

And, I have to say, I owe it to Lawhead and this novel.

[Tegid]

[purple]dinadan[/purple], if someone were hypothetically a bit too busy at any given moment to digest a weighty tome on the matter, but might be able to swing a crash course in DVD format, does the one being offered > here < seem worthwhile as an introduction? Could you glance at that blurb and give an opinion on whether it beats ignorance on the subject, if it's a choice between the two?

[Treskillard]

Dinadan,

Thanks for the info! Right now I'm researching the King Arthur era (400-600 A.D.), but there is no doubt that in the future I may need this info, so I'm going to save your references.

And Tegid, those DVD lectures look pretty good from my perspective. Twelve hours of lecture on Byzantium by a man who got his Ph.D. from Yale? That sounds excellent, and a good way to get your feet wet, if not your knees.

What do you think, Dinadan?

[dinadan]

cephas said:

[purple]dinadan[/purple], if someone were hypothetically a bit too busy at any given moment to digest a weighty tome on the matter, but might be able to swing a crash course in DVD format, does the one being offered > here < seem worthwhile as an introduction? Could you glance at that blurb and give an opinion on whether it beats ignorance on the subject, if it's a choice between the two?

This looks AMAZING Tegid! How did you find this? I'm thinking about ordering a copy for the folks in my Inquirer's Class at Church to take a gander at. Ken Harl is a pretty smart chap. He's got a contribution included an essay collection on Byzantine history that i have, that is very nice reading. I assume he would do a good job with this.

I'd say go for it.

[Tegid]

Bards have ways.

Thanks for your word of recommendation on it, [purple]din[/purple]. Btw, if anyone sees this and is interested, be aware that the set is temporarily on sale at least once a year (as it currently is), but at other times, it's quite expensive, meaning a couple hundred bucks. Hold out for the sale.

Feb 25, 2008 Edit: The sale price for this set has expired. It will be a number of months before it goes back on sale.

[Tegid]

> These DVDs < are again on sale, through May 15.