John Frederick Haldon FBA (born 23 October 1948 in Newcastle upon Tyne[1]) is a British historian, and Shelby Cullom Davis '30 Professor of European History emeritus, professor of Byzantine history and Hellenic Studies emeritus, as well as former director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University.
He returned to the University of Birmingham to complete his PhD in 1975 on "Aspects of Byzantine military administration: the Elite Corps, the Opsikion, and the Imperial Tagmata from the sixth to the ninth century"[3] under the supervision of Anthony Bryer.
[7] He was the overall director of the Avkat Archaeological Project (2006–2012, fieldwork completed by 2010[8]) under the aegis of the British Institute at Ankara.
He is the author and co-author of nearly 20 books, including six monographs: The Empire That Would Not Die: The Paradox of Eastern Roman Survival, 640–740 (2016), Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era c. 680–850: A History (with Leslie Brubaker, 2011), Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565–1204 (1999), The State and the Tributary Mode of Production (1993), Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture (1990) and Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580–900 (1984).
[10] His research focuses on the history of the medieval eastern Roman (Byzantine) empire, in particular in the period from the seventh to the twelfth centuries; on state systems and structures across the European and Islamic worlds from late ancient to early modern times; on the impact of environmental stress on societal resilience in premodern social systems; and on the production, distribution and consumption of resources in the late ancient and medieval world.