Download or read book The History of Leo the Deacon written by Leo (Diaconus) and published by Dumbarton Oaks. This book was released on 2005 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The History tells how they expanded the frontiers of the empire and brought back captured relics, booty, and prisoners of war to parade in triumph through the streets of Constantinople. Leo accompanied at least one expedition, and drew on his firsthand experience to provide vivid descriptions of sieges, pitched battles, ambushes, and single combat. His account of the conspiracy against Nikephoros II Phokas, murdered as he slept on the floor in front of his icons, is one of the most dramatic in Byzantine narrative histories."--page 4 of cover.