Cultural Encounters on Byzantium's Northern Frontier, c. AD 500–700

'The book’s brisk survey of imported pottery, oil lamps, and jewelry documents the broad appeal of Roman culture in northern barbaricum, and provides context for the intensive investigation of gold, silver, and bronze coinage. Excavated coins document contractual exchange among political elites as well as low-level social interactions, yet their popular reception remained as exotic objects rather than economic currency. Richly documented and closely argued, this book offers a fresh historical analysis of emerging cultural identities in the early Balkans. Recommended.' M. Rautman, Choice ‘Andrei Gandila has delivered a meticulously researched and presented book on a highly relevant and controversial topic … Gandila is already known to scholarship through a number of studies on early Byzantine coins. By making his findings relevant in a particular context, the book will deservedly introduce his research to new audiences.’ Julian Baker, Speculum ‘Gandila’s contribution to the study of frontier interactions is a welcomed addition to the study of late antiquity … This work is well written, easy to read and provides a solid platform from which further and more specific studies may be undertaken.’ David White, Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association ‘… readers are ultimately rewarded with a richly detailed and impressive panorama of medieval history whose historical import is clearly manifest in Eastern Europe of the present.’ Michael J. Decker, American Historical Review ‘… Andrei Gandila’s monograph makes an impressive contribution to our understanding of the world they inhabited and the nature of their relations with the empire and the Lower Danube frontier. It should be essential reading for anyone studying diplomacy, frontiers and the history and archaeology of south-eastern Europe in the Early Byzantine / Early Medieval period.’ Alexander Sarantis, The Royal Numismatic Society