Justinian's Flea

A massively ambitious work that covers a great deal of ground..... a splendid biography of the emperor Justinian

Ian Pindar, Guardian

Ambitious and learned...readers will be swept along by the strong current of Mr Rosen's good natured erudition

Economist

As a feat of scholarship alone this book is extraordinary, but what really impresses is the sense of ease its author manifests in whatever subject he enters. It's as if he had been granted the freedom of late antiquity at birth ... His eloquence, wit, narrative skill, learning and (one dares to add) compassion, hoist this book abouve the miasma of its deeply sombre subject and make it, strangely, a joy

Independent on Sunday

Assertively modern in language and attitude, Rosen's multi-disciplinary Byzantine history deals not only with fatal microbiology but also celebrates Justinian's major achievements

The Times

Justinan was, as Rosen engagingly sets out, a master statesman.... Rosen carefully weighs his contribution

Financial Times

William Rosen doesn´t just give us the most believable, the most human and the most fully rounded Justinian ever, he also conjures up a vivid picture of the age, in a compelling style that makes his weighty learning light

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, author of Millennium and Civilizations