"Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio." Dumbarton Oaks Texts. Editor Gyula Moravcsik.
Languages: ‎ English and Ancient Greek.
"De Administrando Imperio" is a fascinating look into the mind of a well read Byzantine Emperor, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who lived from 905-959 AD.
This book is in fact a secret imperial foreign policy manual, written for his son Romanus. As such, the point of view demonstrated in this book is very unlike anything you will find in the writings of other famous Byzantine authors. In this text you gain a deeper understanding of the apprehension the Byzantines had about the various northern tribes and the respect that they had for the Roman heritage of the Latins and for the strength of the Arabs.
This book is a well-organized collection of various bits of foreign policy advice. In this edition, the text is bilingual, with the original Greek and an English translation on opposite pages. This arrangement is very handy for checking the English translation or helping to read the original.
The book is divided into an introduction and 53 different chapters, each on a different theme. The introduction is fascinating in itself as it tells much of how someone born and raised to be a Byzantine emperor understood government. The chapters are divided by geography and nations in the following order; Pechenegs, Russians, Hungarians (called Turks), Bulgarians, Arabs, Spain, Lombardy, Venice, Dalmatia, Croats, Serbs, Armenians, Georgians, Cyprus, Peloponnese, and Cherson in the Crimea.
A must read for anyone interested in Byzantine governance or the history of the 10th century.
Hardcover. Revised edition, 1967.
New book. Factory sealed, shrink-wrapped.