The Byzantine Empire: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Byzantine Empire, credited to Charles William Chadwick Oman, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Byzantine Empire by Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman Fifty years ago the word “Byzantine” was used as a synonym for all that was corrupt and decadent, and the tale of the East-Roman Empire was dismissed by modern historians as depressing and monotonous. The great Gibbon had branded the successors of Justinian and Heraclius as a series of vicious weaklings, and for several generations no one dared to contradict him. Two books have served to undeceive the English reader, the monumental work of Finlay, published in 1856, and the more modern volumes of Mr. Bury, which appeared in 1889. Since they have written, the Byzantines no longer need an apologist, and the great work of the East-Roman Empire in holding back the Saracen, and in keeping alive throughout the Dark Ages the lamp of learning, is beginning to be realized. (Wikipedia) Oman starts with the arrival of Greek traders to establish a colony and ends 'So the cry that God was great and Mohammed his prophet rang through the dome where thirty generations of patriarchs had celebrated the Holy Mysteries, and all Europe and Asia knew the end was come of the longest tale of Empire that Christendom has yet seen. Finis'.

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Byzantine Empire
• Author credits: Charles William Chadwick Oman
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 27
• Listed recording duration: 9:18:34

Catalogue topics

• English
• Constantinople
• Roman Empire

Opening tracks: first 24 of 27

1. 00 - Preface — 2:36
2. 01 - Byzantium — 22:05
3. 02 - The Foundation of Constantinople (A.D. 328-330) — 26:24
4. 03 - The Fight with the Goths — 22:30
5. 04 - The Departure of the German — 16:43
6. 05 - The Reorganization of the Eastern Empire (A.D 408-518) — 19:24
7. 06 - Justinian — 23:30
8. 07 - Justinian's Foreign Conquests — 25:22
9. 08 - The End of Justinians Reign — 22:20
10. 09 - The Coming of the Slavs — 21:00
11. 10 - The Darkest Hour — 20:33
12. 11 - Social and Religious Life (A.D. 320-620) — 28:20
13. 12 - The Coming of the Saracens — 26:12
14. 13 - The First Anarchy — 16:16
15. 14 - The Saracens Turn Back — 8:54
16. 15 - The Iconoclasts (A.D. 720-802) — 16:51
17. 16 - The End of the Iconoclasts (A.D. 802-806) — 23:14
18. 17 - The Literary Emperors and Their Time (A.D. 886-963) — 17:24
19. 18 - Military Glory — 21:04
20. 19 - The End of the Macedonian Dynasty — 14:20
21. 20 - Manizikert (1057-1081) — 13:19
22. 21 - The Comneni and the Crusades — 22:47
23. 22 - The Latin Conquest of Constantinople — 34:22
24. 23 - The Latin Empire and the Empire of Nicaea (1204-1261) — 20:37

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.