Byzantium: The Lost Empire

British Egyptologist/archaeologist John Romer is the engaging tour guide for this TLC-aired series chronicling the history and culture of the Byzantine Empire—the eastern area of the Roman Empire centered on the city of Constantinople, which was founded by the Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D. on the site of the old city of Byzantium on the Bosporus. After Rome and the west fell to Germanic tribes in the fifth century, the eastern realm survived, and—despite occasional disasters—mostly flourished through the Middle Ages until the Turkish conquest in 1453. In Byzantium: The Lost Empire, the ebullient Romer traipses from the Middle East to Greece and Italy, uncovering numerous physical remnants of Byzantium, while offering a historical commentary, amusing anecdotes, and awestruck analysis. The first hour concentrates on architecture and engineering, the second focuses on art (especially religious art), the third looks at Byzantium's influence on such divergent locales as Venice and Rus, and the final episode outlines the empire's last decades, and features an especially insightful discussion of the Peloponnesian town of Mistra, where leading citizens often took refuge from the bustle of the capital. A highly personal, often eccentric (but always engaging) treatment of Byzantine history, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)