About the book: 1974 / G. G. Litavrin - candidate of historical sciences, employee of the Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, author of a number of studies on the history of medieval Bulgaria and Byzantium and Slavic-Byzantine relations. The Nauka publishing house published his books “Bulgaria and Byzantium in the 11th–12th centuries.” (I960), “Advice and stories of Kekavmen. The work of a Byzantine commander of the 11th century" (1972). In the new work, the author talks about the living conditions and activities of representatives of different classes and estates of Byzantine society in the 9th–12th centuries. The reader learns about the types of occupations of the Byzantines, about their public and social institutions, about the forms of organization of state and church power in the empire, about the nature of the wars that Byzantium waged, about popular movements and revolts of the nobility, as well as about the peculiarities of Byzantine life, about family relationships, education, holidays and entertainment of the Byzantines. Editor-in-chief, Doctor of Historical Sciences A. P. KAZHDAN