/lit/ - Literature

>>19591060
Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era

What if Rome but stinky and oriental?

>>19591159
>oriental
Meaningless buzzword

>>19591165
J2 cope

The most successful Finnish book could be related, at least:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Egyptian

>>19591254
>>19591206
>>19591165
>>19591159
>>19591141
>>19591060
amogus (you looked - LOLE!!!!)

>>19591060
Simarillion desu

>>19591254
Did you mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Angel_(Waltari_novel)

>>19591206
>>>/pol/
>>>/trash/

>>19591060
The Alexiad

>>19591060

Quo Vadis?

>>19591165
It has been said for hundreds of years that the Eastern Roman Empire was a mixture of Roman customs with the features of oriental monarchies

Oriental just meant "East," in this case the Near East

>>19593080
Was gonna post this

>>19593178
>It takes place in the city of Rome under the rule of emperor Nero, c. AD 64.

>>19591060
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

But be cautious, this book has no happy ending and is very disturbing. You will most likely find it in the horror section

>>19593201
Yes and they're wrong
Do you know very many oriental monarchies were the supposedly absolute ruler had rocks flung at him by randos because they thought he was an ugly bastard
Or where top down decisions were overturned by popular protest
Or where the bouncer became emperor only to get cucked?
Byzantium was more democratic than the principate

>>19593394
That's silly, exceptions and differences don't prevent similarities existing as well. No doubt the Achaemenid style of kingship was different from the Akkadian but it's possible to speak of overlapping traditions and shared assumptions.

How was Byzantium more democratic than the Principate? That statement is too vague on its own.

>>19593377
>recommending Gibbon
Ishygddt

>>19592675

>>19593080
hell yeah

>>19591060
The Alexiad

>>19593394
That's not democracy that's ochlocracy

>>19593377
Decline and Fall is about the fall of the WRE, not the Byzantines.

>>19594209
He was an excellent historian and writer. Decline and Fall is absolutely still worth reading.

>>19595516
Gibbon has flashes of objective brilliance but I would say that Decline and Fall is generally a sneering exercise in Whiggism with little value for the contemporary reader. It's certainly a product of its time, and not in a way which remains particularly interesting.
It's as if Herodotus had been a sophist.

Helena by Evelyn Waugh

>>19592675
I’ve read it, and it’s a dry, biased and often times conflicting history book. The personal statements, very little beyond superficial flattery or insults, are interesting and give some sense of Anna’s personality. It’s an interesting book to read if you’re curious about the mindset and customs people had back then but if that triviality wears off you’re left with a very half assed political commentary/propoganda piece.
Would recommend to try and read it and don’t bother with the dates since they’re mostly conjecture anyway.

>>19591060
My diary desu

>>19593201
I believe it is mostly a meaningless term because inherently nothing had changed from Augustus to Justinian. Diocletian adding court procedures did not change the reality that the Emperor was always an absolute monarch, at the mercy of the people, army and the Senate. Augustus held more autocratic power than nearly any other Emperor, the only ones that could match it in the Late Roman Empire was Diocletian and Constantine. The autocratic power of the Emperor completely depended on his own skills, Arcadius was powerless to the ability of his bureaucrats, court and generals despite the illusion of absolute power created by ceremony while Marcus Aurelius despite showing himself through ceremony to be powerless was far more powerful and autocratic than Arcadius ever was.

The underlying structures that made the Emperor and Empire what it was did not fundamentally change, the proclamation and importance of the people was an eternal part of Roman and Byzantine legitimacy along with the reality that the Emperor was never secure in his position, no amount of birthright, ceremony or victory could change that.