One of the greatest authorities in the field chronicles the opulence of Byzantine art from the reign of Justinian (527-565) to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. With plates that depict stupendous architectural works, frescoes, mosaics, chalices and bejeweled gospel covers, to name a few, the book provides a masterly survey of an art of magnificence and power. Drawing on extensive scholarly research as well as his own travels to the rock churches of Cappadocia and Cicilia, the monastic communities in the mountains of northern Greece and Yugoslavia, and the author illuminates the astounding works of art within a culture that celebrated art as material proof of their dominance over the Mediterranean states. 247 illus., 64 in color.