Introduction: A different history of Byzantium
Constantinople, the largest city in Christendom
The church of Hagia Sophia
The bulwark against Islam
Icons, a new Christian art form
Iconoclasm and icon veneration
A literate and articulate society
Saints Cyril and methodios, 'apostles to the slavs'
Imperial children, 'born in the purple'
Basil II, 'the bulgar-slayer'
The fulcrum of the crusades
The towers of Trebizond, Arta, Nicaea and Thessanlonike
'Better the Turkish turban than the Papal tiara'
Conclusion: The greatness and legacy of Byzantium