In our first lecture back from break, we discuss the remarkable reign of Alexios Comnenus.

Just a short video announcing my return to our Byzantine history series!

In today's lecture, we focus on the reign of Basil II, the Bulgar Slayer. Basil was the longest reigning emperor going all the way back to Augustus.

Today we look into the background of St. John of Damascus, as well as his writings on iconoclasm.

In this week's lecture, we discuss the golden age of Byzantine history beginning roughly in 963 until the reign of Basil II.

This week's lecture focuses on the period of Byzantine reconstruction from 717-843. We begin discussing Iconoclasm as a heresy and examine the interesting reign of Irene.

In today's lecture, we analyze the period of Byzantine contraction from 641-717, focusing on the reign of Constans II, the Thematic reforms, and the chaos following the reign of Constantine IV.

Today we go over some religious and linguistic things from the time period we are covering. Enjoy!

In today's lecture, I guess you could say, we discuss the origins of Islam and the early expansion of the Islamic state. Apologies for the poor audio quality, I did not realize my microphone was not connected to GarageBand, so the audio is coming from my computer microphone. The audio will be back to the regular quality in the next episode.

Heraclius' status as a tragic hero is analyzed in today's lecture, provided the professor can stop sneezing enough to talk.

Here is a link to the documentary I mention during the lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iKaySkQZjo&t=38s