Sunday, September 30, 2007

Byzantine podcast

Just when I thought the long history podcast about the Byzantine Empire had come to an end, there is going to be more. Lars Brownworth's 12 Byzantine Rulers has reached the last of the 12, Constantine XI. Constantine was the last emperor of Byzantium. He was the one to suffer the ultimate fall of Constantinople by the hands of the Ottomans in 1453. This marks the end of the 1200 year history of the (Eastern) Roman empire.

The podcast about Constantine XI, was to mark the end of years long running series carefully meting out Byzantine history. To my great and happy surprise though, Lars ended this expectedly and long awaited final edition with announcing that there is yet another issue to come. One about what Byzantine culture had meant and how it lived on from 1453 onwards.

From the point of view of history and historiography, this can only be right, but also from the point of view of history podcasting, this is especially laudable. Brownworth's series is one of the first history podcasts to have been around (if not the very first) and one of such high quality that it has set the standards for history podcasts to abide by. We can only hope, that whenever this particular series is to finish, Lars Brownworth will find a subject to dedicate his next series to.

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