1.
Doge of Venice
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The Doge of Venice, sometimes translated as Duke, was the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for 1,100 years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-states aristocracy, commonly the man selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city. The doge was neither a duke in the sense, nor the equivalent of a hereditary duke. The title doge was the title of the senior-most elected official of Venice and Genoa, a doge was referred to variously by the titles My Lord the Doge, Most Serene Prince, and His Serenity. After a deadlocked tie at the election of 1229, the number of electors was increased from forty to forty-one, new regulations for the elections of the doge introduced in 1268 remained in force until the end of the republic in 1797. Their object was to minimize as far as possible the influence of great families. Thirty members of the Great Council, chosen by lot, were reduced by lot to nine, the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, the twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine and the nine elected forty-five. Then the forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, none could be elected but by at least twenty-five votes out of forty-one, nine votes out of eleven or twelve, or seven votes out of nine electors. A detailed description of this process, and the procession that followed, is preserved in Martin Da Canales work Les Estoires de Venise. This practice came to an end in 1423, after the election of Francesco Foscari, the doges normally ruled for life. After a doges death, a commission of inquisitori passed judgment upon his acts, the official income of the doge was never large, and from early times holders of the office remained engaged in trading ventures. These ventures kept them in touch with the requirements of the grandi, from 7 July 1268, during a vacancy in the office of doge, the state was headed ex officio, with the style vicedoge, by the senior consigliere ducale. One of the duties of the doge was to celebrate the symbolic marriage of Venice with the sea. This was done by casting a ring from the state barge, in its earlier form this ceremony was instituted to commemorate the conquest of Dalmatia by Doge Pietro II Orseolo in 1000, and was celebrated on Ascension Day. It took its later and more magnificent form after the visit of Pope Alexander III, on state occasions the Doge was surrounded by an increasing amount of ceremony, and in international relations he had the status of a sovereign prince. The doge took part in processions, which started in the Piazza San Marco. The doge would appear in the center of the procession, preceded by civil servants ranked in ascending order of prestige, from the 14th century onwards, the ceremonial crown and well-known symbol of the doge of Venice was called corno ducale, a unique kind of a ducal hat. Every Easter Monday the doge headed a procession from San Marco to the convent of San Zaccaria where the abbess presented him a new camauro crafted by the nuns, the Doges official costume also included golden robes, slippers and a sceptre for ceremonial duties
2.
Great Turkish War
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The war was a defeat for the Ottoman Empire, which lost large amounts of territory in Central Europe. The war was significant in that it marked the first time Russia was involved in a western European alliance. After Bohdan Khmelnytskys rebellion, when the Tsardom of Russia acquired parts of Eastern Ukraine from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and their leader, Petro Doroshenko, wanted to connect the rest of Ukraine with the Ottoman Empire, starting a rebellion against Hetman John Sobieski. Sultan Mehmed IV, who knew that the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was weakened due to conflicts, attacked Kamianets-Podilskyi. The small Polish force resisted the Siege of Kamenets for two weeks but was forced to capitulate. The Polish Army was too small to resist the Ottoman invasion, after three months, the Poles were forced to sign the Treaty of Buchach in which they agreed to surrender Kamyanets-Podilsky, Podolia and to pay tribute to the Ottoman Sultan. When the news about the defeat and treaty terms reached Warsaw, the Sejm refused to pay the tribute and organized an army under Jan Sobieski, subsequently. After King Michaels death in 1673, Jan Sobieski was elected king of Poland, he tried to defeat the Ottomans for four years. The war ended on 17 October 1676 with the Treaty of Żurawno in which the Turks only retained control over Kamianets-Podilskyi and this Turkish attack also led in 1676 to the beginning of the Russo-Turkish Wars. After a few years of peace, the Ottoman Empire attacked the Habsburg Empire, the Turks almost captured Vienna, but John III Sobieski led a Christian alliance that defeated them in the Battle of Vienna, stalling the Ottoman Empires hegemony in south-eastern Europe. A new Holy League was initiated by Pope Innocent XI and encompassed the Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the second Battle of Mohács was a crushing defeat for the Sultan. The Turks were more successful on the Polish front and were able to retain Podolia during their battles with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, russias involvement marked the first time the country formally joined an alliance of European powers. This was the beginning of a series of Russo-Turkish Wars, which continued into the 20th century, as a result of the Crimean campaigns and Azov campaigns, Russia captured the key Ottoman fortress of Azov. Following the decisive Battle of Zenta in 1697 and lesser skirmishes, the Ottomans ceded most of Hungary, Transylvania and Slavonia to the Habsburg Empire while Podolia returned to Poland. Most of Dalmatia passed to Venice, along with the Morea, Serbs, as volunteers, massively joined the Austrian side. In the first half of 1688, the Habsburg army, together with units of Serbian Militia, captured Gyula, Lipova and Ineu from the Ottoman Empire. After Belgrade had been liberated from the Ottomans in 1688, Serbs from the territories in the south of Sava and Danube rivers began to join Serbian Militia units. However, with the rise of the Ottomans, during the 16th and early 17th centuries, they lost most of these, such as Cyprus and Euboea to the Turks
3.
Republic of Venice
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It was based in the lagoon communities of the historically prosperous city of Venice. It was a leading European economic and trading power during the Middle Ages, the Venetian city state was founded as a safe haven for people escaping persecution in mainland Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. In its early years, it prospered on the salt trade, in subsequent centuries, the city state established a thalassocracy. It dominated trade on the Mediterranean Sea, including commerce between Asia, Europe and North Africa, the Venetian navy was used in the Crusades. Venice achieved territorial conquests along the Adriatic Sea, the city became home to an extremely wealthy merchant class, who patronized renowned art and architecture along the citys lagoons. Venetian merchants were influential financiers in Europe, the city was also the birthplace of great European explorers, including Marco Polo, as well as the classical music composer Vivaldi. The republic was ruled by the Doge, who was elected by members of the Great Council of Venice, the ruling class was an oligarchy of merchants and aristocrats. Venice and other Italian maritime republics played a key role in fostering capitalism, Venetian citizens generally supported the system of governance. The city-state enforced strict laws and employed ruthless tactics in its prisons, the opening of new trade routes to the Americas and the East Indies via the Atlantic Ocean marked the beginning of Venices decline as a maritime republic. The city state suffered defeats from the navy of the Ottoman Empire, in 1797, the country was colonized by Austria and France, following an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte. Venice became a part of a unified Italy in the 19th century and it was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in reference to its title as one of the Most Serene Republics. He was the first historical Doge of Venice, whichever the case, the first doges had their power base in Heraclea. Ursuss successor, Deusdedit, moved his seat from Heraclea to Malamocco in the 740s and he was the son of Ursus and represented the attempt of his father to establish a dynasty. Such attempts were more commonplace among the doges of the first few centuries of Venetian history. They desired to remain well-connected to the Empire, another faction, republican in nature, believed in continuing along a course towards practical independence. The other main faction was pro-Frankish, supported mostly by clergy, they looked towards the new Carolingian king of the Franks, Pepin the Short, as the best provider of defence against the Lombards. A minor, pro-Lombard faction was opposed to close ties with any of these further-off powers, the successors of Obelerio inherited a united Venice. By the Pax Nicephori, the two emperors had recognised that Venice belonged to the Byzantine sphere of influence, many centuries later, the Venetians claimed that the treaty had recognised Venetian de facto independence, but the truth of this claim is doubted by modern scholars
4.
Doge
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A doge was an elected, chief-of-state lordship, the ruler of the republic in many of the Italian city-states during the medieval and renaissance periods, in the Italian crowned republics. The word is from the Venetian dialect, reaching English via French, doge, along with the related English word duke and the Italian duce, descends from the Latin dux, meaning leader, especially in a military context. The wife of a doge is styled a dogaressa and the office of the doge is termed dogeship, the title of doge was used for the elected chief of state in a number of Italian crowned republics. Other Italian republics to have doges were Amalfi and the town of Senarica. After a deadlocked tie at the election of 1229, the number of electors was increased from forty to forty-one, new regulations for the elections of the doge introduced in 1268 remained in force until the end of the republic in 1797. Their object was to minimize as far as possible the influence of great families. Thirty members of the Great Council, chosen by lot, were reduced by lot to nine, the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, the twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine and the nine elected forty-five. Then the forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, none could be elected but by at least twenty-five votes out of forty-one, nine votes out of eleven or twelve, or seven votes out of nine electors. Initially the doge of Genoa was elected without restriction and by popular suffrage, following reforms in 1528, plebeians were declared ineligible, and the appointment of the doge was entrusted to the members of the great council, the Gran Consiglio. In Venice, doges normally ruled for life, although a few were removed from office. After a doges death, a commission of inquisitori passed judgment upon his acts, the official income of the doge was never large, and from early times holders of the office remained engaged in trading ventures. Originally, Genoese doges held office for life in the so-called perpetual dogeship, the ruling caste of Genoa tied them to executive committees, kept them on a small budget, and kept them apart from the communal revenues held at the Casa di San Giorgio
5.
Crete
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Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, 88th-largest island in the world and the fifth-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete and a number of surrounding islands and islets constitute the region of Crete, the capital and the largest city is Heraklion. As of 2011, the region had a population of 623,065, Crete forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece, while retaining its own local cultural traits. It was once the centre of the Minoan civilization, which is regarded as the earliest recorded civilization in Europe. The island is first referred to as Kaptara in texts from the Syrian city of Mari dating from the 18th century BC, repeated later in Neo-Assyrian records and it was also known in ancient Egyptian as Keftiu, strongly suggesting a similar Minoan name for the island. The current name of Crete is thought to be first attested in Mycenaean Greek texts written in Linear B, through the words
6.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
7.
Morean War
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The Morean War is the better-known name for the Sixth Ottoman–Venetian War. The war was fought between 1684–1699, as part of the conflict known as the Great Turkish War, between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. Military operations ranged from Dalmatia to the Aegean Sea, but the major campaign was the Venetian conquest of the Morea peninsula in southern Greece. As such, the Morean War holds the distinction of being the only Ottoman–Venetian conflict from which Venice emerged victorious, venices expansionist revival would be short-lived however, as its gains were reversed by the Ottomans in 1715. However, with the rise of the Ottomans, during the 16th and early 17th centuries, they lost most of these, such as Cyprus and Euboea to the Turks. Between 1645 and 1669, the Venetians and the Ottomans fought a long and costly war over the last major Venetian possession in the Aegean, Crete. During this war, the Venetian commander, Francesco Morosini, came into contact with the rebellious Maniots, in 1659, Morosini landed in the Morea, and together with the Maniots, he took Kalamata. However, he was soon forced to return to Crete. In 1683, a new war broke out between Austria and the Ottomans, with a large Ottoman army advancing towards Vienna, the Ottoman siege was broken in the Battle of Vienna by the King of Poland, Jan Sobieski. As a result, an anti-Ottoman Holy League was formed at Linz on 5 March 1684 between Emperor Leopold I, Sobieski, and the Doge of Venice, Marcantonio Guistinian. Over the next few years, the Austrians recovered Hungary from Ottoman control, however the Austrians were now overextended, as well as being embroiled in the Nine Years War against France. The Ottomans, under another Köprülü Grand Vizier, Fazıl Mustafa Pasha, regained the initiative and pushed the Austrians back, recovering Niš and Vidin in 1690 and launching raids across the Danube. After 1696, however, the tide turned again, with the capture of Azov by the Russians in 1696 followed by a defeat at the hands of Eugene of Savoy at the battle of Zenta in September 1697. In its aftermath, negotiations began between the parties, leading to the signing of the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. On the Venetian side, the debate in the Senate about joining the war was heated and they were complemented by a numerous and well-equipped militia, but the latter could not be used outside Italy. Revenue was also scarce, at more than two million sequins a year. At the same time, the Ottoman navy is described by Chandos as being in a sore state, scarcely able to outfit ten men-of-war for operations. This left the Venetians with an uncontested supremacy at sea, while the Ottomans resorted to using light and fast galleys to evade the Venetian fleet and resupply their fortresses along the coasts
8.
Lefkada
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Lefkada, or Leucas or Leucadia or Lefkas or Leukas, is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece, connected to the mainland by a long causeway and floating bridge. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Lefkada and it is situated on the northern part of the island, approximately 1 hour by automobile away from Aktion National Airport. The island is part of the unit of Lefkada. Lefkada measures 35 kilometres from north to south, and 15 kilometres from east to west, the area of the island is about 302 square kilometres, the area of the municipality is 333.58 km2. Its highest point is the mountain Stavrota,1,158 metres above sea level, the east coast section of the island has small resorts of Lygia, Nikiana and Perigiali, all north of Nidri, the largest resort on the island. It is set in a location with views across to Skorpios, Meganisi and other small islands. The main coastal road from Lefkada to Vasiliki runs through the village, there are regular car ferries to Kefalonia, Ithaca and Meganissi. 20 kilometres south of Nidri is the resort of Vasiliki, a windsurfing center, there are ferries to Kefalonia and Ithaca from Vasiliki. South of Vasiliki is Cape Lefkada, where the Greek female poet Sappho allegedly leapt to her death from the 30 m high cliffs, the famous beach of Porto Katsiki is located on Lefkadas west coast. Lefkada was attached to mainland Greece, the Corinthians dug a trench in the 7th century BC on its isthmus. The island has a typical Mediterranean climate, hot summers and cool winters, the myth about Sapphos suicide at Cape Lefkada is related to other myths linking the island to the ancient Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and to Odysseus, the hero of Homers Odyssey. There have been suggestions by local officials that several passages in the Odyssey point to Lefkada as a possible model for Homeric Ithaca. According to Strabo, the coast of Acarnania was called Leucas in earlier times, the ancient sources call Leucas a Corinthian colony, perhaps with a Corcyraen participation. During the Peloponnesian War Leucas had joined the Spartan Confederation, Lefkada was part of the Despotate of Epirus until 1295 when it passed from Despot Nikephoros I to his son-in-law John Orsini. The Castle of Santa Maura, as the island known as, was first built in the beginning of the 14th century. The Orsini family lost Lefkada in 1331, to the Angevins, in 1343, Walter of Brienne granted Lefkada and the Santa Maura castle to Venetian Graziano Giorgio. Between 1343 and 1348, Serbian ruler Stefan Dušan invaded Albania, Epirus and Thessaly, conquering all except for Vonitsa, in 1362, Leonardo I Tocco seized Lefkada and Vonitsa. In 1479, the Ottomans conquered Lefkada, and rebuilt the castle on a large scale, the Venetians briefly held Lefkada between 1500 and 1503, during the Ottoman-Venetian War, after which it was returned to Ottoman rule by peace treaty
9.
Chalcis
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Chalcis or Chalkida is the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός, in the late Middle Ages, it was known as Negropont, a name that was applied to the entire island of Euboea as well. The earliest recorded mention of Chalcis is in the Iliad, where it is mentioned in the line as its rival Eretria. It is also documented that the set for the Trojan War gathered at Aulis. Chamber tombs at Trypa and Vromousa dated to the Mycenaean period were excavated by Papavasiliou in 1910. In the 8th and 7th centuries BC, colonists from Chalcis founded thirty townships on the peninsula of Chalcidice and several important cities in Magna Graecia, such as Naxos, Rhegion and Cumae. Its mineral produce, metal-work, purple and pottery not only found markets among these settlements, early in the 6th century BC, its prosperity was broken by a disastrous war with the Athenians, who expelled the ruling aristocracy and settled a cleruchy on the site. Chalcis subsequently became a member of both the Delian Leagues, in the Hellenistic period, it gained importance as a fortress by which the Macedonian rulers controlled central Greece. It was used by kings Antiochus III of Syria and Mithradates VI of Pontus as a base for invading Greece, under Roman rule, Chalcis retained a measure of commercial prosperity. The city is recorded as a city in the 6th-century Synecdemus and mentioned by the contemporary historian Procopius of Caesarea, the town survived an Arab naval raid in the 880s and its bishop is attested in the 869–70 Church council held at Constantinople. By the 12th century, the featured a Venetian trading station, being attacked by the Venetian fleet in 1171 and eventually seized by Venice in 1209. For Westerners, its name was Negropont or Negroponte. The town was a condominium between Venice and the Veronese barons of the rest of Euboea, known as the triarchs, who resided there. Chalcis or Negroponte became a Latin Church diocese, the first bishop being Theodorus, the Greek bishop of the see, a large hoard of late medieval jewellery dating from Venetian times was found in Chalcis Castle in the nineteenth century and is now in the British Museum. The synagogue dated to around 1400 and that siege is the subject of the Rossini opera Maometto II. The Ottomans made it the seat of the Admiral of the Archipelago, in 1688, it was successfully held by the Ottomans against a strong Venetian attack. The modern town received an impetus in its trade from the establishment of railway connection with Athens. The old town, called the Castro, was surrounded by a circuit of defense walls until they were completely razed for urban development around the start of the 20th century
10.
Parthenon
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The Parthenon is a former temple, on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, dedicated to the goddess Athena, whom the people of Athens considered their patron. Construction began in 447 BC when the Athenian Empire was at the peak of its power and it was completed in 438 BC although decoration of the building continued until 432 BC. It is the most important surviving building of Classical Greece, generally considered the zenith of the Doric order and its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of Greek art. The Parthenon is regarded as an symbol of Ancient Greece, Athenian democracy and western civilization. The Greek Ministry of Culture is currently carrying out a programme of restoration and reconstruction to ensure the stability of the partially ruined structure. The Parthenon itself replaced a temple of Athena, which historians call the Pre-Parthenon or Older Parthenon. The temple is aligned to the Hyades. While a sacred building dedicated to the patron goddess, the Parthenon was actually used primarily as a treasury. For a time, it served as the treasury of the Delian League, in the final decade of the sixth century AD, the Parthenon was converted into a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. After the Ottoman conquest, it was turned into a mosque in the early 1460s, on 26 September 1687, an Ottoman ammunition dump inside the building was ignited by Venetian bombardment. The resulting explosion damaged the Parthenon and its sculptures. From 1800 to 1803, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed some of the sculptures with the alleged permission of the Ottoman Empire. These sculptures, now known as the Elgin Marbles or the Parthenon Marbles, were sold in 1816 to the British Museum in London, since 1983, the Greek government has been committed to the return of the sculptures to Greece. The Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek–English Lexicon states that this room was the western cella of the Parthenon, jamauri D. Christopher Pelling asserts that Athena Parthenos may have constituted a discrete cult of Athena, intimately connected with, but not identical to, that of Athena Polias. According to this theory, the name of the Parthenon means the temple of the virgin goddess and it has also been suggested that the name of the temple alludes to the maidens, whose supreme sacrifice guaranteed the safety of the city. Parthénos has also applied to the Virgin Mary, Parthénos Maria. The first instance in which Parthenon definitely refers to the building is found in the writings of the 4th century BC orator Demosthenes. In 5th-century building accounts, the structure is simply called ho naos, because the Parthenon was dedicated to the Greek goddess Athena, it has sometimes been referred to as the Temple of Minerva, the Roman name for Athena, particularly during the 19th century
11.
Piraeus
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Piraeus is a port city in the region of Attica, Greece. Piraeus is located within the Athens urban area,12 kilometres southwest from its city center, the municipality of Piraeus and several other suburban municipalities within the regional unit of Piraeus form the greater Piraeus area, with a total population of 448,997. Piraeus has a recorded history, dating to ancient Greece. During the Golden Age of Athens the Long Walls were constructed to connect Athens with Piraeus, the port of Piraeus is the chief port in Greece, the largest passenger port in Europe and the second largest in the world, servicing about 20 million passengers annually. With a throughput of 1.4 million TEUs, Piraeus is placed among the top ten ports in container traffic in Europe, the city hosted events in both the 1896 and 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens. The University of Piraeus is one of the largest universities in Greece, Piraeus, which roughly means the place over the passage, has been inhabited since the 26th century BC. Consequently, it was called the Halipedon, meaning the salt field, through the centuries, the area was increasingly silted and flooding ceased, and thus by early classical times the land passage was made safe. In the late 6th century BC, the area caught attention due to its advantages, in 511 BC, the hill of Munichia was fortified by Hippias and four years later Piraeus became a deme of Attica by Cleisthenes. The Athenian fleet played a role in the battle of Salamis against the Persians in 480 BC. From then on Piraeus was permanently used as the navy base, the citys fortification was farther reinforced later by the construction of the Long Walls under Cimon and Pericles, with which Piraeus was connected to Athens. Meanwhile, Piraeus was rebuilt to the grid plan of architect Hippodamus of Miletus, known as the Hippodamian plan. As a result, Piraeus flourished and became a port of high security and great commercial activity, during the Peloponnesian War, Piraeus suffered its first setback. In the second year of the war, the first cases of the Athens plague were recorded in Piraeus, in 404 BC, the Spartan fleet under Lysander blockaded Piraeus and subsequently Athens surrendered to the Spartans, putting an end to the Delian League and the war itself. As a result, the tattered and unfortified port city was not able to compete with prosperous Rhodes, the destruction was completed in 395 AD by the Goths under Alaric I. Piraeus was led to a period of decline which lasted for fifteen centuries. During the Byzantine period the harbour of Piraeus was occasionally used for the Byzantine fleet and it was also called Porto Drako by Greeks, drako meaning not just dragon, but any monster. When Piraeus was taken by the Ottoman Empire in 1456, it known as Aslan Liman. The Piraeus Lion itself was looted in 1687 by Francesco Morosini during his expedition against Athens and was carried to the Venetian Arsenal, a copy of the lion statue is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus
12.
Piraeus Lion
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The Piraeus Lion is one of four lion statues on display at the Venetian Arsenal, where it was displayed as a symbol of Venices patron saint, Saint Mark. It was originally located in Piraeus, the harbour of Athens, copies of the statue can also be seen at the Piraeus Archaeological Museum and the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm. The lion was sculpted in about 360 BCE, and became a famous landmark in Piraeus. Its prominence was such that the port eventually became referred to in Italian as Porto Leone as the original name ceased to be used. It is depicted in a pose, with a hollow throat and the mark of a pipe running down its back. This is consistent with the description of the statue from the 1670s, the runes are carved in the shape of an elaborate lindworm dragon-headed scroll, in much the same style as on runestones in Scandinavia. The carvers of the runes were almost certainly Varangians, Scandinavian mercenaries in the service of the Byzantine Emperor, the inscriptions were not recognised as runes until the Swedish diplomat Johan David Åkerblad identified them at the end of the 18th century. They are in the shape of a lindworm and were first translated in the century by Carl Christian Rafn. The inscriptions are heavily eroded due to weathering and air pollution in Venice and this has required translators to reconstruct some of the runes, filling in the blanks to determine what words they represented. There have been attempts to decipher and translate the text. Below follow Rafns early attempt and Eric Brates attempt, which is considered to be the most successful one, AUK, ARMENIU, Hakon with Ulf and Asmund and Örn conquered this port. These men and Harold Hafi imposed a fine on account of the revolt of the Greek people. Dalk is detained captive in far lands, egil is gone on an expedition with Ragnar into Romania and Armenia. Some have tried to trace Harald Hardrades name on the inscription, erik Brates interpretation from 1914 is considered to be the most successful one
