{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/515",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 515,
    "subject": "Silly Bus 3",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1998-04-27T09:16:44+00:00",
    "last": "1998-04-27T09:16:44+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0009-0781@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Alice Turner",
        "address": "al at interport.net"
      },
      "date": "1998-04-27T09:16:44+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Silly Bus 3",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I'm thinking that A SHORT HISTORY OF BYZANTIUM might be too difficult a\nread, and I propose to substitute EVERYDAY LIFE IN BYZANTIUM (meanwhile\nthose of you with a few minutes on your hands might be amused by going over\nto Amazon and typing in \"Everyday Life\" in the keywords space--quite\nastonishing!).\n\nHere is a review of the book:\n\nstar110w at cdc.gov from New Orleans, Louisiana , 10/20/97, rating=8:\nA fine social history of ancient Rome's Byzantine heirs.\nWhen we think about the social life and customs of the \"ancient Romans\", we\nwill likely visualize the Latin-speaking, toga-clad pagans who lived in or\nnear Rome at the height of the empire. Yet, those keen in history recognize\nthat Roman government and society survived in a Hellenic Christian character\nfollowing the collapse of the Western empire. Thanks to author Tamara Talbot\nRice, the characteristics of both government and society during the Roman\nEmpire's Byzantine period are well described in \"Everyday Life in\nByzantium\". The author makes her admiration for Byzantine civilization very\nclear, and for good reasons. Once scorned by historians as politically and\nculturally irrelevant, Byzantium (whose citizens proudly called themselves\n\"Romans\" until the very end) actually possessed a rich cosmopolitan culture\nwhich was modeled along Greek lines but was influenced significantly by\nother peoples in the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond. Still based on Roman\nlaw, its strong central government was headed by a powerful emperor who,\nparadoxically, held court like an Eastern potentate rather than an heir to\nthe Caesars. Guiding the Byzantines in their spiritual life was an equally\npowerful Orthodox Church whose close relationship with the state had never\nbeen seen before in earlier Roman history. Against this backdrop, Rice gives\na fine portrayal of a people who managed to leave an impressive legacy in\nlaw, literature, art, and spiritual thought despite 1000 years of constant\npolitical and military struggles. It is regrettable that this book is out of\nprint, but I hope it will be republished in the near future."
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}