History Books Review

Byzantine history starts in earnest with the end of the western Roman Empire, but events in Italy remain important.

The Byzantine empire was finally ended in 1453 some eleven hundred years since Constantine moved the capital from Rome. For most of that time it had looked weak, often catastrophically so. It had been on its knees many times. Somehow it always managed to come through against the odds. Edward Luttwak's book goes a long way to explain how it managed it. If you are managing a declining superpower, this is a must read book.

It is hard not to admire the way that the Jews have succeeded in maintaining their culture and identity for many thousands of years. This has been achieved in the face of some pretty big practical difficulties. They have rarely had the support of a state and have often been subject to some pretty severe persecutions.For instance, when Julian became the last pagan to come to the throne they were going through one of their bad patches. The Christians had not that long ago broken away from the Jewish tradition and the two faiths had the kinds of issues that might be expected from a pair that had just been through a messy divorce. Prior to the rise of Christianity the Jews had fallen foul of several of the emperors as a result of a number of brave but not tremendously successful revolts. Hadrian had banned them from Jerusalem. The ban was still in force and on top of that Constantius had imposed extra taxes on them.

Religion is often accused of causing most of the wars in history. This is hardly fair. People are quite capable of picking fights without any divine inspiration, even if religion is a handy justification to cover your true motives. And religious leaders sometimes take a role in solving problems, which evens up the balance sheet a bit. But the charge is not totally groundless. Religion itself can be the problem, and the religious trauma of the late Roman Empire is the textbook case.

Considering that the establishment of Christianity was the most lasting effect of his reign, it is a bit surprising that we don't know exactly when Constantine became a Christian.