Episode 335 - 10 Influential East Romans with Anthony Kaldellis. Part 1
The History of Byzantium
Robin Pierson
4.8 • 4.9K Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 75 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As we look back at Byzantium I turned once more to Professor Anthony Kaldellis. I asked him to present a list of ten influential East Romans who were not featured heavily in the political narrative.
Anthony Kaldellis is a Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Chicago. He is the author of over a dozen books on Byzantium including the definitive history (The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium). Find out more here.
Timestamps:
Gregory of Nazianzus: 6m 10s - 21m 12s
John Chrysostom: 21m 12s - 38m 12s
Tribonian: 38m 12s - 52m 40s
Anthemius of Tralles: 52m 40s - 1h 02m
Theodore the Studite: 1h 02m - 1h 15m
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium. |
| 0:12.1 | Episode 335, 10 influential East Romans with Anthony Caldellis, part one. |
| 0:21.8 | With our narrative complete, we'll be spending some time looking back on Byzantium and considering its |
| 0:28.5 | legacy. |
| 0:29.7 | And when I thought about how to shine light on different aspects of the new Roman Empire, |
| 0:34.8 | I naturally thought of Anthony Caldellis. |
| 0:41.5 | His book, The New Roman Empire, A History of Byzantium, |
| 0:47.8 | is the defining work of our generation on this subject. And those of you who've sampled it will know that in addition to a political narrative, Professor Caldellis touches on the great cultural |
| 0:53.4 | figures who shaped East Roman |
| 0:55.2 | life. And yet none of them get a detailed treatment in that work, since, like this podcast, |
| 1:02.6 | the focus is on political narrative. So I asked Professor Caldellis if he would come back and talk |
| 1:09.4 | about ten influential figures |
| 1:11.3 | who stood to the side or outside of the political narrative, but who influenced East Roman |
| 1:17.8 | life or culture in a major way. Today he takes us through his first five picks. He also recommends |
| 1:25.8 | further reading for those who want to learn more. |
| 1:29.9 | For those of you randomly joining the show at this point, Anthony Caldulles is a professor |
| 1:35.0 | in the Department of Classics at the University of Chicago. He is the author of over |
| 1:39.5 | a dozen books on Byzantium, including The Definitive History. Follow the links at the website or in the |
| 1:45.9 | description of this episode to find out more. And before the interview begins, a reminder that I will be |
| 1:52.2 | part of two roundtables at the Intelligent Speech online conference on February the 28th, |
| 1:58.6 | including a panel discussing what if moments from Roman history. |
| 2:03.6 | Get your tickets now at Intelligent Speechonline.com and use the code Byzantium to get 10% |
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