Rávena : Capital del imperio, crisol de Europa

A journey to the city that was the cultural engine of the Byzantine Empire, the hidden jewel of the Adriatic. In 402 AD, after invading tribes crossed the Alpine borders and threatened the Western Roman Empire, the young Emperor Honorius moved the capital, previously located in Milan, to a small but easily defensible city on the Po estuary. From then until 751 AD, Ravenna was the cultural and political center of northern Italy and the Adriatic region. Within its walls settled scholars, lawyers, doctors, artisans, cosmologists, and religious figures who made the city the main hub between East and West. Judith Herrin, one of the world's leading experts on Byzantine studies, takes us on a journey through history between the 5th and 8th centuries, a period marked by the Gothic and Lombard invasions, the establishment of Christianity, and the rise of Islam, to explain the decline of the Roman Empire and the rise of Byzantium. As she traces the lives of Ravenna's rulers, chroniclers, and inhabitants, Herrin challenges countless preconceived notions: Late Antiquity was not a dark period of conflict and strife, but rather one of the most splendid and creative eras in history. Today, Ravenna's palaces are ruins, but its churches have endured, adorned with spectacular mosaics—a living legacy of a bygone era that forever shaped Europe. Illustrated with splendid photographs and based on the latest archaeological discoveries, Ravenna brings the early Middle Ages back to life through the dazzling history of this city.