{"id":55119,"date":"2026-08-28T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=55119"},"modified":"2026-08-25T21:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T19:26:11","slug":"anthony-kaldellis-phantom-byzantium-europe-empire-and-identity-from-late-antiquity-to-world-war-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=55119","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Kaldellis, \u201ePhantom Byzantium: Europe, Empire, and Identity from Late Antiquity to World War II\u201c"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>How the West appropriated aspects of the eastern Roman empire while portraying it as inferior.<\/strong><br><br>Unveiling the ideological foundations of Byzantine studies, <em>Phantom Byzantium<\/em> is a pioneering survey of western European perceptions of the eastern Roman empire (also known as Byzantium) spanning late antiquity to World War II. Through ten chronological chapters, Anthony Kaldellis makes the case that western Europe gradually formed its identity by adopting prestigious cultural elements from the eastern empire but simultaneously portraying the east as inferior. The West modeled its Roman imperial style on Constantinople while minimizing the latter as Greek rather than Roman; appropriated a host of Christian traditions from the east while casting the east as schismatic, heretical, or treacherous; and, during the Renaissance, used classical Hellenic philology from Greek scholars before marginalizing them as unworthy bearers of that tradition. This orientalizing impulse worked to buttress western exceptionalism and resulted in the fictitious construction of \u201cByzantium\u201d as Europe\u2019s evil doppelg\u00e4nger, embodying the worst versions of traditions fundamental to European identity and casting the region as despotic, superstitious, and degenerate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Explaining the creation, history, and functions of the ideological construct of Byzantium in the western imagination and European self-fashioning, this book has critical implications for contemporary views of European history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Anthony Kaldellis<\/strong> is a professor of Classics at the University of Chicago. He has published many books and articles on the history, culture, and literature of Byzantium, ranging from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries. His most recent book is a new, comprehensive history of the eastern Roman empire: The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium (Oxford, 2023). He is also the host of the academic podcast \u201cByzantium &amp; Friends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Dual Empire<br>The Barbarian Kingdoms<br>Pope and Kaiser<br>The Era of the Crusades<br>The Dead Ends of Colonization<br>Humanism and Hellenic Studies<br>Early Scholarship and Political Theory<br>Afoul of the Enlightenment<br>Great Power Politics<br>The Metaphysical Turn<br>Conclusion<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Objavljeno: 2026.<br>ISBN: 9780226847139<br>240 str.<br>University of Chicago Press<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Op\u0161irnije: <a href=\"https:\/\/press.uchicago.edu\/ucp\/books\/book\/chicago\/P\/bo262368024.html#anchor-table-of-contents\">https:\/\/press.uchicago.edu\/ucp\/books\/book\/chicago\/P\/bo262368024.html#anchor-table-of-contents<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":55121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knjige","category-novosti"],"acf":{"facebook_opis":"\u201ePhantom Byzantium\u201c Anthonyja Kaldellisa istra\u017euje kako je Zapad stolje\u0107ima preuzimao naslje\u0111e Isto\u010dnoga Rimskog Carstva, a istodobno ga pretvarao u navodno stranu i inferiornu civilizaciju."},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Phantom-Byzantium.webp?fit=860%2C1298&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55104,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=55104","url_meta":{"origin":55119,"position":0},"title":"Anthony Kaldellis, \u201eThe Case for East Roman Studies\u201c","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"28. kolovoza 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Byzantine Studies has reached a tipping point: a growing number of historians have realized that the terms \u201cByzantium\u201d and \u201cthe Byzantines\u201d distort the reality and identity of the society that we study, and encode a series of prejudices that were embedded in western perceptions. The aim of these terms was\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The-Case-for-East-Roman-Studies-Kaldellis.webp?fit=596%2C927&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The-Case-for-East-Roman-Studies-Kaldellis.webp?fit=596%2C927&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The-Case-for-East-Roman-Studies-Kaldellis.webp?fit=596%2C927&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55124,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=55124","url_meta":{"origin":55119,"position":1},"title":"Anthony Kaldellis, \u201e1453: The Conquest and Tragedy of Constantinople\u201c","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"26. kolovoza 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Anthony Kaldellis offers the first narrative in sixty years of the siege of Constantinople in 1453, an event that marked the end of the Roman empire. The reconstruction of events is detailed, following a day-by-day basis when possible, and is grounded in the testimony of eye-witnesses who left gripping accounts\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1453-Kaldellis.webp?fit=1200%2C690&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1453-Kaldellis.webp?fit=1200%2C690&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1453-Kaldellis.webp?fit=1200%2C690&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1453-Kaldellis.webp?fit=1200%2C690&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1453-Kaldellis.webp?fit=1200%2C690&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55111,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=55111","url_meta":{"origin":55119,"position":2},"title":"Anthony Kaldellis, \u201eThe New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium\u201c","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"26. kolovoza 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"A major new history of the eastern Roman Empire, from Constantine to 1453.In recent decades, the study of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as Byzantium, has been revolutionized by new approaches and more sophisticated models for how its society and state operated. No longer looked upon as a pale\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The-New-Roman-Empire.webp?fit=362%2C550&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":55129,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=55129","url_meta":{"origin":55119,"position":3},"title":"\u201eRevisiting the Byzantine Commonwealth: Nodes, Networks, and Spheres\u201c, ur. Jonathan Shepard, Peter Frankopan","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"27. kolovoza 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"The Byzantine phenomenon posed problems of characterization for contemporary observers, as it does for modern commentators. The concept of the Byzantine Commonwealth was coined by Dimitri Obolensky to characterize the medley of societies and polities that came under the aegis of the emperor and were kept in line with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Revisiting-the-Byzantine-Commonwealth.webp?fit=520%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":55161,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=55161","url_meta":{"origin":55119,"position":4},"title":"James Howard-Johnston, \u201eByzantium in a Changing World\u201c","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"2. rujna 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Byzantium is commonly taken to be a somewhat exotic entity on the margin of medieval Europe\u2014bureaucratic, Greek- rather than Latin-speaking, Orthodox rather than Catholic, wealthy and effete, relying on cunning rather than martial exploits to foil its enemies. Since the great majority of primary sources emanate from the polity's capital,\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Byzantium-in-Changing-World.webp?fit=795%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Byzantium-in-Changing-World.webp?fit=795%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Byzantium-in-Changing-World.webp?fit=795%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Byzantium-in-Changing-World.webp?fit=795%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55114,"url":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?p=55114","url_meta":{"origin":55119,"position":5},"title":"\u201eWorlds of Byzantium: Religion, Culture, and Empire in the Medieval Near East\u201c, ur. Elizabeth S. Bolman, Scott Fitzgerald Johnson, Jack Tannous","author":"Filip \u0160imunjak","date":"27. kolovoza 2026.","format":false,"excerpt":"Worlds of Byzantium offers a new understanding of what it means to study the history and visual culture of the Byzantine empire during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Arguing that linguistic and cultural frontiers do not always coincide with political ones, it suggests that Byzantine studies should look not\u2026","rel":"","context":"U &quot;Knjige&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Knjige","link":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historiografija.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Worlds-of-Byzantium.webp?fit=373%2C536&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55122,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55119\/revisions\/55122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historiografija.hr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}