1.
Roman emperor
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The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period. The emperors used a variety of different titles throughout history, often when a given Roman is described as becoming emperor in English, it reflects his taking of the title Augustus or Caesar. Another title often used was imperator, originally a military honorific, early Emperors also used the title princeps. Emperors frequently amassed republican titles, notably Princeps Senatus, Consul, the first emperors reigned alone, later emperors would sometimes rule with co-Emperors and divide administration of the Empire between them. The Romans considered the office of emperor to be distinct from that of a king, the first emperor, Augustus, resolutely refused recognition as a monarch. Although Augustus could claim that his power was authentically republican, his successor, Tiberius, nonetheless, for the first three hundred years of Roman Emperors, from Augustus until Diocletian, a great effort was made to emphasize that the Emperors were the leaders of a Republic. Elements of the Republican institutional framework were preserved until the end of the Western Empire. The Eastern emperors ultimately adopted the title of Basileus, which had meant king in Greek, but became a title reserved solely for the Roman emperor, other kings were then referred to as rēgas. In addition to their office, some emperors were given divine status after death. The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the late 5th century, Romulus Augustulus is often considered to be the last emperor of the west after his forced abdication in 476, although Julius Nepos maintained a claim to the title until his death in 480. Constantine XI was the last Byzantine Roman emperor in Constantinople, dying in the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453, a Byzantine group of claimant Roman Emperors existed in the Empire of Trebizond until its conquest by the Ottomans in 1461. In western Europe the title of Roman Emperor was revived by Germanic rulers, the Holy Roman Emperors, in 800, at the end of the Roman Republic no new, and certainly no single, title indicated the individual who held supreme power. Insofar as emperor could be seen as the English translation of imperator, then Julius Caesar had been an emperor, however, Julius Caesar, unlike those after him, did so without the Senates vote and approval. Julius Caesar held the Republican offices of four times and dictator five times, was appointed dictator in perpetuity in 45 BC and had been pontifex maximus for a long period. He gained these positions by senatorial consent, by the time of his assassination, he was the most powerful man in the Roman world. In his will, Caesar appointed his adopted son Octavian as his heir, a decade after Caesars death, Octavians victory over his erstwhile ally Mark Antony at Actium put an end to any effective opposition and confirmed Octavians supremacy. His restoration of powers to the Senate and the people of Rome was a demonstration of his auctoritas, some later historians such as Tacitus would say that even at Augustus death, the true restoration of the Republic might have been possible. Instead, Augustus actively prepared his adopted son Tiberius to be his successor, the Senate disputed the issue but eventually confirmed Tiberius as princeps
2.
Caesar (title)
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Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, the change from being a familial name to a title adopted by the Roman Emperors can be dated to about AD 68/69, the so-called Year of the Four Emperors. For political and personal reasons Octavian chose to emphasize his relationship with Caesar by styling himself simply Imperator Caesar, without any of the other elements of his full name. His successor as emperor, his stepson Tiberius, also bore the name as a matter of course, born Tiberius Claudius Nero, he was adopted by Caesar Augustus on June 26,4 AD, as Tiberius Julius Caesar. The precedent was set, the Emperor designated his successor by adopting him, Claudius in turn adopted his stepson and grand-nephew Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, giving him the name Caesar in the traditional way, his stepson would rule as the Emperor Nero. Galba helped solidify Caesar as the title of the heir by giving it to his own adopted heir. Galbas reign did not last long and he was deposed by Marcus Otho. Otho did not at first use the title Caesar and occasionally used the title Nero as emperor, Otho was then defeated by Aulus Vitellius who acceded with the name Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Imperator Augustus. Vitellius did not adopt the cognomen Caesar as part of his name, vespasians son, Titus Flavius Vespasianus became Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus. By this point the status of Caesar had been regularised into that of a given to the Emperor-designate. After some variation among the earliest emperors, the style of the Emperor-designate on coins was usually Nobilissimus Caesar Most Noble Caesar, on March 1,293, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus established the Tetrarchy, a system of rule by two senior Emperors and two junior sub-Emperors. The two coequal senior emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors, as Imperator Caesar NN, pius Felix Invictus Augustus, and were called the Augusti, while the two junior sub-Emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors-designate, as Nobilissimus Caesar. Likewise, the junior sub-Emperors retained the title Caesar upon accession to the senior position, an exceptional case was the conferment of the dignity and its insignia to the Bulgarian khan Tervel by Justinian II who had helped him regain his throne in 705. The title was awarded to the brother of Empress Maria of Alania, according to the Klētorologion of 899, the Byzantine Caesars insignia were a crown without a cross, and the ceremony of a Caesars creation, is included in De Ceremoniis I.43. The title remained the highest in the hierarchy until the introduction of the sebastokratōr by Alexios I Komnenos. The title remained in existence through the last centuries of the Empire, in the late Byzantine hierarchy, as recorded in the mid-14th century Book of Offices of pseudo-Kodinos, the rank continued to come after the sebastokratōr. Pseudo-Kodinos writes that the forms of another form of hat, the domed skaranikon, and of the mantle. In the Middle East, the Persians and the Arabs continued to refer to the Roman and Byzantine emperors as Caesar
3.
Constantine the Great
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Constantine the Great, also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 AD. Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman Army officer and his father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west, in 293 AD. Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under the emperors Diocletian, in 305, Constantius was raised to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and Constantine was recalled west to campaign under his father in Britannia. As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, the government was restructured and civil and military authority separated. A new gold coin, the solidus, was introduced to combat inflation and it would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, at which the Nicene Creed was adopted by Christians, in military matters, the Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. The age of Constantine marked an epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He built a new residence at Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople after himself. It would later become the capital of the Empire for over one thousand years and his more immediate political legacy was that, in leaving the empire to his sons, he replaced Diocletians tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and centuries after his reign, the medieval church upheld him as a paragon of virtue while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. Beginning with the Renaissance, there were more critical appraisals of his due to the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Critics portrayed him as a tyrant, trends in modern and recent scholarship attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on his orders at the site of Jesus tomb in Jerusalem. The Papal claim to power in the High Middle Ages was based on the supposed Donation of Constantine. He is venerated as a saint by Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics, though Constantine has historically often been referred to as the First Christian Emperor, scholars debate his actual beliefs or even his actual comprehension of the Christian faith itself. Constantine was a ruler of major importance, and he has always been a controversial figure, the fluctuations in Constantines reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but have strongly influenced by the official propaganda of the period. There are no surviving histories or biographies dealing with Constantines life, the nearest replacement is Eusebius of Caesareas Vita Constantini, a work that is a mixture of eulogy and hagiography
4.
Augustus (honorific)
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Augustus, /ɔːˈɡʌstəs/, Classical Latin, Latin for majestic, the increaser, or venerable), was an ancient Roman title given as both name and title to Gaius Octavius, Romes first Emperor. On his death, it became a title of his successor. The feminine form Augusta was used for Roman empresses and other females 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. In Romes Greek-speaking provinces, Augustus was translated as sebastos, or hellenised as augoustos, after the fall of the Roman Empire, Augustus was sometimes used as a name for men of aristocratic birth, especially in the lands of the Holy Roman Empire. It remains a name for males. Some thirty years before its first association with Caesars heir, Augustus was an honorific with religious associations. One early context, associates it with provincial Lares, in poetry and prose it was the elevation or augmentation of what is already sacred or religious. Some Roman sources connected it to augury, and Rome was said to have been founded with the august augury of Romulus, the first true Roman Emperor known as augustus was Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. He was the son and heir of Julius Caesar, who had been murdered for his seeming aspiration to divine monarchy. Octavian studiously avoided any association with Caesars claims, other than acknowledging his position and duties as Divi filius, nevertheless, his position was unique, and extraordinary. He had ended Romes prolonged and bloody war with his victory at Actium. As princeps senatus he presided at senatorial meetings and he was pontifex maximus, chief priest of Roman state religion. He held consular imperium, with authority equal to the chief executive, he was supreme commander of all Roman legions. As a tribune, his person was inviolable and he had the right to any act or proposal by any magistrate within Rome. He was officially renamed Augustus by the Roman Senate on January 16,27 BC – or perhaps the Senate ratified his own choice, Romulus had been considered. His full and official title was Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus and this extension of an Imperial honorific to major and minor deities of Rome and her provinces is considered a ground-level feature of Imperial cult. It continued until the replacement of Romes traditional religions by Christianity. The title or name of Augustus was adopted by his successors, most emperors also used imperator but others could and did bear the same title and functions
5.
Egypt (Roman province)
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The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai Peninsula. Aegyptus was bordered by the provinces of Creta et Cyrenaica to the West, the province came to serve as a major producer of grain for the empire and had a highly developed urban economy. Aegyptus was by far the wealthiest Eastern Roman province, in Alexandria, its capital, it possessed the largest port, and the second largest city, of the Roman Empire. As a province, Egypt was ruled by a uniquely styled Augustal prefect, the prefect was a man of equestrian rank and was appointed by the Emperor. The second prefect, Aelius Gallus, made an expedition to conquer Arabia Petraea. The Red Sea coast of Aegyptus was not brought under Roman control until the reign of Claudius, the third prefect, Gaius Petronius, cleared the neglected canals for irrigation, stimulating a revival of agriculture. Petronius even led a campaign into present-day central Sudan against the Kingdom of Kush at Meroe, failing to acquire permanent gains, in 22 BC he razed the city of Napata to the ground and retreated to the north. From the reign of Nero onward, Aegyptus enjoyed an era of prosperity which lasted a century, under Trajan a Jewish revolt occurred, resulting in the suppression of the Jews of Alexandria and the loss of all their privileges, although they soon returned. Hadrian, who twice visited Aegyptus, founded Antinoöpolis in memory of his drowned lover Antinous, from his reign onward buildings in the Greco-Roman style were erected throughout the country. Under Antoninus Pius oppressive taxation led to a revolt in 139, of the native Egyptians and this Bucolic War, led by one Isidorus, caused great damage to the economy and marked the beginning of Egypts economic decline. Avidius Cassius, who led the Roman forces in the war, declared emperor in 175. On the approach of Marcus Aurelius, Cassius was deposed and killed, a similar revolt broke out in 193, when Pescennius Niger was proclaimed emperor on the death of Pertinax. The Emperor Septimius Severus gave a constitution to Alexandria and the capitals in 202. There was a series of revolts, both military and civilian, through the 3rd century, under Decius, in 250, the Christians again suffered from persecution, but their religion continued to spread. This warrior queen claimed that Egypt was a home of hers through a familial tie to Cleopatra VII. She was well educated and familiar with the culture of Egypt, its religion, two generals based in Aegyptus, Probus and Domitius Domitianus, led successful revolts and made themselves emperors. Diocletian captured Alexandria from Domitius in 298 and reorganised the whole province and his edict of 303 against the Christians began a new era of persecution. This was the last serious attempt to stem the growth of Christianity in Egypt
6.
Constantine II (emperor)
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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 an invasion of Italy in 340. The eldest son of Constantine the Great and Fausta, after the death of his half-brother Crispus, Constantine II was born in Arles in February 316, on 1 March 317, he was made Caesar. In 323, at the age of seven, he took part in his fathers campaign against the Sarmatians, at age ten, he became commander of Gaul, following the death of Crispus. An inscription dating to 330 records the title of Alamannicus, so it is probable that his generals won a victory over the Alamanni and his military career continued when Constantine I made him field commander during the 332 campaign against the Goths. This arrangement barely survived Constantine I’s death, as his sons arranged the slaughter of most of the rest of the family by the army, as a result, the three brothers gathered together in Pannonia and there, on 9 September 337, divided the Roman world between themselves. Constantine, proclaimed Augustus by the troops received Gaul, Britannia and Hispania and he was soon involved in the struggle between factions rupturing the unity of the Christian Church. This action aggravated Constantius II, who was a supporter of Arianism. Constantine was initially the guardian of his younger brother Constans, whose portion of the empire was Italia, Africa, Constantine soon complained that he had not received the amount of territory that was his due as the eldest son. Soon, however, they began quarreling over which parts of the African provinces belonged to Carthage, and thus Constantine, and which belonged to Italy, and therefore Constans. Further complications arose when Constans came of age and Constantine, who had grown accustomed to dominating his younger brother, in 340 Constantine marched into Italy at the head of his troops. Constans, at time in Dacia, detached and sent a select and disciplined body of his Illyrian troops. Constantine was engaged in operations and was killed in an ambush outside Aquileia. Constans then took control of his brothers realm. I. R. Edward Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire Media related to Constantine II at Wikimedia Commons
7.
Constans
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Constans or Constans I was Roman Emperor from 337 to 350. Constans was the third and youngest son of Constantine the Great and Fausta and he was educated at the court of his father at Constantinople under the tutelage of the poet Aemilius Magnus Arborius. On 25 December 333, Constantine I elevated Constans to the rank of Caesar at Constantinople, Constans became engaged to Olympias, the daughter of the Praetorian Prefect Ablabius, but the marriage never came to pass. The army proclaimed them Augusti on September 9,337, almost immediately, Constans was required to deal with a Sarmatian invasion in late 337, over whom he won a resounding victory. Constans was initially under the guardianship of Constantine II, the original settlement assigned Constans the praetorian prefectures of Italy and Africa. Constans was unhappy with this division, so the brothers met at Viminacium in 338 to revise the boundaries, Constantine II soon complained that he had not received the amount of territory that was his due as the eldest son. Soon, however, they began quarreling over which parts of the African provinces belonged to Carthage, and thus Constantine, and which belonged to Italy, and therefore Constans. This led to growing tensions between the two brothers, which were heightened by Constans finally coming of age and Constantine refusing to give up his guardianship. In 340 Constantine II invaded Italy, Constans, at that time in Dacia, detached and sent a select and disciplined body of his Illyrian troops, stating that he would follow them in person with the remainder of his forces. Constantine was eventually trapped at Aquileia, where he died, leaving Constans to inherit all of his brother’s former territories – Hispania, Britannia, Constans began his reign in an energetic fashion. In 341-42, he led a campaign against the Franks. Regarding religion, Constans was tolerant of Judaism and promulgated an edict banning pagan sacrifices in 341 and he suppressed Donatism in Africa and supported Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism, which was championed by his brother Constantius. Although Constans called the Council of Sardica in 343 to settle the conflict, it was a complete failure, the conflict was only resolved by an interim agreement which allowed each emperor to support their preferred clergy within their own spheres of influence. Nevertheless, Constans did sponsor a decree alongside Constantius II that ruled that based on unnatural sex should be punished meticulously. However, Boswell believed the decree outlawed homosexual marriages only and it may also be that Constans was not expressing his own feeling when promulgating the legislation but was rather trying to placate public outrage at his own perceived indecencies. In the final years of his reign, Constans developed a reputation for cruelty, dominated by favourites and openly preferring his select bodyguard, he lost the support of the legions. In 350, the general Magnentius declared himself emperor at Augustodunum with the support of the troops on the Rhine frontier and, later, Constans was enjoying himself nearby when he was notified of the elevation of Magnentius. Lacking any support beyond his immediate household, he was forced to flee for his life, a prophecy at his birth had said Constans would die in the arms of his grandmother
8.
Julian (emperor)
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Julian, also known as Julian the Apostate, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. A member of the Constantinian dynasty, Julian became Caesar over the provinces by order of Constantius II in 355 and in this role campaigned successfully against the Alamanni. Most notable was his victory over the Alamanni in 357 at the Battle of Argentoratum. In 360 in Lutetia he was proclaimed Augustus by his soldiers, before the two could face each other in battle, however, Constantius died, after naming Julian as his rightful successor. In 363, Julian embarked on an campaign against the Sassanid Empire. Though initially successful, Julian was mortally wounded in battle and died shortly thereafter, Julian was a man of unusually complex character, he was the military commander, the theosophist, the social reformer, and the man of letters. He was the last non-Christian ruler of the Roman Empire, and it was his desire to bring the Empire back to its ancient Roman values in order to, as he saw it, save it from dissolution. He purged the state bureaucracy and attempted to revive traditional Roman religious practices at the expense of Christianity. His anti-Christian sentiment and promotion of Neoplatonic paganism caused him to be remembered as Julian the Apostate by the church and he was the last emperor of the Constantinian dynasty, the empires first Christian dynasty. Both of his parents were Christians and his paternal grandparents were Western Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife, Flavia Maximiana Theodora. His maternal grandfather was Julius Julianus, praetorian prefect of the East under emperor Licinius from 315 to 324, the name of Julians maternal grandmother is unknown. Constantius II, Constans I, and Constantine II were proclaimed joint emperors, Julian and Gallus were excluded from public life, were strictly guarded in their youth, and given a Christian education. They were likely saved by their youth and at the urging of the Empress Eusebia, if Julians later writings are to be believed, Constantius would later be tormented with guilt at the massacre of 337. After Eusebius died in 342, both Julian and Gallus were exiled to the estate of Macellum in Cappadocia. Here Julian met the Christian bishop George of Cappadocia, who lent him books from the classical tradition, at the age of 18, the exile was lifted and he dwelt briefly in Constantinople and Nicomedia. He became a lector, an office in the Christian church. Julian studied Neoplatonism in Asia Minor in 351, at first under Aedesius, the philosopher and he was summoned to Constantius court in Mediolanum in 354 and kept there for a year, in the summer and fall of 355, he was permitted to study in Athens. While there, Julian became acquainted with two men who became both bishops and saints, Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil the Great
9.
Western Roman Empire
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Theodosius I divided the Empire upon his death between his two sons. As the Roman Republic expanded, it reached a point where the government in Rome could not effectively rule the distant provinces. Communications and transportation were especially problematic given the vast extent of the Empire, for this reason, provincial governors had de facto rule in the name of the Roman Republic. Antony received the provinces in the East, Achaea, Macedonia and Epirus, Bithynia, Pontus and Asia, Syria, Cyprus and these lands had previously been conquered by Alexander the Great, thus, much of the aristocracy was of Greek origin. The whole region, especially the cities, had been largely assimilated into Greek culture. Octavian obtained the Roman provinces of the West, Italia, Gaul, Gallia Belgica and these lands also included Greek and Carthaginian colonies in the coastal areas, though Celtic tribes such as Gauls and Celtiberians were culturally dominant. Lepidus received the province of Africa. Octavian soon took Africa from Lepidus, while adding Sicilia to his holdings, upon the defeat of Mark Antony, a victorious Octavian controlled a united Roman Empire. While the Roman Empire featured many distinct cultures, all were often said to experience gradual Romanization, minor rebellions and uprisings were fairly common events throughout the Empire. Conquered tribes or cities would revolt, and the legions would be detached to crush the rebellion, while this process was simple in peacetime, it could be considerably more complicated in wartime, as for example in the Great Jewish Revolt. In a full-blown military campaign, the legions, under such as Vespasian, were far more numerous. To ensure a commanders loyalty, an emperor might hold some members of the generals family hostage. To this end, Nero effectively held Domitian and Quintus Petillius Cerialis, governor of Ostia, the rule of Nero ended only with the revolt of the Praetorian Guard, who had been bribed in the name of Galba. The Praetorian Guard, a sword of Damocles, were often perceived as being of dubious loyalty. Following their example, the legions at the increased participation in the civil wars. The main enemy in the West was arguably the Germanic tribes behind the rivers Rhine, Augustus had tried to conquer them but ultimately pulled back after the Teutoburg reversal. The Parthian Empire, in the East, on the hand, was too remote. Those distant territories were forsaken to prevent unrest and also to ensure a more healthy, the Parthians were followed by the Sasanian Empire, which continued hostilities with the Roman Empire
10.
Sirmium
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Sirmium was a city in the Roman province of Pannonia. In 294 AD, Sirmium was proclaimed one of four capitals of the Roman Empire and it was also the capital of the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum and of Pannonia Secunda. Sirmium was located on the Sava river, on the site of modern Sremska Mitrovica in northern Serbia, ¨The site is protected as an Archaeological Site of Exceptional Importance. The modern region of Syrmia was named after the city, Sirmium had 100,000 inhabitants and was one of the biggest cities of its time. Colin McEvedy, however, put the population at only 7,000, Ammianus Marcellinus called it the glorious mother of cities. Remains of Sirmium stand on the site of the modern-day Sremska Mitrovica,55 km west of Belgrade and 145 km away from Kostolac, archaeologists have found traces of organized human life on the site of Sirmium dating from 5,000 BC. The city was mentioned in the 4th century BC and was originally inhabited by the Illyrians. The Triballi king Syrmus was later considered the founder of Sirmium, but the roots are different. The name Sirmium by itself means flow, flowing water, wetland, with the Celtic tribe of Scordisci as allies, the Roman proconsul Marcus Vinicius took Sirmium in around 14 BC. In the 1st century AD, Sirmium gained the status of a Roman colony, the Roman emperors Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, and Claudius II prepared war expeditions in Sirmium. In 103 Pannonia was split into two provinces, Pannonia Superior and Pannonia Inferior, and Sirmium became the city of the latter. In 296 Diocletian reorganized Pannonia into four provinces, Pannonia Prima, Pannonia Valeria, Pannonia Savia and Pannonia Secunda and he joined them with Noricum and Dalmatia to establish the Diocese of Pannonia, with Sirmium as its capital also. In 293, with the establishment of the Tetrarchy, the Roman Empire was split into four parts, Sirmium emerged as one of the four capital cities, the eastern part of Illyricum remained a separate prefecture under the East Roman Empire with its new capital in Thessalonica. From the 4th century, the city was an important Christian center, five church councils, the Councils of Sirmium, took place in Sirmium. The city also had a palace, a horse-racing arena, a mint, an arena theatre. Ancient historian Ammianus Marcellinus called it the mother of cities. The mint in Sirmium was connected with the mint in Salona, at the end of the 4th century Sirmium came under the sway of the Goths, and later, was again annexed to the East Roman Empire. In 441 the Huns conquered Sirmium, it remained for more than a century in the hands of other tribes, such as Eastern Goths
11.
Pannonia Inferior
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Lower Pannonia, was an ancient Roman province. It was one on the provinces on the Danube. It was formed in the year 103 AD by the emperor Trajan, the province included parts of present-day Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. While Pannonia Superior bordered with the Quadi to the north, Pannonia Inferior had to the west the Sarmatian Iazyges, major settlements in Pannonia Inferior included, Sirmium which several times served as an imperial residence for several emperors. In the Frankish period, in the 9th century, Lower Pannonia was a duchy that spanned from the Drava to the Sava,141 Marcus Pontius Laelianus Larcius Sabinus c. 153 Marcus Iallius Bassus Fabius Valerianus c,159 Gaius Julius Geminius Capellianus c. 161-164 Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus c.167 Lucius Ulpius Marcellus before 173 Gaius Vettius Sabinanus Julius Hospes c,183 Pannoni Pannonia Pannonia Secunda Pannonia Valeria Diocese of Pannonia Roman Empire Roman Empire - Pannonia Pannonia Inferior - Map
12.
Sremska Mitrovica
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Sremska Mitrovica is a city and the administrative center of the Srem District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the bank of the Sava river. As of 2011, the city has a population of 37,751 inhabitants. Once a capital of the Roman Empire during the Tetrarchy, the city was referred to as the mother of cities. Sremska Mitrovica means Mitrovica of Srem, while Mitrovica itself stems from the name Saint Demetrius or Sveti Dimitrije in the Serbian language, the name of the city during the reign of the Roman Empire was Sirmium. Beginning in 1180 AD the name changed from Civitas Sancti Demetrii to Dmitrovica, Mitrovica, Sremska Mitrovica is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Archaeologists have found a trace of organized human life dating from the 5000 BC onwards, ionian jewellery dating to 500BC was excavated in the city. When the Romans conquered the city in the 1st century BC, in the 1st century, Sirmium gained a status of a colony of the citizens of Rome, and became a very important military and strategic location in Pannonia province. The war expeditions of Roman emperors Traian, Marcus Aurelius, in 103, Pannonia was split into two provinces, Pannonia Superior and Pannonia Inferior, and Sirmium became the capital city of the latter. In 296, Diocletian operated a new division of Pannonia. Instead of previous two provinces, there were four new provinces established in territory of original Pannonia, Pannonia Prima. Capital city of Pannonia Secunda was Sirmium, during the tetrarchy, Sirmium was the capital of emperor Galerius. With the establishment of praetorian prefectures in 318, the capital of the prefecture of Illyricum was Sirmium, since the 4th century, the city was an important Christian centre, and was a seat of the Episcopate of Sirmium. Four Christian councils were held in Sirmium, at the end of the 4th century, Sirmium was brought under the sway of the Goths, and later, was again annexed to the Eastern Roman Empire. In 441, Sirmium was conquered by the Huns, and after this conquest, it remained for more than a century in the hands of various Barbarian tribes, such were Eastern Goths and Gepids. For a short time, Sirmium was the center of the Gepide State, after 567, Sirmium was again included into Eastern Roman Empire. The city was conquered and destroyed by Avars in 582. This event marked the end of the period of late Antiquity in the history of Sirmium,11 luxurious golden belts of Avar handicraft dating to the 6th century was excavated in the vicinity
13.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
14.
Mopsuestia
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Mopsuestia, is an ancient city in Cilicia Campestris on the Pyramus River located approximately 20 km east of ancient Antiochia in Cilicia. From the city’s harbour the river is navigable to the Mediterranean Sea, the founding of this city is attributed in legend to the soothsayer, Mopsus, who lived before the Trojan war, although it is scarcely mentioned before the Christian era. Pliny the Elder calls it the city of Mopsos, but the ordinary name is Mopsuestia, as found in Stephanus of Byzantium. Constantius II built there a magnificent bridge over the Pyramus afterwards restored by Justinian and has been restored again recently, christianity seems to have been introduced very early into Mopsuestia and during the 3rd century there is mention of a bishop, Theodorus, the adversary of Paul of Samosata. Other famous residents of the early Christian period in the city’s history include Saint Auxentius, and Theodore, bishop from 392–428, the bishopric is included in the Catholic Churchs list of titular sees. Along with much of Cilicia, the region was wrested from Roman control by the Arabs in the late 630s, Mopsuestia then numbered 200,000 inhabitants, some of whom were Muslim, and the Byzantines made efforts to re-Christianize the city. It suffered much from internecine war between Crusaders, Armenians, and Greeks who lost it and recaptured it, notably in 1106,1132, finally in 1151-52 the Armenian Baron T’oros II captured the city and defeated the Greek counter attack led by Andronikos I Komnenos. Thereafter it remained a possession of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, but was captured and plundered by the Mamluks in 1266,1275. The Venetians and Genoese were licensed by the Armenians to maintain warehouses near the harbour to store goods brought from India, the Armenians were permanently evicted by the Mamluks in 1347. The city was the site of church councils and possessed four Armenian churches. In 1432 the Frenchman Bertrandon reported that he city was ruled by the Muslims and was largely destroyed, in 1515 Mopsuestia, and the whole of Cilica, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Selim I. Since then it has declined and became the small village of Misis. Misis was renamed Yakapınar in the 1960s, only fragments of the medieval fortifications survive today. However, an etching of the walls and towers was made in the mid-19th century. The Misis Mosaic Museum was founded in 1959 to exhibit the mosaics found in the area, including the famous “Samson Mosaic. ”Tabula Imperii Byzantini, Band 5, vienna, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Herbermann, Charles. Article on modern Yakapınar in the Turkish Wikipedia Pictures of the bridge
15.
Cilicia
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In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor and existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia during the late Byzantine Empire. Extending inland from the southeastern coast of modern Turkey, Cilicia is due north and northeast of the island of Cyprus, Cilicia extended along the Mediterranean coast east from Pamphylia, to the Nur Mountains, which separated it from Syria. North and east of Cilicia lie the rugged Taurus Mountains that separate it from the central plateau of Anatolia. Ancient Cilicia was naturally divided into Cilicia Trachaea and Cilicia Pedias by the Limonlu River, salamis, the city on the east coast of Cyprus, was included in its administrative jurisdiction. Homer mentions the people of Mopsus, identified as Cilices, as from the Troad in the northernwesternmost part of Anatolia, the English spelling Cilicia is the same as the Latin, as it was transliterated directly from the Greek form Κιλικία. The palatalization of c occurring in the west in later Vulgar Latin accounts for its pronunciation in English. The district is watered by the Calycadnus and was covered in ancient times by forests that supplied timber to Phoenicia, many of its high places were fortified. The plain is watered by the three rivers, the Cydnus, the Sarus and the Pyramus, each of which brings down much silt from the deforested interior. The Sarus now enters the sea almost due south of Tarsus, but there are indications that at one period it joined the Pyramus. Through the rich plain of Issus ran the great highway that linked east and west, on which stood the cities of Tarsus on the Cydnus, Adana on the Sarus, Cilicia was settled from the Neolithic period onwards. Dating of the ancient settlements of the region from Neolithic to Bronze Age is as follows, Aceramic/Neolithic, 8th and 7th millennia BC, Early Chalcolithic,5800 BC, Middle Chalcolithic, c. 3400 BC, and Early Bronze Age IA, 3400–3000 BC, EBA IB, 3000–2700 BC, EBA II, 2700–2400 BC, EBA III A-B, the area had been known as Kizzuwatna in the earlier Hittite era. The region was divided into two parts, Uru Adaniya, a plain, and rough Cilicia, in the mountainous west. The Cilicians appear as Hilikku in Assyrian inscriptions, and in the part of the first millennium BC were one of the four chief powers of Western Asia. Homer mentions the plain as the Aleian plain in which Bellerophon wandered, the Cilician cities unknown to Homer already bore their pre-Greek names, Tarzu, Ingira, Danuna-Adana, which retains its ancient name, Pahri, Kundu and Karatepe. After the death of Murshili around 1595 BC, Hurrians wrested control from the Hitties, the first king of free Cilicia, Išputahšu, son of Pariyawatri, was recorded as a great king in both cuneiform and Hittite hieroglyphs. Another record of Hittite origins, a treaty between Išputahšu and Telipinu, king of the Hittites, is recorded in both Hittite and Akkadian. Niqmepa, who succeeded Idrimi as king of Alalakh, went so far as to ask for help from a Hurrian rival, Shaushtatar of Mitanni, to try and reduce Cilicias power in the region
16.
Gratian
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For other figures with this name, including his paternal grandfather, see Gratian. Gratian was Roman emperor from 367 to 383, the eldest son of Valentinian I, during his youth Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratians brother Valentinian II was declared emperor by his fathers soldiers, in 378, Gratians generals won a decisive victory over the Lentienses, a branch of the Alamanni, at the Battle of Argentovaria. Gratian subsequently led a campaign across the Rhine, the last emperor to do so and that same year, his uncle Valens was killed in the Battle of Adrianople against the Goths – making Gratian essentially ruler of the entire Roman Empire. He favoured Christianity over traditional Roman religion, refusing the divine attributes of the Emperors, Gratian was the son of Emperor Valentinian I by Marina Severa, and was born at Sirmium in Pannonia. He was named after his grandfather Gratian the Elder, Gratian was first married to Flavia Maxima Constantia, daughter of Constantius II. His stepmother was Empress Justina and his half siblings were Emperor Valentinian II, Galla. On 24 August 367 he received from his father the title of Augustus, on the death of Valentinian, the troops in Pannonia proclaimed his infant son emperor under the title of Valentinian II. The division, however, was nominal, and the real authority remained in the hands of Gratian. Gratians general Mallobaudes, a king of the Franks, and Naniemus, completely defeated the Lentienses, upon receiving news of the victory, Gratian personally led a campaign across the Upper Rhine into the territory of the Lentienses. After initial trouble facing the Lentienses on high ground, Gratian blockaded the enemy instead, the Lentienses were forced to supply young men to be levied into the Roman army, while the remainder were allowed to return home. Later that year, Valens met his death in the Battle of Adrianople on 9 August. Valens refused to wait for Gratian and his army to arrive and assist in defeating the host of Goths, Alans and Huns, as a result, Gratianus and Theodosius then cleared the Illyricum of barbarians in the Gothic War. A Roman general named Magnus Maximus took advantage of this feeling to raise the standard of revolt in Britain, Gratian, who was then in Paris, being deserted by his troops, fled to Lyon. There, through the treachery of the governor, Gratian was delivered over to one of the generals, Andragathius. The reign of Gratian forms an important epoch in ecclesiastical history, Gratian also published an edict that all their subjects should profess the faith of the bishops of Rome and Alexandria. The move was mainly thrust at the various beliefs that had arisen out of Arianism, Gratian, under the influence of his chief advisor the Bishop of Milan Ambrose, took active steps to repress pagan worship. This brought to an end a period of widespread, if unofficial, in 382, Gratian appropriated the income of the Pagan priests and Vestal Virgins, forbade legacies of real property to them and abolished other privileges belonging to the Vestals and to the pontiffs
17.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
18.
Fausta
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Flavia Maxima Fausta was a Roman Empress, daughter of the Roman Emperor Maximianus. To seal the alliance between them for control of the Tetrarchy, in 307 Maximianus married her to Constantine I, Constantine and Fausta had been betrothed since 293. As the sister of Emperor Maxentius, Fausta had a part in her fathers downfall, in 310 Maximian died as a consequence of an assassination plot against Constantine. Maximian decided to involve his daughter Fausta, but she revealed the plot to her husband, Maximian died, by suicide or by assassination, in July of that same year. Empress Fausta was held in esteem by Constantine, and proof of his favour was that in 324 she was proclaimed Augusta. However three years later Fausta was put to death by Constantine, following the execution of Crispus, his eldest son by Minervina, Fausta was executed by suffocation in an over-heated bath, a mode of assassination not otherwise attested in the Roman world. Significantly, her sons, once in power, never revoked this order and her sons became Roman Emperors, Constantine II, reigned 337 –340, Constantius II reigned 337 –361, and Constans reigned 337 –350. She also bore three daughters Constantina, Helena and Fausta, of these, Constantina married her cousins, firstly Hannibalianus and secondly Constantius Gallus, and Helena married Emperor Julian. Apparently a genealogical claim that her daughter Fausta became mother of Emperor Valentinian I is without foundation, gérard Minaud, Les vies de 12 femmes d’empereur romain - Devoirs, Intrigues & Voluptés, Paris, L’Harmattan,2012, ch. 12, La vie de Fausta, femme de Constantin, p. 285-305, J. W. Drijvers, Flavia Maxima Fausta, Some Remarks, Historia 41 500-506. Media related to Fausta at Wikimedia Commons Fausta, Flavia Maximiana
19.
Arianism
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Arian teachings were first attributed to Arius, a Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt. The teachings of Arius and his supporters were opposed to the views held by Homoousian Christians, regarding the nature of the Trinity. The Arian concept of Christ is that the Son of God did not always exist but was begotten by God the Father, there was a dispute between two interpretations based upon the theological orthodoxy of the time, both of them attempted to solve its theological dilemmas. So there were, initially, two equally orthodox interpretations which initiated a conflict in order to attract adepts and define the new orthodoxy, homoousianism was formally affirmed by the first two Ecumenical Councils. All mainstream branches of Christianity now consider Arianism to be heterodox, the Ecumenical First Council of Nicaea of 325 deemed it to be a heresy. According to Everett Ferguson, The great majority of Christians had no clear views on the Trinity, at the regional First Synod of Tyre in 335, Arius was exonerated. Constantine the Great was baptized by the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, after the deaths of both Arius and Constantine, Arius was again anathemised and pronounced a heretic again at the Ecumenical First Council of Constantinople of 381. The Roman Emperors Constantius II and Valens were Arians or Semi-Arians, as was the first King of Italy, Odoacer, and the Lombards till the 7th century. Arius had been a pupil of Lucian of Antioch at Lucians private academy in Antioch and he taught that God the Father and the Son of God did not always exist together eternally. A verse from Proverbs was also used, The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, therefore, the Son was rather the very first and the most perfect of Gods creatures, and he was made God only by the Fathers permission and power. Controversy over Arianism arose in the late 3rd century and persisted throughout most of the 4th century and it involved most church members—from simple believers, priests, and monks to bishops, emperors, and members of Romes imperial family. Two Roman emperors, Constantius II and Valens, became Arians or Semi-Arians, as did prominent Gothic, Vandal, such a deep controversy within the Church during this period of its development could not have materialized without significant historical influences providing a basis for the Arian doctrines. Of the roughly three hundred bishops in attendance at the Council of Nicea, two bishops did not sign the Nicene Creed, which condemned Arianism, Arians do not believe in the traditional doctrine of the Trinity. The letter of Arian Auxentius regarding the Arian missionary Ulfilas gives a picture of Arian beliefs. Arian Ulfilas, who was ordained a bishop by Arian Eusebius of Nicomedia and returned to his people to work as a missionary, believed, God, the Father, always existing, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, begotten before time began and who is Lord/Master. By the 8th century it had ceased to be the tribes mainstream belief as the tribal rulers gradually came to adopt Nicene orthodoxy. This trend began in 496 with Clovis I of the Franks, then Reccared I of the Visigoths in 587, the remaining tribes – the Vandals and the Ostrogoths – did not convert as a people nor did they maintain territorial cohesion. Having been militarily defeated by the armies of Emperor Justinian I, the Vandalic War of 533–534 dispersed the defeated Vandals
20.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
21.
Magnentius
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Magnentius was a usurper of the Roman Empire from 350 to 353. Born in Samarobriva, Gaul, Magnentius was the commander of the Herculians and Jovians, when the army grew dissatisfied with the behavior of Roman Emperor Constans, it elevated Magnentius at Autun on January 18,350. Constans was abandoned by all except a handful of retainers, Magnentius quickly attracted the loyalty of the provinces in Britannia, Gaul, and Hispania, in part because he proved to be far more tolerant towards both Christians and Pagans. His control on Italia and Africa was applied through the election of his men to the most important offices. However, the revolt of Nepotianus, a member of the Constantinian dynasty. Magnentius tried to strengthen his grasp on the previously controlled by Constans. Vetranio, commander of the Pannonian army, had been elected Augustus by his troops in Mursa on 1 March and this revolt had a loyalist mark, since Vetranio was supported by Constantina, and Constantius II himself recognized Vetranio, sending him the imperial diadem. The remaining emperor of the family of Constantine I, Constantius II broke off his war in Syria with Persia, despite Magnentius efforts to gain Vetranio to his cause, the elderly Vetranio reached Constantius with his army, resigned the crown, and went into retirement in Bithynia. Despite Magnentius heroism, his troops were defeated and forced to back to Gaul. As a result of Magnentius defeat, Italy ejected his garrisons, Magnentius made a final stand in 353 in the Battle of Mons Seleucus, after which he committed suicide by falling on his sword. Following the suppression of Magnentius rebellion, Constantius commanded an investigation be made to find his followers, the most notorious agent in this search was the primicerius notariorum Paulus Catena. Some sources state that Magnentius father was a Briton and his mother a Frank and his wife, Justina, later remarried to Valentinian I. Cameron, Averil, and Peter Garnsey ed, the Cambridge Ancient History, Vol XIII, Cambridge University Press,1988. The revolt and ethnic origin of the usurper Magnentius, and the rebellion of Vetranio, media related to Magnentius at Wikimedia Commons
22.
Alemanni
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The Alemanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes on the upper Rhine river. In 496, the Alemanni were conquered by Frankish leader Clovis, mentioned as still pagan allies of the Christian Franks, the Alemanni were gradually Christianized during the 7th century. The Pactus Alamannorum is a record of their customary law during this period, until the 8th century, Frankish suzerainty over Alemannia was mostly nominal. But after an uprising by Theudebald, Duke of Alamannia, Carloman executed the Alamannic nobility, during the later and weaker years of the Carolingian Empire the Alemannic counts became almost independent, and a struggle for supremacy took place between them and the Bishopric of Constance. According to Asinius Quadratus their name means all men and it indicates that they were a conglomeration drawn from various Germanic tribes. Other sources say the name derives from alahmannen which means men of sanctuary and not all men. The Romans and the Greeks called them as such mentioned and this etymology has remained the standard derivation of the term. Walafrid Strabo, a monk of the Abbey of St, the name of Germany and the German language in several languages is derived from the name of this early Germanic tribal alliance. For details, see Names of Germany, the Alemanni were first mentioned by Cassius Dio describing the campaign of Caracalla in 213. At that time they dwelt in the basin of the Main. Cassius Dio portrays the Alemanni as victims of this treacherous emperor and they had asked for his help, says Dio, but instead he colonized their country, changed their place names and executed their warriors under a pretext of coming to their aid. When he became ill, the Alemanni claimed to have put a hex on him, Caracalla, it was claimed, tried to counter this influence by invoking his ancestral spirits. In retribution Caracalla then led the Legio II Traiana Fortis against the Alemanni, the legion was as a result honored with the name Germanica. Not on good terms with Caracalla, Geta had been invited to a reconciliation, at which time he was ambushed by centurions in Caracallas army. True or not, Caracalla, pursued by devils of his own, Caracalla left for the frontier, where for the rest of his short reign he was known for his unpredictable and arbitrary operations launched by surprise after a pretext of peace negotiations. If he had any reasons of state for such actions they remained unknown to his contemporaries, whether or not the Alemanni had been previously neutral, they were certainly further influenced by Caracalla to become thereafter notoriously implacable enemies of Rome. This mutually antagonistic relationship is perhaps the reason why the Roman writers persisted in calling the Alemanni barbari, most of the Alemanni were probably at the time in fact resident in or close to the borders of Germania Superior. At that time the frontier was being fortified for the first time
23.
Danube
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The Danube is Europes second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe, the Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries, the Latin name Dānuvius is one of a number of Old European river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European *dānu. Other river names from the root include the Dunajec, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, dānu means fluid, drop, in Avestan, in the Rigveda, Dānu once appears as the mother of Vrtra. Known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian name meaning strong, in Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius or as Ister. The Dacian/Thracian name was Donaris for the upper Danube and Istros for the lower Danube, the Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas, the bringer of luck. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, the German Donau is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe wetland. Classified as a waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Brigach. The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,800 km, passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and its drainage basin extends into nine more. The highest point of the basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border. The land drained by the Danube extends into other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges, from its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are, The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. Danube remains a mountain river until Passau, with average bottom gradient 0. 0012%. Middle Section, From Devín Gate to Iron Gate, at the border of Serbia and Romania, the riverbed widens and the average bottom gradient becomes only 0. 00006%. Lower Section, From Iron Gate to Sulina, with average gradient as little as 0. 00003%, about 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central, the amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War
24.
Quadi
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The Quadi were a Suebian Germanic tribe who lived approximately in the area of modern Moravia in the time of the Roman empire. 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 and it is said that the Quadi also lived in the same general region, and were also Suebian Germans, like the Marcomanni. They came to be part of the Marcomannic confederation that fought the future emperor Tiberius in 6 AD, there may be an earlier reference to the Quadi in the Geography of Strabo. In a parenthetical expression, often removed from the text, he mentions a branch of the Suevi called the Koldouoi. Part of their range is Bohemia, the domain of Maroboduus, the emendment of Coldui to Coadui is generally considered correct. Tacitus mentions the Quadi in the breath as the Marcomanni, alike in warlike spirit, alike governed by kings of their own noble stock. The royal powers of both tribes were also alike, according to Tacitus, in being supported by Roman silver, in The Annals, Tacitus writes that Maroboduus was deposed by the exile Catualda around 18 AD. Catualda was in turn defeated by the Hermunduri Vibilius, after which the realm was ruled by the Quadian Vannius, Vannius was himself also deposed by Vibilius, in coordination with his nephews Vangio and Sido, who divided his realm between themselves as Roman client kings. Tacitus writes, Behind them the Marsigni, Gotini, Osi, of these, the Marsigni and Buri, in their language and manner of life, resemble the Suevi. The Gotini and Osi are proved by their respective Gallic and Pannonian tongues, as well as by the fact of their enduring tribute, tribute is imposed on them as aliens, partly by the Sarmatæ, partly by the Quadi. The Gotini, to complete their degradation, actually work iron mines, all these nations occupy but little of the plain country, dwelling in forests and on mountain-tops. These Gotini, or Cotini, are mentioned in other Roman sources. In the later 2nd century AD, Marcus Aurelius fought them in the Marcomannic Wars, the troubles began in late 166 when the Langobardi and Obii crossed the Danube into Roman Moesia. They must have done so with the consent of the Quadi, presumably, the Quadi wished to avoid trouble themselves by allowing these tribes to pass through into Roman territory. After initial Roman losses, the Marcomanni were defeated in 171, but in 172, he launched a major attack into the territory of the Marcomanni, and then turned on the Quadi, who had been aiding Marcomanni refugees. In a major battle in that year, his troops were almost defeated, the Quadi were ultimately eliminated as a direct threat in 174. Marcus planned counteroffensive across the Danube was prevented in 175, however, though Marcus Aurelius successfully suppressed the revolt, it was not until 178 that he was able to pursue the Quadi over the Danube into Bohemia. He executed a successful and decisive battle against them in 179 at Laugaricio Trenčín - Slovakia under the command of legate and he was planning to advance the Roman border east and north to the Carpathian Mountains and Bohemia when he became ill and died in 180
25.
Sarmatians
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The Sarmatians were a large confederation of Iranian people during classical antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD. They spoke Scythian, an Indo-European language from the Eastern Iranian family and their territory, which was known as Sarmatia to Greco-Roman ethnographers, corresponded to the western part of greater Scythia. In the 1st century AD the Sarmatians began encroaching upon the Roman Empire in alliance with Germanic tribes, in the 3rd century AD their dominance of the Pontic Steppe was broken by the Germanic Goths. With the Hunnic invasions of the 4th century, many Sarmatians joined the Goths, a related people to the Sarmatians known as the Alans survived in the North Caucasus into the Early Middle Ages, ultimately giving rise to the modern Ossetic ethnic group. The Sarmatians were eventually assimilated and absorbed by the Proto-Slavic population of Eastern Europe. Sarmatae probably originated as just one of several names of the Sarmatians. Strabo in the 1st century names as the tribes of the Sarmatians the Iazyges, the Roxolani, the Aorsi. The Greek name Sarmatai sometimes appears as Sauromatai, which is almost certainly no more than a variant of the same name, nevertheless, historians often regarded these as two separate peoples, while archaeologists habitually use the term Sauromatian to identify the earliest phase of Sarmatian culture. Any idea that the name derives from the lizard, linking to the Sarmatians use of reptile-like scale armour. Both Pliny the Elder and Jordanes recognised the Sar- and Sauro- elements as interchangeable variants, Greek authors of the 4th century mention Syrmatae as the name of a people living at the Don, perhaps reflecting the ethnonym as it was pronounced in the final phase of Sarmatian culture. Oleg Trubachyov derived the name from the Indo-Aryan *sar-mat, the Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian word *sar-, by this derivation was noted the unusual high status of women from the Greek point of view and went to the invention of Amazons. Other scholars, like Harold Walter Bailey, derived the word from Avestan sar- from tsar- in Old Iranian. It was also derived from the name of Avestan region in the west Sairima, recently R. M. Kozlova derived it from *Sъrm- < Proto-Slavic adjective *sъrmatъ, with the meaning that is rich with sormima i. e. shallows, referring to the rivers. The Sarmatians emerged in the 7th century BC in a region of the steppe to the east of the Don River, for centuries they lived in relatively peaceful co-existence with their western neighbors the Scythians. Then, in the 3rd century BC, they fought with the Scythians on the Pontic steppe to the north of the Black Sea, the Sarmatians were to dominate these territories over the next five centuries. Pliny the Elder wrote that they ranged from the Vistula River to the Danube, in 1947, Soviet archaeologist Boris Grakov defined a culture flourishing from the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD, apparent in late kurgan graves, sometimes reusing part of much older kurgans. It was a nomadic steppe culture ranging from the Black Sea eastward to beyond the Volga, in Hungary, a great Late Sarmatian pottery centre was reportedly unearthed between 2001 and 2006 near Budapest, in the Üllő5 archaeological site. Typical grey, granular Üllő5 ceramics form a group of Sarmatian pottery found everywhere in the north central part of the Great Hungarian Plain region
26.
Sasanian Empire
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The Sasanian Empire was founded by Ardashir I, after the fall of the Parthian Empire and the defeat of the last Arsacid king, Artabanus V. According to a legend, the vexilloid of the Sasanian Empire was the Derafsh Kaviani, in many ways, the Sasanian period witnessed the peak of ancient Iranian civilization. Persia influenced Roman culture considerably during the Sasanian period, the Sasanians cultural influence extended far beyond the empires territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China and India. It played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asian medieval art, much of what later became known as Islamic culture in art, architecture, music and other subject matter was transferred from the Sasanians throughout the Muslim world. Conflicting accounts shroud the details of the fall of the Parthian Empire, the Sassanid Empire was established in Estakhr by Ardashir I. Papak was originally the ruler of a region called Khir, however, by the year 200, he managed to overthrow Gochihr, and appoint himself as the new ruler of the Bazrangids. His mother, Rodhagh, was the daughter of the governor of Pars. Papak and his eldest son Shapur managed to expand their power all of Pars. The subsequent events are unclear, due to the nature of the sources. It is certain, however, that following the death of Papak, Ardashir, sources reveal that Shapur, leaving for a meeting with his brother, was killed when the roof of a building collapsed on him. By the year 208, over the protests of his brothers who were put to death. Once Ardashir was appointed shahanshah, he moved his capital further to the south of Pars, the city, well supported by high mountains and easily defendable through narrow passes, became the center of Ardashirs efforts to gain more power. The city was surrounded by a high, circular wall, probably copied from that of Darabgird, in a second attempt to destroy Ardashir, Artabanus V himself met Ardashir in battle at Hormozgan, where Artabanus V met his death. Following the death of the Parthian ruler, Ardashir I went on to invade the provinces of the now defunct Parthian Empire. Ardashir was aided by the geography of the province of Fars, in the next few years, local rebellions would form around the empire. Nonetheless, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sistan, Gorgan, Khorasan, Margiana, Balkh and he also added Bahrain and Mosul to Sassanids possessions. In the west, assaults against Hatra, Armenia and Adiabene met with less success, in 230, he raided deep into Roman territory, and a Roman counter-offensive two years later ended inconclusively, although the Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, celebrated a triumph in Rome. Ardashir Is son Shapur I continued the expansion of the empire, conquering Bactria, invading Roman Mesopotamia, Shapur I captured Carrhae and Nisibis, but in 243 the Roman general Timesitheus defeated the Persians at Rhesaina and regained the lost territories
27.
Constantius Gallus
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Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus, commonly known as Constantius Gallus, was a member of the Constantinian dynasty and Caesar of the Roman Empire. Gallus was consul three years, from 352 to 354, Gallus was a son of Julius Constantius by his first wife Galla. Gallus paternal grandparents were the Western Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife Flavia Maximiana Theodora. At some point prior to 331/2, Gallus mother, Galla, seems to have died, as at that stage, Gallus was said by Ammianus Marcellinus to have been very good looking, making particular note of his soft blond hair. Gallus was born in Massa Veternensis, Italia, after his father had been recalled from exile, Gallus father and his elder brother were amongst those killed during the purges that occurred in the imperial family after the death of Constantine I in 337. There is debate over where Gallus spent his youth, one view is that he lived with Julian in Nicomedia under the care of bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia until 340. At which point, Eusebius was made bishop of Constantinople, which necessitated Gallus and it is believed that after the death of Eusebius in 341, Constantius then sent Gallus and Julian to continue their studies at the imperial household in Macellum, Cappadocia. An alternative view claims that hints in the sources suggest that Gallus was sent to Ephesus to study, then to a type of exile in Tralles, in 350, Magnentius had rebelled and killed the emperor Constans, claiming the purple. Gallus and Constantina, who shared her brothers aim of controlling the young Caesar. During his rule, Gallus had to deal with a Jewish rebellion in Judea/Palestine, the rebellion, possibly started before Gallus elevation to Caesar, was crushed by Gallus general, Ursicinus, who ordered all the rebels slain. Gallus was saved from a plot by a woman, who revealed that some members of her household were planning the murder. Some sources, among whom are Joannes Zonaras, claim that this plot had been organized by Magnentius in order to distract Constantius from Magnentius himself, some sources claim Gallus generals won a campaign against the Sassanids. Others, basing their views on a situation between Sassanids and Romans, dismiss this claim. In 354, Gallus sent the comes Orientis, Nebridius, against the Isaurians, as a consequence of the need to gather food for the troops of a Persian campaign or because of drought, the grain supply in Antioch decreased. In order to counter the higher price of grain, Gallus forced the passage of some laws regardless of the opinion of the Senate, thus alienating the support of the senatorial class of Antioch. Ammianus reports also that Gallus and Constantina started several trials for magic against wealthy people, ending in the execution of innocents, doubting his cousins loyalty, Constantius reduced the troops under Gallus, and sent the Praetorian Prefect Domitianus to Antioch to urge Gallus to go to Italy. Different sources tell different stories, but all agree that Gallus arrested Domitianus and the quaestor Montius Magnus who had come to his aid, the arrest of Montius Magnus led to the discovery of what seems to be a plot to elevate an usurper against Gallus. All of those involved in the plot were sentenced to death, Constantius was informed of the treason trials in Antioch during a campaign against the Alamanni
28.
Follis
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The follis was a type of coin in the Roman and Byzantine traditions. The Roman follis was a bronze coin introduced in about 294 with the coinage reform of Diocletian. It weighed about 10 grams and was about 4% silver, mostly as a layer on the surface. The word follis means bag in Latin, and there is evidence that this term was used in antiquity for a bag containing a specific amount of coins. The follis of Diocletian, despite efforts to enforce prices with the Edict on Maximum Prices, was revalued and reduced, by the time of Constantine, the follis was smaller and barely contained any silver. A series of Constantinian bronzes was introduced in the century, although the specific denominations are unclear and debated by historians. They are referred to as AE1, AE2, AE3 and AE4, with the former being the largest, namely, Fourth century folles represent the largest category of coin finds in the United Kingdom. The follis was reintroduced as a bronze coin in 498, with the coinage reform of Anastasius. A40 nummi coin of Anastasius is depicted on the obverse of the Macedonian 50 denars banknote, the fals was a bronze coin issued by the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates beginning in the late 8th century, initially as imitations of the Byzantine follis. Trifollaro, a coin worth 3 folles Grierson, Philip, Byzantine coinage, Dumbarton Oaks, ISBN 978-0-88402-274-9, archived from the original on 13 June 2010 Hendy
29.
Heraclea Lucania
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Heraclea, also Heracleia or Herakleia, was an ancient city of Magna Graecia. It was situated on the Gulf of Taranto between the rivers Aciris and Siris, the ruins of the city are located in the modern comune of Policoro in the Province of Matera, Basilicata, Italy. It was a Greek colony, but founded at a considerably later than most of the other Greek cities in this part of Italy. Siris did not cease to exist, but lapsed into the condition of the port or emporium of Heraclea. Diodorus, as well as Livy, calls it simply a colony of Tarentum, antiochus is the only writer who mentions the share taken by the Thurians in its original foundation. The new colony appears to have risen rapidly to power and prosperity, protected by the care of the Tarentines. We hear that Heraclea surrendered under compulsion to Hannibal in 212 BCE and its name is unaccountably omitted by the 2nd century AD geographer Ptolemy, but its existence at a much later period is attested by the Antonine Itinerary and the Tabula Peutingeriana. It was still a place of importance under the empire. Numerous coins, bronzes, and other relics of antiquity have been discovered on the spot. A medieval town, Anglona, was founded on the site, however, once a bishopric, now itself is but a heap of ruins, among which are those of an 11th-century church. The bronze tablets commonly known as the Tables of Heraclea, were found a short distance from the site of Heraclea and they are significant in the study of Roman Law. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed
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Dalmatius
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This article deals with the Caesar. For the censor Flavius Dalmatius, father of the caesar, see Flavius Dalmatius, for saints with this name, see Saint Dalmatius. Flavius Dalmatius, also known as Dalmatius Caesar, was a Caesar of the Roman Empire, Dalmatius was son of another Flavius Dalmatius, censor, and nephew of Constantine I. Dalmatius and his brother Hannibalianus were educated at Tolosa by rhetor Exuperius, on 18 September 335, he was raised to the rank of Caesar, with the control of Thracia, Achaea and Macedonia. Dalmatius died in late summer 337, killed by his own soldiers, Constantinian dynasty References Sources DiMaio, Michael, Dalmatius Caesar, in DIR
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Pannonia
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Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Julius Pokorny believes the name Pannonia is derived from Illyrian, from the Proto-Indo-European root *pen-, swamp, water, the Ionian Danube fleet reached as far as Boio-Aria, populated until the late 8th century CE by Celts and Slavs under Aryan rulers. Pliny the Elder, in Natural History, places the eastern regions of the Hercynium jugum and he also gives us some dramaticised description of its composition, in which the close proximity of the forest trees causes competitive struggle among them. But even he—if the passage in question is not an interpolated marginal gloss—is subject to the legends of the gloomy forest and he mentions unusual birds, which have feathers that shine like fires at night. Medieval bestiaries named these birds the Ercinee, the first inhabitants of this area known to history were the Pannonii, a group of Indo-European tribes akin to Illyrians. From the 4th century BC, it was invaded by various Celtic tribes, little is heard of Pannonia until 35 BC, when its inhabitants, allies of the Dalmatians, were attacked by Augustus, who conquered and occupied Siscia. The country was not, however, definitively subdued by the Romans until 9 BC, when it was incorporated into Illyricum, the frontier of which was thus extended as far as the Danube. After the rebellion was crushed in AD9, the province of Illyricum was dissolved, the date of the division is unknown, most certainly after AD20 but before AD50. The proximity of dangerous barbarian tribes necessitated the presence of a number of troops. Some time between the years 102 and 107, between the first and second Dacian wars, Trajan divided the province into Pannonia Superior, and Pannonia Inferior. According to Ptolemy, these divisions were separated by a line drawn from Arrabona in the north to Servitium in the south, later, the whole country was sometimes called the Pannonias. Pannonia Superior was under the legate, who had formerly administered the single province. Pannonia Inferior was at first under a praetorian legate with a single legion as the garrison, after Marcus Aurelius, it was under a consular legate, the frontier on the Danube was protected by the establishment of the two colonies Aelia Mursia and Aelia Aquincum by Hadrian. In the 4th-5th century, one of the dioceses of the Roman Empire was known as the Diocese of Pannonia. It had its capital in Sirmium and included all four provinces that were formed from historical Pannonia, as well as the provinces of Dalmatia, following the Migrations Period in the middle of the 5th century, Pannonia was ceded to the Huns by Theodosius II. After the collapse of the Hunnic empire in 454, large numbers of Ostrogoths were settled by Emperor Marcian in the province as foederati, afterwards, it was again invaded by the Avars in the 560s, the Slavs, who first settled c. This language and the culture became extinct with the arrival of the Magyars. The native settlements consisted of pagi containing a number of vici, the cities and towns in Pannonia were, The country was fairly productive, especially after the great forests had been cleared by Probus and Galerius
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Maximian
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Maximian was Roman Emperor from 286 to 305. He was Caesar from 285 to 286, then Augustus from 286 to 305 and he shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocletian, whose political brain complemented Maximians military brawn. Maximian established his residence at Trier but spent most of his time on campaign, in the late summer of 285, he suppressed rebels in Gaul known as the Bagaudae. From 285 to 288, he fought against Germanic tribes along the Rhine frontier, together with Diocletian, he launched a scorched earth campaign deep into Alamannic territory in 288, temporarily relieving the Rhine provinces from the threat of Germanic invasion. The man he appointed to police the Channel shores, Carausius, rebelled in 286, causing the secession of Britain, Maximian failed to oust Carausius, and his invasion fleet was destroyed by storms in 289 or 290. Maximians subordinate, Constantius, campaigned against Carausius successor, Allectus, the rebel leader was ousted in 296, and Maximian moved south to combat piracy near Hispania and Berber incursions in Mauretania. When these campaigns concluded in 298, he departed for Italy, at Diocletians behest, Maximian abdicated on May 1,305, gave the Augustan office to Constantius, and retired to southern Italy. In late 306, Maximian took the title of Augustus again, in April 307, he attempted to depose his son, but failed and fled to the court of Constantius successor, Constantine, in Trier. At the Council of Carnuntum in November 308, Diocletian and his successor, Galerius, in early 310, Maximian attempted to seize Constantines title while the emperor was on campaign on the Rhine. Few supported him, and he was captured by Constantine in Marseille, Maximian committed suicide in the summer of 310 on Constantines orders. During Constantines war with Maxentius, Maximians image was purged from all public places, however, after Constantine ousted and killed Maxentius, Maximians image was rehabilitated, and he was deified. Maximian was born near Sirmium in the province of Pannonia, around 250 into a family of shopkeepers, beyond that, the ancient sources contain vague allusions to Illyricum as his homeland, to his Pannonian virtues, and to his harsh upbringing along the war-torn Danube frontier. Maximian joined the army, serving with Diocletian under the emperors Aurelian and he probably participated in the Mesopotamian campaign of Carus in 283 and attended Diocletians election as emperor on November 20,284 at Nicomedia. With his great energy, firm aggressive character and disinclination to rebel, the fourth-century historian Aurelius Victor described Maximian as a colleague trustworthy in friendship, if somewhat boorish, and of great military talents. Despite his other qualities, Maximian was uneducated and preferred action to thought, the panegyric of 289, after comparing his actions to Scipio Africanus victories over Hannibal during the Second Punic War, suggested that Maximian had never heard of them. His ambitions were military, he left politics to Diocletian. Maximian had two children with his Syrian wife, Eutropia, Maxentius and Fausta, there is no direct evidence in the ancient sources for their birthdates. Modern estimates of Maxentius birth year have varied from c.277 to 287, barnes concludes that Theodora was born no later than c.275 to an unnamed earlier wife of Maximian, possibly one of Hannibalianus daughters
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Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)
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The Kingdom of Armenia, also the Kingdom of Greater Armenia, or simply Greater Armenia, was a monarchy in the Ancient Near East which existed from 321 BC to 428 AD. Its history is divided into successive reigns by three dynasties, Orontid, Artaxiad and Arsacid. It is widely believed to be the region with which all Armenians descend from and it was one of the largest empires in the history of the Middle East. Under the Seleucid Empire, the Armenian throne was divided in two – Armenia Maior and Sophene – both of which passed to members of the Artaxiad dynasty in 189 BC. The remaining Artaxiad kings ruled as clients of Rome until they were overthrown in 12 AD due to their allegiance to Romes main rival in the region. During the Roman–Parthian Wars, the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia was founded when Tiridates I, throughout most of its history during this period, Armenia was heavily contested between Rome and Parthia, and the Armenian nobility was divided among pro-Roman, pro-Parthian or neutrals. From 114 to 118, Armenia briefly became a province of the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan, the Kingdom of Armenia often served as a client state or vassal at the frontier of the two large empires and their successors, the Byzantine and Sassanid empires. In 301, Tiridates III proclaimed Christianity as the religion of Armenia. During the Byzantine–Sasanian wars, Armenia was ultimately partitioned into Byzantine Armenia in 387, the Kingdoms symbol and most famous icon was Mount Ararat, arguably the tallest mountain in the kingdom. The geographic Armenian Highlands, then known as the highlands of Ararat, was inhabited by Proto-Armenian tribes which did not yet constitute a unitary state or nation. The highlands were first united by tribes in the vicinity of Lake Van into the Kingdom of Van, the kingdom competed with Assyria over supremacy in the highlands of Ararat and the Fertile Crescent. Both kingdoms fell to Iranian invaders from the neighbouring East in the 6th century BC and its territory was reorganized into a satrapy called Armenia. The Orontid dynasty ruled as satraps of the Achaemenid Empire for three centuries until the defeat against Alexander the Greats Macedonian Empire at the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. After Alexanders death in 323 BC, a Macedonian general named Neoptolemus obtained Armenia until he died in 321 BC and the Orontids returned, not as satraps, Orontes III also defeated the Thessalian commander Menon, who wanted to capture Spers gold mines. The Seleucid Empires influence over Armenia had weakened after it was defeated by the Romans in the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, a Hellenistic Armenian state was thus founded in the same year by Artaxias I alongside the Armenian kingdom of Sophene led by Zariadres. Artaxias seized Yervandashat, united the Armenian Highlands at the expense of neighboring tribes, according to Strabo and Plutarch, Hannibal Barca received hospitality at the Armenian court of Artaxias I. The authors add a story of how Hannibal planned and supervised the building of Artaxata. The new city was laid on a position at the juncture of trade routes that connected the Ancient Greek world with Bactria, India
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Shapur II
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Shapur II, also known as Shapur II the Great, was the tenth king of the Sasanian Empire. The longest reigning Sasanian monarch, he reigned from 309 to 379 and he was the son of Hormizd II. During Shapur IIs long reign, the Sasanian Empire saw its first golden era. When Hormizd II died in 309, he was succeeded by his son Adur Narseh and they then blinded the second, and imprisoned the third. The throne was reserved for the child of Hormizd IIs wife Ifra Hormizd. It is said that Shapur II may have been the king in history to be crowned in utero. However, according to Alireza Shapour Shahbazi, it is unlikely that Shapur was crowned as king while still in his mothers womb, during the childhood of Shapur II, Arab nomads made several incursions into the Sasanian homeland of Pars, where they raided Gor and its surroundings. Furthermore, they also made incursions into Meshan and Mazun and he then attacked the Banu Tamim in the Al Hajar Mountains. Shapur II reportedly killed a number of the Arab population. After having dealt with the Arabs of eastern Arabia, he continued his expedition into western Arabia and Syria, because of his cruel way of dealing with the Arabs, he was called Dhū l-Aktāf he who pierces shoulders by them. Not only did Shapur II pacify the Arabs of the Persian Gulf, Shapur II, in order to prevent the Arabs from making more raids into his country, ordered the construction of a wall near al-Hirah, which became known as war-i tāzigān. This was the beginning of two long drawn-out wars which were inadequately recorded, after crushing a rebellion in the south, Shapur II invaded Roman Mesopotamia and captured Armenia. Apparently, nine major battles were fought, gibbon asserts that Shapur II invariably defeated Constantius, but there is reason to believe that the honours were fairly evenly shared between the two capable commanders. The most notable feature of war was the consistently successful defence of the Roman fortress of Nisibis in Mesopotamia. Shapur besieged the fortress three times and was repulsed each time by Roman general Lucilianus, although often victorious in battles, Shapur II had made scarcely any progress. At the same time he was attacked in the east by Scythian Massagetae and he had to break off the war with the Romans and arrange a hasty truce in order to pay attention to the east. After a prolonged struggle they were forced to conclude a peace, in 358 Shapur II was ready for his second series of wars against Rome, which met with much more success. The delay forced Shapur to halt operations for the winter, early the following spring he continued his operations against the Roman fortresses, capturing Singara and Bezabde
35.
Mesopotamia (Roman province)
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Mesopotamia was the name of two distinct Roman provinces, the one a short-lived creation of the Roman Emperor Trajan in 116–117 and the other established by Emperor Septimius Severus in ca. 198, which ranged between the Roman and the Sassanid empires, until the Muslim conquests of the 7th Century, in 113, Emperor Trajan launched a war against Romes long-time eastern rival, the Parthian Empire. In 114, he conquered Armenia, which was made into a province and this too was organized as a province in early 116, when coins were minted to celebrate the fact. Later in the year, Trajan marched into central and southern Mesopotamia and across the river Tigris to Adiabene. But he did not stop there, in the last months of 116, he captured the great Persian city of Susa. He deposed the Parthian king Osroes I and put his own puppet ruler Parthamaspates on the Parthian throne, never again would the Roman Empire advance so far to the east. As soon as Trajan died, however, his successor Hadrian relinquished his conquests east of the Euphrates river, which became again the Roman Empires eastern boundary. This control was threatened in 195, during the war between Septimius Severus and the usurper Pescennius Niger, when rebellions broke out in the area. Severus quickly restored order and organized Osroene as a full province, next Severus embarked on a war against Parthia, which he concluded successfully with the sack of the Parthian capital Ctesiphon. In emulation of Trajan, he re-established a province of Mesopotamia in 198, with Nisibis, elevated to the status of a full colonia, as its capital. For the remainder of its existence, the new province would remain a bone of contention between the Romans and their neighbors, suffering heavily in the recurrent Roman–Persian Wars. In the 250s, the Persian shah Shapur I attacked Mesopotamia, and fought with the Roman emperor Valerian, in the next year, however, Shapur was heavily defeated by Odaenathus of Palmyra and driven out of Mesopotamia. Under the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine I, it part of the Diocese of the East. Other cities included Martyropolis and Kephas, the province suffered greatly during the near-constant wars with Persia in the 6th century. In 573, the Persians even took Dara, although the East Romans recovered it under the peace of 591. They lost it again to the Persians in the war of 602–628. Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, mommsen, Theodor, Dickson, William Purdie, Haverfield, Francis. The provinces of the Roman Empire, from Caesar to Diocletian, the Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine
36.
Constantinople
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Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
37.
Church of the Holy Apostles
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The Church of the Holy Apostles, also known as the Imperial Polyándreion, was a Greek Eastern Orthodox church in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The first structure dates to the 4th century, though future emperors would add to and it was second in size and importance only to the Hagia Sophia among the great churches of the capital. When Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453, the Holy Apostles briefly became the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church. Three years later the edifice, which was in a state, was abandoned by the Patriarch. The original church of the Holy Apostles was dedicated in about 330 by Constantine the Great, the founder of Constantinople, the new capital of the Roman Empire. The church was unfinished when Constantine died in 337, and it was brought to completion by his son and successor Constantius II, the church was dedicated to the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, and it was the Emperors intention to gather relics of all the Apostles in the church. For this undertaking, only relics of Saint Andrew, Saint Luke and Saint Timothy were acquired, by the reign of the Emperor Justinian I, the church was no longer considered grand enough, and a new Church of the Holy Apostles was built on the same site. The historian Procopius attributes the rebuilding to Justinian, while the known as Pseudo-Codinus attributes it to the Empress Theodora. The new church was designed and built by the architects Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus, the architects of the Hagia Sophia. The relics of Constantine and the three saints were re-installed in the new church, and a mausoleum for Justinian and his family was built at the end of its northern arm. For more than 700 years, the church of the Holy Apostles was the second-most important church in Constantinople, most emperors and many patriarchs and bishops were buried in the church, and their relics were venerated by the faithful for centuries. Its treasury also held relics of Saint John Chrysostom and other Church Fathers, saints, over the years the church acquired huge amounts of gold, silver and gems donated by the faithful. In the 10th century Constantine of Rhodes composed a Description of the building of the Apostles in verse, the basilica was looted during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The historian Nicetas Choniates records that the Crusaders plundered the tombs and robbed them of gold. Not even Justinians tomb was spared, the tomb of Emperor Heraclius was opened and his golden crown was stolen along with the late Emperors hairs still attached on it. Some of these treasures were taken to Venice, where they can still be seen in St Marks Basilica, when Michael VIII Palaeologus recaptured the city from the Crusaders, he erected a statue of the Archangel Michael at the church to commemorate the event, and himself. The church was restored again by Andronicus II Palaeologus in the early 14th century. The Florentine Cristoforo Buondelmonti saw the church in 1420
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Constantius Chlorus
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Constantius I was Roman Emperor from 293 to 306, commonly known as Constantius Chlorus. He was the father of Constantine the Great and founder of the Constantinian dynasty, as Caesar, he defeated the usurper Allectus in Britain and campaigned extensively along the Rhine frontier, defeating the Alamanni and Franks. Upon becoming Augustus in 305, Constantius launched a punitive campaign against the Picts beyond the Antonine Wall. However, Constantius died suddenly in Eboracum the following year and his death sparked the collapse of the tetrarchic system of government inaugurated by the Emperor Diocletian. Constantius was a member of the Protectores Augusti Nostri under the emperor Aurelian, by 288, his period as governor now over, Constantius had been made Praetorian Prefect in the west under Maximian. To strengthen the ties between the emperor and his powerful military servant, in 289 Constantius divorced his wife Helena, and married the emperor Maximian’s daughter, Theodora. By 293, Diocletian, conscious of the ambitions of his co-emperor for his new son-in-law, Diocletian divided the administration of the Roman Empire into two halves, a Western and an Eastern portion. Each would be ruled by an Augustus, supported by a Caesar, both Caesars had the right of succession once the ruling Augustus died. At Milan on March 1,293, Constantius was formally appointed as Maximian’s Caesar and he adopted the names Flavius Valerius and was given command of Gaul, Britannia and possibly Hispania. Diocletian, the eastern Augustus, in order to keep the balance of power in the imperium elevated Galerius as his Caesar, Constantius was the more senior of the two Caesars, and on official documents he always took precedence, being mentioned before Galerius. Constantius’ capital was to be located at Augusta Treverorum, Constantius’ first task on becoming Caesar was to deal with the Roman usurper Carausius who had declared himself emperor in Britannia and northern Gaul in 286. In late 293, Constantius defeated the forces of Carausius in Gaul and this precipitated the assassination of Carausius by his rationalis Allectus, who assumed command of the British provinces until his death in 296. Constantius spent the two years neutralising the threat of the Franks who were the allies of Allectus, as northern Gaul remained under the control of the British usurper until at least 295. He also battled against the Alamanni, achieving victories at the mouth of the Rhine in 295. Administrative concerns meant he made at least one trip to Italy during this time as well, only when he felt ready did he assemble two invasion fleets with the intent of crossing the English Channel. The fleet under Asclepiodotus landed near the Isle of Wight, and his army encountered the forces of Allectus, resulting in the defeat, Constantius in the meantime occupied London, saving the city from an attack by Frankish mercenaries who were now roaming the province without a paymaster. The result was the division of Upper Britannia into Maxima Caesariensis and Britannia Prima, while Flavia Caesariensis and he also restored Hadrian’s Wall and its forts. Later in 298, Constantius fought in the Battle of Lingones against the Alamanni and he was shut up in the city, but was relieved by his army after six hours and defeated the enemy
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