Byzantium and the mixing of people

In a comment on Invasion, massacre, murder and just death in battle, Neil Whitfield pointed me to David Day's Conquest. Neil reviewed this book in several contexts - here, here.

I have yet to read the book. One of Day's points is that human history is in part the story of the supplanting and mixing of peoples.

I made some what similar points in my meandering discussion on Byzantium as part of my train reading series. If you want to read the series of posts in order, I have added them at the end of the post.

I don't think that you can properly understand the Balkans or Middle East without understanding the way in which in which different peoples and cultures have been mixed.

Byzantium Series:

• Saturday Morning Musings - Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian
• Byzantium, Turtledove and the power of imagination in history
• Saturday Morning Musings - Byzantium, ARIA and Australian public policy
• Musings on the Byzantine Empire - decline
• Saturday Morning Musings - Byzantium and the pace of change
• Byzantium finished
• Byzantium, agriculture and the movement of peoples