The Chronicle of Theophanes

Theophanes paints a vivid picture of the Empire's struggle in the seventh and eighth centuries both to withstand foreign invasions and to quell internal religious conflicts. Theophanes built the framework upon which all Byzantine chronology for this period must be based. Important topics covered by the Chronicle include:--The Empire's struggle to repel the explosive expansion of the Arabs, as well as the Bulgar invasion, beginning in this period its great role as a bulwark shielding Christian Europe.--The iconoclastic controversy, which caused civil war within Byzantium and led to schism between the churches of Constantinople and Rome.--The development of the Byzantine thematic system, the administrative and social structure that would bring the Empire to the height of its power and prosperity. Almost all of the sources used by Theophanes have perished, leaving his chronicle as the most important historical literature from this period. Turledove's translation makes available in English this crucial primary text for the study of medieval Byzantine civilization.

Harry Turtledove has taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at California State University at Fullerton. He is a prolific novelist who has written historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction.