Skip to content

Booksellers & Trade Customers: Sign up for online bulk buying at trade.atlanticbooks.com for wholesale discounts

Booksellers: Create Account on our B2B Portal for wholesale discounts

Phantom Byzantium: Europe, Empire, and Identity from Late Antiquity to World War II

by Anthony Kaldellis
Save 17% Save 17%
Current price ₹3,947.00
Original price ₹4,737.00
Original price ₹4,737.00
Original price ₹4,737.00
(-17%)
₹3,947.00
Current price ₹3,947.00

Imported Edition - Ships in 18-21 Days

Free Shipping in India on orders above Rs. 500

Request Bulk Quantity Quote
+91
Book cover type: Hardcover
  • ISBN13: 9780226847139
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • Subject: N/A
  • Publisher: University of Chicago Press
  • Publisher Imprint: University of Chicago Press
  • Publication Date:
  • Pages: 240
  • Original Price: USD 37.5
  • Language: English
  • Edition: N/A
  • Item Weight: 459 grams
  • BISAC Subject(s): Byzantine Empire

How the West appropriated aspects of the eastern Roman empire while portraying it as inferior.

Unveiling the ideological foundations of Byzantine studies, Phantom Byzantium is a pioneering survey of western European perceptions of the eastern Roman empire (also known as Byzantium) spanning late antiquity to World War II. Through ten chronological chapters, Anthony Kaldellis makes the case that western Europe gradually formed its identity by adopting prestigious cultural elements from the eastern empire but simultaneously portraying the east as inferior. The West modeled its Roman imperial style on Constantinople while minimizing the latter as Greek rather than Roman; appropriated a host of Christian traditions from the east while casting the east as schismatic, heretical, or treacherous; and, during the Renaissance, used classical Hellenic philology from Greek scholars before marginalizing them as unworthy bearers of that tradition. This orientalizing impulse worked to buttress western exceptionalism and resulted in the fictitious construction of "Byzantium" as Europe's evil doppelg�nger, embodying the worst versions of traditions fundamental to European identity and casting the region as despotic, superstitious, and degenerate.

Explaining the creation, history, and functions of the ideological construct of Byzantium in the western imagination and European self-fashioning, this book has critical implications for contemporary views of European history.

Trusted for over 49 years

Family Owned Company

Secure Payment

All Major Credit Cards/Debit Cards/UPI & More Accepted

New & Authentic Products

India's Largest Distributor

Need Support?

Whatsapp Us