Ravenna

Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe

By: Judith Herrin

Narrated by: Phyllida Nash

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 Press

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)

Terrific Book

Such a wonderful presentation that I bought the hardcover to enjoy for many years. We are going to Ravenna I. A few months and this
history will help us appreciate the many treasures.

A Great Take on Oft-Neglected History

As a lifelong student of medieval European history, I was fascinated by this excursion into history into whose details I had not heretofore ventured. The author brings alive fascinating figures—some familiar, others not—who enlighten the history of what became “early Christendom.” Focusing her narrative on Ravenna allows for a different perspective on a fascinating era.All in all an excellent work of scholarship.

brilliant, beautiful, important

Thank you, Dr. Herrin for this exemplary account of a much overlooked period. The grace of your writing style and the depth of your erudition are to be treasured.

If Only It Was About Ravenna

Ravenna is a beautiful and appealing city, rich in culture and history, not to mention architecture, I highly recommend a visit.

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

Very detailed story

The narrator was very good. The book drag on for s hit long with many details