Byzantine Civilization Author:Steven Runciman Byzantine culture and civilization was, until the late nineteenth century, regarded prejudicially as inferior to the Greek tradition and that of the Christian West, between which it was historically poised. It has taken historians like Steven Runciman to assess the cultural achievements of Byzantium in its own terms--to evoke its individuality a... more »nd uniqueness. His _Byzantine Civilization_ is now regarded as the major attempt of modern scholarship to define for the general reader the scope and richness of Byzantine art, society, religion, politics, custom, and history. Runciman achieves with the lucidity and grace characteristic of English historiography a complete picture of one of the most oriental and mysterious of western cultures.« less