History of the Later Roman Empire

The Roman Empire underwent a critical period of crisis after Emperor Severus Alexander was murdered in 235 AD. During the following fifty years, twenty emperors ruled, and most of them were assassinated by their own troops. In case of emergency, local officials and military commanders took full control of state administration in large regions. Examples include the Gallic Empire along the Limes Germanicus, and Queen Zenobia's Palmyrene Empire in Syria.^[1][2] In the east, the Persian Sasanians who replaced the Parthian Arsacids adopted an offensive policy against Rome. With the emergence of the Sasanian Empire, Rome ceased to be the sole great power in the Near East. In the west, larger tribal confederation took the place of small Germanic tribes. Among the new tribal federation, the Franks lived along the Lower Rhine, the Alemanni on the Upper Rhine, and the Goths near the Lower Danube. The Roman Empire survived the crisis with minimal territorial losses: only Dacia to the north of the Lower Danube, and the Agri Decumates in the Black Forest region were abandoned in the 270s. Egypt and north Africa, the economically most valuable regions, were far away from the principal theatres of war, and remained almost unharmed.^[3]

The army quickly grew in size and the soldiers were no more kept away from the central territories in the 3rd century. The continued payment of soldiery could be secured only by the regular debasement of the Roman silver coins, the denarii. As soon as the population realized that the face value of the denarii in circulation was much higher than their silver content, inflation became uncontrollable. Old coins that contained silver or gold were quickly withdrawn from circulation and treasured. The unmanageable inflation increased the significance of taxation in kind. Regular demands for the annona militaris—the compulsory grain supply to the army—and the angareia—the mandatory military transport—put an enormous strain on the population of the highly militarized regions. The eastern cities, like Antioch and Athens, could quickly recover invasions by enemy forces, but the towns in the less prosperous western provinces were declining.^[4]

The Christians' reluctance to make sacrifices was unacceptable for most Romans. Classical authors like Tacitus and Pliny the Younger describe the Christians as opponents of traditional Roman values. Although the Christians were outlawed, they were only sporadically persecuted, and mainly fanatical extremists, especially the Phrygian Montanists were sentenced to death. Significant Christian communities existed in the largest urban centers, like Rome, Antioch, Alexandria and Carthage, and their size quickly grew in the first half of the 3rd century. Convinced that religious laxity threatened national security, Emperor Decius ordered that all citizens were to sacrifice to the gods in 249. During the ensuing persecution, great numbers of non-compliant Christians were executed or forced into exile. Decius died fighting the Goths in 251, but five years later Valerian resumed the persecution which lasted until he was captured by Sassanian troops in the Battle of Edessa in 260.^[5] Emperor Carus embarked on a new invasion of the Sassanian Empire, but a bolt of lightning struck him to death in the Persian capital, Ctesiphon in July 283. His younger son Numerian abandoned the campaign, but he died while wintering in the eastern provinces.^[6]

Discover more about Background related topics

Crisis of the Third Century

Crisis of the Third Century

The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis, was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed. The crisis ended due to the military victories of Aurelian and with the ascension of Diocletian and his implementation of reforms in 284.

Gallic Empire

Gallic Empire

The Gallic Empire or the Gallic Roman Empire are names used in modern historiography for a breakaway part of the Roman Empire that functioned de facto as a separate state from 260 to 274. It originated during the Crisis of the Third Century, when a series of Roman military leaders and aristocrats declared themselves emperors and took control of Gaul and adjacent provinces without attempting to conquer Italy or otherwise seize the central Roman administrative apparatus.

Limes Germanicus

Limes Germanicus

The Limes Germanicus is the name given in modern times to a line of frontier fortifications that bounded the ancient Roman provinces of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior and Raetia, dividing the Roman Empire and the unsubdued Germanic tribes from the years 83 to about 260 AD. The Limes used either a natural boundary such as a river or typically an earth bank and ditch with a wooden palisade and watchtowers at intervals. A system of linked forts was built behind the Limes.

Palmyrene Empire

Palmyrene Empire

The Palmyrene Empire was a short-lived breakaway state from the Roman Empire resulting from the Crisis of the Third Century. Named after its capital city, Palmyra, it encompassed the Roman provinces of Syria Palaestina, Arabia Petraea, and Egypt, as well as large parts of Asia Minor.

Parthian Empire

Parthian Empire

The Parthian Empire, also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I (r. c. 171–132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China, became a center of trade and commerce.

Franks

Franks

The Franks were a germanic people who were first mentioned by name in 3rd-century Roman sources, living near the Lower Rhine, on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire. Later, Romanized Frankish dynasties based within the collapsing Western Roman Empire, became the rulers of the whole region between the rivers Loire and Rhine. They subsequently imposed power over many other post-Roman kingdoms both inside and outside the old empire. Beginning with Charlemagne in 800, Frankish rulers were given recognition by the Catholic Church as successors to the old emperors.

Alemanni

Alemanni

The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the Agri Decumates in 260, and later expanded into present-day Alsace and northern Switzerland, leading to the establishment of the Old High German language in those regions, which by the eighth century were collectively referred to as Alamannia.

Goths

Goths

The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe.

Agri Decumates

Agri Decumates

The Agri Decumates or Decumates Agri were a region of the Roman Empire's provinces of Germania Superior and Raetia, covering the Black Forest, Swabian Jura, and Franconian Jura areas between the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers, in present southwestern Germany, including present Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Freiburg im Breisgau, and Weißenburg in Bayern. The only ancient reference to the name comes from Tacitus' book Germania. However the later geographer Claudius Ptolemy does mention "the desert of the Helvetians" in this area.

Black Forest

Black Forest

The Black Forest is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is the source of the Danube and Neckar rivers.

Debasement

Debasement

A debasement of coinage is the practice of lowering the intrinsic value of coins, especially when used in connection with commodity money, such as gold or silver coins. A coin is said to be debased if the quantity of gold, silver, copper or nickel in the coin is reduced.

Denarius

Denarius

The denarius was the standard Roman silver coin from its introduction in the Second Punic War c. 211 BC to the reign of Gordian III, when it was gradually replaced by the antoninianus. It continued to be minted in very small quantities, likely for ceremonial purposes, until and through the Tetrarchy (293–313).

Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs (St Mark's Basilica, Venice)

On learning of the death of Carus and Numerian, senior officers staying in Nicomedia proclaimed one of their number, the Illyrian Diocletian, emperor on 20 November 284. Diocletian marched to Illyricum to fight Carus' elder son, Carinus, but Carinus was assassinated by one of his own retainers in the Battle of the Margus.^[7] Diocletian, who had no son, made a Pannonian officer Maximian his co-ruler, first as Caesar in 285, then as junior Augustus in 286. The power-sharing agreement proved durable, with Diocletian mostly ruling in the East, and Maximian in the West. The diarchy developed into a tetrarchy—the rule of four co-emperors—when Diocletian appointed two officers from Illyricum, Constantius Chlorus and Galerius, as Caesars in 293. The relationship between the four emperors was reinforced through marriage alliances: Galerius married Diocletian's daughter Galeria Valeria, and Constantius wed Maximian's daughter Theodora.^[8][9]

Secessionist movements continued. A mutinous military commander Carausius held sway over Britain and northern Gaul from 286 until Constantius overcame him in 293. Domitius Domitianus ruled Egypt until Diocletian captured Alexandria in 297.^[10] The tetrarchs launched military campaigns along the borderlands and restored its strategic control. Galerius forced the Persian king, Narseh to cede lands along the river Tigris to Rome and reimposed Roman suzerainty over the Kingdom of Iberia. Diocletian and Galerius waged wars against the Goths, Carpi, Sarmatians, Quadi and Marcomanni along the Danube. Maximian and Constantius defeated the Franks on the Rhine. Maximian went on war against the Quinquegentiani ("Five Peoples") in Mauretania.^[11] The four co-rulers' cooperation and military achievements created a period of stability, allowing the introduction of profound administrative and financial reforms. Examples include the reorganization of the provinces and the development of a sophisticated tax system.^[12] Diocletian became convinced that the empire's integrity could only be reinforced through the renewal of the traditional religion and outlawed Christianity in 303.^[13] During the subsequent Great Persecution, many Christians suffered martyrdom.^[14]

The first tetrarchy ended with an unprecedented act, the voluntary retirement of Diocletian and Maximian on 1 May 305. On this occasion, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus were promoted to the rank of Augustus, and two Illyrian military commanders, Maximinus Daia and Valerius Severus, were appointed as the new Caesars. Their appointment apparently demonstrates Galerius' influence on the ailing Diocletian: Maximinus Daia was his nephew and Valerius Severus was his friend. Although both Constantius' son, Constantine, and Maximian's son, Maxentius, were adults, the composition of the new tetrarchy ignored their claims to succeed their fathers. When Constantius Chlorus died in Britain on 25 July 306, his troops proclaimed Constantine his successor. Three months later, Maxentius took control of southern and central Italy and Africa. Valerius Severus attacked Maxentius, but his troops who had served under Maximian mutinied and captured him. After seizing northern Italy, Maxentius persuaded his father to abandon his retirement and again rule as Augustus in spring 307. Constantine married Maximian's daughter Fausta, and his new father-in-law appointed him as Augustus. After a conflict between Maximian and Maxentius, Maximian sought refuge at Constantine, and the governor of Africa, Domitius Alexander assumed the imperial title.^[17]

To tackle the chaotic situation Galerius convinced Diocletian to preside over a conference at Carnuntum in November 308. The conference established a new tetrarchy, with Galerius and his Dacian protégé, Licinius as Augusti, and Maximinus Daia and Constantine as Caesares. Neither Maximinus nor Constantine acquiesced in their degradation, and both Maxentius and Domitius Alexander insisted on their imperial status. Maxentius sent an expeditionary force against Domitius Alexander and reconquered Africa, while Maximian staged a coup against Constantine. The coup failed and Maximian was forced to commit suicide in summer 310. After Galerius, the last surviving ruler of the first tetrarchy, died in May 311, Constantine made an alliance with Licinius against Maxentius and Maximinus Daia. Maxentius died fighting Constantine in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on 28 October 312, and Licinius routed Maximinus Daia in Thrace on 30 April 313.^[18][19]

Discover more about Tetrarchy related topics

Illyria

Illyria

In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyrians. Illyrians spoke the Illyrian language, an Indo-European language, which in ancient times perhaps also had speakers in some parts of Southern Italy.

Diocletian

Diocletian

Diocletian, nicknamed "Jovius", was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia. Diocles rose through the ranks of the military early in his career, eventually becoming a cavalry commander for the army of Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on a campaign in Persia, Diocles was proclaimed emperor by the troops, taking the name Diocletianus. The title was also claimed by Carus's surviving son, Carinus, but Diocletian defeated him in the Battle of the Margus.

Carinus

Carinus

Marcus Aurelius Carinus was Roman emperor from 283 to 285. The elder son of emperor Carus, he was first appointed Caesar and in the beginning of 283, with the title of Augustus, he was appointed co-emperor of the western portion of the empire by his father. Official accounts of his character and career, which portray him as debauched and incapable, have been filtered through the propaganda of his successful opponent, Diocletian.

Battle of the Margus

Battle of the Margus

The Battle of the Margus or Battle of Margum was fought in July 285 for control of the Roman Empire between the armies of Diocletian and Carinus in the valley of the Margus River in Moesia, probably near the settlement of Margum. The battle proved to be the tipping point that led to the eventual resolution of the Crisis of the Third Century and the return of stability to the Empire.

Caesar (title)

Caesar (title)

Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, a Roman dictator. The change from being a familial name to a title adopted by the Roman emperors can be traced to AD 68, following the fall of the Julio–Claudian dynasty.

Augustus (title)

Augustus (title)

Augustus was an ancient Roman title given as both name and title to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, Rome's first Emperor. On his death, it became an official title of his successor, and was so used by Roman emperors thereafter. The feminine form Augusta was used for Roman empresses and other female members of the Imperial family. The masculine and feminine forms originated in the time of the Roman Republic, in connection with things considered divine or sacred in traditional Roman religion. Their use as titles for major and minor Roman deities of the Empire associated the Imperial system and Imperial family with traditional Roman virtues and the divine will, and may be considered a feature of the Roman Imperial cult.

Diarchy

Diarchy

Diarchy, duarchy, or duumvirate is a form of government characterized by corule, with two people ruling a polity together either lawfully or de facto, by collusion and force. The leaders of such a system are usually known as corulers.

Constantius Chlorus

Constantius Chlorus

Flavius Valerius Constantius "Chlorus", also called Constantius I, was Roman emperor from 305 to 306. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as caesar from 293 to 305 and then ruling as augustus until his death. Constantius was also father of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome. The nickname Chlorus was first popularized by Byzantine-era historians and not used during the emperor's lifetime. After his re-conquering of Roman Britain, he was given the title 'Redditor Lucis Aeternae', meaning 'The Restorer of Eternal Light'.

Galerius

Galerius

Galerius Valerius Maximianus was Roman emperor from 305 to 311. During his reign he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Sasanian Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 299. He also campaigned across the Danube against the Carpi, defeating them in 297 and 300. Although he was a staunch opponent of Christianity, Galerius ended the Diocletianic Persecution when he issued an Edict of Toleration in Serdica in 311.

Galeria Valeria

Galeria Valeria

Galeria Valeria was the daughter of Roman Emperor Diocletian and wife of his co-emperor Galerius.

Flavia Maximiana Theodora

Flavia Maximiana Theodora

Flavia Maximiana Theodora was a Roman empress, wife of Constantius Chlorus.

Carausius

Carausius

Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, during the Carausian Revolt, declaring himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul. He did this only 13 years after the Gallic Empire of the Batavian Postumus was ended in 273. He held power for seven years, fashioning the name "Emperor of the North" for himself, before being assassinated by his finance minister Allectus.

Column of Constantine commemorating the establishment of Constantinople as the Roman Empire's new capital (Istanbul, Turkey)

Licinius had not yet won his war against Maximinus Daia when he married Constantine's half-sister Constantia in Milan in February 313. The two emperors jointly issued a law about religious tolerance, now known as the Edict of Milan. No more excluded from imperial service, Christians could have brilliant careers, like Ablabius, a Greek of humble origin, who held the highest offices between 324 and 331.^[20][21] Relationship between the two emperors grew tense and Constantine seized the Dioceses of Pannonia and Moesia by force in 318. Six years later Constantine launched a new attack against Licinius and forced him to abdicate. In a year, Licinius and his about ten-year-old son by Constantia, also called Licinius, were executed.^[22] The tragic child had been appointed as Caesar along with Constantine's two eldest sons, Crispus and Constantine II in 317. Crispus' mother Minervina was Constantine's first wife, while the younger Constantine was born to Fausta. In 326, Crispus and Fausta were executed on mysterious charges, likely because of their adulterous relationship.^[23][24] Always hostile to the first Christian emperor, Zosimus alludes that Constantine's actual conversion to Christianity was the consequence of their execution, because only Christianity offered him absolution for his sin. Constantine made his younger sons by Fausta, Constantius II and Constans, and his nephew Dalmatius Caesars, and appointed Dalmatius' brother Hannibalianus ruler of the Pontic regions.^[25][26]

Constantine continued Diocletian's administrative and financial reforms, but Christian ethics had an impact on his legislation. He banned gladiator games and promoted the less violent chariot racing. He forbade the branding of slaves on the forehead, abolished penalties for celibacy, and offered financial support to poor parents to discourage infanticide. On the other hand, he prescribed that a slave nurse participating in a girl's abduction be punished with molten lead poured down her throat, and a woman who abandoned her husband was to be banished pennilessly to a remote island.^[27][28] Constantine established a new city at a highly defensible place on the site of the ancient Greek polis of Byzantium on the Bosporus in 324. In four years, his "New Rome" was surrounded by walls enclosing about 600 hectares (1,500 acres) of land, and it was adorned with all elements of an imperial capital, including a palace and a large stadium. The city was consecrated as Constantinople on 11 May 330.^[29] Constantine launched successful campaigns against the Goths in 332 and 336, and against the Sarmatians in 334. The new Persian king Shapur II invaded Armenia and expelled the Roman client king Tigran VII. Constantine decided to launch a counter-attack, but he died unexpectedly on 22 May 337.^[30] His stepbrothers and their sons were soon massacred likely on Constantius II's initiative. Only two children Gallus and Julian survived the purge.^[23]

Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans met in Pannonia in September 337. They assumed the title of Augustus and divided the empire, with Constantine ruling the western, Constans the central and Constantius the eastern regions. Constantius restored Roman protectorate over Armenia and secured the Roman control of the eastern borderlands through a series of military campaigns against Persia.^[31][32] In 340, Constantine attacked Constans reportedly to avenge a slight, but died fighting at Aquileia. Constans seized his territory, but he could not gain the support of the army. A military commander of Germanic origin, Magnentius staged a coup against him in Gaul, and Constans was murdered by his own troops in early 350. In Illyricum, an other high-ranking officer Vetranio assumed the imperial title allegedly with the support of Constans' sister Constantina. Constantius could deal with the usurpers after defeating the Persians at Nisibis. He forced Vetranio to surrender and married off Constantina to their cousin, Gallus, whom he made Caesar with responsibility for the eastern borderland. Constantius inflicted three major defeats on Magnentius who committed suicide in 352. Gallus proved himself incompetent to rule: he crushed a Jewish revolt with excessive cruelty and ordered the execution of citizens on false charges. He was imprisoned and executed on Constantius' order in 354. Constantius made Gallus' younger half-brother Julian Caesar charging him with the command of Gaul and returned to Mesopotamia to repel a Persian invasion. He ordered Julian to send Gallic troops to the east, but they rioted and proclaimed Julian Augustus. Constantius departed for the west to fight Julian, but he died unexpectedly in Cilicia in November 361. To avoid a civil war, Constantius' troops acknowledged Julian as his sole successor.^[33][34]

Julian had received a Christian education, but he was captivated by Neoplatonic mysticism in his youth. During the reign of Constantius II, he had to conceal his pagan sympathies, but as emperor he could openly adhere to paganism. He declared the restoration of religious tolerance as his principal object, but he prohibited Christians from teaching rhetoric and grammar. He wanted to justify his conversion to paganism by a splendid victory, but his invasion of Persia failed. While his army was retreating from Mesopotamia, he was killed in a skirmish on 26 June 363.^[35][36] After a high-ranking pagan official Salutius refused the imperial title, a Christian military commander, Jovian was proclaimed emperor. He abandoned Roman territories in Mesopotamia and acknowledged Persian protectorate over Armenia in return for a thirty-year peace treaty with Shapur II. He died unexpectedly in February 364.^[37]

Discover more about Towards Christianization related topics

Byzantine Empire under the Constantinian and Valentinianic dynasties

Byzantine Empire under the Constantinian and Valentinianic dynasties

Byzantine Empire under the Constantinian and Valentinianic dynasties was the earliest period of the Byzantine history that saw a shift in government from Rome in the West to Constantinople in the East within the Roman Empire under emperor Constantine the Great and his successors. Constantinople, formally named Nova Roma, was founded in the city of Byzantium, which is the origin of the historiographical name for the Eastern Empire, which self-identified simply as the "Roman Empire".

Column of Constantine

Column of Constantine

The Column of Constantine is a monumental column built for Roman emperor Constantine the Great to commemorate the dedication of Constantinople on 11 May 330 AD. Built c. 328 AD, it is the oldest Constantinian monument to survive in Istanbul and stood in the centre of the Forum of Constantine. It occupies the second-highest hill of the seven hills of Constantine's Nova Roma, the erstwhile Byzantium, and was midway along the Mese odos, the ancient city's main thoroughfare.

Ablabius (consul)

Ablabius (consul)

Flavius Ablabius or Ablavius was a high official of the Roman Empire and contemporary of Emperor Constantine I. and tutor to his son, Constantius II.

Diocese of Pannonia

Diocese of Pannonia

The Diocese of Pannonia, from 395 known as the Diocese of Illyricum, was a diocese of the Late Roman Empire. The seat of the vicarius was Sirmium.

Diocese of Moesiae

Diocese of Moesiae

The Diocese of Moesia was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, in the area of modern western Bulgaria, central Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, and Greece.

Crispus

Crispus

Flavius Julius Crispus was the eldest son of the Roman emperor Constantine I, as well as his junior colleague (caesar) from March 317 until his execution by his father in 326. The grandson of the augustus Constantius I, Crispus was the elder half-brother of the future augustus Constantine II and became co-caesar with him and with his cousin Licinius II at Serdica, part of the settlement ending the Cibalensean War between Constantine and his father's rival Licinius I. Crispus ruled from Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in Roman Gaul between 318 and 323 and defeated the navy of Licinius I at the Battle of the Hellespont in 324, which with the land Battle of Chrysopolis won by Constantine forced the resignation of Licinius and his son, leaving Constantine the sole augustus and the Constantinian dynasty in control of the entire empire. It is unclear what was legal status of the relationship Crispus's mother Minervina had with Constantine; Crispus may have been an illegitimate son.

Constantine II (emperor)

Constantine II (emperor)

Constantine II was Roman emperor from 337 to 340. Son of Constantine the Great and co-emperor alongside his brothers, his attempt to exert his perceived rights of primogeniture led to his death in a failed invasion of Italy in 340.

Absolution

Absolution

Absolution is a theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the practice of absolution vary between Christian denominations.

Constantius II

Constantius II

Constantius II was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civil wars, court intrigues, and usurpations. His religious policies inflamed domestic conflicts that would continue after his death.

Constans

Constans

Flavius Julius Constans, sometimes called Constans I, was Roman emperor from 337 to 350. He held the imperial rank of caesar from 333, and was the youngest son of Constantine the Great.

Dalmatius

Dalmatius

Flavius Dalmatius Caesar was a Caesar (335–337) of the Roman Empire, and member of the Constantinian dynasty.

Diocese of Pontus

Diocese of Pontus

The Diocese of Pontus was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of northern and northeastern Asia Minor up to the border with the Sassanid Empire in Armenia. The diocese was established after the reforms of Diocletian, and its vicarius, headquartered at Amaseia, was subordinate to the Praetorian prefecture of the East. Its military forces, facing the Sassanid threat, were commanded by the dux Ponti et Armeniae until the middle of the 5th century, and by two separate duces afterwards, until Justinian I instituted a new magister militum per Armeniam for the Armenian frontier. Justinian's reforms also abolished the diocese in 535, and its vicar was made into the governor of Galatia I. The results however were not satisfactory, and the diocese was reestablished in 548, continuing to function until replaced by the themata of Armeniakon and Opsikion in the later 7th century. On the north east shore of the Black Sea, the cities Nitike, Pitiyus, and Dioscurias were part of the diocese until the 7th century. The diocese included 12 provinces: Bithynia, Honorias, Paphlagonia, Helenopontus, Pontus Polemoniacus, Galatia I and Galatia II (Salutaris), Cappadocia I and Cappadocia II, Armenia I, Armenia II, Armenia Maior and the autonomous Armenian principalities (Satrapiae) in the area of Sophene. In 536, Armenia III and Armenia IV were created.

Gold solidus of Theodosius I, the last emperor to rule a united Roman Empire

The commanders of Jovian's army discussed his succession with civil officials at Nicaea. On 26 February 364, they elected a Pannonian tribune Valentinian I emperor, and about a month later, Valentinian appointed his younger brother Valens his co-ruler. They divided the empire with Valentinian ruling in the West, and Valens in the East.^[38] After a severe illness, Valentinian made his son Gratian the third co-emperor. Although Picts, Scoti, Attacotti, Alemanni, Saxons, Quadi, Sarmatians and Goths launched regular raids across the imperial borders, the Roman army pacified the situation. In the east, Valens had to face a rebellion by Julian's relative Procopius, but he quickly crushed it in Lydia in 366.^[39] After launching two invasions across the Lower Danube, Valens forced the Goths to renounce their claim to a yearly contribution from Rome.^[40] When Valentinian I died in November 375, leaders of his army proclaimed his four-year-old son Valentinian II emperor. Gratian acknowledged his half-brother's promotion, but in practice he ruled the western part of the empire alone.^[41]

From the 350s, the nomadic Huns were invading the Pontic steppes from the east, and the natives could not long resist them. In the summer of 376, thousands of Goths fleeing from the Huns gathered along the northern bank of the Lower Danube to seek asylum in the Roman Empire.^[42] Regarding them as potential recruits, Valens allowed them to settle in Thrace, but failure to provide ample amounts of food, and abuses by Roman officials outraged the Goths. Further waves of asylum seekers crossed the river and the Goths rose up in rebellion. Valens had concentrated his troops in Antioch in preparation for a military campaign against Persia, and the Roman troops left behind in the Balkans could not crush the rebellion. Valens sought military assistance from Gratian, while the Goths hired Huns and Alans to invade Roman territory. Without waiting for the arrival of reinforcements from the west, Valens engaged the Goths in person at Adrianople on 9 August 378. The East Roman army was nearly annihilated and Valens died in the battlefield.^[43][44] Gratian appointed a talented general Theodosius to deal with deteriorating situations in the Balkans, and awarded him with the title Augustus early in 379. Theodosius recruited new troops, but he was unable to defeat the rebels. The conflict ended with a compromise in 382, unprecedented and humiliating to the Romans: the Goths were allowed to settle in groups in Thrace and Pannonia as foederati, or allies, but they were not subjected to Roman officials' rule.^[45] Theodosius appointed his elder son Arcadius co-emperor.^[46]

Gratian's alleged favoritism towards his Alan mercenaries outraged the Roman troops in Britain and they proclaimed their commander Magnus Maximus emperor in 383. Gratian was assassinated by his own guards in August, and Maximus took control of the western provinces to the north of the Alps. He invaded Italy and forced the young Valentinian II and his family to seek refuge in Thessaloniki in 387. After marrying Valentinian II's sister Galla, Theodosius launched a surprise attack against Maximus. Unable to resist, Maximus was captured and executed at Aquileia. In 388, Valentinian returned to the West, but Theodosius appointed a Frankish military commander Arbogast as the young emperor's guardian.^[47] In the east, Theodosius and the Sassanian king Shapur III divided Armenia to avoid a new war. Western Armenia was incorporated into the Roman Empire, but the new provinces were ruled by local Armenian hereditary governors.^[48] Arbogast openly disobeyed Valentinian's orders and the young emperor committed suicide in 392. With Arbogast's support, a Roman pagan aristocrat, Eugenius was proclaimed emperor. Theodosius elevated his younger son Honorius to the status of Augustus before departing for a military campaign against Eugenius. He inflicted a decisive defeat on the usurper in the Battle of the Frigidus on 6 September 394. He re-unified the Roman Empire, but he died on 17 January 395.^[49]

Discover more about Defeats and reconstruction related topics

Gothic War (376–382)

Gothic War (376–382)

Between 376 and 382 the Gothic War against the Eastern Roman Empire, and in particular the Battle of Adrianople, is commonly seen as a major turning point in the history of the Roman Empire, the first of a series of events over the next century that would see the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, although its ultimate importance to the Empire's eventual fall is still debated. It was one of the many Gothic Wars with the Roman Empire.

Gratian

Gratian

Gratian was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 367 to 383. The eldest son of Valentinian I, Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers and was raised to the rank of Augustus in 367. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratian took over government of the west while his half-brother Valentinian II was also acclaimed emperor in Pannonia. Gratian governed the western provinces of the empire, while his uncle Valens was already the emperor over the east.

Picts

Picts

The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in Britain north of the Forth–Clyde isthmus in the Pre-Viking, Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and details of their culture can be inferred from early medieval texts and Pictish stones. The term Picti appears in written records as an exonym from the late third century CE, but was adopted as an endonym in the late seventh century during the Verturian hegemony. This lasted around 160 years until the succession of the Alpínid dynasty, when the Pictish kingdom merged with that of Dál Riata to form the Kingdom of Alba. The concept of "Pictish kingship" continued for a few decades until it was abandoned entirely as a contemporary signifier during the reign of Caustantín mac Áeda.

Attacotti

Attacotti

The Attacotti were a people who despoiled Roman Britain between 364 and 368, along with the Scoti, Picts, Saxons, Roman military deserters and the indigenous Britons themselves. The marauders were defeated by Count Theodosius in 368. Their origin and the location and the extent of their territory are uncertain. Theories say they were Picts, Scoti, a Germanic tribe, Britons, or pagans from Wales.

Saxons

Saxons

The Saxons were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country near the North Sea coast of northern Germania, in what is now Germany. In the late Roman Empire, the name was used to refer to Germanic coastal raiders, and in a similar sense to the later "Viking". Their origins are believed to be in or near the German North Sea coast where they appear later, in Carolingian times. In Merovingian times, continental Saxons had been associated with the activity and settlements on the coast of what later became Normandy. Their precise origins are uncertain, and they are sometimes described as fighting inland, coming into conflict with the Franks and Thuringians. There is possibly a single classical reference to a smaller homeland of an early Saxon tribe, but its interpretation is disputed. According to this proposal, the Saxons' earliest area of settlement is believed to have been Northern Albingia. This general area is close to the probable homeland of the Angles.

Quadi

Quadi

The Quadi were a Germanic people who lived approximately in the area of modern Moravia in the time of the Roman Empire. The only surviving contemporary reports about the Germanic tribe are those of the Romans, whose empire had its border on the River Danube just to the south of the Quadi. They associated the Quadi with their neighbours the Marcomanni, and described both groups as having entered the region after the Celtic Boii had left it deserted. The Quadi may later have contributed to the "Suebian" group who crossed the Rhine with the Vandals and Alans in the 406 Crossing of the Rhine, and later founded a kingdom in northwestern Iberia.

Procopius (usurper)

Procopius (usurper)

Procopius was a Roman usurper against Valens, and a member of the Constantinian dynasty.

Battle of Thyatira

Battle of Thyatira

The Battle of Thyatira was fought in 366 at Thyatira, Lydia, between the army of the Roman Emperor Valens and the army of the usurper Procopius, led by his general Gomoarius.

Huns

Huns

The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part of Scythia at the time; the Huns' arrival to Europe is associated with the migration westward of an Iranian people, the Alans. By 370 AD, the Huns had arrived on the Volga, and by 430, they had established a vast, if short-lived, dominion in Europe, conquering the Goths and many other Germanic peoples living outside of Roman borders and causing many others to flee into Roman territory. The Huns, especially under their King Attila, made frequent and devastating raids into the Eastern Roman Empire. In 451, they invaded the Western Roman province of Gaul, where they fought a combined army of Romans and Visigoths at the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields, and in 452, they invaded Italy. After the death of Attila in 453, the Huns ceased to be a major threat to Rome and lost much of their empire following the Battle of Nedao. Descendants of the Huns, or successors with similar names, are recorded by neighboring populations to the south, east, and west as having occupied parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia from about the 4th to 6th centuries. Variants of the Hun name are recorded in the Caucasus until the early 8th century.

Alans

Alans

The Alans were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the Alans with the Central Asian Yancai of Chinese sources and with the Aorsi of Roman sources. Having migrated westwards and becoming dominant among the Sarmatians on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, the Alans are mentioned by Roman sources in the 1st century CE. At that time they had settled the region north of the Black Sea and frequently raided the Parthian Empire and the Caucasian provinces of the Roman Empire. From 215–250 CE the Goths broke their power on the Pontic Steppe.

Battle of Adrianople

Battle of Adrianople

The Battle of Adrianople, sometimes known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis, was fought between an Eastern Roman army led by the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens and Gothic rebels led by Fritigern. The battle took place in the vicinity of Adrianople, in the Roman province of Thracia. It ended with an overwhelming victory for the Goths and the death of Emperor Valens.

East Roman army

East Roman army

The Eastern Roman army refers to the army of the eastern section of the Roman Empire, from the empire's definitive split in 395 AD to the army's reorganization by themes after the permanent loss of Syria, Palestine and Egypt to the Arabs in the 7th century during the Byzantine-Arab Wars. The East Roman army is the continuation of the Late Roman army of the 4th century until the Byzantine army of the 7th century onwards.

The Roman Empire after its division in 395

Theodosius I was succeeded by the eighteen-year-old Arcadius in the East, and the ten-year-old Honorius in the West. The notion of imperial unity persisted, although divergences between the two realms deepened.^[51] A Western Roman general of half-Vandal origin Stilicho announced that the dying Theodosius had appointed him the guardian of both emperors, but his claim to rule the Eastern Roman Empire was challenged by the praetorian prefect Rufinus.^[52][53] Taking advantage of their conflict, Alaric I the leader of a group of Goths who became known as Visigoths established a new power centre in the Balkans.^[54] Attacking the empire from the east, the Huns pillaged Syria and Cappadocia. Rufinus' opponents blamed him for the calamities and a Gothic commander in Roman service, Gainas murdered him in November 395. During the ensuing power struggle, the eunuch Eutropius assumed power with Arcadius' consent.^[55] In 397, Stilicho invaded Achaea allegedly to attack Alaric, but Eutropius was worried about Stilicho's ambitions. On his advice, Arcadius declared Stilicho a public enemy, forcing him to return to the west. Eutropius was unpopular and the Gothic troops' riot in Phrygia provided an excuse for Gainas to achieve his deposition in 399. Gainas took control of state administration, but an anti-Gothic riot in Constantinople enabled Arcadius to remove him with the support of an other Gothic general Fravitta.^[56]

The empire faced new waves of mass migrations likely triggered by the Huns' westward expansion. Around 405, a mixed group of peoples invaded Italy under the command of a Gothic chieftain Radagaisus, but Stilicho overcame them at Florence. On 31 December 406, tens of thousands of Vandals, Alans, Suebi, Sarmatians and "hostile Pannonians" crossed the Rhine into Gaul.^[57][58] Insecurity led to insurrections in Britain, and the rebellious troops proclaimed their commanders emperors, but only one of them, Constantine III could consolidate his position. He crossed the Channel and restored peace along the Rhine through treaties with the Franks, Alemanni and Burgundians. The western crisis compromised Stilicho's position.^[59][60]

When Arcadius died on 1 May 408, his seven-year-old son Theodosius II succeeded him under the tutelage of the praetorian prefect Anthemius. A Hunnic leader, Uldin invaded the Balkans and demanded a tribute, but Anthemius forced him to abandon the campaign by bribing his lieutenants.^[61][62] Taking advantage of the Romans' distrust of Stilicho's foreign mercenaries, his former protégé Olympius staged a coup and achieved Stilicho's execution.^[63] Searching for a new homeland, the Vandals and their allies left Gaul and invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 409. Constantine III appointed his son Constans to take command of the defence, but the general Gerotnius disobeyed and proclaimed one Maximus emperor in Tarraco.^[64] Alaric invaded Italy in the autumn of 408. He demanded tribute and his appointment to a senior military office, but his negotiations with Honorius failed. On his demand, the Senatus proclaimed a Roman aristocrat Priscus Attalus emperor, but Honorius resisted at Ravenna with the support of Eastern Roman reinforcements. Alaric attacked Rome and the Visigoths sacked the city on 24 August 410. As historian Peter Heather emphasizes, the Visigoths carried out "one of the most civilized sacks of a city ever witnessed", but their capture of the old capital shocked the Roman world. After abandoning Rome, Alaric decided to conquer the wealthy northern African provinces, but a storm destroyed his fleet and he died in southern Italy.^[65][66]

As Honorius could no more guarantee the defense of Britain, he suggested the provincials to provide for their own protection in 410. The influx of Roman coins stopped, indicating that Britain ceased to be an integral part of the Roman world.^[67] The Vandals and their allies took control of most Roman provinces in Iberia, and Alaric's successor, Athaulf led the Visigoths to Gaul from Italy.^[68] Maximus attacked Constantine III in Gaul, but his troops deserted him on the unexpected arrival of Honorius' army under the command of the general Constantius. Maximus fled, and Constantine III was executed, but Western Roman unity was not restored. With the support of the Burgundians, Alans and Visigoths, a Gallic aristocrat Jovinus was declared emperor on the Rhine. His alliance with the Visigoths proved transitory because Honorius convinced Athaulf to desert Jovinus promising food supply to his people. Although Athaulf murdered Jovian, the Romans failed to deliver the promised grain. Athaulf married Honorius' half-sister Galla Placidia who had been captured during the sack of Rome, but fell victim to a Visigothic conspiracy in 415. Constantius restored Roman rule in southern and central Iberia and ceded Aquitania Secunda to the Visigoths in return for their assistance against the Vandals, Alans and Suebi.^[69][70]

Gold solidus depicting Galla Placidia, a prominent figure in the court of two Western Roman emperors, her half-brother Honorius and her son Valentinian III

Constantius married the widowed Galla Placidia and the childless Honorius appointed them Augustus and Augusta early in 421, but Theodosius II did not acknowledge Constantius' promotion. Constantius died while planning a military campaign against the Eastern Roman Empire, and Galla Placidia lost Honorius' favor. She fled to Constantinople along with her children, Valentinian and Honoria shortly before Honorius died on 15 August 423. Three months later a high-ranking official, John was elected emperor in Rome, but Theodosius proclaimed the six-year-old Valentinian Caesar. In preparation for an invasion from the Eastern Roman Empire, John ordered the cura palatii ("curator of the palace") Flavius Aetius to hire Hunnic mercenary troops. Aetius who had spent years with the Huns as a hostage succeeded, but by the time he returned to Italy, an Eastern Roman expeditionary force had defeated John's army. John was executed and Valentinian was acknowledged as the new emperor in the west. Aetius persuaded his Hunnic mercenaries to leave Italy in return for his appointment as the new military commander in Gaul. As Valentinian was still a minor, high-ranking officers like Aetius and the military commander of Africa Bonifatius were competing for power.^[71][72]

The Vandals and Alans suffered heavy losses during their fights with the Romans and Visigoths in Iberia and their king Gaiseric decided to guide them to northern Africa in 429. They landed at Tangiers and Bonifatius was unable to stop their advance. The Eastern Roman general Aspar came to the rescue of Carthage, but Bonifatius was ordered to return to Italy, probably by Galla Placidia who needed his support against Aetius. Bonifacius routed Aetius at Rimini, but he died of the wounds received in the battle. Aetius secured the Huns' support, enforcing his appointment as the supreme commander of the Western Roman army in 433. In two years the Eastern Roman reinforcements left Carthage and Valentinian concluded a peace treaty with the Vandals, acknowledging their acquisition of much of northern Africa. The Huns had meanwhile established their new power base in the plains along the river Tisza and Valentinian had to cede Pannonia to them.^[73][74]

The Huns extracted 350 pounds of gold as a yearly tribute from the Eastern Roman Empire, and the amount was doubled in a new treaty in 434. The same treaty prohibited the Romans to receive fugitives from the Hunnic Empire, but the influx of asylum seekers could not be stopped.^[75] The Vandals resumed the war and captured Carthage in 439.^[76] Theodosius dispatched relief troops to north Africa, but a Hunnic invasion of the northern Balkans forced him to abandon the naval campaign.^[77] In return for the renewal of the peace treaty, Theodosius agreed to pay a higher yearly tribute, probably 1,400 pounds of gold, but after his fleet returned from northern Africa he ceased to pay it.^[78] In 442 Valentinian acknowledged the Vandals' conquest of two wealthy provinces, Africa proconsularis and Byzacena in return for their abandonment of the rest of the Maghreb. The Vandals built a new fleet and emerged as a major naval power in the western Mediterranean.^[76] To enforce the tribute payment from the Eastern Romans, the Hunnic king Attila plundered the Balkans as far as Constantinople and Thermopylae in 447. He only withdrew his troops when Theodosius agreed to pay 6,000 pounds of gold in compensation for the arrears and increase the annual tribute to 2,100 pounds of gold.^[78]

Germanic kingdoms on former Roman territory and the ruins of the Western Roman Empire around 460

The childless Theodosius died in a riding accident on 28 July 450. His sister Pulcheria chose an elderly military commander Marcian as her husband without consulting with Valentinian. She allegedly acted in concern with the all-powerful Aspar who had been Marcian's superior in the army. Marcian was proclaimed emperor in Constantinople in late August. On learning of Attila's plan about a military campaign in the west he stopped tribute payments to the Huns.^{[note 3][79][80]} Attila launched a massive incursion into Gaul at the head of a mixed army of Huns and subject peoples. Aetius assembled Roman, Visigothic and Burgundian troops and engaged the enemy at the Catalaunian fields in June 451. Although the battle was inconclusive, Attila withdrew from Gaul. Next year he invaded Italy, but supply problems and an epidemic forced him to again withdraw. He died unexpectedly of bleeding in 453. In a year, the Hunnic Empire collapsed due to a civil war between his sons and a revolt of the subject peoples. With the Hunnic threat vanishing, Valentinian got rid of the domineering Aetius with the assistance of his eunuch courtier Heraclius who murder the general in September 454. Aetius' death was revenged by his two retainers who assassinated Valentinian on 16 March 455.^[81][82]

Officials who were staying at Rome proclaimed one of their number Petronius Maximus as Valentinian's successor. He married Valentinian's widow Licinia Eudoxia. Her elder daughter by Valentinian Eudocia was married off to Maximus' son Palladius breaking her engagement to Gaiseric's heir, Huneric.^[83][84] The Vandals occupied the remnants of Roman Africa and Geiseric sent his fleet against Rome. News of the arrival of the Vandal ships caused panic in the city and a mob slaughtered Maximus and Palladius on 31 May. The Vandals sacked Rome for two weeks and captured many prisoners, among them Licinia Eudoxia and her two daughters, Eudocia and Placidia. While Rome was in anarchy, the Gallic troops proclaimed their commander Avitus emperor. He hastened to Rome, but his attempts to secure his Gallic and Visigothic soldiers' food supply and salary at all costs caused a general discontent. In October 456, two powerful generals Ricimer and Majorian took up arms against him, enforcing his abdication. The two generals entered into negotiations with Marcian about Avitus' succession, but Marcian died in Constantinople on 26 January 457. Marcian's son-in-law Anthemius was bypassed, and the still powerful Aspar secured the Eastern Roman throne for the Thracian Leo I who had been his lieutenant. Leo rewarded Ricimer and Majorian with honors and the two generals agreed that Majorian was to rule the Western Empire first as Caesar, then as Augustus. Majorian restored imperial rule in Gaul and launched successful campaigns against the Visigoths and Suebi, but his position weakened after the Vandals crushed his fleet.^[85][86]

Assuming the role of king-maker, Ricimer captured and executed Majoran and proclaimed Libius Severus, a man of unknown background, emperor in 461. Leo and most Western Roman generals did not acknowledge Severus' ascension. The Western Roman Empire quickly disintegrated as Aegidius held sway over Gaul and Marcellinus assumed power in Dalmatia. The Vandals seized Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearic Island. Severus died in November 465. A sixteen-month-long interregnum followed until Ricimer and Leo accepted Anthemius as a compromise candidate. Marcellinus accompanied Anthemius to Rome and Ricimer married Anthemius' daughter Alypia. Eastern and western forces were united for a common attack against the Vandals in Sardinia and Sicily, but during the campaign Marcellinus was murdered, likely on Ricimer's order. In Gaul, the imperial government left the provincials to their fate.^[87] After Aegidius died in 464, his son Syagrius ruled the Roman enclaves.^[88] In the east, Leo I promoted the career of an Isaurian commander Zeno to diminish Aspar's power. He married off his daughter Ariadne to Zeno, but his younger daughter Leontia was in short married to Aspar's son Patricius who was made Caesar on this occasion. In 471 a popular riot broke out against Aspar and his mainly Gothic troops in Constantinople, enabling Leo to arrest and murder Aspar. The Gothic mercenaries mutinied and the rebellion enabled the Pannonian Goths, known as Ostrogoths, to invade the Balkans, and the Gepids to seize Sirmium. Leo could only appease the Ostrogoths through land grants in Macedonia and Thrace.^[89]

Relationship between Ricimer and Anthemius grew tense and Ricimer attacked Rome with the assistance with his Burgundian nephew Gundobad. Leo appointed a Roman aristocrat Olybrius to mediate between Anthemius and Ricimer. Olybrius had married Valentinian III's younger daughter Placidia. On his arrival to Rome, he was proclaimed emperor by Ricimer. In July 472 Rome surrendered and Ricimer's troops killed Anthemius, but both Ricimer and Olybrius died before the end of the year. After a five-month interregnum, Gundobad acclaimed Glycerius, a court official, emperor, but Leo sent Marcellinus' nephew Julius Nepos to Rome to claim the imperial throne. Gundobad's father, the Burgundian king Gondioc, died in 473, and he left Italy to claim his inheritance. After his protector's departure, Glycerius abdicated in Julius Nepos' favor.^[90] In Constantinople, Leo was succeeded by his seven-year-old grandson Leo II in 474. His father Zeno assumed the regency. When the child-emperor died before the end of the year Zeno became the new emperor. His mother-in-law Verina and her brother Basiliscus forced him to flee from Constantinople with the support of the Isaurian general Illus and the Ostrogothic leader Theoderic Strabo. Basiliscus was proclaimed emperor, but he lost popular support due to his interventions in church affairs. Zeno returned to Constantinople and deposed Basiliscus without much opposition in 476.^[91] In Rome, a powerful Pannonian general Orestes mutinied against Julius Nepos, forcing him to withdraw to Dalmatia. Orestes proclaimed his son Romulus Augustulus the new emperor at Ravenna, but he was unable to pay off his troops and they rebelled. One of their commanders, Odoacer, captured Orestes and deposed Romulus Augustulus on 4 September 476.^[92][93]

Discover more about Divided empire related topics

Fall of the Western Roman Empire

Fall of the Western Roman Empire

The fall of the Western Roman Empire was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast territory was divided into several successor polities. The Roman Empire lost the strengths that had allowed it to exercise effective control over its Western provinces; modern historians posit factors including the effectiveness and numbers of the army, the health and numbers of the Roman population, the strength of the economy, the competence of the emperors, the internal struggles for power, the religious changes of the period, and the efficiency of the civil administration. Increasing pressure from invading barbarians outside Roman culture also contributed greatly to the collapse. Climatic changes and both endemic and epidemic disease drove many of these immediate factors. The reasons for the collapse are major subjects of the historiography of the ancient world and they inform much modern discourse on state failure.

Byzantine Empire under the Theodosian dynasty

Byzantine Empire under the Theodosian dynasty

The Eastern Roman Empire was ruled by the Theodosian dynasty from 379, the accession of Theodosius I, to 457, the death of Marcian. The rule of the Theodosian dynasty saw the final East-West division of the Roman Empire, between Arcadius and Honorius in 395. Whilst divisions of the Roman Empire had occurred before, the Empire would never again be fully reunited. The reign of the sons of Theodosius I contributed heavily to the crisis that under the fifth century eventually resulted in the complete collapse of western Roman court.

Praetorian prefect

Praetorian prefect

The praetorian prefect was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders becoming the Emperor's chief aides. Under Constantine I, the office was much reduced in power and transformed into a purely civilian administrative post, while under his successors, territorially-defined praetorian prefectures emerged as the highest-level administrative division of the Empire. The prefects again functioned as the chief ministers of the state, with many laws addressed to them by name. In this role, praetorian prefects continued to be appointed by the Eastern Roman Empire until the reign of Heraclius in the 7th century AD, when wide-ranging reforms reduced their power and converted them to mere overseers of provincial administration. The last traces of the prefecture disappeared in the Byzantine Empire by the 840s.

Alaric I

Alaric I

Alaric I was the first king of the Visigoths, from 395 to 410. He rose to leadership of the Goths who came to occupy Moesia—territory acquired a couple of decades earlier by a combined force of Goths and Alans after the Battle of Adrianople.

Gainas

Gainas

Gainas was a Gothic leader who served the Eastern Roman Empire as magister militum during the reigns of Theodosius I and Arcadius.

Eunuch

Eunuch

A eunuch is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.

Eutropius (consul 399)

Eutropius (consul 399)

Eutropius was a fourth-century Eastern Roman official who rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Arcadius. He was the first eunuch to become a consul in the Roman empire.

Phrygia

Phrygia

In classical antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empires of the time.

Fravitta

Fravitta

Flavius Fravitta was a leader of the Goths and a top-ranking officer in the army of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Radagaisus

Radagaisus

Radagaisus was a Gothic king who led an invasion of Roman Italy in late 405 and the first half of 406. A committed Pagan, Radagaisus evidently planned to sacrifice the Senators of the Christian Roman Empire to the gods, and to burn Rome to the ground. Radagaisus was executed after being defeated by the general Stilicho. 12,000 of his higher-status fighters were drafted into the Roman army and some of the remaining followers were dispersed, while so many of the others were sold into slavery that the slave market briefly collapsed. These Goths later joined Alaric I in his conquest of Rome in 410.

Crossing of the Rhine

Crossing of the Rhine

The crossing of the Rhine River by a mixed group of barbarians which included Vandals, Alans and Suebi is traditionally considered to have occurred on the last day of the year 406. The crossing transgressed one of the Late Roman Empire's most secure limites or boundaries and so it was a climactic moment in the decline of the Empire. It initiated a wave of destruction of Roman cities and the collapse of Roman civic order in northern Gaul. That, in turn, occasioned the rise of three usurpers in succession in the province of Britannia. Therefore, the crossing of the Rhine is a marker date in the Migration Period during which various Germanic tribes moved westward and southward from southern Scandinavia and northern Germania.

Constantine III (Western Roman emperor)

Constantine III (Western Roman emperor)

Constantine III was a common Roman soldier who was declared emperor in Roman Britain in 407 and established himself in Gaul. He was recognised as co-emperor of the Roman Empire from 409 until 411.

The early-6th-century historian Marcellinus Comes states that the "Western Empire of the Roman people perished" with the deposition of Romulus Augustulus. Odoacer's appointment as patricius by Zeno legitimized his position as the actual ruler of Italy, but he mainly styled himself rex ("king") in official documents. He recognized Julius Nepos and Zeno as emperors and minted coins in their name. The Visigothic king Euric captured Arles and Marseilles in Gaul. After Zeno confirmed his conquest, Euric began the systematic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. In 480 Julius Nepos was assassinated and Odoacer seized Dalmatia.^[95][96] Syagrius died fighting the Franks at Soissons and their king Clovis I conquered the last Roman enclave in Gaul in 486.^[88] Zeno had been unable to stabilise his rule in the east. Unpaid Ostrogothic troops launched pillaging raids against the Balkan provinces and Theodoric Strabo nearly captured Constantinople before died in a riding accident in 481. Zeno's claim to rule was challenged by his brother-in-law Marcianus in 479, and by the Isaurian general Leontius in 484, but he overcame them with the support of hastily mustered troops. To eliminate Ostrogothic threat from the Balkans, he offered Odoacer's realm to the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Amal, who completed the conquest of Dalmatia and Italy between 488 and 493. He had Odoacer executed.^[97][98]

Emperor Justinian and his courtiers (Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy)

As Zeno outlived his two sons, his death caused a succession crisis in April 491. His brother Longinus could claim the throne, but the high-ranking officials despised him. On their intervention the widowed Ariadne chose an elderly court official, Anastasius I Dicorus, as her second husband and the new emperor. He exiled Longinus to Egypt, and his troops crushed a revolt by Longinus' supporters in Isauria. Popular riots and street-fighting between the fans of two racing teams, the Greens and the Blues, caused much destruction in Constantinople. The Lower Danube remained barely defended, enabling Hunnic, Bulgar and Slavic groups to make frequent pillaging raids against the Balkan provinces.^[99] In the east, Arabs raided Syria and Palestine, and the Sassanian king Kavad I demanded a tribute from Anastasius in 502. Anastasius refused, but after years of mutual invasions, promised to pay a symbolic yearly tribute of 36,900 nomismata.^[100] He died on 8 July 518. Two days later, the Senate elected the Latin-speaking commander of the palace guard Justin I emperor. He summoned his relatives to the imperial court and appointed Illyrians to high offices.^[101][102] In Italy, Theoderic discovered that Roman senators entered into correspendence about the restoration of Roman rule and had them arrested for treason in 523. His magister officiorum, or master of offices, Boethius were among the suspects, and Theoderic had him executed. The Christian kings of the Caucasian Lazica and Iberia sought Justin's protection against the Sassanians. In retaliation, Kavad I resumed the war against the Romans.^[103]

The childless and ailing Justin appointed his nephew Justinian I as Augustus shortly before he died on 1 August 527.^[104] Justinian was one of the most ambitious Roman emperors and he implemented systematic reforms to improve state administration and the army. He continued the war against the Sassanians, but neither the Roman nor the Persian army could achieve a decisive victory. In spring of 532 Justinian and the new Sassanian king Khosrow I concluded a peace treaty whereby Justinian paid 11,000 pounds of gold, reportedly in renumeration for the defense of the Caucasian passes by the Sassanians.^[105] Justinian introduced harsh measures against rioters to restore public order in the major cities, and his officials implemented his laws with great vigour. After a bloody riot following the races on 10 January 532, seven fans of the racing teams were arrested for murder. Five were executed, but one each from the Blue and the Green team escaped. Three days later, at the next racing, the Blues and the Greens made public appeals to Justinian on the two convicts' behalf, but he ignored them. The fans of both clubs united in a riot of elementary force, chanting the word Nika ("Conquer!") as a rallying cry. Although the Nika riots lasted for less than a week, the rioters destroyed much of the city center. Justinian's three generals, Narses, Belisarius and Mundus, crushed the riot mercilessly, reportedly slaughtering at least 30,000 townspeople.^[106]

The Roman Empire aroun 555

The pro-Roman Vandal king Hilderic was deposed by his cousin Gelimer in 530. The ensuing insurrections in Sardinia and Tripolitania provided Justinian with a pretext to intervene. He appointed Belisarius to lead the invasion against the Vandal Kingdom early in 533. Theodoric's daughter, Amalasuntha, who ruled the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy as regent for her son Athalaric, allowed the Roman expeditionary forces to use the port of Syracuse during the campaign. In a year, Belisarius defeated the Vandals with the native population's support and conquered their kingdom. The pacification of the reconquered northern African territories lasted for years because of riots by unruly Berber tribes and their cooperations with rebellious Roman troops. In Italy, Athalaric died and Amalasuntha's cousin Theodahad had her assassinated in 535.^[107][108] An unidentified natural catastrophe, likely dust from a major volcanic eruption, darkened the sun between 24 March 535 and 24 June 536. The low temperature caused disastrous crop failures and massive famine.^[109] The catastrophe did not prevent Justinian from going to war against the Ostrogoths. In 535 Mundus conquered Dalmatia and Belisarius captured Sicily. During the following five years, Belisarius occupied almost whole Italy, but an Ostrogothic kingdom survived in the north.^[110] Taking advantage of the concentration of the Roman troops in Italy, the Bulgars launched a pillaging raid over the Balkans, and Khosrow resumed the war. He invaded Syria, sacked Antioch and restored Sassanian suzerainty over Lazica.^[111]

From 541 to 543, the first outbreak of bubonic plague ravaged the Roman Empire and its neighbors. The death toll was tremendous, particularly in the largest cities,^{[note 4]} and epidemic recurred several times. Justinian was among the few who caught the plague but survived.^[112][113] Although the Sassanian Empire was also struck by the plague, Khosrow made a new incursion against Syria in 544. His siege of Edessa was unsuccessful, and early next year he signed a five-year truce in return for the lump sum of 144,000 nomismata.^[114] The conflict between the two empires enabled the Ostrogothic king, Totila to expel the Romans from much of Italy. Cooperating with unpaid Roman troops, he could termporarily seize Rome in 546 and 550. Justinian sent Narses with fresh troops to Italy and he defeated the Ostrogoths at Taginae in 552. Totila perished in the battlefield, and his successor Teia died fighting in the Battle of Mons Lactarius. The Ostrogothic Kingdom collapsed, although small Ostrogothic groups resisted at Cumae and other places till 562.^[115] In 551, a rebellious Visigothic aristocrat, Athanagild, sought Roman alliance against King Agila. Justinian appointed the praetorian prefect of Italy Liberius to lead an expeditionary force against the Visigothic Kingdom. Cooperating with Roman rebels, Liberius conquered southern Hispania.^[116] To defend the Balkan provinces against further raids by the Hunnic Utigurs, the Romans persuaded an other steppe people the Kutrigurs to attack them in the 550s. The Kutrigurs were attacked from the east by the nomadic Avars. Tensions along the western frontier developed into a new armed conflict between Rome and the Sassanians until a new peace treaty was signed for fifty years in 562.^[117]

Discover more about Survival and reconquest related topics

Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty

Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty

The Byzantine Empire had its first golden age under the Justinian dynasty, which began in 518 AD with the accession of Justin I. Under the Justinian dynasty, particularly the reign of Justinian I, the empire reached its greatest territorial extent since the fall of its Western counterpart, reincorporating North Africa, southern Illyria, southern Spain, and Italy into the empire. The Justinian dynasty ended in 602 with the deposition of Maurice and the ascension of his successor, Phocas.

Euric

Euric

Euric, also known as Evaric, son of Theodoric I, ruled as king (rex) of the Visigoths, after murdering his brother, Theodoric II, from 466 until his death in 484. Sometimes he is called Euric II.

Battle of Arles (471)

Battle of Arles (471)

The Battle of Arles was fought between the Visigoths and the Western Roman Empire in 471. Prior to the battle, the Visigoths had defeated the Bretons at the Battle of Déols in 469, and were expanding into Aquitaine. Alarmed with this development, Emperor Anthemius sent an expedition under Anthemiolus across the Alps against the Visigothic king Euric, who was besieging Arles. Euric crushed the Roman army and killed Anthemiolus and three Roman counts. Euric subsequently captured Arles and much of southern Gaul. The defeat in Gaul was a direct cause of the subsequent overthrow of Anthemius as emperor by Ricimer.

Battle of Soissons (486)

Battle of Soissons (486)

The Battle of Soissons was fought in 486 between Frankish forces under Clovis I and the Gallo-Roman domain of Soissons under Syagrius. The battle was a victory for the Franks, and led to the conquest of the Roman rump state of Soissons, a milestone for the Franks in their attempt to establish themselves as a major regional power.

Clovis I

Clovis I

Clovis was the first king of the Franks to unite all of the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a single king and ensuring that the kingship was passed down to his heirs. He is considered to have been the founder of the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Frankish kingdom for the next two centuries.

Kingdom of Soissons

Kingdom of Soissons

The Kingdom or Domain of Soissons was a rump state of the Western Roman Empire in northern Gaul, between the Somme and the Seine, that lasted for some 25 years during Late Antiquity. The rulers of the rump state, notably its final ruler Syagrius, were referred to as "kings of the Romans" by the Germanic peoples surrounding Soissons, with the polity itself being identified as the Regnum Romanorum, "Kingdom of the Romans", by the Gallo-Roman historian Gregory of Tours. Whether this title was used by Syagrius himself or was applied to him by the barbarians surrounding his realm in a similar way to how they referred to their own leaders as kings is unknown. "Kingdom of Soissons" is a later, historiographical term for the state.

Leontius (usurper)

Leontius (usurper)

Leontius was a general of the Eastern Roman Empire and claimant to the throne who led a rebellion against emperor Zeno in 484–488.

Basilica of San Vitale

Basilica of San Vitale

The Basilica of San Vitale is a late antique church in Ravenna, Italy. The sixth-century church is an important surviving example of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture. It is one of eight structures in Ravenna inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its foundational inscription describes the church as a basilica, though its centrally-planned design is not typical of the basilica form. Within the Roman Catholic Church it holds the honorific title of basilica for its historic and ecclesial importance.

Anastasius I Dicorus

Anastasius I Dicorus

Anastasius I Dicorus was Eastern Roman emperor from 491 to 518. A career civil servant, he came to the throne at the age of 61 after being chosen by the wife of his predecessor, Zeno. His reign was characterised by reforms and improvements in the government, finances, economy, and bureaucracy of the Empire. He is noted for leaving the empire with a stable government, reinvigorated monetary economy and a sizeable budget surplus, which allowed the Empire to pursue more ambitious policies under his successors, most notably Justinian I. Since many of Anastasius' reforms proved long-lasting, his influence over the Empire endured for many centuries.

Isaurian War

Isaurian War

The Isaurian War was a conflict that lasted from 492 to 497 and that was fought between the army of the Eastern Roman Empire and the rebels of Isauria. At the end of the war, Eastern Emperor Anastasius I regained control of the Isauria region and the leaders of the revolt were killed.

Bulgars

Bulgars

The Bulgars were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomadic equestrians in the Volga-Ural region, but some researchers say that their ethnic roots can be traced to Central Asia. During their westward migration across the Eurasian steppe, the Bulgar tribes absorbed other tribal groups and cultural influences in a process of ethnogenesis, including Iranian, Finnic and Hunnic tribes. Modern genetic research on Central Asian Turkic people and ethnic groups related to the Bulgars points to an affiliation with Western Eurasian populations. The Bulgars spoke a Turkic language, i.e. Bulgar language of Oghuric branch. They preserved the military titles, organization and customs of Eurasian steppes, as well as pagan shamanism and belief in the sky deity Tangra.

Early Slavs

Early Slavs

The early Slavs were a diverse group of tribal societies who lived during the Migration Period and the Early Middle Ages in Central and Eastern Europe and established the foundations for the Slavic nations through the Slavic states of the High Middle Ages. The Slavs' original homeland is still a matter of debate due to a lack of historical records; however, scholars believe that it was in Eastern Europe, with Polesia being the most commonly accepted location.

Ruins of Dara, an important fortress on the Roman–Persian border in Mesopotamia

Justinian, as historian Warren Treadgold emphasizes, "had added more land to the empire than any emperors but Trajan and Augustus",^[118] but the preservation of the territorial status quo was a costly enterprise. When Justinian died on 14 November 565, the sole courtier who was present, the sacellarius Callinicus stated that the dying emperor had named his nephew Justin II as his sole heir. Justinian's death was announced only after Justin's coronation.^[119] The Avars defeated the Gepids and conquered their realm in alliance with the Lombards in 567. After the Gepids' fall, the Romans seized Sirmium, and the Lombard king Alboin realized that he could not resist an Avar invasion of Pannonia.^[120] He led his people to Italy where they occupied the Po Valley. After Alboin was murdered in 573, ambitious Lombard chieftains continued the conquest, but central Italy, Naples, Calabria and Sicily remained under Roman rule. In southern Iberia, the Visigothic king Liuvigild captured Málaga, Medina-Sidonia and Córdova from the Romans. A Berber king Garmul targeted northern Africa and inflicted major defeats on the Romans.^[121][122] After an Armenian revolt, Justin resumed the war against Persia, but the Persians quickly halted the Roman invasion and Khosrow I captured Dara on 15 November 573. On learning of the fall of this key fortress of Roman defense, Justin experienced a nervous breakdown. His wife Sophia and the senators jointly convinced him to appoint his friend the Thracian general Tiberius Caesar in late 574.^[123]

Tiberius paid 45,000 solidi to Khosrow for a one-year peace. A year later he agreed to pay a yearly tribute of 30,000 solidi. He was proclaimed Augustus shortly before Justin died on 26 September 578.^[124] He wanted to renew the peace treaty with the Persians, but the new Sassanian king Hormizd IV refused, likely because he was aware of the Romans' troubles in the West. Tiberius appointed a Cappadocian general Maurice the commander of the eastern army. The unpaid troops were on the verge of mutiny, but Maurice adopted an offensive tactic until a Persian counter-invasion forced him into retreat. Unable to wage war on two fronts simultaneously, Tiberius left the Balkan frontiers undefended.^[125] He hired the Avars to prevent Slavic raids over the Lower Danube, but he failed to pay the promised yearly tribute—about 1,100 pounds of gold—to them. In retaliation, the Avars seized Sirmium in 582. From then on, the Slavs freely crossed the Lower Danube and started to settle in Roman territory.^[126]

On his deathbed, Tiberius – who had no sons – proclaimed Maurice Augustus. When Tiberius died in August or October 582, Maurice succeeded as the sole emperor. He was the first emperor to speak Greek at native level since Anastasius. He married Tiberius' daughter Constantina.^[127][128] He hired the Frankish king Childebert II to attack the Lombards, and with Frankish assistance the Romans halted the Lombard expansion in Italy. The Avars and Slavs made devastating raids as far as Marcianopolis and Thessaloniki, but both towns resisted their attack. In 590, a rebellious Persian general, Bahram Chobin, murdered Hormizd IV and forced his heir Khosrow II to seek asylum with the Romans. Khosrow approached Maurice for assistance and Maurice appointed the general Narses to invade the Sassanian Empire. The Romans and Khosrow's supporters routed Bahram in the Battle of the Blarathon. After regaining his throne, Khosrow ceded Armenia and eastern Mesopotamia, including Dara, to the Romans. The peace allowed Maurice to relocate his troops to the Balkans and they launched a series of invasions against Slavic and Avar territory after 593.^[129] When a famine caused a riot in Constantinople in 602, Maurice ordered a Roman army to winter in Slavic territory, living off the land over the Danube, but the troops mutinied and proclaimed the centurion Phocas emperor. Phocas led his partisans to Constantinople, and a riot forced Maurice to flee the city. After Phocas secured the support of the Greens and the Senate, Patriarch Cyriacus II of Constantinople crowned him emperor on 23 November. Four days later, Maurice and his sons were captured and executed.^[130][131]

Discover more about Consequences of overexpansion related topics

Dara (Mesopotamia)

Dara (Mesopotamia)

Dara or Daras was an important East Roman fortress city in northern Mesopotamia on the border with the Sassanid Empire. Because of its great strategic importance, it featured prominently in the Roman-Persian conflicts. The former archbishopric remains a multiple Catholic titular see. Today, the village of Dara, in the Mardin Province occupies its location.

Justin II

Justin II

Justin II was Eastern Roman Emperor from 565 until 578. He was the nephew of Justinian I and the husband of Sophia, the niece of the Empress Theodora, and was therefore a member of the Justinian dynasty.

Lombards

Lombards

The Lombards or Langobards were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774.

Alboin

Alboin

Alboin was king of the Lombards from about 560 until 572. During his reign the Lombards ended their migrations by settling in Italy, the northern part of which Alboin conquered between 569 and 572. He had a lasting effect on Italy and the Pannonian Basin; in the former his invasion marked the beginning of centuries of Lombard rule, and in the latter his defeat of the Gepids and his departure from Pannonia ended the dominance there of the Germanic peoples.

Calabria

Calabria

Calabria is a region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian Sea to the west. With almost 2 million residents across a total area of approximately 15,222 km2 (5,877 sq mi), it is the tenth most populous and the tenth largest Italian region by area. Catanzaro is the region's capital, while Reggio Calabria is the most populous city in the region.

Liuvigild

Liuvigild

Liuvigild, Leuvigild, Leovigild, or Leovigildo, was a Visigothic King of Hispania and Septimania from 568 to 586. Known for his Codex Revisus or Code of Leovigild, a law allowing equal rights between the Visigothic and Hispano-Roman population, his kingdom covered modern Portugal and most of modern Spain down to Toledo. Liuvigild ranks among the greatest Visigothic kings of the Arian period.

Málaga

Málaga

Málaga is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia and the sixth most populous in the country. It lies in Southern Iberia on the Costa del Sol of the Mediterranean, primarily in the left bank of the Guadalhorce. The urban core originally developed in the space in between the Gibralfaro Hill and the Guadalmedina.

Medina-Sidonia

Medina-Sidonia

Medina Sidonia is a city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, southern Spain. Considered by some to be the oldest city in Europe, it is used as a military defence location because of its elevation. Locals are known as Asidonenses. The city's name comes from Medina and Sidonia and means "City of Sidon".

Córdoba, Spain

Córdoba, Spain

Córdoba, or sometimes Cordova, is a city in Andalusia, Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. It is the third most populated municipality in Andalusia and the 11th overall in the country.

Garmul

Garmul

Garmul was a Berber king of the Mauro-Roman Kingdom. Garmul, who destroyed a Byzantine army in 571, launched raids into Byzantine territory, and three successive generals are recorded by John of Biclaro to have been killed in a battle by Garmul's forces. His activities, especially when regarded together with the simultaneous Visigoth attacks in Spania, presented a clear threat to the province's authorities. Thus the new emperor, Tiberius II Constantine, re-appointed Thomas as praetorian prefect, and the able general Gennadius was posted as magister militum with the clear aim of ending Garmul's campaigns. Preparations were lengthy and careful, but the campaign itself, launched in 577–78, was brief and effective, with Gennadius utilizing terror tactics against Garmul's subjects. Garmul was defeated and killed by 579, and the coastal corridor between Tingitana and Caesariensis secured.

Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591

Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591

The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 572–591 was a war fought between the Sasanian Empire of Persia and the Eastern Roman Empire, termed by modern historians as the Byzantine Empire. It was triggered by pro-Byzantine revolts in areas of the Caucasus under Persian hegemony, although other events also contributed to its outbreak. The fighting was largely confined to the southern Caucasus and Mesopotamia, although it also extended into eastern Anatolia, Syria, and northern Iran. It was part of an intense sequence of wars between these two empires which occupied the majority of the 6th and early 7th centuries. It was also the last of the many wars between them to follow a pattern in which fighting was largely confined to frontier provinces and neither side achieved any lasting occupation of enemy territory beyond this border zone. It preceded a much more wide-ranging and dramatic final conflict in the early 7th century.

Hormizd IV

Hormizd IV

Hormizd IV was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 579 to 590. He was the son and successor of Khosrow I and his mother was a Khazar princess.

Phocas replaced many high-ranking officers with his relatives. He could not gain popularity, and he faced popular riots in Constanstinople. The Avars and the Lombards made simultaneous raids against Dalmatia, and Slavic troops in Avar service assisted the Lombards to capture Cremona and Mantua in Italy. In the east, Narses took up arms in favor of a young pretender whom he had identified as Maurice's son, Theodosius, claiming that Theodosius survived the purge. A hastily concluded peace treaty with the Avars enabled Phocas to deploy troops against Narses from the Balkans. As the Balkans was left almost undefended, the Slavs resumed their raids and attacked Thessaloniki. Narses's revolt provided Khosrow II with a pretext to capture and destroy Dara in 604. Narses was fooled into surrender with a promise of amnesty, but Phocas had him burnt alive.^[132][133]

The plague returned and a bad harvest caused a famine in 608. Maurice's old comrade Heraclius, who was the governor of Roman Africa, revolted and refused to ship grain to Constantinople. He sent a fleet to Sicily under the command of his son and namesake, and appointed his nephew Nicetas to invade Egypt. Phocas was forced to relocate troops from the eastern provinces to Egypt, enabling the Persians to make raids as far as the Bosporus. In 610, Nicetas overcame the loyalist forces in Egypt, and the younger Heraclius sailed for Constantinople. On his arrival in October, the Greens and the commander of the imperial guard, Priscus deserted to him. A mob captured Phocas and dragged him to Heraclius, who reportedly beheaded him in person.^[134][135]

On Heraclius' ascension the empire was in ruins. His father died in Africa, and he could trust only a few people. He concentrated his troops in Anatolia and appointed Priscus as their commander. Between 610 and 613, the Persians captured Caesarea in Cappadocia, and Antioch, Apamea and Emesa in Syria. Heraclius dismissed Priscus and took command of the Anatolian army in person, but the Persians routed him near Antioch. The Sassanian general Shahrbaraz seized Damascus and Jerusalem. After he left Jerusalem the Christians expelled his garrison, but he quickly returned and conquered the city. He deported the mass of the Christian population to Persia. Meanwhile, Slavic tribes seized much of Illyricum, the Avars captured Salona, Naissus and Serdica, and the Visigoths conquered most Roman territory in Iberia.^[136][137]

Sassanian troops attack Constantinople, and Heraclius besieges a Persian fortress in 626 (from a 14th-century manuscript of Constantine Manasses's Chronicle)

The Persian invasion continued: Shahrbaraz occupied Egypt in 620, and an other Persian general, Shahin launched devastating raids against Anatolia. Heraclius could muster new troops only after he convinced Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople to lend gold and silver to the state. In early 622 he made a truce with the Avars and attacked the Persians in Anatolia. He defeated Shahrbaraz in Cilicia, but news of an Avar invasion of Thrace forced him to return to Constantinople. He paid 200,000 nomismata to the Avars for the renewal of the truce, and hastened back to the eastern theatre of war. The Persians and Avars joined their forces in an attack on Constantinople in the summer of 626, but they could not conquer the city. The Slavs revolted against their Avar overlords and the Avars could not again attack the Romans. Heraclius resumed the invasion of the Sassanian Empire and routed the Persians at Nineveh. Khosrow was murdered and his son Kavad II concluded a peace treaty with Heraclius, giving up all territories that his predecessors had conquered from the Romans after 591. The Sassanian Empire plunged into anarchy and Roman rule was quickly restored in Syria and Egypt.^[138][139]

The Romans did not regard the disorganized Arab tribes of the Arabian Desert as potentially dangerous enemies early in the 7th century.^[140] However, the Arabic Ghassanids and Lakhmids had been deeply involved in the Roman–Persian wars, and the Arabization of the Near East had started. Arab tribes settled in thinly populated lands near the Roman–Persian frontier, and the thriving Syrian and Mesopotamian cities attracted Arab settlers. The situation changed rapidly with the unification of the desert tribes by the Islamic prophet Muhammad between 622 and 632. After he died, his monotheistic movement was led by his successors, styled caliphs, who were both the political and religious leaders of the Islamic community. Conducting the jihad, or Islamic holy war, against the "infidels", the Arabs attacked the Syrian Roman territories and conquered Damascus in 633.^[141] Heraclius deployed a Roman field army against the Arabs, but they annihilated the Roman army on the Yarmuk River in Syria in 636. As the war against Persia had exhausted the empire, Heraclius could not send a second field army against the invaders and they conquered Syria. Two years later, the Arabs inflicted a major defeat on the Persians at Qadisiyyah.^[142] As the Arabs continued the invasion, Heraclius sent reinforcements to Egypt, but they could not halt the invaders. Patriarch Cyrus of Alexandria offered a yearly tribute of 200,000 nomismata to the Arab general Amr ibn al-As for a truce and went to Constantinople to seek imperial confirmation. Heraclius refused, likely because he knew that a tribute would not stop the conquerors on the long run.^[143] On Cyrus' arrival, Heraclius was already dying, and he died on 11 February 641.^[144]

Discover more about Disintegration related topics

Muslim conquest of the Levant

Muslim conquest of the Levant

The Muslim conquest of the Levant, also known as the Rashidun conquest of Syria, occurred in the first half of the 7th century, shortly after the rise of Islam. As part of the larger military campaign known as the early Muslim conquests, the Levant was brought under the rule of the Rashidun Caliphate and developed into the provincial region of Bilad al-Sham. The presence of Arab Muslim troops on the southern Levantine borders of the Byzantine Empire had occurred during the lifetime of Muhammad, with the Battle of Muʿtah in 629 formally marking the start of the Arab–Byzantine wars. However, the actual conquest did not begin until 634, two years after Muhammad's death. It was led by the first two Rashidun caliphs who succeeded Muhammad: Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattab. During this time, Khalid ibn al-Walid was the most important leader of the Rashidun army.

Cremona

Cremona

Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the Pianura Padana. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city and province governments. The city of Cremona is especially noted for its musical history and traditions, including some of the earliest and most renowned luthiers, such as Giuseppe Guarneri, Antonio Stradivari, Francesco Rugeri, Vincenzo Rugeri, and several members of the Amati family.

Mantua

Mantua

Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name.

Heraclius the Elder

Heraclius the Elder

Heraclius the Elder was a Byzantine general and the father of Byzantine emperor Heraclius. Generally considered to be of Armenian origin Heraclius the Elder distinguished himself in the war against the Sassanid Persians in the 580s. As a subordinate general, Heraclius served under the command of Philippicus during the Battle of Solachon and possibly served under Comentiolus during the Battle of Sisarbanon. In circa 595, Heraclius the Elder is mentioned as a magister militum per Armeniam sent by Emperor Maurice to quell an Armenian rebellion led by Samuel Vahewuni and Atat Khorkhoruni. In circa 600, he was appointed as the Exarch of Africa and in 608, Heraclius the Elder rebelled with his son against the usurper Phocas. Using North Africa as a base, the younger Heraclius managed to overthrow Phocas, beginning the Heraclian dynasty, which would rule Byzantium for a century. Heraclius the Elder died soon after receiving news of his son's accession to the Byzantine throne.

Heraclian revolt

Heraclian revolt

The Exarch of Africa Heraclius the Elder and his namesake son Heraclius the Younger began a rebellion against the Byzantine emperor Phocas in 608. In October 610, Heraclius the Younger reached Constantinople, executed Phocas, and was proclaimed as emperor, establishing the Heraclian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire.

Nicetas (cousin of Heraclius)

Nicetas (cousin of Heraclius)

Nicetas or Niketas was the cousin of Emperor Heraclius. He played a major role in the revolt against Phocas that brought Heraclius to the throne, where he captured Egypt for his cousin. Nicetas remained governor of Egypt thereafter, and participated also in the Byzantine–Sassanid War of 602–628, but failed to stop the Sassanid conquest of Egypt ca. 618/619. He disappears from the sources thereafter, but possibly served as Exarch of Africa until his death.

Heraclius

Heraclius

Heraclius was Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.

Priscus (magister militum)

Priscus (magister militum)

Priscus or Priskos was a leading Eastern Roman general during the reigns of the Byzantine emperors Maurice, Phocas and Heraclius. Priscus comes across as an effective and capable military leader, although the contemporary sources are markedly biased in his favour. Under Maurice, he distinguished himself in the campaigns against the Avars and their Slavic allies in the Balkans. Absent from the capital at the time of Maurice's overthrow and murder by Phocas, he was one of the few of Maurice's senior aides who were able to survive unharmed into the new regime, remaining in high office and even marrying the new emperor's daughter. Priscus, however, also negotiated with and assisted Heraclius in the overthrow of Phocas, and was entrusted with command against the Persians in 611–612. After the failure of this campaign, he was dismissed and tonsured. He died shortly after.

Kayseri

Kayseri

Kayseri is a large industrialised city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri province. Historically known as Caesarea, it has been the historical capital of Cappadocia since ancient times. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is composed of five districts: the two central districts of Kocasinan and Melikgazi, and since 2004, also outlying Hacılar, İncesu and Talas.

Apamea, Syria

Apamea, Syria

Apamea, on the right bank of the Orontes River, was an ancient Greek and Roman city. It was the capital of Apamene under the Macedonians, became the capital and Metropolitan Archbishopric of late Roman province Syria Secunda, again in the crusader period.

Salona

Salona

Salona was an ancient city and the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia. Salona is located in the modern town of Solin, next to Split, in Croatia.

Constantine Manasses

Constantine Manasses

Constantine Manasses was a Byzantine chronicler who flourished in the 12th century during the reign of Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180). He was the author of a chronicle or historical synopsis of events from the creation of the world to the end of the reign of Nikephoros Botaneiates (1081), sponsored by Irene Komnene, the emperor's sister-in-law. It consists of about 7000 lines in political verse. It obtained great popularity and appeared in a free prose translation; it was also translated into Bulgarian in the 14th century.

The ancient world came to an abrupt end with early Islamic conquests.^[145] The Sassanian Empire collapsed and the Arabs completed its conquest by 651. The Roman Empire persisted, but its territory shrunk.^[146] With the loss of Syria, Egypt and Africa, Rome was no more the dominant Mediterranean power, and the Roman state persisted in the east mainly in the shadow of the more powerful Umayyad Caliphate.^[9] The empire's remaining citizens continued to regard themselves as Romans (Greek: Ρωμαίοι), however since 610 the official language was changed to Greek. The term "Byzantines", nowadays applied in reference to them, is an early modern scholarly invention.^[147]

Discover more about Aftermath related topics

Early Muslim conquests

Early Muslim conquests

The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests, also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He established a new unified polity in Arabia that expanded rapidly under the Rashidun Caliphate and the Umayyad Caliphate, culminating in Islamic rule being established across three continents. According to Scottish historian James Buchan: "In speed and extent, the first Arab conquests were matched only by those of Alexander the Great, and they were more lasting."

Muslim conquest of Persia

Muslim conquest of Persia

The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, was carried out by the Rashidun Caliphate from 633 to 654 AD and led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire as well as the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion.

Umayyad Caliphate

Umayyad Caliphate

The Umayyad Caliphate was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, also known as the Umayyads. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member of the clan. The family established dynastic, hereditary rule with Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, long-time governor of Greater Syria, who became caliph after the end of the First Fitna in 661. After Mu'awiya's death in 680, conflicts over the succession resulted in the Second Fitna, and power eventually fell to Marwan I, from another branch of the clan. Syria remained the Umayyads' main power base thereafter, with Damascus as their capital.

Medieval Greek

Medieval Greek

Medieval Greek is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.