From its humble beginnings as a small colonial Greek village, the Byzantine Empire - centered on its seat of power in Constantinople - grew to become the centre of Eastern Roman empire. During its thousand year reign as a bastion of Christianity, it provided a buffer against invading Muslim forces from the East, only being conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century.Available for the first time in paperback, this classic text - from one of the foremost historians of the early twentieth century - presents readers with a highly engaging and thoroughly researched history of this once powerful empire.