History of the Byzantine Jews

The History of the Byzantine Jews explores the Jewish microcosmos in Byzantium. Under the Romans, Jews enjoyed the privileges of knighthood and nobility. Although these luxuries were significantly diminished under Theodosius II- whose wife, Eudoxia, was a judaizing Empress- and the Codex Justinianus, they remained a powerful entity in Byzantium. In comparison to the irredentist Samaritans and Paulicians, the Jews remained areligio licita (permitted religion) that tolerated and even protected by Imperial and Church authority. Their position in society even enabled the Jews to vie for increased power. The Byzantine Jews tried to play the game of power politics through their affiliation with Yemen's Jewish Himyarites, and ill-fated alliance with the Persian Sassanides, and finally through the colossal power of the Jewish Khazar Empire. In this living history of the Byzantine Jews, Author Elli Kohen attempts to revive the spirit of Moses of Crete, Procopius, Eusebius, Theophanes Continuatus, and medieval chroniclers such as Liutbrand, Villehardouin, and Benjamin of Tudela. Intended as a complementary text to other classics on Byzantine Jews, this new work emphasizes multicultural cooperation in the study of this time period.

Elli Kohen, MD, born in Istanbul, Turkey, is an anatomopathologist, researcher in cell biology, cell biochemistry, and cellular pharmacology, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Miami. He has written eight books in science, a Ladino/English Encyclopedic Dictionary, and the biography of Rabbi Nissim Ovadia, A Pillar of Sephardi Judaism. He appears in the marquis Who's Who in America 2005 and 2006, Who's Who in Science and Engineering 2005, Who's Who in the World of Education 2005, and the forthcoming Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare 2007. Dr. Kohen has spent many years in Turkey and the surrounding area. He incorporates his experiences in these regions into his writing in an effort to preserve and impart the history of the Jews in the Byzantine and Ottoman periods.