For centuries the court of Byzantium was regarded on earth as the mirror of heaven. In the Book of Ceremonies, the scholar-emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos set down the exquisite order of that sacred world: the candles and processions of the church year, the coronation of emperors, the banquet tables of the Great Palace, the roar of the Hippodrome, and the dignified reception of envoys from distant nations. Written in the tenth century, this extraordinary manual reveals what it meant to rule the Roman Empire as a living liturgy, every movement choreographed, every blessing repeated, every garment significant. This new edition renders Constantine's great work in clear, flowing, present-day English, faithful to the original's spirit and meaning, yet finally inviting to the modern reader. Here is not a dusty antiquarian curiosity, but a vibrant portrait of a civilization that understood power as worship and worship as order. Part of The World Scriptures Library.