The Case for East Roman Studies

Byzantine Studies has reached a tipping point: a growing number of historians have realized that the terms “Byzantium” and “the Byzantines” distort the reality and identity of the society that we study, and encode a series of prejudices that were embedded in western perceptions. The aim of these terms was to exclude the eastern empire from important discussions and historical developments.

It is time to end this exercise in orientalist fiction, but what are the alternatives? In this book, Anthony Kaldellis surveys the pros and cons of a range of possible options and examines the implications of a field name-change also for art history, philology, and the study of Eastern Orthodoxy. The new name he proposes will carry the field into the next phase of its history, renegotiate its relationships with its peers and respect the testimony of our sources.

Anthony Kaldellis is a Professor of Classics at the University of Chicago, and one of the foremost experts on the east Roman empire (formerly known as Byzantium).