2. Public and Private Lives

Bettany Hughes encounters the public and private life of the Byzantines.

Uniquely for the Middle Ages, women had unprecedented power in the Empire, as did the mysterious "third sex" of eunuchs.

But in this part Roman, part fundamentalist Christian state dangerous political factions would keep the blood of political dynasties flowing.

Historian Bettany continues her series using the latest archaeological evidence to rediscover an almost entirely forgotten empire and the people who ran it.

The Byzantine Empire lasted for more than 1,000 years and at its height covered a million square miles of the globe.

Producer: Philip Sellars

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in October 2008.