
Ravenna
Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe
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Narrated by:
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Phyllida Nash
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By:
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Judith Herrin
This riveting audiobook narrated by Phyllida Nash traces the history of the city that led the West out of the ruins of the Roman Empire
At the end of the fourth century, as the power of Rome faded and Constantinople became the seat of empire, a new capital city was rising in the West. Here, in Ravenna on the coast of Italy, Arian Goths and Catholic Romans competed to produce an unrivaled concentration of buildings and astonishing mosaics. For three centuries, the city attracted scholars, lawyers, craftsmen, and religious luminaries, becoming a true cultural and political capital. Bringing this extraordinary history marvelously to life, Judith Herrin rewrites the history of East and West in the Mediterranean world before the rise of Islam and shows how, thanks to Byzantine influence, Ravenna played a crucial role in the development of medieval Christendom.
Drawing on deep, original research, Herrin tells the personal stories of Ravenna while setting them in a sweeping synthesis of Mediterranean and Christian history. She narrates the lives of the Empress Galla Placidia and the Gothic king Theoderic and describes the achievements of an amazing cosmographer and a doctor who revived Greek medical knowledge in Italy, demolishing the idea that the West just descended into the medieval "Dark Ages."
Based on the latest archaeological findings, this monumental book provides a bold new interpretation of Ravenna's lasting influence on the culture of Europe and the West.
©2020 Judith Herrin (P)2020 Princeton University PressListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Magisterial - an outstanding book that shines a bright light on one of the most important, interesting, and under-studied cities in European history. A masterpiece." (Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads: A New History of the World)
"This is a masterful study as splendid as Ravenna's mosaics. Bringing to new life the city and the people who shaped it, Herrin explores Ravenna's role as a rival of Rome, a Byzantine outpost in the West, and a model for Charlemagne's imperial aspirations - in short, as a crucible of Europe." (Claudia Rapp, author of Brother-Making in Late Antiquity and Byzantium: Monks, Laymen, and Christian Ritual)
"A masterwork by one of our greatest historians of Byzantium and early Christianity. Judith Herrin tells a story that is at once gripping and authoritative and full of wonderful detail about every element in the life of Ravenna. Impossible to put down." (David Freedberg, author of The Power of Images)
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A Great Take on Oft-Neglected History
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history will help us appreciate the many treasures.
Terrific Book
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Worthy book, stingy production.
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Illuminating
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brilliant, beautiful, important
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But this book isn't really about the city - Ravenna is just the context on which the author hangs a dense and lovingly embellished hagiography of the christian elements of its history, delivered in numbing and repetitive detail - its bishops, its archbishops, its prominent christian residents and donors, its monks, its priests. Did I mention donors. On and on. Did I mention bishops.
Unfortunate. Ravenna is surely a gift to a writer with a sense of history. For the city to be used as just an ante room where the writer can endlessly introduce and waffle on about bishops, archbishops ... ugh. Did I mention donors.
I have to close by acknowledging that I didn't finish the book so I can't tell you who were the Archbishops and bishops and donors in the tenth century. But I'm very sure you can find out more then all you want to know about them, much more, by reading the book.
James K
If Only It Was About Ravenna
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Very detailed story
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She did not disappoint. By focusing on the city of Ravenna, she was able to explain much of the very complex and confusing world of this era. Her style of writing is easy to read, while also being well documented and researched. I learned a lot about my beloved Ravenna, but I also gained a greater perspective and understanding of the whole of Europe during this most formative time of European history.
My favorite history book ever
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Fascinating accout of the hidden history
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Fascinating listen
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