Revisiting the Byzantine Commonwealth

Nodes, Networks, and Spheres

Jonathan Shepard (University of Oxford), Peter Frankopan (University of Oxford)

$339.95

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Oxford University Press
28 September 2025

Series: Oxford Studies in Byzantium

Pinning down Byzantium (or East Rome) is as difficult today as it was for contemporaries during its 1,000-year-long existence. Dimitri Obolensky sought to characterize its impact on Eastern Europe in his classic The Byzantine Commonwealth, focusing on the elements of religious doctrine, rites, and law which ruling elites there took from the emperor acting in tandem with the Constantinopolitan patriarchate. Chapters in this volume, Revisiting the Byzantine Commonwealth, address such basic questions as who the Byzantines thought they were and how they managed to maintain their hegemonial stance for so long. Other chapters reappraise the uses of Byzantium to elites and also to other sectors of societies from the Upper Adriatic to the Volga. Surveys are offered of three spheres which functioned independently of (and in one case, expressly in antithesis to) Byzantium, yet which overlapped and were constantly interacting with it--the Latin west, the Islamic-Christian east, and the world of the steppes. Candidates for 'Commonwealth membership' can be found within these spheres, too, along with transregional networks which functioned regardless of political borders. Aspects of Byzantium appealed to the variegated societies and cultures around it in very different ways, with the imperial elite taking keen interest in neighbouring peoples and making the most of Soft Power as material resources dwindled from the thirteenth century on. Some periods of outsiders' engagement with the empire were short-lived, but others proved long-lasting, underpinned by ecclesiastical institutions and monastic networks. The volume aims to foster a more rounded approach to the phenomenon of Byzantium, and a better understanding of how and why it impinges on so many Eurasian cultures and polities to this day.

Volume editor: Jonathan Shepard (University of Oxford), Peter Frankopan (University of Oxford)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 165mm, Spine: 40mm
Weight: 1.428kg
ISBN: 9780198864097
ISBN 10: 0198864094
Series: Oxford Studies in Byzantium
Pages: 768
Publication Date: 28 September 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Jonathan Shepard is a Research Associate at the Faculty of History, University of Oxford and was for many years University Lecturer in Russian History at the University of Cambridge. Peter Frankopan is Professor of Global History at the University of Oxford, where he is Director of the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research and Senior Research Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford. He is also UNESCO Professor of Silk Roads Studies and a Bye-Fellow at King's College, Cambridge.

Reviews for Revisiting the Byzantine Commonwealth: Nodes, Networks, and Spheres

Part I. WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE? Part II. HOW DO THEY DO IT? BORDERLINE CASES The Latin West PART V. THE ISLAMIC-CHRISTIAN EAST AND BEYOND Part VIA. Obolensky's Commonwealth Part VIb. Obolensky's Commonwealth Part VII. Steppe Changes