Kindle
$14.72
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
$36.00
Paperback
$24.95
$36.00
FREE Returns
Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item.
Details
Want it faster? The Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app. Want to listen? Try Audible.
$$36.00 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$36.00
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Paul Stephenson
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

New Rome: The Empire in the East (History of the Ancient World) Hardcover – February 8, 2022

by Paul Stephenson (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 41 ratings
Editors' pick Best History
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$36.00","priceAmount":36.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"36","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"IB1PGWd%2FeeVMi1j%2FTFLnUden7ZxelYqM6pAnVbgiXlYyrdu%2FSSPo3xkaz0y3flgqVSoOcwiYbPi9JaCL79j2oK8yvWdkpdK1nupGGcMmS0JwWSK6vFXLRSTwTqU%2F5ubn0cNEv0ZEn4gStqExiXqasA%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

A comprehensive new history of the Eastern Roman Empire based on the science of the human past.

As modern empires rise and fall, ancient Rome becomes ever more significant. We yearn for Rome’s power but fear Rome’s ruin―will we turn out like the Romans, we wonder, or can we escape their fate? That question has obsessed centuries of historians and leaders, who have explored diverse political, religious, and economic forces to explain Roman decline. Yet the decisive factor remains elusive.

In New Rome, Paul Stephenson looks beyond traditional texts and well-known artifacts to offer a novel, scientifically minded interpretation of antiquity’s end. It turns out that the descent of Rome is inscribed not only in parchments but also in ice cores and DNA. From these and other sources, we learn that pollution and pandemics influenced the fate of Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire. During its final five centuries, the empire in the east survived devastation by natural disasters, the degradation of the human environment, and pathogens previously unknown to the empire’s densely populated, unsanitary cities. Despite the Plague of Justinian, regular “barbarian” invasions, a war with Persia, and the rise of Islam, the empire endured as a political entity. However, Greco-Roman civilization, a world of interconnected cities that had shared a common material culture for a millennium, did not.

Politics, war, and religious strife drove the transformation of Eastern Rome, but they do not tell the whole story. Braiding the political history of the empire together with its urban, material, environmental, and epidemiological history, New Rome offers the most comprehensive explanation to date of the Eastern Empire’s transformation into Byzantium.

Previous page
  1. Part of series
    History of the Ancient World
  2. Print length
    464 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press
  5. Publication date
    February 8, 2022
  6. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0674659627
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0674659629
  9. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

New Rome: The Empire in the East (History of the Ancient World)
$36.00
Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The Tragedy of Empire: From Constantine to the Destruction of Roman Italy (History of the Ancient World)
$29.32
Get it as soon as Monday, May 13
Only 9 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The Origin of Empire: Rome from the Republic to Hadrian (History of the Ancient World)
$35.00
Get it as soon as Saturday, May 11
Only 10 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[A] major contribution to our knowledge of the sheer richness and importance of the world of East Rome in its initial headlong centuries…Brings the world of New Rome alive with exceptional learning and a magnificent openness to modern scientific methods that breathe life into conventional narratives of political and social history…Stephenson’s approach takes us directly into the heart of East Roman society.”―Peter Brown, New York Review of Books

“The eastern Mediterranean witnessed major turbulence and transformation between the fifth and seventh centuries: climate change, wars, plague, religious strife, the end of classical antiquity, and the rise of Islam. In this striking new history, Stephenson gives us a portrait of Byzantium that is informed by environmental science and the material records left behind by the men and women of New Rome. Conventional histories of the last days of the Roman Empire will no longer suffice after you read this book.”―Averil Cameron, author of Byzantine Matters

“How did the Eastern Roman Empire of late antiquity become the civilization known as Byzantium? Stephenson’s New Rome is the most compelling fusion yet of narrative history with the recent findings of environmental research and scientific data. It will change the way we understand key events and transformations in the Eastern Empire.”―Anthony Kaldellis, author of Romanland

“Stephenson…has a wonderfully sharp eye for data and detail…Anyone who has shrugged at the suggestion that the weather had anything to do with the demise of such a mighty empire will, I think, come away from this book persuaded that climate change and natural disasters provide an important part of the answer. Far from being moralistic and attempting to apply the examples of the past as a warning, Stephenson lays down the evidence unemotionally, and lets it speak for itself…A sobering but fascinating history. Not for a long time has a book surprised me as much as this one did…I have been quoting passages and surprising facts to everyone around me ever since putting it down.”―Daisy Dunn, The Critic

“A genuinely new way of looking at later Late Antiquity, firmly anchoring the old stories of emperors and barbarians in their physical and environmental context. Stephenson’s gift for narrative is matched by an eye for arresting images and quirky anecdotes that will surprise and delight even jaded readers.”―Michael Kulikowski, author of The Tragedy of Empire

“Casts brilliant shafts of light on the material conditions and spiritual quests of the ruling and the ruled in the Mediterranean world of Late Antiquity. Long-studied monuments and texts are fused with Egyptian papyri and fresh scientific data on habitats and climate change to present a masterly synthesis.”―Jonathan Shepard, editor of The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire

“A sweeping survey of the disintegration of the western Roman empire and the emergence of Byzantium…Stephenson draws on the ‘new science of Roman history’ to reveal how climate change, pandemics, invading tribes, and near-constant warfare led to the decline of ancient cities…This impressive chronicle offers an eye-opening perspective on a period of dramatic change.”―Publishers Weekly

“Centers on the Byzantine world in the period 395–700 A.D., combining modern scientific methods with traditional history to explain which parts of Rome migrated east and what became of them.”―New Criterion

“This early history of Byzantium is sure to be enjoyed by a wide audience.”―Choice

About the Author

Paul Stephenson is a historian of late antiquity and the author of Constantine: Roman Emperor, Christian Victor.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press (February 8, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674659627
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674659629
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 41 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Paul Stephenson

Paul Stephenson

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
41 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Michael Boyajian
5.0 out of 5 stars A breathtaking history of the Eastern Roman Empire
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2023
Verified Purchase
The author provides a breathtaking history of the Eastern Roman Empire written in an academic fashion that reads like a novel that breaks the chains of the false and ridiculous terminology calling what is in reality the ongoing Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire or Byzantium. These people considered themselves Romans as did the entire world of that time and this Eastern Roman Empire endured to just a few decades before Columbus set sail for what he considered India. The author provides a splendid social history rather than the usual outdated historical style that featured an array of war, coups, religious fanaticism and inhumane punishment. In this work we learn of the Roman people at every level of society and the archaic fictional term Byzantium is barely if at all uttered. A step forward in historical narratives. This author is the scholarly future of global academic history. He seeks not money, his gold is knowledge.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Sidd Vicious
5.0 out of 5 stars Rome didn't fall in a day
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2022
Verified Purchase
A well written account of Constantinople and its empire from its re-founding by its namesake through the loss of most of its territory at the end of late antiquity. The author has a light touch, guiding the reader through the welter of emperors, empresses, patriarchs, usurpers, anchorites, etc., who populated the (literally) Byzantine world. He also takes into account recent advances in climate science in illuminating the physical world in which this neglected—in the West—civilization developed.
Helpful
 Report
Douglas H. Walker
3.0 out of 5 stars Too technical for an introductory work, but too brief for a good overview
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2022
New Rome: The Empire in the East, surveys the cultural, economic, and political history of the Eastern Roman Empire from 395-711. Paul Stephenson has produced a competent introduction to the period that nevertheless fails to impress.

First, the positives. While not humorous, Stephenson is a capable writer with a knack for including useful illustrations and exotic anecdotes. For instance, he conveys the “strangeness” of Eastern Orthodox religion by deploying well-timed anecdotes about the Romans’ pre-battle rituals, devotion to sacred objects, and valorization of Mary and the saints. The reader gets a feel for city life and its rhythms in late antiquity.

Another positive is that Stephenson integrates “hard” data from archaeology and historical biology into his history. The first few chapters, which gave an overview of social, cultural, and economic life during Late Antiquity, mix scientific and archaeological evidence with primary literary sources to paint an effective picture of late Roman society. In later chapters, Stephenson goes into depth on archaeological investigations, providing physical evidence regarding (among other things) coin hoards, settlement size, agricultural and industrial practices, and trade patterns. There is a chapter on the effects of plagues, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. This analysis provides a fuller picture than we get from literary sources alone.

Unfortunately, both of Stephenson’s strengths also create weaknesses. The sections on the archaeological and biological evidence drag on and on without contributing much to understanding the time period. A briefer survey of this material would have sufficed, perhaps with details placed in the endnotes. The same is true of the lengthy description of the physical layout of Constantinople and its buildings: since it is not accompanied by many illustrations, the effect falls flat.

Similarly, Stephenson likes to engage in source analysis, describing in detail what sources are available for each period, along with their reliability. This is expected in scholarly works, but illustrates the problem with this book: was it written for the general reader or for scholars? These discussions bog down the narrative and leave less room for much-need discussion of Rome’s political, diplomatic, and military contexts. Again, source analysis should have been relegated to an introductory note or to the endnotes.

As a result of limited space, the political narrative is sparse, with a minimum of commentary or analysis. Comparing New Rome to other political narratives of the same time period, I found that the former excluded many details that make the story more comprehensible and bring it to life. The narrative jumps around abruptly, focusing on some events in detail and glossing over others. At times, the missing pieces make it difficult to follow the larger story. Stephenson appears to have considered the traditional political narrative to be window-dressing. He spends more time describing each and every column or fountain than he does on the emperors’ personalities. Rarely does he step back and make generalizing statements or causal theories.

Ultimately, Stephenson tries to combine socio-cultural history and traditional political-military history in one book and ends up doing neither very well. The book is too technical for an introductory work, and too brief for a comprehensive treatise. It fails to provide an overarching analysis of why the Eastern Roman Empire declined, leaning too heavily on presenting vivid slices of life which are not integrated into a long-term narrative. While I am intensely interested in this time period, parts of the book bored me.

The book succeeds in providing a decent general overview, but I hope another author takes up the same task. For similar books, I would recommend Peter Heather’s Rome Resurgent for the period from 490-565 AD, which provides an excellent overview of the political economy of the empire and the difficulty of maintaining power as emperor. For a better political and military history of a similar time period (260-641 AD), I recommend The Roman Empire in Late Antiquity, by Hugh Elton.
9 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars Garbled and confused.
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2022
Verified Purchase
This book has a wealth of information and includes much recent work ... such as climate changes etc. HOWEVER, I simply could not follow it ... the introduction indicates that the book has some kind of theme, but I'll be darned if I could find it in the text. Perhaps the books is well organized to the point of brilliance, but it didn't look that way to me. The book seems to completely lack SYNTHESIS ... you know, the overview you get by taking your time and taking walks between writing chapters so that the end result has a discernible outline or flow. Don't look for a chronologically consistent story.
Helpful
 Report
henry
1.0 out of 5 stars Glaring error on first page
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2022
Verified Purchase
The author who, on the first page of the first chapter of this book, identifies the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) as the final book of the New Testament hardly inspires confidence in the reader. This glaring error and a perusal of his sources, all essentially in English, induced me to return the book.
31 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Julianne3205
3.0 out of 5 stars Too many names, places and invaders
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2022
I really wanted to like this book after a promising beginning that takes on the role of climate and natural disasters in the fall of empires. But each chapter's narrative - and it's almost all narrative - is just sentence after sentence of "this, then that." The author knows his subject, but doesn't convey it in a compelling or readable way. Readers who want to get a sense of the time would be far better off reading Theophanes and other original sources. While they'd still find a plethora of names and groups to digest, the reader would get a much fuller sense of the emotion and urgency of the times. I had trouble finishing this, especially after the very disappointing chapter on Justinian.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Alex C. Michalos
4.0 out of 5 stars This is fairly technical, clearly written account of the Rome if the east.
Reviewed in Canada on May 18, 2022
Verified Purchase
The book explains the case for seeing the Roman empire as two and examining the similarities and differences.
Report