Justinian I
Justinian I, traditionally known as Justinian the Great and Saint Justinian the Great in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was the Eastern Roman emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the historical Roman Empire. Justinian's rule constitutes a distinct epoch in the history of the Later Roman empire, his reign is marked by the ambitious but only realized renovatio imperii, or "restoration of the Empire"; because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been known as the "last Roman" in mid 20th century historiography. This ambition was expressed by the partial recovery of the territories of the defunct Western Roman Empire, his general, swiftly conquered the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa. Subsequently, Belisarius and other generals conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom, restoring Dalmatia, Sicily and Rome to the empire after more than half a century of rule by the Ostrogoths; the prefect Liberius reclaimed the south of the Iberian peninsula, establishing the province of Spania.
These campaigns re-established Roman control over the western Mediterranean, increasing the Empire's annual revenue by over a million solidi. During his reign, Justinian subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before, he engaged the Sasanian Empire in the east during Kavad I's reign, again during Khosrow I's. A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the uniform rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis, still the basis of civil law in many modern states, his reign marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, his building program yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia. Justinian was born in Tauresium, around 482. A native speaker of Latin, he came from a peasant family believed to have been of Illyro-Roman or Thraco-Roman origins; the cognomen Iustinianus, which he took is indicative of adoption by his uncle Justin. During his reign, he founded Justiniana Prima not far from his birthplace, which today is in South East Serbia.
His mother was the sister of Justin. Justin, in the imperial guard before he became emperor, adopted Justinian, brought him to Constantinople, ensured the boy's education; as a result, Justinian was well educated in jurisprudence and Roman history. Justinian served for some time with the Excubitors but the details of his early career are unknown. Chronicler John Malalas, who lived during the reign of Justinian, tells of his appearance that he was short, fair skinned, curly haired, round faced and handsome. Another contemporary chronicler, compares Justinian's appearance to that of tyrannical Emperor Domitian, although this is slander; when Emperor Anastasius died in 518, Justin was proclaimed the new emperor, with significant help from Justinian. During Justin's reign, Justinian was the emperor's close confidant. Justinian showed much ambition, it has been thought that he was functioning as virtual regent long before Justin made him associate emperor on 1 April 527, although there is no conclusive evidence of this.
As Justin became senile near the end of his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler. Justinian was appointed consul in 521 and commander of the army of the east. Upon Justin's death on 1 August 527, Justinian became the sole sovereign; as a ruler, Justinian showed great energy. He was known as "the emperor" on account of his work habits, he seems to have been amiable and easy to approach. Around 525, he married Theodora, in Constantinople, she was by some twenty years his junior. In earlier times, Justinian could not have married her owing to her class, but his uncle, Emperor Justin I, had passed a law allowing intermarriage between social classes. Theodora would become influential in the politics of the Empire, emperors would follow Justinian's precedent in marrying outside the aristocratic class; the marriage caused a scandal, but Theodora would prove to be a shrewd judge of character and Justinian's greatest supporter. Other talented individuals included his legal adviser. Justinian's rule was not universally popular.
Justinian recovered. Theodora died in 548 at a young age of cancer. Justinian, who had always had a keen interest in theological matters and participated in debates on Christian doctrine, became more devoted to religion during the years of his life; when he died on 14 November 565, he left no children, though his wife Theodora had given birth to a stillborn son several years into his reign. He was succeeded by Justin II, the son of his sister Vigilantia and married to Sophia, the niece of Empress Theodora. Justinian's body was entombed in a specially built mausoleum in the Church of the
Madonna (art)
A Madonna is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Orthodox churches; the word is from Italian ma donna, meaning'my lady'. The Madonna and Child type is prevalent in Christian iconography, divided into many traditional subtypes in Eastern Orthodox iconography known after the location of a notable icon of the type, such as the Theotokos of Vladimir, Blachernitissa, etc. or descriptive of the depicted posture, as in Hodegetria, etc. The term Madonna in the sense of "picture or statue of the Virgin Mary" enters English usage in the 17th century in reference to works of the Italian Renaissance. In an Eastern Orthodox context, such images are known as Theotokos. "Madonna" may be used of representations of Mary, with or without the infant Jesus, is the focus and central figure of the image flanked or surrounded by angels or saints. Other types of Marian imagery have a narrative context, depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin, e.g. the Annunciation to Mary, are not called "Madonna".
The earliest depictions of Mary date still to Early Christianity, found in the Catacombs of Rome. These are in a narrative context; the classical "Madonna" or "Theotokos" imagery develops from the 5th century, as Marian devotion rose to great importance after the Council of Ephesus formally affirmed her status as "Mother of God or Theotokos in 431. The Theotokos iconography as it developed in the 6th to 8th century rose to great importance in the high medieval period both in the Eastern Orthodox and in the Latin spheres. According to a tradition recorded in the 8th century, Marian iconography goes back to a portrait drawn from life by Luke the Evangelist, with a number of icons claimed to either represent this original icon or to be a direct copy of it. In the Western tradition, depictions of the Madonna were diversified by Renaissance masters such as Duccio, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Giovanni Bellini and Rubens, while Eastern Orthodox iconography adheres more to the inherited traditional types.
Liturgy depicting Mary as powerful intercessor was brought from Greek into Latin tradition in the 8th century. The Greek title of Δεσποινα was adopted as Latin Domina "Lady"; the medieval Italian Ma Donna pronounced reflects Mea Domina, while Nostra Domina was adopted in French, as Nostre Dame "Our Lady". These names signal both the increased importance of the cult of the virgin and the prominence of art in service to Marian devotion during the late medieval period. During the 13th century with the increasing influence of chivalry and aristocratic culture on poetry and the visual arts, the Madonna is represented as the queen of Heaven enthroned. Madonna was meant more to remind people of the theological concept, placing such a high value on purity or virginity; this is represented by the color of her clothing. The color blue symbolized purity and royalty. While the Italian term Madonna paralleled English Our Lady in late medieval Marian devotion, it was imported as an art historical term into English usage in the 1640s, designating the Marian art of the Italian Renaissance.
In this sense, "a Madonna", or "a Madonna with Child" is used of specific works of art mostly of Italian works. A "Madonna" may alternatively be called "Virgin" or "Our Lady", but "Madonna" is not applied to eastern works. There are several distinct types of representation of the Madonna. One type of Madonna shows Mary alone, standing glorified and with a gesture of prayer, benediction or prophesy; this type of image occurs in a number of ancient apsidal mosaics. Full-length standing images of the Madonna more include the infant Jesus, who turns towards the viewer or raises his hand in benediction; the most famous Byzantine image, the Hodegetria was of this type, though most copies are at half-length. This type of image occurs in sculpture and may be found in fragile ivory carvings, in limestone on the central door posts of many cathedrals, in polychrome wooden or plaster casts in every Catholic Church. There are a number of famous paintings that depict the Madonna in this manner, notably the Sistine Madonna by Raphael.
The "Madonna enthroned" is a type of image that dates from the Byzantine period and was used in Medieval and Renaissance times. These representations of the Madonna and Child take the form of large altarpieces, they occur as frescoes and apsidal mosaics. In Medieval examples the Madonna is accompanied by angels who support the throne, or by rows of saints. In Renaissance painting High Renaissance painting, the saints may be grouped informally in a type of composition known as a Sacra conversazione; the Madonna of humility refers to portrayals in which the Madonna is sitting on the ground, or sitting upon a low cushion. She may be holding the Child Jesus in her lap; this style was a product of Franciscan piety, due to Simone Martini. It spread through Italy and by 1375 examples began to appear in Spain and Germany, it was the most popular among the styles of the early Trecento artistic period. Half-length Madonnas are the form most taken
Paris Psalter
For the third copy of the Utrecht Psalter. Produced in England in the late 12th century, see Great Canterbury Psalter. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale The Paris Psalter, designated by siglum 1133, is a Byzantine illuminated manuscript containing 449 folios and 14 full-page miniatures with a grand size of 37 x 26.5 cm. "In a grand classical style", as the Encyclopædia Britannica puts it, together with Basil I's Homilies of St Gregory Nazianzus, the Paris Psalter is considered a key monument of the so-called Macedonian Renaissance in Byzantine art during the 10th century. The miniatures include one of the battle between Goliath; the Paris Psalter was large and extravagantly illustrated and was famous for its apparent classicism in figural style, painting and coloration. Among the classicizing features are personifications that have been incorporated in the compositions; the discovery that images such as David composing the psalms surrounded by personifications were derived from Greco-Roman wall painting led 19th-century scholars to date the manuscript to the early 6th century.
In the early 20th century, Hugo Buchthal and Kurt Weitzmann, took issue with the Late Antique dating, conclusively demonstrating that the realized, confident classicism and illusionism of the miniatures were the product of the 10th century, thereby extending the persistence of classical art in Byzantium into the Middle Ages. The psalter was influential in its time and many centuries after that, it introduced a new way of illustrating manuscripts during the Byzantium period. The David pictures emphasize the honor of the ideal emperor through the presence of personifications, both classical and Christian, it has been proposed that the book was made for the future emperor Romanos II at the behest of his father, Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos. The assumption that it is a copy remains ambiguous, but there is no confusion that the MS stands at the head of a long line of smaller and books that mimic its body of illustration; the abiding hypothesis that its miniatures are insertions has been challenged.
The book as we now have it was available ca.1300 when some of its miniatures were adapted for Psalters now at the Vatican and Mt. Sinai, it was acquired by the French ambassador in Constantinople in 1557–59. As a psalter, the Paris Psalter is a copy of the Book of Psalms known as the Hebrew's Bible, in Ancient Greek. Psalters were owned by the rich and royalty and were used as a tool to learn how to read. Many psalters were copied from the Middle Ages and richly illuminated; the illuminations are large. It was thought to be incomprehensible that a repertoire of pagan forms and subjects could have a place within a manuscript of Christian liturgical or private devotion; the Psalter includes personifications which represent abstract concepts and virtues such as clemency and wisdom. The figures are shown as a true sign of revived interest in antiquity; the personifications dominate the devotional aspect of the manuscript. King David, the traditional author of many of the Psalms, is depicted in eight illuminations.
He is presented in two primary ways: royal. For example, David's victory over Goliath in a painting seen in the Paris Psalter and could be seen as a comparison to Christ's victory over Satan or the emperor's victory over an enemy. 1. Kurt Weitzmann, “The Ode Pictures of the Aristocratic Psalter Recension,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 30: 67–84, here p. 73. Wander, S.. The Paris Psalter and the Antiquitates Judaicae of Flavius Josephus. Word & Image, 30, 90-103. Anderson, J.. Further Prolegomena to a Study of the Pantokrator Psalter: An Unpublished Miniature, Some Restored Losses, Observations on the Relationship with the Chludov Psalter and Paris Fragment. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 52, 305-321. H. Buchthal.. The miniatures of the Paris Psalter: A study in middle Byzantine painting /. Nendeln, Liechtenstein:: Kraus Reprint. Maxwell, Kathleen.. The aristocratic Psalters in Byzantium. Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, 62, 406. Lowden, J.. Observations on Illustrated Byzantine Psalters; the Art Bulletin, 70, 242-260.
Http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10515446x/
First Bulgarian Empire
The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 681. There they secured Byzantine recognition of their right to settle south of the Danube by defeating – with the help of local South Slavic tribes – the Byzantine army led by Constantine IV. At the height of its power, Bulgaria spread from the Danube Bend to the Black Sea and from the Dnieper River to the Adriatic Sea; as the state solidified its position in the Balkans, it entered into a centuries-long interaction, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, with the Byzantine Empire. Bulgaria emerged as Byzantium's chief antagonist to its north; the two powers enjoyed periods of peace and alliance, most notably during the Second Arab siege of Constantinople, where the Bulgarian army broke the siege and destroyed the Arab army, thus preventing an Arab invasion of Southeastern Europe. Byzantium had a strong cultural influence on Bulgaria, which led to the eventual adoption of Christianity in 864.
After the disintegration of the Avar Khaganate, the country expanded its territory northwest to the Pannonian Plain. The Bulgarians confronted the advance of the Pechenegs and Cumans, achieved a decisive victory over the Magyars, forcing them to establish themselves permanently in Pannonia. During the late 9th and early 10th centuries, Simeon I achieved a string of victories over the Byzantines. Thereafter, he was recognized with the title of Emperor, proceeded to expand the state to its greatest extent. After the annihilation of the Byzantine army in the battle of Anchialus in 917, the Bulgarians laid siege to Constantinople in 923 and 924; the Byzantines, however recovered, in 1014, under Basil II, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Bulgarians at the Battle of Kleidion. By 1018, the last Bulgarian strongholds had surrendered to the Byzantine Empire, the First Bulgarian Empire had ceased to exist, it was succeeded by the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1185. After the adoption of Christianity, Bulgaria became the cultural center of Slavic Europe.
Its leading cultural position was further consolidated with the invention of the Glagolitic and Early Cyrillic alphabets shortly after in the capital Preslav, literature produced in Old Bulgarian soon began spreading north. Old Bulgarian became the lingua franca of much of Eastern Europe and it came to be known as Old Church Slavonic. In 927, the independent Bulgarian Patriarchate was recognized; the ruling Bulgars and other non-Slavic tribes in the empire mixed and adopted the prevailing Slavic language, thus forming the Bulgarian nation from the 7th century to the 9th century. Since the late 9th century, the names Bulgarians and Bulgarian gained prevalence and became permanent designations for the local population, both in literature and in common parlance; the development of Old Church Slavonic literacy had the effect of preventing the assimilation of the South Slavs into neighbouring cultures, while stimulating the formation of a distinct Bulgarian identity. The First Bulgarian Empire became known as Bulgaria since its recognition by the Byzantine Empire in 681.
Some historians use the terms First Bulgarian State, or First Bulgarian Tsardom. Between 681 and 864 the country was known as the Bulgarian Khanate, Danube Bulgarian Khanate, or Danube Bulgar Khanate in order to differentiate it from Volga Bulgaria, which emerged from another Bulgar group. During its early existence, the country was called the Bulgar state or Bulgar Khaghanate. Between 864 and 917/927, the country was known as the Principality of Bulgaria or Knyazhestvo Bulgaria. In English language sources, the country is known as the Bulgarian Empire. Parts of the eastern Balkan Peninsula were in antiquity inhabited by the Thracians who were a group of Indo-European tribes; the whole region as far north as the Danube River was incorporated into the Roman Empire by the 1st century AD. The decline of the Roman Empire after the 3rd century AD and the continuous invasions of Goths and Huns left much of the region devastated, depopulated and in economic decline by the 5th century; the surviving eastern half of the Roman Empire, called by historians the Byzantine Empire, could not exercise effective control in these territories other than in the coastal areas and certain cities in the interior.
Nonetheless, it never relinquished the claim to the whole region up to the Danube. A series of administrative, legislative and economic reforms somewhat improved the situation but despite these reforms disorder continued in much of the Balkans; the reign of Emperor Justinian I saw temporary recovery of control and reconstruction of a number of fortresses but after his death the empire was unable to face the threat of the Slavs due to the significant reduction of revenue and manpower. The Slavs, of Indo-European origin, were first mentioned in written sources to inhabit the territories to the north of the Danube in the 5th century AD but most historians agree that they had arrived earlier; the group of Slavs that came to be known as the South Slavs was divided into Antes and Sclaveni who spoke the same language. The Slavic incursions in the Balkans increased during the second half of Justinian I's reign and while these were pillaging raids, large-scale settlement began in the 570s and 580s; this migration is associated with the arrival of the Avars who settled in the plains of Pannonia between the rivers Danube and Tisza in the 560s subjugating various Bulgar and Slavic tribes in the process.
Consumed in bitter wars with th
Cyprus
Cyprus the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean, located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel, north of Egypt, southeast of Greece. The earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this period include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia, Cyprus is home to some of the oldest water wells in the world. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC; as a strategic location in the Middle East, it was subsequently occupied by several major powers, including the empires of the Assyrians and Persians, from whom the island was seized in 333 BC by Alexander the Great. Subsequent rule by Ptolemaic Egypt, the Classical and Eastern Roman Empire, Arab caliphates for a short period, the French Lusignan dynasty and the Venetians, was followed by over three centuries of Ottoman rule between 1571 and 1878.
Cyprus was placed under the UK's administration based on the Cyprus Convention in 1878 and was formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders and Turkey in the 1950s. Turkish leaders for a period advocated the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as Cyprus was considered an "extension of Anatolia" by them. Following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960; the crisis of 1963–64 brought further intercommunal violence between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, which displaced more than 25,000 Turkish Cypriots into enclaves and brought the end of Turkish Cypriot representation in the republic. On 15 July 1974, a coup d'état was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis, the incorporation of Cyprus into Greece; this action precipitated the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 20 July, which led to the capture of the present-day territory of Northern Cyprus in the following month, after a ceasefire collapsed, the displacement of over 150,000 Greek Cypriots and 50,000 Turkish Cypriots.
A separate Turkish Cypriot state in the north was established by unilateral declaration in 1983. These events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute; the Republic of Cyprus has de jure sovereignty over the entire island, including its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone, with the exception of the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, which remain under the UK's control according to the London and Zürich Agreements. However, the Republic of Cyprus is de facto partitioned into two main parts: the area under the effective control of the Republic, located in the south and west, comprising about 59% of the island's area. Another nearly 4% of the island's area is covered by the UN buffer zone; the international community considers the northern part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under international law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union.
Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean. With an advanced, high-income economy and a high Human Development Index, the Republic of Cyprus has been a member of the Commonwealth since 1961 and was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement until it joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. On 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone; the earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek, ku-pi-ri-jo, meaning "Cypriot", written in Linear B syllabic script. The classical Greek form of the name is Κύπρος; the etymology of the name is unknown. Suggestions include: the Greek word for the Mediterranean cypress tree, κυπάρισσος the Greek name of the henna tree, κύπρος an Eteocypriot word for copper, it has been suggested, for example, that it has roots in the Sumerian word for copper or for bronze, from the large deposits of copper ore found on the island. Through overseas trade, the island has given its name to the Classical Latin word for copper through the phrase aes Cyprium, "metal of Cyprus" shortened to Cuprum.
The standard demonym relating to Cyprus or its people or culture is Cypriot. The terms Cypriote and Cyprian are used, though less frequently; the earliest confirmed site of human activity on Cyprus is Aetokremnos, situated on the south coast, indicating that hunter-gatherers were active on the island from around 10,000 BC, with settled village communities dating from 8200 BC. The arrival of the first humans correlates with the extinction of the dwarf hippos and dwarf elephants. Water wells discovered by archaeologists in western Cyprus are believed to be among the oldest in the world, dated at 9,000 to 10,500 years old. Remains of an 8-month-old cat were discovered buried with a human body at a separate Neolithic site in Cyprus; the grave is estimated to be 9,500 years old, predating ancient Egyptian civilisation and pushing back the ear
Sclaveni
The Sclaveni or Sklavenoi were early Slavic tribes that raided and settled the Balkans in the Early Middle Ages and became known as the ethnogenesis of the South Slavs. They were mentioned by early Byzantine chroniclers as barbarians having appeared at the Byzantine borders along with the Antes, another Slavic group; the Sclaveni were differentiated from the Wends. Most South Slavic tribes accepted Byzantine suzerainty, came under Byzantine cultural influence; the term was used as general catch-all term until the emergence of separate tribal names by the 10th century. The Byzantines broadly grouped the numerous Slav tribes living in proximity with the Eastern Roman Empire into two groups: the Sklavenoi and the Antes; the Sclaveni were called as such by Procopius, as Sclavi by Jordanes and Pseudo-Maurice. The derived Greek term Sklavinia was used for Slav tribes in Byzantine Macedonia and the Peloponnese. By 800, the term referred to Slavic mobile military colonists who settled as allies within the territories of the Byzantine Empire.
Slavic military settlements appeared in the Peloponnese, Asia Minor, Italy. Procopius gives the most detail about the Antes; the Sclaveni are mentioned by Jordanes, Pseudo-Caesarius, Menander Protector, etc. The first Slavic raid south of the Danube was recorded by Procopius, who mentions an attack of the Antes, "who dwell close to the Sclaveni" in 518. Scholar Michel Kazanski identified the 6th-century Prague culture and Sukow-Dziedzice group as Sclaveni archaeological cultures, the Penkovka culture was identified as Antes. In the 530s, Emperor Justinian seems to have used divide and conquer and the Sclaveni and Antes are mentioned as fighting each other. Sclaveni are first mentioned in the context of the military policy on the Danube frontier of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In 537, 1,600 cavalry, made up of Sclaveni and Antes, were shipped by Justinian to Italy to rescue Belisarius. Sometime between 533–34 and 545, there was a conflict between the Antes and Sclaveni in Eastern Europe. Procopius noted that the two "became hostile to one another and engaged in battle" until a Sclaveni victory.
The conflict was aided or initiated by the Byzantines. In the same period, the Antes raided Thrace; the Romans recruited mounted mercenaries from both tribes against the Ostrogoths. The two tribes were at peace by 545. Notably, one of the captured Antes claimed to be Roman general Chilbudius, he was freed. He was pressured and continued to claim that he was Chilbudius; the Antes are last mentioned as anti-Byzantine belligerents in 545, the Sclaveni continued to raid the Balkans. The Antes became Roman allies by treaty in 545. Between 545 and 549, the Sclaveni raided deep into Roman territory. In 547, 300 Antes fought the Ostrogoths in Lucania. In the summer of 550, the Sclaveni came close to Naissus, were seen as a great threat, their intent on capturing Thessaloniki and the surroundings was thwarted by Germanus. After this, for a year, the Sclaveni spent their time in Dalmatia "as if in their own land"; the Sclaveni raided Illyricum and returned home with booty. In 558 the Avars arrived at the Black Sea steppe, defeated the Antes between the Dnieper and Dniester.
The Avars subsequently allied themselves with the Sclaveni. Daurentius, the first Slavic chieftain recorded by name, was sent an Avar embassy requesting his Slavs to accept Avar suzerainty and pay tribute, because the Avars knew that the Slavs had amassed great wealth after plundering the Balkans. Daurentius retorted that "Others do not conquer our land, we conquer theirs so it shall always be for us", had the envoys slain. Bayan campaigned against Daurentius' people, with aid from the Byzantines, set fire to many of their settlements, although this did not stop the Slavic raids deep into the Byzantine Empire. In 578, a large army of Sclaveni devastated other areas. In the 580s, the Antes were bribed to attack Sclaveni settlements. John of Ephesus noted in 581: "the accursed people of the Slavs set out and plundered all of Greece, the regions surrounding Thessalonica, Thrace, taking many towns and castles, laying waste, burning and seizing the whole country." However, John exaggerated the intensity of the Slavic incursions since he was influenced by his confinement in Constantinople from 571 up until 579.
Moreover, he perceived the Slavs as God's instrument for punishing the persecutors of the Monophysites. By the 580s, as the Slav communities on the Danube became larger and more organised, as the Avars exerted their influence, raids became larger and resulted in permanent settlement. By 586, they managed to raid the western Peloponnese, Epirus, leaving only the east part of Peloponnese, mountainous and inaccessible. In 586 AD, as many as 100,000 Slav warriors raided Thessaloniki; the final attempt to restore the northern border was from 591 to 605, when the end of conflicts with Persia allowed Emperor Maurice to transfer units to the north. However he was deposed after a military revolt in 602, the Danubian frontier collapsed one and a half decades later. In 602
Achaea (Roman province)
Achaea or Achaia, was a province of the Roman Empire, consisting of the Peloponnese, Boeotia, the Cyclades and parts of Phthiotis, Aetolia-Acarnania and Phocis. In the north, it bordered on the provinces of Macedonia; the region was annexed by the Roman Republic in 146 BC following the sack of Corinth by the Roman general Lucius Mummius, awarded the cognomen "Achaicus". It became part of the Roman province of Macedonia. Achaea was a senatorial province, thus free from military men and legions, one of the most prestigious and sought-after provinces for senators to govern. Athens was the primary center of education for the imperial elite, rivaled only by Alexandria, one of the most important cities in the Empire. Achaea was among the most prosperous and peaceful parts of the Roman world until Late Antiquity, when it first suffered from barbarian invasions; the province remained prosperous and urbanized however, as attested in the 6th-century Synecdemus. The Slavic invasions of the 7th century led to widespread destruction, with much of the population fleeing to fortified cities, the Aegean islands and Italy, while some Slavic tribes settled the interior.
The territories of Achaea remaining in Byzantine hands were grouped into the theme of Hellas. In 150-148 BC the Romans fought the Fourth Macedonian War, after which they annexed Macedon the largest and most powerful state in mainland Greece. In 146 BC the Achaean League rebelled against the Romans; this was a hopeless war. Polybius, an ancient Greek scholar, blamed the demagogues of the cities of the Achaean League for stirring nationalism, the idea that the league could stand up to Roman power, fostering a rash decision and inciting a suicidal war; the League was defeated and its main city, Corinth was destroyed. The Romans decided to annex the whole of mainland Greece and Achaea became part of the Roman Province of Macedonia; some cities, such as Athens and Sparta retained their self-governing status within their own territories. The First Mithridatic War was fought in Attica and Boeotia, two regions which were to become part of the province of Achaea. In 89 BC, Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, seized the Roman Province of Asia.
Mithridates sent Archelaus to Greece, where he established Aristion as a tyrant in Athens. The Roman consul Lucius Cornelius Sulla marched on Athens, he marched through Boeotia on his way to Attica. Sulla besieged Athens and Piraeus in 87-86 BC and sacked Athens and destroyed Piraeus, he defeated Archelaus at the Battle of Chaeronea and the Battle of Orchomenus, both fought in Boeotia in 86 BC. Roman rule was preserved; the commerce of Achaea was no longer a rival to that of Rome. After the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra, about 31 BC, the Emperor Augustus separated Macedonia from Achaea, though it remained a Senatorial province, as under the Republic. In AD 15, Emperor Tiberius, responding to complaints of mismanagement by the Senatorial proconsul made Achaea and Macedonia Imperial provinces, they were restored to the Senate as part of Emperor Claudius' reforms in AD 44. Over time, Greece would rebuild, culminating during the reign of the Hellenophile Emperor Hadrian. Along with the Greek scholar Herodes Atticus, Hadrian undertook an extensive rebuilding program.
He beautified many of the Greek cities. Copper and silver mines were exploited in Achaea, though production was not as great as the mines of other Roman-controlled areas, such as Noricum and the provinces of Hispania. Marble from Greek quarries was a valuable commodity. Educated Greek slaves were much in demand in Rome in the role of doctors and teachers, educated men were a significant export. Achaea produced household luxuries, such as furniture, pottery and linens. Greek olives and olive oil were exported to the rest of the Empire. Publius Memmius Regulus Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus Gaius Calpurnius Piso Aegeates Titus Avidius Quietus Gaius Avidius Nigrinus Armenius Brocchus L. Munatius Gallus M. Mettius Rufus Lucius Herennius Saturninus Lucius Julius Marinus Caecilius Simplex C. Caristanius Julianus C. Minicius Fundanus Cassius Longinus Gaius Avidius Nigrinus Titus Calestrius Tiro Orbius Speratus Cassius Maximus Calpurnius Longus C. Valerius Severus Clodius Granianus T. Prifernius Paetus Rosianus Geminus Lucius Antonius Albus C.
Julius Severus Gaius Julius Scapula Julius Candidus Q. Licinius Modestinus Sex. Attius Labeo Sextus Quintilius Condianus Sextus Quintilius Valerius Maxmus L. Albinus Saturninus Gaius Sabucius Maior Caecilianus Lucius Calpurnius Proculus Gaius Caesonius Macer Rufinianus Pupienus Maximus Gaius Asinius Quadratus Protimus Claudius Demetrius Marcus Aemilius Saturninus Marcus Aurelius Amarantus Lucius Julius Julianus Aurelius Proculus Quintus Flavius Balbus Lucius Lucius Priscillianus Gnaeus Claudius Leonticus Rutilius Pudens Crispinus Marcus Ulpius (end of the 2nd/beginning of the 3rd ce
