Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood：The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade

nthesecondhalfofthetenthcentury,Byzantiumembarkedonaseriesofspectacularconquests:firstinthesoutheastagainsttheArabs,theninBulgaria,andfinallyintheGeorgianandArmenianlands.Bytheearlyeleventhcentury,theempirewasthemostpowerfulstateintheMediterranean.Itwasalsoexpandingeconomically,demographically,and,intime,intellectuallyaswell.Yetthisimperialprojectcametoacrashingcollapsefiftyyearslater,whenpoliticaldisunity,fiscalmismanagement,anddefeatatthehandsoftheSeljuksintheeastandtheNormansinthewestbroughtanendtoByzantinehegemony.By1081,notonlywasitsdominanceofsouthernItaly,theBalkans,Caucasus,andnorthernMesopotamiaoverbutByzantium'sveryexistencewasthreatened.Howdidthisdramatictransformationhappen?Basedonacloseexaminationoftherelevantsources,thishistory-thefirstofitskindinoveracentury-offersanewreconstructionofthekeyeventsandcrucialreignsaswellasadifferentmodelforunderstandingimperialpoliticsandwars,bothcivilandforeign.InadditiontoprovidingabadlyneedednarrativeofthiscriticalperiodofByzantinehistory,StreamsofGold,RiversofBloodoffersnewinterpretationsofkeytopicsrelevanttothemedievalera.Thenarrativeunfoldsinthreeparts:thefirstcoverstheyears955-1025,aperiodofimperialconquestandconsolidationofauthorityunderthegreatemperorBasil"theBulgar-Slayer."Thesecond(1025-1059)examinesthedispersalofcentralizedauthorityinConstantinopleaswellastheemergenceofnewforeignenemies(Pechenegs,Seljuks,andNormans).Thelastsectionchroniclesthespectacularcollapseoftheempireduringthesecondhalfoftheeleventhcentury,concludingwithalookattheFirstCrusadeanditsconsequencesforByzantinerelationswiththepowersofWesternEurope.Thisbrisklypacedandthoroughlyinvestigatednarrativevividlybringstolifeoneofthemostexcitingandtransformativeerasofmedievalhistory.