Ravenna

In 402 AD, after invading tribes broke through the Alpine frontiers of Italy and threatened the imperial government in Milan, the young Emperor Honorius made the momentous decision to move his capital city to a small, easy defendable city in the Po estuary - Ravenna. From then until 751 AD, Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire, then that of the immense kingdom of Theoderic the Goth and finally the centre of Byzantine power in Italy. While its palaces have crumbled, its churches have survived. In them, Catholic Romans and Arian Goths competed to produce an unrivalled concentration of dazzling mosaics, many of which still astonish visitors today.

In this landmark account Judith Herrin explains how Ravenna became a defining centre for scholars, lawyers, doctors, craftsmen, cosmologists and religious luminaries, creating a cultural and political capital that dominated northern Italy and surrounding regions. She argues that the fifth to eighth centuries should not be perceived as a time of decline from antiquity but rather one of great creativity - the period of 'Early Christendom' that seeded the modern world. As she traces the lives of Ravenna's rulers, chroniclers and inhabitants, she shows how in this process the city became the pivot between East and West: the meeting place of Greek, Latin, Christian and barbarian forces and influence. In so doing she offers a fresh account of the waning of Rome, the Gothic and Lombard invasions, the rise of Islam and the devastating divisions within Christianity, and demonstrates how, thanks to Byzantine influence, Ravenna shaped the audacious world of early Christendom.

Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe brings the early Middle Ages to life through the history of a city. Beautifully illustrated with specially commissioned photographs, and drawing on the latest archaeological and documentary discoveries, Herrin's lucid and accessible book lays out a new perspective on the formative centuries of Europe.