For background reading on the history of Byzantium, you might consider:

• Byzantium by Giles Morgan, for a brief, yet comprehensive one-volume history.
• A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich, for a one-volume version of his 3-volume work.
• Byzantium: The Decline and Fall, volume 3 of Norwich's complete history for the period covering Alexius and Anna Comnena.
• Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World by Colin Wells on the lasting influence of Byzantium.

Consider also how Byzantium inspired Yeats with this NYTimes Video  and then read the Yeats poem (you may recognize a recent cinematic use of that first line!): "Sailing to Byzantium".

Finally, if you're curious how the life of Anna Comnena inspired a young-adult novel, try: Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett.

If you need a copy of our Reading Schedule for Fall 2008, you can download a PDF version here: Schedule F2008

For those of you who have expressed an interest in getting a head start on reading Anna Comnena's Alexiad, you can concentrate your reading on Books 1, 3, 6, 10, 11, 14, and 15.