The project was created together with and is supported by the TV channel “Spas”. The book offers an accessible yet very deep overview of the entire Byzantine history. Renowned scholar Igor Petrovsky explains how the empire managed to last a thousand years, reach its height, and be crushed in an instant. What legacy did it leave to the world and to Russia, which built its Church and statehood on Byzantine models? A book for a wide range of readers—for those who love and want to know history and see the future.