Byzantium, that dark sphere on the periphery of medieval Europe, is commonly regarded as the immutable residue of Rome's decline. In this highly original and provocative work, Alexander Kazhdan and Ann Wharton Epstein revise this traditional image by documenting the dynamic social changes that occurred during the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

A. P. Kazhdan, the distinguished Russian Byzantinist, is Senior Research Associate at Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies. Ann Wharton Epstein, past President of the Byzantine Studies Conference, is Associate Professor of Art History at Duke University.

"Change in Byzantine Culture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, the product of a collaboration between Alexander Kazhdan and art historian Ann Wharton Epstein, who has contributed many interesting insights, ranges over a wide assortment of cultural manifestations set within a social context. . . . An anthology of selected passages from contemporary sources closes the book."—Cyril Mango, Times Literary Supplement

"A rich book, full of ideas and new interpretations that will inevitably provoke discussion. . . . Its publication makes it possible now to discuss the Byzantine empire as an integral part of the eleventh- and twelfth-century world, a discussion that should enrich our understanding both of Byzantium and of medieval Europe in general."—Angeliki E. Laiou, American Historical Review

"The authors explore the culture of the period in greater detail than has been done—at least to my knowledge—for any other period of Byzantine history. Nor do they treat Byzantine culture in isolation, but as a part of the social, economic, and intellectual fabric of Byzantium."—M. Angold, Byzantinische Zeitschrift