From Library Journal

After 35 years that witnessed the explosion of information on virtually every subject, we are in the age of synthesis: encyclopedias and dictionaries abound. With the recent 12-volume Dictionary of the Middle Ages ( LJ 2/1/83) and the older one-volume Oxford Classical Dictionary ( LJ 5/1/71. 2d ed.), this forms a trio of essential resources. The 100 contributors, many of them distinguished experts, have succeeded in their "attempt to collect within a single work data concerning all fields of Byzantine studies." The 5000-plus entries provide authoritative coverage not only of "traditional" topics such as art and architecture, basilica, agriculture, chronology, geography, literature, medicine, military strategy, science, and theology, but also many facets of everyday life--baths, clocks, houses, locks and padlocks, etc. The social historian will be especially pleased with the entries on abortion, childbirth, criminal procedure, food and diet, homosexuality, marriage and the family, names, prostitution, and slavery. The editor deserves special thanks for the uniformly lucid and readable style, for the clear illustrations, and for the useful maps, though the captions are not very informative. Three caveats: many terms appear only in Greek transliteration without adequate definition or explanation; the bibliographies are often skimpy; and the genealogical tables lack the emperors' regnal years. Still, this will endure as the first book the beginning student or the advanced scholar will reach for on the 1100-year history of Byzantium. Academic, large public, and research libraries must acquire this treasure.

-Bennett D. Hill, Georgetown Univ., Washington, D.C.

Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"This reference work is a major event for Byzantine studies....This is a remarkable accomplishment, one that both specialists and the educated public will find useful."--Speculum

"An indispensable reference tool for Byzantinists and Western medievalists, as well as an authoritative source for the more casual reader."--Religious Studies Review

"A landmark achievement that has no peer....Can be recommended wholeheartedly as an indispensable reference work of great worth."--Missiology

"The editor deserves special thanks for the uniformly lucid and readable style, for the clear illustrations, and for the useful maps....This will endure as the first book the beginning student or the advanced scholar will reach for on the 1100-year history of Byzantium. Academic, large public, and research libraries must acquire this treasure."--Library Journal

"The student of religion and the theologian will find much of interest throughout these three tomes."--Theological Studies

"A necessary addition for college and university libraries at all levels."--Choice

"A magnificent project and will prove to be one of the most significant scholarly resources in the last quarter of the 20th century."--Review & Expositor

"Throughout there is a welcome attention to realia and to daily life....The ODB now joins the OCD and the ODCC as an essential reference work for every academic or public library."--Religious Studies Review

"No respectable library can afford to forgo the immediate purchase of the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, because it will be cited throughout the world, as the scholarly reference on all matters Byzantine."--Biblical Archaeology Review

"Satisfies a long-felt need for a comprehensive reference work on the Eastern empire....There is no other reference work that covers the Byzantine world as thoroughly as the ODB....An essential purchase for academic collections supporting curricula in art history or medieval studies."--RBB/Booklist