Vipers of New Rome

This is an unconventional non-fiction story of the somewhat stereotypical 'evil empresses' of Constantinople - Eirene Theophano and Zoe - presented in the historical context of the successively emerging flourishing and declining Byzantine Empire. This is a thrilling tale of three ambitious women and at the same time a dark story of three highly controversial individuals who may have loved their husbands and children but intrigued betrayed poisoned maimed and killed for power. This is also the story of the imperial court and the Great Palace of New Rome - Constantinople medieval Europe's greatest metropolis and its people. This is a study of Byzantine society and its dominant power players - the imperial family the arrogant military the fractious clergy and the ever-conspiring eunuch bureaucracy. More than anything this book is about people who lived and breathed in early medieval times.