This book is a bargain for its sumptuous and plentiful color photography of Byzantine art. The text is informative if not stylish. My only criticism is the text often discusses works not illustrated, does not discuss a work illustrated, or discusses a work illustrated many pages later and never refers you to the photograph.

DRAWING ON THE INHERITANCE OF PAGAN, CLASSICAL AND ORIENTAL ANTIQUITY, AS WELL AS THE REFINED DECORATIVE REPERTORY OF ISLAM, BYZANTINE ART IS DISTINGUISHED BY AN INVENTIVE AND ORIGINAL STYLE. ITS PAINSTAKINGLY CONSTRUCTED BUILDINGS AND INTERIOR DECORS AND ITS USE OF SUMPTUOUS MATERIALS SYMBOLIZE A GLITTERING CIVILIZATION WHICH AT ITS PEAK STRETCHED FROM SYRIA TO SICILY AND ENCOMPASSED CAPPADOCIA AND THE PELOPONNESE. THE LEADING ARTISTIC CENTRES ARE LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED IN THE BOOK, INCLUDING CONSTANTINOPLE WITH ITS ULTIMATEBYZANTINE SYMBOL, HAGIA SOPHIA, SAN MARCO IN VENICE WITH ITS TREASURES,THOSE OF THE MONASTERIES OF ST CATHERINE IN SINAI AND OF MOUNT ATHOS IN GREECE, AND MANY OTHERS. THIS THOUSAND-YEAR HERITAGE, WITH ITS RELIGIOUS AND ITS SECULAR INSPIRATIONAL THEMES, BEARS WITNESS TO THE UNIQUE IDENTITY OF A GREAT CHRISTIAN EMPIRE OFTHE EAST.

1.Early Byzantine Art (4th-6th century)

Birth of an Empire

Architecture: the classical heritage

The last days of classical sculpture

Incunabular painting

Luxury arts and crafts: a political instrument

2.The Age of Upheaval (7th-9th century)

The iconoclastic controversy

Art under the iconoclasts

3.The Byzantine Renaissance (mid-9th-late 12th century)

Political and military apogee

An architectural revival

The blossoming of painting

Luxury arts and crafts: imperial prestige

4.The Lain“Interlude” (1204-1261)

The Latin Empire

Byzantine traditions and identity

5. The Palaiologos Dynasty (1261-1453)

An Empire condemned

The eleventh-hour revival

Architecture and monumental decor

Painting and the luxury arts and crafts

Conclusion

Maps

Chronological Table

List of Emperors of the East

Bibliography