A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from Historys Most Orthodox Empire by Anthony Kaldellis

A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from Historys Most Orthodox Empire Reviews

• 
  Lois Bujold

  
  One of the reasons I plow through turgid academic histories is for the footnotes, where the authors stick all the weird bits that are too good to pass up, the sort that have moderns emailing their history-geeky colleagues and friends to share, and earlier scholars disguising in Latin from the prissy. (Or for the prissy, hard to tell.) Here, Kaldellis has selected and collated a whole book full of just such tidbits, which tend to be way more illuminating of the past than those "vast sweep of history" generalizations. (The sweepings of history, perhaps?) By turns hilarious, appalling, or both, a few of the anecdotes or quotes I'd run across before, the bulk were new.
  
  The author himself recommends taking these in short bites, which I think is right. They need digested for the full effect.
  
  But if you think living in the internet era has revealed humanity all too nakedly, well, it's not so new.
  
  I have my copy as an easily accessible ebook edition, by the way. So could you...
  
  Ta, L.
• 
  Aleksandra Pletneva

  По сути это сборник исторических анекдотов, а не полноценная книга, но в целом - познавательно
• 
  Jonathan

  Really enjoyed this book, as another reviewer so rightly pointed out this is chock full of the things that are usually shunted to the foot notes of larger studies. It made me laugh, cringe, and shake my head, a perfect way to get a snapshot view of how the Byzantines saw themselves and the world around them. Really looking forwarding to reading the author's other title.
• 
  Katharine Campbell

  The Byzantines called giraffes leopard-camels. This fact made me so happy.
• 
  Adelais

  Збірка історичних анекдотів про все-все-все у Візантійській імперії, від стовпників до верблюдів. Що вважалося вагомою причиною для розлучення, а що постіться і моліться, скільки імператорів померло не своєю смертю - добрячий відсоток, в цілому і не дивно, що візантійці думали про чужинців - звичайно, вважали їх ідіотами некультурними, а ті їх - зжіноченими греками (обмінялися люб'язностями та й пограбували Константинополь). Читати можна з будь-якої сторінки, це не історичне дослідження, а уривки з хронік, житій та всіляких панегіриків.
• 
  Alexandru

  A very entertaining book filled with various Byzantine trivia. Everything from funny stories, anecdotes to strange customers, beliefs and events. There is lots of laughs to be had when reading all of the tales that were told and sometimes believed by the ancient Byzantines. Chapters include facts and stories about family, sex, animals, food, eunuchs, medicine, science, saints, heresis, insults, punishments, stereotypes, disasters and emperors. It can be read fairly quickly but it can also be enjoyed piecemeal.
• 
  Dexter

  An interesting collection of anecdotes and quotes from ancient sources about the Byzantine Empire, categorized into different topics of daily Byzantine life. More than anything, you'll be reminded that people today are still very much the same as they were then.
• 
  Lezidezi Higgins

  I received this book in a giveaway and it was quite different than most books I read, but still very interesting. It was basically just a book of facts about this culture. Some parts were more interesting than others, but overall it was a decent read. I particularly enjoyed the sections on punishments and sections on sex.
• 
  Elena Druță

  Un volum scurt și informativ despre un imperiu demult apus. Mi-a plăcut să descopăr tot felul de curiozități, detalii bizare sau întâmplări ciudate, consemnate de-a lungul timpului despre Imperiul Bizantin.
  Cartea e scrisă sub forma unor fragmente și pentru mine a fost volumul perfect pentru a trece peste un reading slump, dar și pentru a alterna cu lecturile curente.
• 
  Ady ZYN

  Highly recommended
• 
  Ismael

  Pure fun.
• 
  Ioana Petre

  A very fun read that shows the real beauty of Byzantium, which, in my view, emerges from its strong dichotomies: politics as characterised by rigour, rules, tradition, but also by spontaneous outbursts and whims leading to dramatic changes; religion as a source of deep reflection about the world, but also consumed by trivial debates borderlining fanaticism; science and technology as capable of producing the famous Greek fire and floating thrones, coupled with a lot of superstition, a menagerie of so-called saints and other conmen.
  
  In the words of Robert Byron, the greatness of Byzantium lays in the triple fusion of a Roman body, a Greek mind, and an oriental, mystical soul. This volume captures all these three aspects beautifully, with humour, but also with understanding and appreciation of the greatness of the Byzantine empire and of its way of life.
  
  ***Favourite quotes***
  
  "I call them enemies of human health, butchers of our bodies, and cruel executioners; nothing is worse than to fall into their hands. They bring siege-engines against the mouth, and wage war against the tongue, the teeth, and the lips. I want to grind my teeth against the invader, but am unable; my tongue is useless for defense against these tools. You see, I had a toothache once and I went around to all these philosophers. One wanted to cut open my veins, while another wanted to cauterize my ears. Finally, a bold fellow said, 'Fools, can't you hear what he's saying? It's his tooth that hurts. It must come out!' So he armed himself against my teeth: he came out bearing an enormous iron tool, cradling it in his lap, the sort of thing that you would use on the tusk of an elephant or wild boar. In the end, however, he managed only to break the tooth in half, and had to cauterize the rest to stop the bleeding. The law of Moses then came to my mind: a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye. We have laws against thieves, why can't we have laws against these men who steal things from our bodies and then expect to be paid for it? (Prodromos, "The Executioner or the Doctor")"
  
  "Early Byzantine emperors loved to name things after themselves. Constantine I, son of Constantinus I, named his sons Constantine, Constantinus, and Constans, and one of his daughters Constantina, and his city Constantinople."
• 
  Geoffrey

  (Note - I received an advanced copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley)
  
  "In addition to entertainment, A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities may also provide....a handy reservoir of tales and anecdotes that amusingly illustrate a range of contexts and situations."
  
  I can't help but directly quote Anthony Kaldellis's preface, because I could find no better way to phrase what mostly makes this such an enjoyable read. Yes, first and foremost he enthusiastically provides an entertaining array of stories to pique all interests, touching upon everything from raunchy scandals, tales of hyper-pious holy fools, all the way to various entries and trivia about their impressive technological and scientific achievements. But on top of that, each and every little tale and scene in this book provides some kind of glimpse into some aspect of the Byzantine Empire, a place that to most people remains a mysterious place at best. With each and every anecdote, exaggerated tale and recorded opinion passed down over through the ages, readers are able to get a diverse collection of glances into life in the Byzantine world from the royal court downward and also a abundance of glimpses into the minds of many of its denizens. As a result, much of fog of mystery is dispersed, and one ends up with a much, much clearer image of a people with a distinct identity and a range of quicks, accomplishments and oddities just as numerous as any people of any other nation, empire or kingdom that ever was.
• 
  Bogdan

  Imperiul Bizantin (sau Roman de Răsărit, cum a fost cunoscut o perioadă), cu măreața sa capitală Constantinopol s-a considerat întotdeauna adevăratul urmaș al moștenirii Cezarilor romani, el reușind chiar să reziste pe scena politică euro-asiatică peste 1000 de ani. Iar această cărticică respectabilă este o serie de maxime/informații interesante/știați-că-uri inedite fix despre Imperiul Bizantin. Snippet-urile sunt alcătuite pe diverse teme: despre împărați, despre sfinți, despre legi, războaie, insulte, pedepse, dezastre etc.
  Autorul de origine greacă este de asemenea și profesor la Universitatea din Ohio și a publicat mai multe cărți despre greci și Bizanț, un subiect pe care evident îl stăpânește bine și de care este pasionat. Nu se pot spune multe despre stiul său literar, munca depusă pentru acest volum fiind mai mult de editare, clasare, indexare și organizare a micilor fragmente din alți autori/izvoare. Se observă totuși volumul masiv de opere parcurse pe care profesorul le-a folosit drept surse principale. Deci, o carte perfectă pentru a fi citită ori pe sărite după interes, ori în hapuri mici pentru a le putea digera cu atența necesară.
• 
  Italo Italophiles

  This is a book of trivia about the Byzantine Empire, which lasted 1129 years. Knowing some of the history helps appreciate this collection.
  
  Before reading, you should know that the belief in magic, the superstition, the sadism, the misogyny, the racism, slavery, violence, use of torture and murder as “justice”, inherited from the Western Roman Empire (the Byzantines were the Eastern Roman Empire) stayed mainstays for centuries. The rulers were generally megalomaniacs, sadists and narcissists (and I mean all three things at once). That's why I skipped the sections that would have been too disturbing to read.
  
  I enjoyed most the sections on medicine, science and technology, foreign lands and people, disasters, and the emperors. The sexual bits seem more for the entertainment of teen-aged boys and male academics.
  
  A bit disturbing was the realization that too many leaders of too many places today would have fit in back then. Time has stood still for too many. I received a review-copy of this book; this is my honest review.
• 
  Rob Bauer

  This is the kind of book that could get wildly different ratings, depending on the expectations of the reader when they pick it up. For me, I found the book a lot of fun. Interesting stories, mostly told in the words of historical sources, about a wide variety of topics. The author clearly has a great breadth of knowledge of Byzantine civilization.
  
  I just wish there was a little more narrative to hold things together or to explain the background behind some of the stories a bit better. It would have been helpful for folks like me who have pretty good familiarity with Byzantine history but are not specialists.
  
  That's the only thing about the book I'd change, however. In other respects, it's a quality effort from the author and a fun book if you like to know unusual things about this important civilization.
• 
  Enrique

  Byzantium didn't like the name "grakoi".
  
  Today for us, west-trained minds, Bizantium is Greece, and for the people that don't know about greek history, the name doesn't even ring.
  
  Some histories had a difficult taste (pedophilia, murders, sickness)
  
  But is very valuable. I can't associate in my mind that Byzantium is now Greece, looks like a different person.
  
  Even the theological fights, Greek language "superiority" to do theological distinctions not possible with Latin (very similar to Heidegger saying "is easier to think in German").
  
  Galileo's predecessors, surely Galileo knew about the greeks critics of Aristotle.
  
  A wonderful introduction to byzantium history.
• 
  Darcysmom

  I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley for free in exchange for an honest review.
  Anthony Kaldellis has delivered exactly what he promised - historical anecdotes that are by turns provocative, hilarious, evocative, thoughtful, and academic. There is something for everyone in this volume.
  A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosities is a really fun introduction to the people, places, and ideas of Byzantium. After reading this book, you may find, like I did, that there is so much more you want to explore.
• 
  P

  Not all anecdotes mentioned in this book were strange or surprising, nevertheless, I learnt a few interesting things from this book.
  
  1. Heliodoros, the wizard who could teleport.
  2. Cooked birds presented as fishes, cooked fishes presented as birds.
  3. Fish sauce.
  4. Stylite saints.
  5. Monks wearing heavy iron collars and chains.
  6. Monks throwing nuts at ladies from pulpits.
  7. The common folk quite frequently insulted the royals.
  8. Purple ink & special royal script.
• 
  Vivek

  If you wish to learn about the curiosities of the Byzantium empire then this is a casual easy read as the author himself describes it. I live in Istanbul and found this an interesting book. The Byzantium empire was quite evolved in its own time so getting snippets and stories was great entertainment. Strangely I found this in a bookstore in Berlin.
• 
  Graham Podolecki

  Full of historical tidbits and fun facts, Kaldellis’ cabinet of curiosities sets out to show us the lesser known facts about the Byzantine Empire and he completely succeeds at it. A very enjoyable read!
• 
  Sara Giacalone

  Fun book full of amazing historical facts and snippets. Great addition to any library.
• 
  Nika Khoperia

  Love the books of Anthony Kaldellis. Another great read!
• 
  Liubomir Topaloff

  Quite entertaining, although most of what was noted is already well known.
• 
  Lynne

  Byzantine history lite - but entertaining and informative. A good introduction to Byzantine history - enough to catch the interest and inspire further research. I enjoyed it.
• 
  Mikel

  Great little bits of information. I just wanted more details, but they probably don't exist. I really don't understand why we don't study the later Roman Empire more.