Includes bibliographical references (pages 395-458) and index.

The Empire strikes back : introduction to Byzantine philosophy -- On the Eastern front : philosophy in Syriac and Armenian -- Don't picture this : iconoclasm -- Behind enemy lines : John of Damascus -- Collectors' items : Photius and Byzantine compilations -- Consul of the philosophers : Michael Psellos -- Hooked on classics : Italos and the debate over pagan learning -- Purple prose : Byzantine political philosophy -- The elements of style : rhetoric in Byzantium -- Past masters : Byzantine historiography -- Queen of the sciences : Anna Komnene and her circle -- Wiser than men : gender in Byzantium -- Just measures : law, money, and war in Byzantium -- Made by hand : Byzantine manuscripts -- Georgia on my mind : Petritsi and the Proclus revival -- People of the South : Byzantium and Islam -- Do the math : science in the Palaiologan Renaissance -- Through his works you shall know him : Palamas and Hesychasm -- United we fall : Latin philosophy in Byzantium -- Platonic love : Gemistos Plethon -- Istanbul (not Constantinople) : the later Orthodox tradition -- Old news : the Italian Renaissance -- Greeks bearing gifts : Byzantine scholars in Italy -- Republic of letters : Italian humanism -- Literary criticism : Lorenzo Valla -- Difficult to be good : humanist ethics -- Chance encounters reviving Hellenistic philosophy -- We built this city : Christine de Pizan -- More rare than the phoenix : Italian women humanists -- All about Eve : the defense of women -- I'd like to thank the academy : Florentine Platonism -- Footnotes to Plato : Marsilio Ficino -- True romance : theories of love -- As far as East from West : Jewish philosophy in Renaissance Italy -- The Count of Concord : Pico della Mirandola -- What a piece of work is man : Manetti and Pico on human nature -- Bonfire of the vanities : Savonarola -- The sweet restraints of liberty : republicanism and civic humanism -- No more Mr. Nice Guy : Machiavelli -- Sense of humors : Machiavelli on republicanism -- The teacher of our actions : Renaissance historiography -- The good place : Utopias in the Italian Renaissance -- Greed is good : economics in the Italian Renaissance -- Town and gown : Italian universities -- I'd like to thank the Lyceum : Aristotle in Renaissance Italy -- Of two minds : Pomponazzi and Nifo on the intellect -- There and back again : Zabarella on scientific method -- The measure of all things : mathematics and art -- Just what the doctor ordered : Renaissance medicine -- Man of discoveries : Girolamo Cardano -- Spirits in the material world : Telesio and Campanella on nature -- The men who saw tomorrow : Renaissance magic and astrology -- Boundless enthusiasm : Giordano Bruno -- The harder they fall : Galileo and the Renaissance.