Bulgaria

Enigmatic Istanbul is an endless story. It’s the story of Istanbul’s many names, the story of settling the city, ‘Opposite the blind’. Although these two stories might be enough for some, for others they...

Constantinople’s rulers still saw the riches of worlds flow into their hands, and Constantinople grew and flourished in consequence. The supreme urban achievement in antiquity was the life of a parasite, drawing wealth from...

Emperors kept Constantinople at the center of imperial ambition for I,6OO years. In the fifth century, Theodosius II surrounded it with walls worthy of a mighty realm. They ran in two lines (mostly still...

Everything we know about Justinian similarly veils him in his robes of state and hides him in his palace. The scandalous stories that circulated about Theodora (we’ll whisper about them shortly) all point back...

Maximin Daia ate like a pig, snuffling and slobbering over his meat and wine, but no one seemed to pay any attention to him. When the meal was finished, he pushed himself away from...

“I’m a cub too,” he admitted.“But with the best blood in your veins of any of them, you can be sure of that. By the way, how old are you?”Twenty, Constantine said, adding a...

As a cadet, his equipment consisted of a pair of rough tunics for training and a supply of loin cloths and cotton shirts as undergarments, leaving his own clothing for wear otherwise. Heavy sandals...