Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium.

Episode 149 Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood with Anthony Caldellis.

Hello everyone, this is the full interview with Professor Caldellis about his new book.

It's an hour-long conversation discussing our sources, the Eastern campaigns,

Basel's reign and the role of the magnates. We conclude by talking about the period after Basel,

leading up to the Battle of Manzacard, that's about 40 minutes in. For those of you who haven't

listened to the last few episodes, Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood is a narrative history of the

period from when Nysephorus Focus took over the Byzantine army until the first crusade.

Professor Caldellis analyzes all the sources available to us to present the most likely version

of events. This involves unraveling the agendas and biases of various historians,

which I find especially fascinating. And as with his other work, this book is extremely well-written,

it's easy to read and it walks the line very well between those who know little and those who've

already begun to study the period. The Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood gets my highest possible

recommendation, it's what I would want the podcast to be. Go check it out.

At the end of the interview, Professor Caldellis also talks about another forthcoming book,

A Cabinet of Byzantine Curiosity's. This is a collection of tales and trivia from the political

and religious life of Byzantium, some hilarious, some revolting, an eye-opening look at Byzantine life

jumped to about 55 minutes in to hear more about that. Now here's the full interview.

Professor Caldellis, welcome back to the History of Byzantine Podcast.

Thank you Robin, it's a great pleasure to be back. It's a huge pleasure to have you. And as I

mentioned in the introduction, you were kind enough to let me see Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood

before publication and it's been massively helpful in guiding the podcast narrative.

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