Imagine a small, quiet room in the ninth century, where a brilliant scholar is making his way, book by book, through his library—and writing down for his brother everything he knows about each volume he has read. The Bibliotheca of Photius is that record: a loving inventory and sharp-minded review of the books that shaped the world of late antiquity and the Byzantine church. Here are the fathers of the early church, the great councils and the heresies they answered, the historians from Herodotus to the Byzantine age, the philosophers and rhetoricians, and even the ancient novels of adventure and love—all seen through the eyes of a man whose faith embraced both the Scriptures and the best of Greek learning. This fresh, modern-English edition makes Photius's enduring classic inviting to today's readers, preserving its meaning and spirit while opening its riches to anyone curious about how the Christian tradition remembered, argued, and treasured the written word. Part of The World Scriptures Library.