Agent of Byzantium is a collection of short stories
that all take place in the same world. In the world of Agent of Byzantium,
the Prophet Mohammad converted to Christianity and was eventually canonized as
a saint. He becomes known as St. Mouamet, the patron saint of changes.
As a result, Islam is never founded, and the Byzantine Empire remains
strong and able to expand its territory. By the 14th Century, the
Byzantines have managed to mostly reunite the Roman Empire, save for a few
provinces such as Britannia and most of Gaul. It's a somewhat
conservative world, in the sense that it is more similar to the Late Antiquity
than Europe and the Mediterranean were in our 14th Century. However, all
of that is about to change. The stories follow Basil Argyros. He is
a magistrianos, which is like a cross between a secret agent and a civil
servant. Basil travels across the Byzantine Empire and beyond to both
foil plots against the empire and discover many new inventions to put in
service of the empire.
So, I'm going to give some overall thoughts before we
go over the individual stories. This is another Turtledove book I've
wanted in audio, and now the wait is over. Harry Turtledove has a PH.D.
in Byzantine History, and it definitely shows in this novel. Turtledove
was famously inspired by L. Sprague de Camp's novel Lest Darkness Fall to study
Byzantine History. He say in the introduction to Agent of Byzantium that
he hopes it does the same for someone else. I can say with certainty that
he achieved this goal, at least for me. I liked the way Argyros'
discoveries are presented. He managed to bring about some pretty
significant changes, or what will be in the long-run, but without being a one-man
industrial revolution. A lot of his discoveries happen by chance, and are
things that someone else has invented. That isn't to say that he is lacking
in the brains department. He certainly had to be smart in order to be a
magistrianos. Also, I love the stories as great adventure stories set in
an alternate world.
A few things to note before we go forwards. The
Byzantines did not refer to themselves as such. That's a term assigned to
them by later scholars, based on how Constantinople used to be called
Byzantium. The Byzantines initially referred to themselves as the Eastern
Roman Empire. They viewed themselves as a continuation of Rome, not something
separate from it. Turtledove correctly has the character refer to
themselves, and their empire, as Roman. In fact, by the time of the book,
they've dropped the Eastern part of the name and just call themselves the Roman
Empire. Hey, they've reconquered Italy and Rome, along with North Africa,
the Iberian Peninsula, and the southern coast of France.
Also, the Byzantines used their own unique calendar
call Etos Kosmou, meaning Era of the World in English. They determined
the year based not on the birth of Christ, but on the creation of the universe,
or what they thought was the creation of the universe. So, for example,
1315 AD would be 6824 in the Byzantine Calendar. The stories were not
individually published in chronological order, but thankfully the book arranges
them chronologically.
Our first story is called "Eyes of Argos"
and takes places in the year 1305 AD. Basil Argyros is an officer in the
Byzantine Army station along the Danube boarder on the frontier of the empire.
The Jurchen Horde has been driven far to the west, and now they threaten
the Byzantine Empire. The Jurchens seem to have some sort of device that allows
them to see over long distances. Basil is going to have to go undercover
to infiltrate the Jurchen Horde and uncover the secret of the strange device.
Agent of Byzantium starts off strong with a great
opening story. This was very much Basil's origin story, and serves to
set-up the future stories. It is also an excellent story in its own
right. Interestingly, there was an actual historical figure named Basil
Argyros in our history, but he was born in the 10th Century. The Basil Argyros
of Agent of Byzantium was born in the 13th Century. Also, the historical
Argyros was a nobleman, while the fictional Argyros was a commoner born in the
Balkans. I'm almost certain that Turtledove named his character on
purpose.
Anyway, I liked how Argyros' wound up gaining some
respect for the Jurchen and their culture. He learns that, though the
Jurchen venerate many spirits, they also believe in a god who is above the
spirits. There's a really great scene where he and a Jurchen shaman
discuss the differences in their religious beliefs, and Argyros realizes that
maybe the Jurchen aren't so different from the Byzantines after all. All
the same, he has a duty to his emperor and his empire to fulfill first and
foremost. The strange devise, as I'm sure you've figured out, is a
telescope. The way it is depicted is, I would say, realistic for the time
period. The title comes from how Argyros likens the telescope to the
all-seeing eyes of Argos Panoptes from Greek Mythology.
There's also the question of just what drove the
Jurchen to Europe. The Byzantines don't particularly care, but I'm
curious. They're presented as no different from any of the other invaders
the Byzantines had to deal with such as the Huns, Magyars, Avars and Cumans.
There's also no mention of any Mongol invasion. Did Genghis Khan
fail to unite the Mongols? Did the Chinese crush the Mongols? Did
the Mongols focus solely on Asia and ignore the West? Or is it something
else entirely? We don't know, but it is fun to speculate.
True, Argyros does get kicked out of the army for his
loose cannon behavior. However, he gets promoted to a magistrianos, so it
all works out in the end. All in all, this story is a great start to
Agent of Byzantium.
Our second story is entitled "Strange Eruptions"
and takes place in 1307 AD. Basil Argyros has been enjoying his new life
as a magistrianos in Constantinople. He has a beautiful wife named Helen
and a baby boy named Sergios. Things take a turn for the worse when the
city finds itself in the midst of a smallpox epidemic. Though he doesn't
know it, the epedimic will change Argyros' life forever.
I should have mentioned before, but each of the
stories will almost always begin with Argyros thinking about St. Mouamet in
some capacity. In this story he does so when he notices a procession of
presets chanting St. Mouamet's canticle. The canticles are pretty
obviously Koranic verses with the wording changed to reflect Christianity.
For example, one goes "Truly there is no god, but the Lord, and
Christ is his son." This is obviously a modification of "Truly
there is no god but Allah, and Mohammad is his messenger. Peace be onto
him." Also, apparently St. Mouamet's feast day is July 16th.
From what we heard, St. Mouamet was the most zealous
convert to Christianity since Paul. Argyros loses Helen and Sergios to the epidemic, and he still mourns them even
into the later stories. Overall, their deaths are written well, but maybe
could have been a bit better. This is the only story where they are
alive, so we don't get to know them very well. Then again, Argyros has to
travel as part of his work, so we might not necessarily have gotten more time
with them. However, because he has to run to the dairy farm to get milk
for Sergios, Argyros inadvertently inoculates himself against smallpox.
This leads to the inadvertent discover of vaccines. Many of the
greats inventions happened totally by accident, so I find it very
believable.
Also, apparently Constantinople has dairy farms
located within the city walls. Was that something that happened in our
history too? Anyway, it is another solid addition to the collection.
The third story is entitled "Pillar of Cloud,
Pillar of Fire" and takes place in 1309 AD. Basil Argyros has been
dispatched to Alexandria, Egypt. The Pharos, also known as the Lighthouse
of Alexandria, is being rebuilt. However, construction has stalled
because the works feel they are being overworked and underpaid, especially
given how dangerous the work is. Argyros will have to find some way to
reconcile the two factions.
Agent of Byzantium first came out in 1987, but did not
include this story. Thankfully, the second edition, which came out in
1994, corrected this. Its kind of amusing that this story involves a
strike and the invention of labor unions. The first recorded strike in
history occurred in Ancient Egypt in the year 1152 BC. From this story we
learn that certain heretical strains of Christianity have survived for long
than they did in our world. For example, many of the strikers are
Monophysites, and it's mentioned that Nestorians are still running around in
the eastern parts of the empire. Personally, I don't blame the strikers for what they did. I got vertigo just listening to the descriptions of
the construction site.
I know it's been two years since he lost them, but
Argyros seems to have moved on from the death of his wife and child
surprisingly well. Well, he does briefly consider becoming a monk, but he
decides the desires of the flesh are too strong for him to ignore. That,
and the rest of the stories wouldn't be nearly as interesting if he was a monk.
Though granted, he does seem to still somewhat being mourning them.
Perhaps he's done his best to bury himself in his work.
Once again, a more than worthy addition to the
collection.
The fourth story is entitled "Unholy
Trinity" and takes place in 1315 AD. The Franko-Saxon Kingdom has
been getting into border skirmishes with the Byzantine Empire in the Pyrenees.
The Franko-Saxon have invented a highly combustible substance they call
hellpowder, and use it to great effect. Basil Argyros is going to have to
go undercover to the Abbey of St. Gall, where it is rumored the Franko-Saxons
produce the hellpowder. He's also teaming up with some agents from the
Kingdom of Angleland.
There's a lot of great worldbuilding in this one as we
glimpse the world outside the Byzantine Empire. Apparently, the Norman
Conquest never happened, since the Kingdom of Normandy was never founded.
As a result, Anglo-Saxons remain the dominate cultural force in England,
but they've still managed to unite into a single political entity. The
world of Agent of Byzantium also had something akin to the Great Schism, but
under much different circumstances. After the Byzantines reconquered Italy,
they deposed of the Pope, and replace him with a pope loyal to them. The
deposed pope fled to the Franko-Saxon Kingdom and set-up shop there. The
Byzantines consider the Franko-Saxon popes to be heretics. The Byzantine
Pope controls all the bishops of the western half of the empire, but he is
subservient to the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Also, it appears that the empire of Charlemagne
managed stick together and avoid Balkanizing. Well, it did that and
eventually took to calling itself the Franko-Saxon Kingdom. Though the
absence of Normandy does make me wonder about how the Viking Age went in this
world. For that matter, did the Danelaw still happen in England? In
any event, I liked that the Byzantines and the Anglelanders teamed up for
pragmatic reasons. The Byzantines hope to one day bring the Angleland
back into the empire, but Angleland would prefer to stay independent. All
the same, they have a common enemy in the Franko-Saxons. The title refers to the trio of ingredients needed to make hellpowder.
Once again, a more than worthy addition to the
collection.
The fifth story is titled "Archetypes" and
takes place in 1316 AD. The Persian Empire has been spreading propaganda
in the eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire at an alarming rate.
They are encouraging Nestorians and Monophysites to breakaway and join
Persia. Basil Argyros is dispatched to the city of Daras in the province
of Mesopotamia to investigate.
This story is significant in that it is the first
appearance of Mirrane. She's an agent from Persia, and provides both
challenge and intrigue for Argyros. This wasn't a bad story, but it
didn't quite hold my interest like the ones before it did. I did like the
concept of the printing press getting invented earlier. The archetypes of
the title are the clay letters used in the printing press. I also found
the scene where Argyros convinces his boss how useful the printing press to be
amusing. His boss, George Lakhanodrakon, is apparently writing an epic
poem about Emperor Constans II's reconquest of Italy called the Italiad.
Well, not much more to say here, let's move on.
The sixth story is titled "Images" and takes
place in 1317 AD. There's trouble brew in Constantinople, and in the
Byzantine Empire at large. A group of Egyptian monks from Alexandria are
preaching that icons are blasphemous and must be destroyed. The
population is sharply divided over the issue, and there's fighting in the
streets. Basil Argyros suspects that the Persians are plotting to show
discord in Byzantium again. It's going to take all of his wits and
cunning to defeat the Iconoclasts.
Iconoclasm was indeed something that happened in our
world as well. However, in our world the Byzantines decided in favor of
iconoclasm, at least until they reversed the decision. This was because
Islam was slowly starting to influence the empire, though the Byzantines would
never admit it. So I found it believable that, in a world without Islam,
there would be less support for iconoclasm. And yes, the whole thing is
caused by Mirrane trying to stir things up for the Persians. Since much
of the story involves ecumenical councils, we get more insight into this
alternate Eastern Orthodox Church. For example, apparently the Byzantines
regard Pope Gregory the Great, also known as Gregory I, as more Gregory the
So-So. In particularly, they take umbrage to the fact that he spent so
much time in Constantinople, and yet never learned how to speak Greek.
This story was actually surprisingly enjoyable.
Who knew debates about church doctrine could be this much fun? I
liked Argyros' explanation for why the iconoclasts were wrong. He argues
that, if mortal materials aren't proper to portray the divine, then you might
as well be saying that the incarnation never happened. Argyros is
certainly no slouch when it comes to debating theology. After all, as he
notes, theological debates are Constantinople's favorite pastime, after the
Hippodrome races.
A pleasant surprise of a story, and another worthy
addition of the collection.
The final story is title "Superwine" and
takes place in 1320 AD. Basil Argyros is on assignment to the Kingdom of
Alania. He's posing as a merchant of a new drinking called superwine.
While there he bumps into the Persian agent Mirrane. The two agents
are going to have to put aside their differences and work together. The
king of Alania is planning on letting the Kyrgyz Horde through his lands so
that they can reek havoc on Byzantium and Persia, and he can swoop in and pick
up the scraps.
This story didn't quite hold my attention like the
previous stories did. It started off good, but about halfway through I
felt like it kind of ran out of steam. That was a shame, as the second
half of the story is where the action really picked up. I did like the
idea of Argyros and Mirrane having to put aside their differences to save their
empires. For those who don't know, Alania was a kingdom in the Caucasus
Mountain founded by the Alan people. Alania is strategically located as
one of the few gateways through the Caucuses. We also find out from this
story that Byzantium and Persia have a mutual agreement to not persecute
followers of each other's religions. Zoroastrians can worship in
Byzantium as long as Christians can worship in Persia, and vice versa.
Well, I wasn't really intrigued by the last story, but
maybe you'll like it better.
I'd be remiss if I didn't discuss a story not included
in this collection. Turtledove also wrote a short story titled
"Departures" that is a prequel to Agent of Byzantium. It takes
place 700 years before Agent of Byzantium and follows St. Mouamet during
his time at a monastery in Syria. Later in life he apparently traveled to
Constantinople and went on to become an archbishop in Spain. It is not
included in the collection, and is the only story not to feature Basil Argyros
as the protagonist. Perhaps that's why it wasn't included, which is a
shame in my opinion. Oh well, maybe someday it will be.
I'd also be remiss is I didn't talk about the long-awaited
audiobook edition of Agent of Byzantium. It is narrated by Tim Campbell,
and he does an excellent job. This audiobook was well worth the wait.
There you have it. Agent of Byzantium is a
classic Harry Turtledove novel that was more than worth the wait. I hope
the Harry Turtledove audiobook gravy train doesn't slow down any time soon.
Well, I think that's enough from me for now. I will see you all
next time.
