Byzantine Gardens and Beyond has its origin in a symposium that was organized by the Nordic Byzantine Network in April 2011 at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS), situated in the Botanizal Garden of Uppsala.

The anthology aims to bring together different perspectives on Byzantine garden culture. Byzantium offers a vantage point for reflecting on the wider meaning and significance of the garden. This topic is discussed by a group of scholars belonging to various disciplines and methodological approaches, ranging from Byzantine Studies, Archaeology, Landscape Architecture and Literary Studies, to Slavic, Arabic and Swedish languages.