1.
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
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The Basilica of Sant Apollinare Nuovo is a basilica church in Ravenna, Italy. It was erected by Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great as his palace chapel during the first quarter of the 6th century and this Arian church was originally dedicated in 504 AD to Christ the Redeemer. It was reconsecrated in 561 AD, under the rule of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, suppressing the Arian cult, the church was dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, a foe of Arianism. According to legend, Pope Gregory the Great ordered that the mosaics in the church be blackened, on some columns, images of arms and hands can be seen, which are parts of figures once representing praying Goths and Theodorics court, deleted in Byzantine times. Renovations were done to the mosaics in the century by Felice Kibel. The present apse is a reconstruction after being damaged during World War I, on the upper band of the left lateral wall are 13 small mosaics, depicting Jesus miracles and parables, and on the right wall are 13 mosaics depicting the Passion and Resurrection. However, the flagellation and crucifixion are lacking and they describe the parts of the Bible that were read aloud in the church during Lent under the rule of Theodoric the Great. On the left, Jesus is always depicted as young, beardless man, on the right, Jesus is depicted with a beard. For the Arians, this emphasized that Jesus grew older and became a man of sorrows and these mosaics are separated by decorative mosaic panels depicting a shell-shaped niche with a tapestry, cross, and two doves. These mosaics were executed by at least two artists, the next row of mosaics are a scheme of haloed saints, prophets and evangelists, sixteen on each side. The figures are executed in a Hellenistic-Roman tradition and show a certain individuality of expression as compared to the figures in the basilica. Each individual depicted holds a book, in either scroll or codex format and they were executed in the time of Theodoric. The row below contains large mosaics in Byzantine style, lacking any individuality and these were executed about 50 years after the time of bishop Agnellus, when the church had already become a Orthodox church. To the left is a procession of the 22 Virgins of the Byzantine period, led by the Three Magi, moving from the city of Classe towards the group of the Madonna and Child surrounded by four angels. In another part of the church there is a rough mosaic containing the portrait of the Emperor Justinian, the entrance of the church is preceded by a marble portico built in the 16th century. Next to the church, on the side of the portico. This is one of the most important buildings from the period of cultural significance in European religious art. Some art historians claim that one of the mosaics contains the first depiction of Satan in western art, in the mosaic, a blue angel appears to the left hand side of Jesus behind three goats
2.
Goths
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The Goths were an East Germanic people, two of whose branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe. In the Gothic language they were called the Gut-þiuda, most commonly translated as Gothic people, gut-þiudai, or Gutans Inferred from gen. pl. gutani in Pietroassa inscription. In Old Norse they were known as the Gutar or Gotar, in Latin as the Gothi, the exact origin of the ancient Goths is unknown. Evidence of them before they interacted with the Romans is limited, Modern academics have generally abandoned this theory. Today, the Wielbark culture is thought to have developed from earlier cultures in the same area, archaeological finds show close contacts between southern Sweden and the Baltic coastal area on the continent, and further towards the south-east, evidenced by pottery, house types and graves. Rather than a migration, similarities in the material cultures may be products of long-term regular contacts. However, the record could indicate that while his work is thought to be unreliable. Sometime around the 1st century AD, Germanic peoples may have migrated from Scandinavia to Gothiscandza, early archaeological evidence in the traditional Swedish province of Östergötland suggests a general depopulation during this period. However, there is no evidence for a substantial emigration from Scandinavia. Upon their arrival on the Pontic Steppe, the Germanic tribes adopted the ways of the Eurasian nomads, the first Greek references to the Goths call them Scythians, since this area along the Black Sea historically had been occupied by an unrelated people of that name. The earliest known material culture associated with the Goths on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea is the Wielbark culture, centered on the modern region of Pomerania in northern Poland. This culture replaced the local Oxhöft or Oksywie culture in the 1st century, the culture of this area was influenced by southern Scandinavian culture beginning as early as the late Nordic Bronze Age and early Pre-Roman Iron Age. In Eastern Europe they formed part of the Chernyakhov culture and it has been suggested that the Goths maintained contact with southern Sweden during their migration. In the first attested incursion in Thrace, the Goths were mentioned as Boranoi by Zosimus, the first incursion of the Roman Empire that can be attributed to Goths is the sack of Histria in 238. Several such raids followed in subsequent decades, in particular the Battle of Abrittus in 251, led by Cniva, at the time, there were at least two groups of Goths, the Thervingi and the Greuthungs. Goths were subsequently recruited into the Roman Army to fight in the Roman-Persian Wars. The Moesogoths settled in Thrace and Moesia, the first seaborne raids took place in three subsequent years, probably 255-257. An unsuccessful attack on Pityus was followed in the year by another
3.
Visigoths
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The Visigoths were the western branches of the nomadic tribes of Germanic peoples referred to collectively as the Goths. These tribes flourished and spread throughout the late Roman Empire in Late Antiquity, the Visigoths emerged from earlier Gothic groups who had invaded the Roman Empire beginning in 376 and had defeated the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Relations between the Romans and the Visigoths were variable, alternately warring with one another and making treaties when convenient, the Visigoths invaded Italy under Alaric I and sacked Rome in 410. The Visigoths first settled in southern Gaul as foederati of the Romans – a relationship established in 418, however, they soon fell out with their Roman hosts and established their own kingdom with its capital at Toulouse. They next extended their authority into Hispania at the expense of the Suebi, in 507, however, their rule in Gaul was ended by the Franks under Clovis I, who defeated them in the Battle of Vouillé. After that, the Visigoth kingdom was limited to Hispania, in or around 589, the Visigoths under Reccared I converted from Arianism to Nicene Christianity, gradually adopting the culture of their Hispano-Roman subjects. Their legal code, the Visigothic Code abolished the practice of applying different laws for Romans. Once legal distinctions were no longer being made between Romani and Gothi, they became known collectively as Hispani, in the century that followed, the region was dominated by the Councils of Toledo and the episcopacy. In 711 or 712, a force of invading African Moors defeated the Visigoths in the Battle of Guadalete and their king and many members of their governing elite were killed, and their kingdom rapidly collapsed. During their governance of the Kingdom of Hispania, the Visigoths built several churches that survive and they also left many artifacts, which have been discovered in increasing numbers by archaeologists in recent times. The Treasure of Guarrazar of votive crowns and crosses is the most spectacular and they founded the only new cities in western Europe from the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire until the rise of the Carolingian dynasty. Many Visigothic names are still in use in modern Spanish and Portuguese, contemporaneous references to the Gothic tribes use the terms Vesi, Ostrogothi, Thervingi, and Greuthungi. Most scholars have concluded that the terms Vesi and Tervingi were both used to refer to one particular tribe, while the terms Ostrogothi and Greuthungi were used to refer to another. In addition, the Notitia Dignitatum equates the Vesi with the Tervingi in a reference to the years 388–391, the earliest sources for each of the four names are roughly contemporaneous. The first recorded reference to the Tervingi is in a eulogy of the emperor Maximian, delivered in or shortly after 291 and it says that the Tervingi, another division of the Goths, joined with the Taifali to attack the Vandals and Gepidae. The first known use of the term Ostrogoths is in a document dated September 392 from Milan and this would explain why the latter terms dropped out of use shortly after 400, when the Goths were displaced by the Hunnic invasions. Wolfram believes that the people Zosimus describes were those Tervingi who had remained behind after the Hunnic conquest, for the most part, all of the terms discriminating between different Gothic tribes gradually disappeared after they moved into the Roman Empire. The last indication that the Goths whose king reigned at Toulouse thought of themselves as Vesi is found in a panegyric on Avitus by Sidonius Apollinaris dated 1 January 456, most recent scholars have concluded that Visigothic group identity emerged only within the Roman Empire
4.
Greuthungi
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The Greuthungs, Greuthungi, or Greutungi were a Gothic people of the Ukrainian steppes in the 3rd and the 4th centuries. They had close contacts with the Thervingi, another Gothic people and they may be the same people as the later Ostrogoths. Greuthungi may mean steppe dwellers or people of the pebbly coasts and it is also possible that the name Greuthungi has pre-Pontic Scandinavian origins. It may mean rock people, to distinguish the Ostrogoths from the Gauts, Jordanes does refer to an Evagreotingi in Scandza, but this may be legend. It has also suggested that it may be related to certain place names in Poland. Jordanes, a mid 6th-century historian identifies the 4th-century Greuthungi with the 5th/6th-century Ostrogothi, Jordanes also describes a large Greuthung kingdom in the late 4th-century, but Ammianus Marcellinus, a late 4th-century historian, does not record this. Many modern historians, including Peter Heather and Michael Kulikowski, doubt that it was particularly extensive. In time and geographical area, the Greutungi and their neighbours, Chernyakhov settlements cluster in open ground in river valleys. The houses include sunken-floored dwellings, surface dwellings, and stall-houses, the largest known settlement is 35 hectares. Most settlements are open and unfortified, some forts are also known, Chernyakhov cemeteries include both cremation and inhumation burials in which the head is to the north. Grave goods often include pottery, bone combs, and iron tools, the division of the Goths is first attested in 291. The Greuthungi are first named by Ammianus Marcellinus, writing no earlier than 392 and perhaps later than 395, the Ostrogoths are first named in a document dated September 392 from Milan. Claudian mentions that they and the Gruthungi inhabit Phrygia, according to Herwig Wolfram, the primary sources either use the terminology of Tervingi/Greuthungi or Vesi/Ostrogothi and never mix the pairs. All four names were used together, but the pairing was always preserved, as in Gruthungi, Austrogothi, Tervingi, both Herwig Wolfram and Thomas Burns conclude that the term Greuthungi was a geographical identifier used by the Tervingi to describe a people that described itself as the Ostrogoths. The terminology dropped out of use after the Goths were displaced by the Hunnic invasions, in support of this, Wolfram cites Zosimus as referring to a group of Scythians north of the Danube who were called Greuthungi by the barbarians north of the Ister. Wolfram concludes that it was the Tervingi who had remained behind after the Hunnic conquest, on this understanding, the Greuthungi and Ostrogothi were more or less the same people. That the Greuthungi were the Ostrogothi is also supported by Jordanes and he identified the Ostrogothic kings from Theodoric the Great to Theodahad as the heirs of the Greuthungian king Ermanaric. That interpretation is common among scholars today, is not universal
5.
Baltic Sea
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The Baltic Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, enclosed by Scandinavia, Finland, the Baltic countries, and the North European Plain. It includes the Gulf of Bothnia, the Bay of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga, the sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. The Baltic Sea is connected by waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea Canal. Traffic history Historically, the Kingdom of Denmark collected Sound Dues from ships at the border between the ocean and the land-locked Baltic Sea and they were collected in the Øresund at Kronborg castle near Helsingør, in the Great Belt at Nyborg. In the Little Belt, the site of intake was moved to Fredericia, the narrowest part of Little Belt is the Middelfart Sund near Middelfart. Oceanography Geographers widely agree that the physical border of the Baltic is a line drawn through the southern Danish islands, Drogden-Sill. The Drogden Sill is situated north of Køge Bugt and connects Dragør in the south of Copenhagen to Malmö, it is used by the Øresund Bridge, including the Drogden Tunnel. By this definition, the Danish Straits are part of the entrance, but the Bay of Mecklenburg, another usual border is the line between Falsterbo, Sweden and Stevns Klint, Denmark, as this is the southern border of Øresund. Its also the border between the shallow southern Øresund and notably deeper water, hydrography and biology Drogden Sill sets a limit to Øresund and Darss Sill, and a limit to the Belt Sea. The shallow sills are obstacles to the flow of salt water from the Kattegat into the basins around Bornholm. The Kattegat and the southwestern Baltic Sea are well oxygenated and have a rich biology, the remainder of the Sea is brackish, poor in oxygen and in species. While Tacitus called it Mare Suebicum after the Germanic people called the Suebi, the origin of the latter name is speculative. Adam of Bremen himself compared the sea with a belt, stating that it is so named because it stretches through the land as a belt and he might also have been influenced by the name of a legendary island mentioned in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder. Pliny mentions an island named Baltia with reference to accounts of Pytheas and it is possible that Pliny refers to an island named Basilia in On the Ocean by Pytheas. Baltia also might be derived from belt and mean near belt of sea, meanwhile, others have suggested that the name of the island originates from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhel meaning white, fair. This root and its meaning were retained in both Lithuanian and Latvian. On this basis, a related hypothesis holds that the name originated from this Indo-European root via a Baltic language such as Lithuanian, yet another explanation is that the name originally meant enclosed sea, bay as opposed to open sea. Some Swedish historians believe the name derives from the god Balder of Nordic mythology, in the Middle Ages the sea was known by variety of names
6.
Oium
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Oium or Aujum was a name for an area in Scythia, where the Goths, under King Filimer, arguably settled after leaving Gothiscandza, according to the Getica by Jordanes, written around 551. Jordanes does not give an etymology, but many scholars interpret this word as a plural to the widespread Germanic words *aujō- or *auwō-. According to some historians, Jordanss account of the Goths history in Oium was constructed from his reading of earlier classical accounts, according to other historians, Jordanss narrative has little relation to Cassiodoruss, no relation to oral traditions and little relation to actual history. Archaeologically, the Chernyakhov culture, which is called the Sântana de Mureș culture, contained parts of Ukraine, Moldova. Jordanes states that King Filimer led the Goths in a search for suitable lands and they crossed a bridge to get there, but when half the army had made it across, the bridge fell into ruin and so no one else could pass into the area anymore. According to Jordanes, the Goths claimed the land for themselves and defeated the previous inhabitants, the Goths left Oium in a second migration to Moesia, Dacia and Thrace, but they eventually returned, settling north of the Black Sea. Upon their return, they were divided under two ruling dynasties, the Visigoths were ruled by the Balþi and the Ostrogoths by the Amali. The account fits the patterns of the Wielbark culture and the Chernyakhov culture and the Santana de Mureş culture, the royal line of the Goths had originated near the Sea of Azov before moving northward toward Scandia, where it established a separate priest-king line on the island of Gotland. Tanausis, a Gothic king, fought Vesosis, the king of Egypt in a battle at the river of Phasis and then pursued the Egyptians all the way back to Egypt. Classical writers used the name Phasis to refer to both the Rioni River in Georgia and the Aras River, especially its upper reaches in what is now eastern Turkey. After Tanausis dief, the Goths were said to have embarked on another expedition, however, the women defended themselves and defeated the attackers under the leaders Lampedo and Marpesia. The two leaders cast lots, and Marpesia pursued the enemy into Asia, where she conquered many tribes, however, Dromihete defeated and captured Lisimachus. Instead of killing Lisimachus, Dromihete invited Lisimachus and his generals to sit down, the meal for Lisimachus and his generals was served in gold plates whilst the meal for Dromihete and his men in wooden plates. When Lisimachus asked why he chose wooden plates, Dromihete answers that it was just to show Lisimachus his generosity for everyone coming as a guest-visitor, by eating from the wooden plates, Dromihete wanted to show that there was nothing of value in Dacia. At another point in the narrative, Philip II of Macedon allied with the Goths by marrying Medopa, however, Philip needed gold and wanted to pillage the town of Odessos, a town belonging to the Goths. The Goths sent out their goðis, who were dressed in white and played harps and that stunned the Ancient Macedonians so much that they returned. According to Jordanes, a king, Sitalces, wanted revenge much later and he fought Perdiccas II of Macedon, whom Alexander I had left as a ruler, and the Goths laid Greece waste. When Burebista was king, he had a priest named Decaeneus and he gave the Goths laws, named bi-lageineis, taught them logic, philosophy and astrology
7.
Black Sea
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The Black Sea is a body of water between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. It is supplied by a number of rivers, such as the Danube, Dnieper, Rioni, Southern Bug. The Black Sea has an area of 436,400 km2, a depth of 2,212 m. It is constrained by the Pontic Mountains to the south and by the Caucasus Mountains to the east, the longest east-west extent is about 1,175 km. The Black Sea has a water balance, that is, a net outflow of water 300 km3 per year through the Bosphorus. Mediterranean water flows into the Black Sea as part of a two-way hydrological exchange, the Black Sea drains into the Mediterranean Sea and then the Atlantic Ocean, via the Aegean Sea and various straits. The Bosphorus Strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and these waters separate Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch, the water level has varied significantly. Due to these variations in the level in the basin. At certain critical water levels it is possible for connections with surrounding water bodies to become established and it is through the most active of these connective routes, the Turkish Straits, that the Black Sea joins the world ocean. When this hydrological link is not present, the Black Sea is a basin, operating independently of the global ocean system. Currently the Black Sea water level is high, thus water is being exchanged with the Mediterranean. The Turkish Straits connect the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea, and comprise the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Black Sea as follows, On the Southwest. The Northeastern limit of the Sea of Marmara, a line joining Cape Takil and Cape Panaghia. Strabos Geographica reports that in antiquity, the Black Sea was often just called the Sea, for the most part, Graeco-Roman tradition refers to the Black Sea as the Hospitable sea, Εὔξεινος Πόντος Eúxeinos Póntos. This is a euphemism replacing an earlier Inhospitable Sea, Πόντος Ἄξεινος Póntos Áxeinos, strabo thinks that the Black Sea was called inhospitable before Greek colonization because it was difficult to navigate, and because its shores were inhabited by savage tribes. The name was changed to hospitable after the Milesians had colonized the southern shoreline and it is also possible that the epithet Áxeinos arose by popular etymology from a Scythian word axšaina- unlit, dark, the designation Black Sea may thus date from antiquity. A map of Asia dating to 1570, entitled Asiae Nova Descriptio, from Abraham Orteliuss Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, english-language writers of the 18th century often used the name Euxine Sea to refer to the Black Sea
8.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
9.
Huns
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The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia between the 1st century AD and the 7th century AD. In 91 AD, the Huns were said to be living near the Caspian Sea, by 370, the Huns had established a vast, if short-lived, dominion in Europe. In the 18th century, the French scholar Joseph de Guignes became the first to propose a link between the Huns and the Xiongnu people, who were neighbours of China in the 3rd century BC. Since Guignes time, considerable effort has been devoted to investigating such a connection. However, there is no consensus on a direct connection between the dominant element of the Xiongnu and that of the Huns. Numerous other ethnic groups were included under Attilas rule, including very many speakers of Gothic and their main military technique was mounted archery. The Huns may have stimulated the Great Migration, a factor in the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. They formed an empire under Attila the Hun, who died in 453. Variants of the Hun name are recorded in the Caucasus until the early 8th century, the Huns were a confederation of warrior bands, ready to integrate other groups to increase their military power, in the Eurasian Steppe in the 4th to 6th centuries AD. Most aspects of their ethnogenesis are uncertain, walter Pohl explicitly states, All we can say safely is that the name Huns, in late antiquity, described prestigious ruling groups of steppe warriors. Jerome associated them with the Scythians in a letter, written four years after the Huns invaded the eastern provinces in 395. The equation of the Huns with the Scythians, together with a fear of the coming of the Antichrist in the late 4th century. This demonization of the Huns is also reflected in Jordaness Getica, written in the 6th century, otto J. Maenchen-Helfen was the first to challenge the traditional approach, based primarily on the study of written sources, and to emphasize the importance of archaeological research. Thereafter the identification of the Xiongnu as the Huns ancestors became controversial among some, the similarity of their ethnonyms is one of the most important links between the two peoples. A Sogdian merchant described the invasion of northern China by the Xwn people in a letter, Étienne de la Vaissière asserts both documents prove that Huna or Xwn were the exact transcriptions of the Chinese Xiongnu name. Christopher P. Atwood rejects that identification because of the very poor match between the three words. For instance, Xiongnu begins with a velar fricative, Huna with a voiceless glottal fricative, Xiongnu is a two-syllable word. However, according to Zhengzhang Shangfang, Xiongnu was pronounced in Late Old Chinese, the Chinese Book of Wei contain references to the remains of the descendants of the Xiongnu who lived in the region of the Altai Mountains in the early 5th century AD
10.
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
11.
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
12.
Illyria
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In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians. The prehistory of Illyria and the Illyrians is known from archaeological evidence, the Romans conquered the region in 168 BC in the aftermath of the Illyrian Wars. The Roman term Illyris was sometimes used to define an area north of the Aous valley, in Greek mythology, the name of Illyria is aetiologically traced to Illyrius, the son of Cadmus and Harmonia, who eventually ruled Illyria and became the eponymous ancestor of the Illyrians. A later version of the myth identifies Polyphemus and Galatea as parents of Celtus, Galas, ancient Greek writers used the name Illyrian to describe peoples between the Liburnians and Epirus. In the Roman period, Illyricum was used for the area between the Adriatic and Danube, the term was in a way of pars pro toto. The earliest recorded Illyrian kingdom was that of the Enchele in the 8th century BC, the era in which we observe other Illyrian kingdoms begins approximately at 400 BC and ends at 167 BC. The Autariatae under Pleurias were considered to have been a kingdom, the Kingdom of the Ardiaei began at 230 BC and ended at 167 BC. The most notable Illyrian kingdoms and dynasties were those of Bardyllis of the Dardani and of Agron of the Ardiaei who created the last, Agron ruled over the Ardiaei and had extended his rule to other tribes as well. As for the Dardanians, they always had separate domains from the rest of the Illyrians, the Illyrian kingdoms were composed of small areas within the region of Illyria. Only the Romans ruled the entire region, polybius gives as an image of society within an Illyrian kingdom as peasant infantry fought under aristocrats which he calls in Greek Polydynastae where each one controlled a town within the kingdom. The monarchy was established on hereditary lines and Illyrian rulers used marriages as a means of alliance with other powers, pliny writes that the people that formed the nucleus of the Illyrian kingdom were Illyrians proper or Illyrii Proprie Dicti. They were the Taulantii, the Pleraei, the Endirudini, Sasaei, Grabaei and these later joined to form the Docleatae. The Romans defeated Gentius, the last king of Illyria, at Scodra in 168 BC and captured him, four client-republics were set up, which were in fact ruled by Rome. Later, the region was governed by Rome and organized as a province. The Roman province of Illyricum replaced the independent kingdom of Illyria. It stretched from the Drilon river in modern Albania to Istria in the west, although this division occurred in 10 AD, the term Illyria remained in use in Late Latin and throughout the medieval period. After the division of the Roman Empire, the bishops of Thessalonica appointed papal vicars for Illyricum, the first of these vicars is said to have been Bishop Acholius or Ascholius, the friend of St. Basil. The patriarchs of Constantinople succeeded in bringing Illyria under their jurisdiction in the 8th century, several armorials of the Early modern period, popularly called the Illyrian Armorials, depicted fictional coats of arms of Illyria
13.
Crimea
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The peninsula is located south of the Ukrainian region of Kherson and west of the Russian region of Kuban. It is connected to Kherson Oblast by the Isthmus of Perekop and is separated from Kuban by the Strait of Kerch, the Arabat Spit is located to the northeast, a narrow strip of land that separates a system of lagoons named Sivash from the Sea of Azov. Crimea has historically been at the boundary between the world and the Pontic–Caspian steppe. Crimea and adjacent territories were united in the Crimean Khanate during the 15th to 18th century, in 1783, Crimea was annexed by the Russian Empire. It became the Autonomous Republic of Crimea within newly independent Ukraine in 1991, with Sevastopol having its own administration, within Ukraine, the ex-Soviet Black Sea Fleet and its facilities were divided between Russias Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian Naval Forces. The two navies shared some of the harbours and piers, while others were demilitarised or used by either country. Sevastopol remained the location of the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters with the Ukrainian Naval Forces Headquarters also based in the city, most of the international community does not recognize the annexation and considers Crimea to be Ukrainian territory. Russia currently administers the peninsula as two federal subjects, the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol. Ukraine continues to assert its right over the peninsula, the classical name Tauris or Taurica is from the Greek Ταυρική, after the peninsulas Scytho-Cimmerian inhabitants, the Tauri. In English usage since the modern period the Crimean Khanate is referred to as Crim Tartary. The Italian form Crimea also becomes current during the 18th century, the omission of the definite article in English became common during the later 20th century. The name Crimea follows the Italian form from the Crimean Tatar name for the city Qırım which served as a capital of the Crimean province of the Golden Horde, the name of the capital was extended to the entire peninsula at some point during Ottoman suzerainty. The origin of the word Qırım is uncertain, suggestions argued in various sources include, a corruption of Cimmerium. A derivation from the Turkic term qirum, from qori-, other suggestions that have not been supported by sources but are apparently based on similarity in sound include, a derivation from the Greek Cremnoi. However, he identifies the port, not in Crimea, no evidence has been identified that this name was ever in use for the peninsula. The classical name was revived in 1802 in the name of the Russian Taurida Governorate, in the 8th century BCE the Cimmerians migrated to the region and subsequently the Scythians as well it being the site of Greek colonies. The most important city was Chersonesos at the edge of todays Sevastopol, the Persian Achaemenid Empire expanded to Crimea. Later occupiers included the Romans, Goths, Huns, Bulgars, the Byzantine Empire, Khazars, the Kipchaks, the Golden Horde, consideration of the succeeding residents of the peninsula by their linguistic grouping is also of relevance
14.
Crimean Goths
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Crimean Goths were those Gothic tribes who remained in the lands around the Black Sea, especially in Crimea. They were the least-powerful, least-known, and almost paradoxically, the longest-lasting of the Gothic communities. At the time, it was customary to refer to a range of Germanic tribes as Goths. The Ostrogoths became vassals of the Huns until the death of Attila, like the Huns, the Goths in Crimea never regained their lost glory. According to Peter Heather and Michael Kulikowski, the Ostrogoths did not even exist until the 5th century, other Gothic groups may have settled in the Crimea. It has also speculated that the Crimean Goths were in fact Saxons escaping Christian persecution from the west. Either way, the existence of Goths in Crimea is first testified from around the 3rd century, during the late 5th and early 6th century, the Crimean Goths had to fight off hordes of Huns who were migrating back eastward after losing control of their European empire. In the 5th century, Theodoric the Great tried to recruit Crimean Goths for his campaigns in Italy, the Principality of Gothia or Theodoro formed after the Fourth Crusade out of parts of the Byzantine thema of Klimata which were not occupied by the Genoese. Its population was a mixture of Greeks, Crimean Goths, Alans, Bulgars, Kipchaks and other nations, the principalitys official language was Greek. The territory was initially under the control of Trebizond, and possibly part of its Crimean possessions, many Crimean Goths were Greek speakers and many non-Gothic Byzantine citizens were settled in the region called Gothia by the government in Constantinople. There is a theory that some Anglo-Saxons who left England after the Battle of Hastings in 1066 arrived in Constantinople in time to help the Byzantines repel an invasion. As a reward, the Byzantine emperor granted them lands near the Sea of Azov in what may have been the Crimean Peninsula, by the 16th century, the existence of Goths in the Crimea had become well known to European scholars. Many travelers visited the Crimea and wrote about the Goths, one romantic report appears in Joachimus Cureus Gentis Silesiae Annales in which he claims that during a voyage in the Black Sea, his ship was forced ashore by storms. There, to his surprise, he found a man singing a song in which he used German words, when he asked him where he was from, he answered that his home was nearby and that his people were goths. Several inscriptions from the early 9th century found in the use the word Goth only as a personal name. Meanwhile, some legends about a Gothic state in Crimea existed in Europe throughout the Middle Ages, in the 16th century, an Imperial envoy in Suleimans court Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq reported having had a conversation with two Goths in Constantinople. He also left the Gothic-Latin dictionary with about a hundred Germanic words that some traits in common with the ancient Gothic language. The first report of the Crimean Goths appears in the Vita of Saint Cyril and he lists Goths as people who read and praised the Christian God in their own language
15.
Theoderic the Great
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Theoderic the Great, often referred to as Theodoric, was king of the Ostrogoths, ruler of Italy, regent of the Visigoths, and a patricius of the Roman Empire. His Gothic name Þiudareiks translates into people-king or ruler of the people, Theodoric was born in Pannonia, now northern Croatia in 454, after his people had defeated the Huns at the Battle of Nedao. His father was King Theodemir, a Germanic Amali nobleman, Theodoric grew up as a hostage in Constantinople, received a privileged education, and succeeded his father as leader of the Pannonian Ostrogoths in 473. Settling his people in lower Moesia, Theoderic came into conflict with Thracian Ostrogoths led by Theodoric Strabo, Emperor Zeno subsequently gave him the title of Patrician, Vir gloriosus, and the office of Magister militum, and even appointed him as Roman Consul. Seeking further gains, Theoderic frequently ravaged the provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire, while he promoted separation between the Arian Ostrogoths and the Roman population, Theoderic stressed the importance of racial harmony, though intermarriage was outlawed. Seeking to restore the glory of Ancient Rome, he ruled Italy in its most peaceful and prosperous period since Valentinian, memories of his reign made him a hero of German legend as Dietrich von Bern. The man who would rule under the name of Theoderic was born in 454 AD. This was just a year after the Ostrogoths had thrown off nearly a century of domination by the Huns, treated with favor by the Emperors Leo I and Zeno, he became magister militum in 483, and one year later he became consul. Afterwards, he returned to live among the Ostrogoths when he was 31 years old, at the time, the Ostrogoths were settled in Byzantine territory as foederati of the Romans, but were becoming restless and increasingly difficult for Zeno to manage. Not long after Theoderic became king, the two men worked out an arrangement beneficial to both sides, the Ostrogoths needed a place to live, and Zeno was having serious problems with Odoacer, the King of Italy who had come to power in 476. Ostensibly a viceroy for Zeno, Odoacer was menacing Byzantine territory, at Zenos encouragement, Theoderic invaded Odoacers kingdom. Theoderic came with his army to Italy in 488, where he won the battles of Isonzo and Verona in 489, on February 2,493, Theoderic and Odoacer signed a treaty that assured both parties would rule over Italy. A banquet was organised in order to celebrate this treaty and it was at this banquet that Theoderic, after making a toast, killed Odoacer, Theoderic drew his sword and struck him on the collarbone. Like Odoacer, Theoderic was ostensibly only a viceroy for the emperor in Constantinople, in reality, he was able to avoid imperial supervision, and dealings between the emperor and Theoderic were as equals. Unlike Odoacer, however, Theoderic respected the agreement he had made and allowed Roman citizens within his kingdom to be subject to Roman law, the Goths, meanwhile, lived under their own laws and customs. In 519, when a mob had burned down the synagogues of Ravenna, Theoderic the Great sought alliances with, or hegemony over, the other Germanic kingdoms in the west. He allied with the Franks by his marriage to Audofleda, sister of Clovis I, the Franks were able to wrest control of Aquitaine from the Visigoths, but otherwise Theoderic was able to defeat their incursions. Theoderics achievements began to even before his death
16.
Moesia
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Moesia was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans, along the south bank of the Danube River. It included most of the territory of modern-day Serbia and the parts of the modern Republic of Macedonia, as well Northern Bulgaria. In ancient geographical sources, Moesia was bounded to the south by the Haemus and Scardus mountains, to the west by the Drinus river, on the north by the Donaris, the region was inhabited chiefly by Thracians, Dacians, Illyrian and Thraco-Illyrian peoples. The name of the region comes from Moesi, Thraco-Dacian peoples who lived there before the Roman conquest, parts of Moesia belonged to the polity of Burebista, a Getae king who established his rule over a large part of the Northern Balkans between 82 BC and 44 BC. He led plunder and conquest raids across Central and Southeastern Europe, after his assassination in an inside plot, the empire was divided into several smaller states. The region, however, was not organized as a province until the last years of Augustus reign, in 6 AD, mention is made of its governor, as a province, Moesia was under an imperial consular legate. In 86 AD the Dacian king Duras ordered his troops to attack Roman Moesia, each was governed by an imperial consular legate and a procurator. From Moesia, Domitian began planning future campaigns into Dacia and by 87 he started an offensive against Dacia. Therefore, in the summer of 87, Fuscus led five or six legions across the Danube. The campaign against the Dacians ended without an outcome, and Decebalus. Emperor Trajan later arrived in Moesia, and he launched his first military campaign into the Dacian Kingdom c, march–May 101, crossing to the northern bank of the Danube River and defeating the Dacian army near Tapae, a mountain pass in the Carpathians. Trajans troops were mauled in the encounter, however, and he put off further campaigning for the year to heal troops, reinforce, during the following winter, King Decebalus launched a counter-attack across the Danube further downstream, but this was repulsed. Trajans army advanced further into Dacian territory and forced King Decebalus to submit to him a year later, Trajan returned to Rome in triumph and was granted the title Dacicus. The victory was celebrated by the Tropaeum Traiani, however, Decebalus in 105 undertook an invasion against Roman territory by attempting to stir up some of the tribes north of the river against the empire. Trajan took to the field again and after building with the design of Apollodorus of Damascus his massive bridge over the Danube, sometime around 272, at the Moesian city of Naissus or Nissa, future emperor Constantine I was born. During administrative reforms of Emperor Diocletian, both of the Moesian provinces were reorganized, in the same time, Moesia Inferior was divided into Moesia Secunda and Scythia Minor. Moesia Secundas main cities included Marcianopolis, Odessus, Nicopolis, Abrittus, Durostorum, Transmarisca, Sexaginta Prista and Novae, the garrison of Moesia Secunda included Legio I Italica and Legio XI Claudia, as well as independent infantry units, cavalry units, and river flotillas. The Notitia Dignitatum lists its units and their bases as of the 390s CE, units in Scythia Minor included Legio I Iovia and Legio II Herculia
17.
Germanic peoples
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The Germanic peoples are an ethno-linguistic Indo-European group of Northern European origin. They are identified by their use of Germanic languages, which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the term Germanic originated in classical times when groups of tribes living in Lower, Upper, and Greater Germania were referred to using this label by Roman scribes. Tribes referred to as Germanic by Roman authors generally lived to the north, in about 222 BCE, the first use of the Latin term Germani appears in the Fasti Capitolini inscription de Galleis Insvbribvs et Germ. This may simply be referring to Gaul or related people, the term Germani shows up again, allegedly written by Poseidonios, but is merely a quotation inserted by the author Athenaios who wrote much later. Somewhat later, the first surviving detailed discussions of Germani and Germania are those of Julius Caesar, from Caesars perspective, Germania was a geographical area of land on the east bank of the Rhine opposite Gaul, which Caesar left outside direct Roman control. This usage of the word is the origin of the concept of Germanic languages. In other classical authors the concept sometimes included regions of Sarmatia, also, at least in the south there were Celtic peoples still living east of the Rhine and north of the Alps. Caesar, Tacitus and others noted differences of culture which could be found on the east of the Rhine, but the theme of all these cultural references was that this was a wild and dangerous region, less civilised than Gaul, a place that required additional military vigilance. Caesar used the term Germani for a specific tribal grouping in northeastern Belgic Gaul, west of the Rhine. He made clear that he was using the name in the local sense and these are the so-called Germani Cisrhenani, whom Caesar believed to be closely related to the peoples east of the Rhine, and descended from immigrants into Gaul. Caesar described this group of both as Belgic Gauls and as Germani. Gauls are associated with Celtic languages, and the term Germani is associated with Germanic languages, but Caesar did not discuss languages in detail. It has been claimed, for example by Maurits Gysseling, that the names of this region show evidence of an early presence of Germanic languages. The etymology of the word Germani is uncertain, the likeliest theory so far proposed is that it comes from a Gaulish compound of *ger near + *mani men, comparable to Welsh ger near, Old Irish gair neighbor, Irish gar- near, garach neighborly. Another Celtic possibility is that the name meant noisy, cf. Breton/Cornish garm shout, however, here the vowel does not match, nor does the vowel length ). Others have proposed a Germanic etymology *gēr-manni, spear men, cf. Middle Dutch ghere, Old High German Ger, Old Norse geirr. However, the form gēr seems far too advanced phonetically for the 1st century, has a vowel where a short one is expected. The term Germani, therefore, probably applied to a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul who may or may not have spoken a Germanic language
18.
Odoacer
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Flavius Odoacer, also known as Flavius Odovacer, was a soldier who in 476 became the first King of Italy. His reign is seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire. Though the real power in Italy was in his hands, he represented himself as the client of Julius Nepos and, after Nepos death in 480, Odoacer introduced few important changes into the administrative system of Italy. He had the support of the Roman Senate and was able to land to his followers without much opposition. Unrest among his warriors led to violence in 477–478, but no such disturbances occurred during the period of his reign. Although Odoacer was an Arian Christian, he intervened in the affairs of the orthodox. Probably of Scirian descent, Odoacer was a leader in Italy who led the revolt of Herulian, Rugian. With the backing of the Roman Senate, Odoacer thenceforth ruled Italy autonomously, paying lip service to the authority of Julius Nepos, the last Western emperor, and Zeno, upon Nepos murder in 480 Odoacer invaded Dalmatia, to punish the murderers. He did so, executing the conspirators, but within two years also conquered the region and incorporated it into his domain. When Illus, master of soldiers of the Eastern Empire, asked for Odoacer’s help in 484 in his struggle to depose Zeno, the emperor responded first by inciting the Rugi of present-day Austria to attack Italy. During the winter of 487–488 Odoacer crossed the Danube and defeated the Rugi in their own territory, Zeno also appointed the Ostrogoth Theoderic the Great who was menacing the borders of the Eastern Empire, to be king of Italy, turning one troublesome, nominal vassal against another. Theoderic invaded Italy in 489 and by August 490 had captured almost the entire peninsula, the city surrendered on 5 March 493, Theoderic invited Odoacer to a banquet of reconciliation and there killed him. Odoacer is the earliest ruler of Italy for whom an autograph of any of his legal acts has survived to the current day. The larger portion of a record of Odoacer granting properties in Sicily, except for the fact that he was not considered Roman, Odoacers ethnic origins are not completely known. Both the Anonymus Valesianus and John of Antioch state his fathers name was Edeko, since Sebastian Tillemont in the 17th century, all three have been considered to be the same person. In his Getica, Jordanes describes Odoacer as king of the Turcilingi, however, in his Romana, the same author defines him as a member of the Rugii. The Consularia Italica calls him king of the Heruli, while Theophanes appears to be guessing when he calls him a Goth, marcellinus Comes calls him the king of the Goths. One of these is that his name, Odoacer, for which an etymology in Germanic languages had not been found, could be a form of the Turkish Ot-toghar
19.
Ostrogothic Kingdom
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The Ostrogothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of Italy, was established by the Ostrogoths in Italy and neighbouring areas from 493 to 553. Under Theoderic, its first king, the Ostrogothic kingdom reached its zenith, most of the social institutions of the late Western Roman Empire were preserved during his rule. Theodoric called himself Gothorum Romanorumque rex, demonstrating his desire to be a leader for both peoples, starting in 535, the Eastern Roman Empire invaded Italy under Justinian I. The Ostrogothic ruler at that time, Witiges, could not defend successfully and was captured when the capital Ravenna fell. The Ostrogoths rallied around a new leader, Totila, and largely managed to reverse the conquest, the last king of the Ostrogothic Kingdom was Teia. The Ostrogoths were the branch of the Goths. They settled and established a state in Dacia, but during the late 4th century. After the collapse of the Hunnic empire in 454, large numbers of Ostrogoths were settled by Emperor Marcian in the Roman province of Pannonia as foederati, but in 460, during the reign of Leo I, because the payment of annual sums had ceased, they ravaged Illyricum. Peace was concluded in 461, whereby the young Theoderic Amal, son of Theodemir of the Amals, was sent as a hostage to Constantinople, where he received a Roman education. The period 477-483 saw a complex three-way struggle among Theoderic the Amal, who had succeeded his father in 474, Theodoric Strabo, in this conflict, alliances shifted regularly, and large parts of the Balkans were devastated by it. In the end, after Strabos death in 481, Zeno came to terms with Theoderic, parts of Moesia and Dacia ripensis were ceded to the Goths, and Theoderic was named magister militum praesentalis and consul for 484. Barely a year later, Theoderic and Zeno fell out, orestes had reneged on the promise of land in Italy for Odoacers troops, a pledge made to ensure their neutrality in his attack on Nepos. Odoacer retained the Roman administrative system, cooperated actively with the Roman Senate and he evicted the Vandals from Sicily in 477, and in 480 he occupied Dalmatia after the murder of Julius Nepos. An agreement was reached between Zeno and Theoderic, stipulating that Theoderic, if victorious, was to rule in Italy as the emperors representative. Theoderic with his people set out from Moesia in the autumn of 488, passed through Dalmatia, the first confrontation with the army of Odoacer was at the river Isonzo on August 28. Odoacer was defeated and withdrew towards Verona, where a month later another battle was fought, resulting in a bloody, Odoacer fled to his capital at Ravenna, while the larger part of his army under Tufa surrendered to the Goths. Theoderic then sent Tufa and his men against Odoacer, but he changed his allegiance again, in 490, Odoacer was thus able to campaign against Theoderic, take Milan and Cremona and besiege the main Gothic base at Ticinum. At that point, however, the Visigoths intervened, the siege of Ticinum was lifted, Odoacer fled again to Ravenna, while the Senate and many Italian cities declared themselves for Theoderic
20.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
21.
Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
22.
Justinian I
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Justinian I, traditionally known as Justinian the Great and also Saint Justinian the Great in the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the empires greatness, because of his restoration activities, Justinian has sometimes been called the last Roman in modern historiography. This ambition was expressed by the recovery of the territories of the defunct western Roman Empire. His general, Belisarius, swiftly conquered the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, 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 Empires annual revenue by over a million solidi, during his reign Justinian also subdued the Tzani, a people on the east coast of the Black Sea that had never been under Roman rule before. A still more resonant aspect of his legacy was the rewriting of Roman law, the Corpus Juris Civilis. His reign also marked a blossoming of Byzantine culture, and his building program yielded such masterpieces as the church of Hagia Sophia, a devastating outbreak of bubonic plague in the early 540s marked the end of an age of splendour. 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 later, is indicative of adoption by his uncle Justin. During his reign, he founded Justiniana Prima not far from his birthplace and his mother was Vigilantia, the sister of Justin. Justin, who was in the guard before he became emperor, adopted Justinian, brought him to Constantinople. As a result, Justinian was well educated in jurisprudence, theology, 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, another contemporary chronicler, Procopius, compares Justinians appearance to that of tyrannical Emperor Domitian, although this is probably slander. When Emperor Anastasius died in 518, Justin was proclaimed the new emperor, during Justins reign, Justinian was the emperors close confidant. As Justin became senile near the end of his reign, Justinian became the de facto ruler, Justinian was appointed consul in 521 and later commander of the army of the east. Upon Justins death on 1 August 527, Justinian became the sole sovereign, as a ruler, Justinian showed great energy. He was known as the emperor who never sleeps on account of his work habits, nevertheless, he seems to have been amiable and easy to approach. Around 525, he married his mistress, Theodora, in Constantinople and she was by profession a courtesan and some twenty years his junior
23.
Totila
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Totila, original name Baduila was the penultimate King of the Ostrogoths, reigning from 541 to 552 AD. Totila proved himself both as a military and political leader, winning the support of the classes by liberating slaves. After a successful defence at Verona, Totila pursued and defeated a superior army at the Battle of Faventia in 542 AD. Building on his victories, Totila followed these victories by defeating the Romans outside Florence, by 543, fighting on land and sea, he had reconqured the bulk of the lost territory. Rome held out, and Totila appealed unsuccessfully to the Senate in a letter reminding them of the loyalty of the Romans to his predecessor Theodoric the Great, when Totila left to fight the Byzantines in Lucania, south of Naples, Belisarius retook Rome and rebuilt its fortifications. After Belisarius retreated to Constantinople in 549, Totila recaptured Rome, by the end of 550, Totila had recaptured all but Ravenna and four coastal towns. The following year Justinian sent his general Narses with a force of 35,000 Lombards, Gepids and Heruli to Italy in a march around the Adriatic to approach Ravenna from the north. In the Battle of Taginae, an engagement during the summer of 552, in the Apennines near present-day Fabriano, the Gothic army was defeated. Totila was succeeded by his relative, Teia, who died at the Battle of Mons Lactarius. Pockets of resistance, reinforced by Franks and Alemanni who had invaded Italy in 553, continued until 562, Totila was the nom de guerre of a man whose real name was Baduila, as can be seen from the coinage he issued. According to Henry Bradley, Totila and Baduila are diminutives of Totabadws, born in Treviso, Totila was a relative of Theudis, king of the Visigoths. Elected king of the Ostrogoths in 541 after the death of his uncle Ildibad, having engineered the assassination of Ildibads short-lived successor, Totilas strategy was to move fast and take control of the countryside, leaving the Byzantine forces in control of well-defended cities, and especially the ports. When Belisarius eventually returned to Italy, Procopius relates that during a space of five years he did not succeed once in setting foot on any part of the land, except where some fortress was, but during this whole period he kept sailing about visiting one port after another. Totila circumvented those cities where a siege would have been required, razing the walls of cities that capitulated to him. Totilas conquest of Italy was marked not only by celerity but also by mercy, and Gibbon says none were deceived, either friends or enemies, after a successful siege of a resisting city, such as at Perugia, however, Totila could be merciless, as Procopius recounts. And he himself, sitting upon a large horse, began to dance under arms skillfully between the two armies. And as he rode he hurled his javelin into the air and caught it again as it quivered above him, then passed it rapidly from hand to hand, shifting it with consummate skill. Procopiuss picture is given a setting, for Totila generally avoided formal battles with opposing armies drawn up in battle array
24.
Battle of Taginae
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From as early as 549 the Emperor Justinian I had planned to dispatch a major army to Italy to conclude the protracted war with the Ostrogoths initiated in 535. The imperial chamberlain Narses was appointed to command in mid 551, the following spring Narses led this Byzantine army around the coast of the Adriatic as far as Ancona, and then turned inland aiming to march down the Via Flaminia to Rome. Near the village of Taginae, the Byzantines encountered the Ostrogothic army commanded by King Totila, finding himself considerably outnumbered, Totila ostensibly entered into negotiations while planning a surprise attack, but Narses was not fooled by this stratagem. Although he enjoyed superiority in numbers, Narses deployed his army in a defensive position. In the centre he massed the large body of Germanic mercenaries dismounted in a dense formation, and placed the Byzantine troops to either side. On each wing he stationed 4,000 foot-archers, in one such occasion, Totila sent a Byzantine deserter named Coccas out to challenge any Byzantine to single combat. Coccas was large and immensely strong and he had a reputation among the Goths as a ruthless and powerful fighter. An Armenian named Anzalas, one of Narses bodyguards, answered the challenge, Coccas charged at Anzalas, but at the last moment, Anzalas swerved his horse and stabbed the Gothic champion in the side. It was not the most auspicious omen for the Ostrogoths, however, the Ostrogothic King had another delaying tactic. Both armies watched as Totila, dressed in shining purple and gold armor and his horse went circles, reared, pirouetted, and ran backwards as Totila tossed his lance into the air and caught it. At last, he back to his own army and changed into battle armor. His reinforcements having arrived, Totila broke formation and retired for lunch, Narses, wary of a possible ruse, permitted his troops to refresh themselves without leaving their positions. Totila, apparently hoping to take his enemy by surprise, launched a sudden large-scale mounted assault upon the Byzantine center. Ancient and modern authors have accused him of folly, but Totila probably sought to close with the enemy as fast as possible in order to avoid the effects of the formidable Byzantine archers. The Byzantines were prepared for such a move, however, caught in the enfilading fire from both sides, the Ostrogothic cavalry sustained high casualties and their attack faltered. The course and duration of the subsequent battle are uncertain, but towards early evening Narses ordered an advance. Although accounts vary, it was probably during the subsequent rout that Totila was killed, Narses proceeded to Rome which fell with limited resistance. The Ostrogoths regrouped under Totilas successor Teia, but suffered a defeat at the Battle of Mons Lactarius
25.
Lombards
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The Lombards or Longobards were a Germanic people who ruled large parts of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. In the 1st century AD, they formed part of the Suebi, the Lombard king Audoin defeated the Gepid leader Thurisind in 551 or 552, his successor Alboin eventually destroyed the Gepids at the Battle of Asfeld in 567. The Lombards were joined by numerous Saxons, Heruls, Gepids, Bulgars, Thuringians, and Ostrogoths, by late 569 they had conquered all north of Italy and the principal cities north of the Po River except Pavia, which fell in 572. At the same time, they occupied areas in central Italy and they established a Lombard Kingdom in north and central Italy, later named Regnum Italicum, which reached its zenith under the 8th-century ruler Liutprand. In 774, the Kingdom was conquered by the Frankish King Charlemagne, however, Lombard nobles continued to rule southern parts of the Italian peninsula, well into the 11th century when they were conquered by the Normans and added to their County of Sicily. In this period, the part of Italy still under Longobardic domination was known by the name Langbarðaland in the Norse runestones. Their legacy is apparent in the regional name Lombardy. The fullest account of Lombard origins, history, and practices is the Historia Langobardorum of Paul the Deacon, pauls chief source for Lombard origins, however, is the 7th-century Origo Gentis Langobardorum. The Origo Gentis Langobardorum tells the story of a tribe called the Winnili dwelling in southern Scandinavia. The Winnili were split into three groups and one part left their land to seek foreign fields. The reason for the exodus was probably overpopulation, the departing people were led by the brothers Ybor and Aio and their mother Gambara and arrived in the lands of Scoringa, perhaps the Baltic coast or the Bardengau on the banks of the Elbe. Scoringa was ruled by the Vandals and their chieftains, the brothers Ambri and Assi, the Winnili were young and brave and refused to pay tribute, saying It is better to maintain liberty by arms than to stain it by the payment of tribute. The Vandals prepared for war and consulted Godan, who answered that he would give the victory to those whom he would see first at sunrise. The Winnili were fewer in number and Gambara sought help from Frea, at sunrise, Frea turned her husbands bed so that he was facing east, and woke him. So Godan spotted the Winnili first and asked, Who are these long-beards. and Frea replied, My lord, thou hast given them the name, from that moment onwards, the Winnili were known as the Longbeards. When Paul the Deacon wrote the Historia between 787 and 796 he was a Catholic monk and devoted Christian and he thought the pagan stories of his people silly and laughable. Paul explained that the name Langobard came from the length of their beards, a modern theory suggests that the name Langobard comes from Langbarðr, a name of Odin. Priester states that when the Winnili changed their name to Lombards, they changed their old agricultural fertility cult to a cult of Odin
26.
Thervingi
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The Thervingi, Tervingi, or Teruingi were a Gothic people of the Danubian plains west of the Dniester River in the 3rd and the 4th centuries. They had close contacts with the Greuthungi, another Gothic people from east of the Dniester, the name Thervingi may mean forest people. History lacks evidence for the name pair Thervingi-Greuthungi earlier than the late 3rd century, the name Thervingi may have pre-Pontic, Scandinavian, origins. The Thervingi first appeared in history as a people in the year 268 when they invaded the Roman Empire. This invasion overran the Roman provinces of Pannonia and Illyricum and even threatened Italia itself, however, the Thervingi were defeated in battle that summer near the modern Italian-Slovenian border and then routed in the Battle of Naissus that September. Over the next three years they were back over the Danube River in a series of campaigns by the emperors Claudius II Gothicus. The division of the Goths is first attested in 291, the Thervingi are first attested around that same date. The term Vandals may have been erroneous for Victohali because around 360 the historian Eutropius reports that Dacia was currently inhabited by Taifali, Victohali, in 367, the Roman Emperor Valens attacked the Thervingi north of the Danube river. However, he was unable to hit them directly, because apparently the bulk of the Goths retreated to the Montes Serrorum, ammianus Marcellinus says that Valens could not find anyone to fight with and even implies that all of them fled, horror-struck, to the mountains. In the following year, the flooding of the Danube prevented the Romans from crossing the river, in 369, Valens penetrated deep into the Gothic territory, winning a series of skirmishes with Greuthungi. Here, they hoped to find refuge from the Huns, the Battle of Adrianople in 378 was the decisive moment of the war. In time and geographical area, the Thervingi and their neighbors the Greuthungi correspond to the archaeological Sîntana de Mureş-Chernyakhov Culture, Chernyakhov settlements cluster in open ground in river valleys. The houses include sunken-floored dwellings, surface dwellings, and stall-houses, the largest known settlement is 35 hectares. Most settlements are open and unfortified, some forts are also known, Sîntana de Mureş cemeteries are better known than Sîntana de Mureş settlements. Sîntana de Mureş cemeteries show the basic characteristics as other Chernyakhov cemeteries. These include both cremation and inhumation burials, among the latter the head is to the north, grave goods often include pottery, bone combs, and iron tools, but almost never any weapons. The original religion of the Thervingi is unknown, though Saba or Savas martyrology, some months and days were holy, and cult observance and ceremonies were compulsory with their piety. Roman prisoners brought Christianity to the Thervingi, wulfila translated the Bible into Gothic during this exile
27.
Ammianus Marcellinus
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Ammianus Marcellinus was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Antiquity. Ammianus was born between 325 and 330 in the Greek-speaking East, possibly in Syria or Phoenicia and his native language was most likely Greek, he learned Latin as a second language, and was probably familiar with Syriac as well. The surviving books of his cover the years 353 to 378. Ammianus served as a soldier in the army of Constantius II and Julian in Gaul and he professes to have been a former soldier and a Greek, and his enrollment among the elite protectores domestici shows that he was of middle class or higher birth. Consensus is that Ammianus probably came from a family. He entered the army at an age, when Constantius II was emperor of the East, and was sent to serve under Ursicinus, governor of Nisibis in Mesopotamia. He returned with Ursicinus to Italy when Ursicinus was recalled by Constantius to begin an expedition against Claudius Silvanus, Silvanus had been forced by the allegedly false accusations of his enemies into proclaiming himself emperor in Gaul. Ammianus campaigned in the East twice under Ursicinus, on one occasion he was separated from the officers entourage and took refuge in Amida during the siege of the city by the Sassanids of shah Shapur II, he reportedly barely escaped with his life. He accompanied Julian, for whom he expresses enthusiastic admiration, in his campaigns against the Alamanni, after Julians death, Ammianus accompanied retreat of the new emperor Jovian as far as Antioch. He was residing in Antioch in 372 when a certain Theodorus was thought to have identified the successor to the emperor Valens by divination. Speaking as an eyewitness, Marcellinus recounts how Theodorus and several others were made to confess their deceit through the use of torture. He eventually settled in Rome and began the Res Gestae, the precise year of his death is unknown, but scholarly consensus places it somewhere between 392 and 400 at the latest. Modern scholarship generally describes Ammianus as a pagan who was tolerant of Christianity and he was not blind to the faults of Christians or of pagans, he observed in his Res Gestae that no wild beasts are so deadly to humans as most Christians are to each other. And he condemns his hero Julian for excessive attachment to sacrifice and he presumably completed the work before 391, as at 22.16. The Res Gestae was originally composed of books, but the first thirteen have been lost. The surviving eighteen books cover the period from 353 to 378, as a whole it is extremely valuable, constituting the foundation of modern understanding of the history of the fourth century Roman Empire. Although criticised as lacking literary merit by his biographers, he was in fact quite skilled in rhetoric. His work has suffered terribly from manuscript transmission, aside from the loss of the first thirteen books, the remaining eighteen are in many places corrupt and lacunose
28.
Milan
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Milan is a city in Italy, capital of the Lombardy region, and the most populous metropolitan area and the second most populous comune in Italy. The population of the city proper is 1,351,000, Milan has a population of about 8,500,000 people. It is the industrial and financial centre of Italy and one of global significance. In terms of GDP, it has the largest economy among European non-capital cities, Milan is considered part of the Blue Banana and lies at the heart of one of the Four Motors for Europe. Milan is an Alpha leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, services, research, and tourism. Its business district hosts Italys Stock Exchange and the headquarters of the largest national and international banks, the city is a major world fashion and design capital, well known for several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11% of the national total enrolled students, Milans museums, theatres and landmarks attract over 9 million visitors annually. Milan – after Naples – is the second Italian city with the highest number of accredited stars from the Michelin Guide, the city hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. Milan is home to two of Europes major football teams, A. C. Milan and F. C. Internazionale, the etymology of Milan is uncertain. One theory holds that the Latin name Mediolanum comes from the Latin words medio, however, some scholars believe lanum comes from the Celtic root lan, meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory in which Celtic communities used to build shrines. Hence, Mediolanum could signify the central town or sanctuary of a Celtic tribe, indeed, the name Mediolanum is borne by about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France, e. g. Saintes and Évreux. Alciato credits Ambrose for his account, around 400 BC, the Celtic Insubres settled Milan and the surrounding region. In 222 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement, renaming it Mediolanum, Milan was eventually declared the capital of the Western Roman Empire by Emperor Diocletian in 286 AD. Diocletian chose to stay in the Eastern Roman Empire and his colleague Maximianus ruled the Western one, immediately Maximian built several monuments, such as a large circus 470 m ×85 m, the Thermae Herculeae, a large complex of imperial palaces and several other buildings. With the Edict of Milan of 313, Emperor Constantine I guaranteed freedom of religion for Christians, after the city was besieged by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence was moved to Ravenna. In 452, the Huns overran the city, in 539, the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569, a Teutonic tribe, the Lombards, conquered Milan, some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to the Franks in 774 when Charlemagne took the title of King of the Lombards, the Iron Crown of Lombardy dates from this period
29.
Claudian
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Claudius Claudianus, usually known in English as Claudian, was a Latin poet associated with the court of the emperor Honorius at Mediolanum, and particularly with the general Stilicho. His work, written almost entirely in hexameters or elegiac couplets and he arrived in Rome before 395, and made his mark with a eulogy of his two young patrons, Probinus and Olybrius, thereby becoming court poet. He wrote a number of panegyrics on the consulship of his patrons, praise poems for the deeds of Stilicho and he was well rewarded for these efforts. He was granted the rank of vir illustris, the Roman senate honored him with a statue in the Roman Forum in 400. Stilichos wife, Serena, secured a rich wife for him, since none of Claudians poems record the achievements of Stilicho after 404, scholars assume Claudian died in that year. Although a native speaker of Greek, Claudian is one of the best Latin poetry stylists of late antiquity, the literature of his time is generally characterized by a quality modern critics find specious, of which Claudians work is not free, and some find him cold and unfeeling. Claudians poetry is a historical source, though distorted by the conventions of panegyric. His most important non-political work is an epic, De raptu Proserpinae. The three extant books are believed to have written in 395 and 397. In the 20th and early 21st centuries, Claudian has not been among the most popular Latin poets of antiquity, Claudian Panegyricus de Sexto Consulatu Honorii Augusti. Broken Columns, Two Roman Epic Fragments, The Achilleid of Publius Papinius Statius and The Rape of Proserpine of Claudius Claudianus, baier, Thomas and Anne Friedrich, Claudianus. Der Raub der Proserpina, edition, translation and commentary, Edition Antike, English verse translations of Claudian online, A. Hawkins translation via Google Books. J. Strutts translation via Internet Archive, allegory in the Middle Ages Classical Latin Late Latin Latin poetry Cameron, A. Claudian. Poetry and Propaganda at the Court of Honorius, eine Tagung an der Freien Universität Berlin vom 28. Claudien, poète du monde à la cour dOccident, reconsidering Claudians Eastern Origin, Philologus 151,2, 285–310. Subjecting Verses, Latin Love Elegy and the Emergence of the Real, ratti, S. Une lecture religieuse des invectives de Claudien est-elle possible. Complete Latin text and English translation, at LacusCurtius, Bill Thayers edition Michael Hendry, critical edition
30.
Phrygia
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In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Turkey, centered on the Sakarya River. This later Midas was, however, also the last independent king of Phrygia before Cimmerians sacked the Phrygian capital, Gordium, Phrygia then became subject to Lydia, and then successively to Persia, Alexander and his Hellenistic successors, Pergamon, Rome and Byzantium. Phrygians gradually became assimilated into other cultures by the medieval era, after the Turkish conquest of Anatolia. Phrygia describes an area on the end of the high Anatolian plateau. The climate is harsh with hot summers and cold winters, olives will not easily grow here and the land is used for livestock grazing. South of Dorylaeum, there is another important Phrygian settlement, Midas City, situated in an area of hills, to the south again, central Phrygia includes the cities of Afyonkarahisar with its marble quarries at nearby Docimium, and the town of Synnada. At the western end of Phrygia stood the towns of Aizanoi, from here to the southwest lies the hilly area of Phrygia that contrasts to the bare plains of the regions heartland. Southwestern Phrygia is watered by the Maeander and its tributary the Lycus, one of the so-called Homeric Hymns describes the Phrygian language as not mutually intelligible with that of Troy. According to ancient tradition among Greek historians, the Phrygians anciently migrated to Anatolia from the Balkans, Herodotus says that the Phrygians were called Bryges when they lived in Europe. Some classical writers also connected the Phrygians with the Mygdones, the name of two groups of people, one of which lived in northern Macedonia and another in Mysia. The classical historian Strabo groups Phrygians, Mygdones, Mysians, Bebryces, Phrygian continued to be spoken until the 6th century AD, though its distinctive alphabet was lost earlier than those of most Anatolian cultures. The so-called Handmade Knobbed Ware found in Western Anatolia during this period has been identified as an import connected to this invasion. These scholars seek instead to trace the Phrygians origins among the nations of western Anatolia who were subject to the Hittites. Some scholars dismiss the claim of a Phrygian migration as a mere legend, no one has conclusively identified which of the many subjects of the Hittites might have represented early Phrygians. Josephus called Togarmah the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks resolved, were named Phrygians, however, the Greek source cited by Josephus is unknown, and it is unclear if there was any basis for the identification other than name similarity. Scholars of the Hittites believe Tegarama was in eastern Anatolia - some locate it at Gurun - far to the east of Phrygia, some scholars have identified Phrygia with the Assuwa league, and noted that the Iliad mentions a Phrygian named Asios. Another possible early name of Phrygia could be Hapalla, the name of the easternmost province that emerged from the splintering of the Bronze Age western Anatolian empire Arzawa, however, scholars are unsure if Hapalla corresponds to Phrygia or to Pisidia, further south. Herodotus also claims that Phrygian colonists founded the Armenian nation, however, little is known about these eastern Mygdones, and no evidence of Phrygian language in that region has been found
31.
Jordanes
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Jordanes, also written Jordanis or, uncommonly, Jornandes, was a 6th-century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life. While he also wrote Romana about the history of Rome, his work is his Getica. It is the extant ancient work dealing with the early history of the Goths. Jordanes was asked by a friend to write this book as a summary of a history of the Goths by the statesman Cassiodorus. He was selected for his known interest in history, his ability to write succinctly and he had been a high-level notarius, or secretary, of a small client state on the Roman frontier in Scythia Minor, modern south-eastern Romania and north-eastern Bulgaria. Other writers, e. g. Procopius, wrote works which are extant on the history of the Goths. As the only surviving work on Gothic origins, the Getica has been the object of critical review. Jordanes wrote in Late Latin rather than the classical Ciceronian Latin, according to his own introduction, he had only three days to review what Cassiodorus had written, meaning that he must also have relied on his own knowledge. Some of his statements are laconic, Jordanes writes about himself almost in passing, The Sciri, moreover, and the Sadagarii and certain of the Alani with their leader, Candac by name, received Scythia Minor and Lower Moesia. Paria, the father of my father Alanoviiamuth, was secretary to this Candac as long as he lived. Already in the Mommsen text edition of 1882 it was suggested that the long name of Jordanes father should be split into two parts, Alanovii Amuthis, both genitive forms. Jordanes fathers name would then be Amuth, the preceding word should then belong to Candac, signifying that he was an Alan. Mommsen, however, dismissed suggestions to emend a corrupt text, Jordanes writes that he was secretary to Candac, dux Alanorum, an otherwise unknown leader of the Alans. Jordanes was notarius, or secretary to Gunthigis Baza, a magister militum, nephew of Candac, the nature and details of the conversion remain obscure. The Goths had been converted with the assistance of Ulfilas, made bishop on that account, however, the Goths had adopted Arianism. Jordanes conversion may have been a conversion to the trinitarian Nicene creed, in the letter to Vigilius he mentions that he was awakened vestris interrogationibus - by your questioning. Alternatively, Jordanes conversio may mean that he had become a monk, or a religiosus, some manuscripts say that he was a bishop, some even say bishop of Ravenna, but the name Jordanes is not known in the lists of bishops of Ravenna. Jordanes wrote his Romana at the behest of a certain Vigilius, although some scholars have identified this person with pope Vigilius, there is nothing else to support the identification besides the name
32.
Alaric I
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Alaric I was the first King of the Visigoths from 395–410, son of chieftain Rothestes. Alaric is best known for his sack of Rome in 410, Alaric began his career under the Gothic soldier Gainas and later joined the Roman army. Alarics first appearance was as the leader of a band of Goths. In 394 he led a Gothic force of 20,000 that helped the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius defeat the Frankish usurper Arbogast at the Battle of Frigidus, despite sacrificing around 10,000 of his men, Alaric received little recognition from the Emperor. Disappointed, he left the army and was elected reiks of the Visigoths in 395 and he then moved southward into Greece, where he sacked Piraeus and destroyed Corinth, Megara, Argos, and Sparta. As a response, the Eastern emperor Flavius Arcadius appointed Alaric magister militum in Illyricum, in 401 Alaric invaded Italy, but he was defeated by Stilicho at Pollentia on April 6,402. A second invasion that year also ended in defeat at the Battle of Verona. During Radagaisus Italian invasion in 406, Alaric remained idle in Illyria, in 408, Western Emperor Flavius Honorius ordered the execution of Stilicho and his family, amid rumours that the general had made a deal with Alaric. Honorius then incited the Roman population to massacre tens of thousands of wives, subsequently, around 30,000 Gothic soldiers defected to Alaric, and joined his march on Rome to avenge their murdered families. Moving swiftly along Roman roads, Alaric sacked the cities of Aquileia and Cremona, the Visigothic leader thereupon laid siege to Rome in 408. Eventually, the Senate granted him a substantial subsidy, in addition, Alaric forced the Senate to liberate all 40,000 Gothic slaves in Rome. Honorius, however, refused to appoint Alaric as the commander of the Western Roman Army, Alaric lifted his blockade after proclaiming Attalus Western Emperor. Attalus appointed him magister utriusque militiae but refused to him to send an army into Africa. Negotiations with Honorius broke down, and Alaric deposed Attalus in the summer of 410, allies within the capital opened the gates for him on August 24, and for three days his troops sacked the city. Although the Visigoths plundered Rome, they treated its inhabitants humanely, having abandoned a plan to occupy Sicily and North Africa after the destruction of his fleet in a storm, Alaric died as the Visigoths were marching northward. Born on Peuce Island at the mouth of the Danube Delta in present-day Romania, the Goths suffered setbacks against the Huns, made a mass migration across the Danube, and fought a war with Rome. Alaric was probably a child during this period, during the fourth century, the Roman emperors commonly employed foederati, irregular troops under Roman command, but organized by tribal structures. To spare the provincial populations from excessive taxation and to save money, the largest of these contingents was that of the Goths, who in 382, had been allowed to settle within the imperial boundaries, keeping a large degree of autonomy
33.
Alaric II
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He established his capital at Aire-sur-lAdour in Aquitaine. His dominions included not only the majority of Hispania but also Gallia Aquitania, one example is Isidore of Sevilles account of Alarics reign, consisting of a single paragraph, it is primarily about Alarics death in that battle. The earliest documented event in Alarics reign concerned providing refuge to Syagrius, according to Gregory of Tours account, Alaric was intimidated by Clovis into surrendering Syagrius to Clovis, Gregory then adds that the Goths are a timorous race. The Franks then imprisoned Syagrius, and once his control over Syagrius former kingdom was secure, any threat of war Clovis could make would only be effective if they were neighbors, it is nowhere written that Syagrius was handed over in 486 or 487. Despite Frankish advances in the years followed, Alaric was not afraid to take the military initiative when it presented itself. In 490, Alaric assisted his fellow Gothic king, Theodoric the Great, in his conquest of Italy by dispatching an army to raise Odoacers siege of Pavia, where Theodoric had been trapped. Then when the Franks attacked the Burgundians in the decade after 500, Alaric assisted the ruling house, by 502 Clovis and Alaric met on an island in the Loire near Amboise for face-to-face talks, which led to a peace treaty. In 506, the Visigoths captured the city of Dertosa in the Ebro valley, there they captured the Roman usurper Peter and had him executed. After a few years, however, Clovis violated the treaty negotiated in 502. Despite the diplomatic intervention of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths and father-in-law of Alaric, Alaric was forced by his magnates to meet Clovis in the Battle of Vouillé near Poitiers, there the Goths were defeated and Alaric slain, according to Gregory of Tours, by Clovis himself. Nor was it the loss of the treasury at Toulouse. As Peter Heather notes, the Visigothic kingdom was thrown into disarray by the death of its king in battle, Alarics heirs were his eldest son, the illegitimate Gesalec, and his younger son, the legitimate Amalaric who was still a child. Gesalec proved incompetent, and in 511 King Theodoric assumed the throne of the kingdom ostensibly on behalf of Amalaric—Heather uses the word hijacked to describe his action. With Amalarics death in 531, the Visigothic kingdom entered a period of unrest which lasted until Leovigild assumed the throne in 568. He was on terms with the Catholic bishops of Arelate as epitomized in the career of the Frankish Caesarius, bishop of Arles. Caesarius was suspected of conspiring with the Burgundians, whose king had married the sister of Clovis, Alaric exiled him for a year to Bordeaux in Aquitania, then allowed him to return unharmed when the crisis had passed. This is generally known as the Breviarium Alaricianum or Breviary of Alaric, the Montagne dAlaric near Carcassonne is named after the Visigoth king. Local rumour has it that he left a vast treasure buried in the caves beneath the mountain, the Canal dAlaric in the Hautes-Pyrénées department is named after him
34.
Theodahad
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Theodahad was the King of the Ostrogoths from 534 to 536 and a nephew of Theodoric the Great through his sister Amalafrida. He might have arrived in Italy with Theodoric and was a man at the time of his succession. Massimilliano Vitiello states the name Theodahad is a compound of people and he arrested Amalaswintha, queen of the Ostrogoths from 526 to 534, and imprisoned her on an island in Lake Bolsena. Witiges ordered him killed, and succeeded him as king, Theodahad had at least two children with a woman named Gudeliva, Theodegisclus and Theodenantha. Thiudehad appears as a character in the travel novel Lest Darkness Fall
35.
Getica
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However, the extent to which Jordanes actually used the work of Cassiodorus is unknown. It is significant as the only remaining contemporaneous resource that gives the story of the origin. Another aspect of work is its information about the early history. The Getica begins with a geography/ethnography of the North, especially of Scandza and he lets the history of the Goths commence with the emigration of Berig with three ships from Scandza to Gothiscandza, in a distant past. In the pen of Jordanes, Herodotus Getian demi-god Zalmoxis becomes a king of the Goths, Jordanes tells how the Goths sacked Troy and Ilium just after they had recovered somewhat from the war with Agamemnon. They are also said to have encountered the Egyptian pharaoh Vesosis, the less fictional part of Jordanes work begins when the Goths encounter Roman military forces in the 3rd century AD. The work concludes with the defeat of the Goths by the Byzantine general Belisarius, Jordanes concludes the work by stating that he writes to honour those who were victorious over the Goths after a history of 2030 years. Cassiodorus had claimed to have the Gothic folk songs — carmina prisca — as an important source and its main purpose was to give the Gothic ruling class a glorious past, to match the past of the senatorial families of Roman Italy. Jordanes stated that Getae are the same as the Goths, on the testimony of Orosius Paulus, a controversial passage identifies the ancient people of Venedi mentioned by Tacitus, Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy, with the Slavs of the 6th century. As early as 1844, it has been used by eastern European scholars to support the idea of the existence of a Slavic ethnicity long before the last phase of the Late Roman period, others have rejected this view, based on the absence of concrete archaeological and historiographical data. One of the questions concerning the historicity of the work is whether the identities mentioned are as ancient as stated or date from a later time. According to the latter, his main sources credibility is questionable for a number of reasons, not only that but it seems that Jordanes has distorted Cassiodoruss narrative by presenting us a cursory abridgement of the latter, mixed with 6th century ethnic names. Some scholars claim, that acceptance of Jordanes at face value may be too naive. For example, Jordanes says that the Goths originated in Scandinavia 1490 BC and this clan might have contributed to the ethnogenesis of the Gutones in east Pomerania. The purpose of this fabrication, according to Christensen, was to establish an identity for the peoples that had recently gained power in post-Roman Europe. Canadian scholar Walter Goffart suggests another incentive, Getica was part of a plan by emperor Justinian. He wanted to affirm that Goths did not belong to the Roman world, and Hafthis wife was called Whitestar. Those two were the first to settle on Gotland, the first night they slept together she dreamt that three snakes were coiled in her lap
36.
Cassiodorus
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Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator, commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer serving in the administration of Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Senator was part of his surname, not his rank, Cassiodorus was born at Scylletium, near Catanzaro in Calabria, Italy. He began his career as councillor to his father, the governor of Sicily, while still young, he made a name for himself as learned in the ways of law. During his working life he worked as quaestor sacri palatii c, 507–511, as a consul in 514, then as magister officiorum under Theoderic, and later under the regency for Theoderics young successor, Athalaric. Cassiodorus kept copious records and letterbooks concerning public affairs, at the Gothic court his literary skill, which seems mannered and rhetorical to modern readers, was so esteemed that when in Ravenna he was often entrusted with drafting significant public documents. His culminating appointment was as praetorian prefect for Italy, effectively the prime ministership of the Ostrogothic civil government, Cassiodorus also collaborated with Pope Agapetus I in establishing a library of Greek and Latin texts which were intended to support a Christian school in Rome. In addition, Boethius father-in-law Symmachus, by this time a distinguished elder statesman, all this was a result of the worsening split between the ancient senatorial aristocracy centered in Rome and the adherents of Gothic rule at Ravenna. But to read Cassiodorus Variae one would never suspect such goings-on, there is no mention in Cassiodorus selection of official correspondence of the death of Boethius. Athalaric died in early 534, and the remainder of Cassiodorus public career was dominated by the Byzantine reconquest and his last letters were drafted in the name of Vitiges. Around 537-38, he left Italy for Constantinople, where his successor was appointed from and he notably met Junillus, the quaestor of Justinian. His Constantinopolitan journey contributed to the improvement of his religious knowledge, Cassiodorus spent his career trying to bridge the 6th century cultural divides, between East and West, Greek culture and Latin, Roman and Goth, and between an Orthodox people and their Arian ruler. He speaks fondly in his Institutiones of Dionysius Exiguus, the calculator of the Anno Domini era, in his retirement he founded the monastery of Vivarium on his family estates on the shores of the Ionian Sea, and his writings turned to religion. Cassiodorus Vivarium monastery school was composed of two buildings, a coenobitic monastery and a retreat, for those who desired a more solitary life. Both were located on the site of the modern Santa Maria de Vetere near Squillace, the twin structure of Vivarium was to permit coenobitic monks and hermits to coexist. The Vivarium appears not to have governed by a strict monastic rule. Rather Cassiodorus Institutiones was written to guide the monks studies, to this end, the Institutiones focuses largely on texts assumed to have been available in Vivariums library. The Institutiones seem to have composed over a lengthy period of time, from the 530s into the 550s. Through them I believe that both the sequence of Holy Scripture and also a compact account of secular letters may, with Gods grace
37.
Visigothic Kingdom
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The Visigothic Kingdom or Kingdom of the Visigoths was a kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. The Kingdom maintained independence from the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, the kingdom of the 6th and 7th centuries is sometimes called the regnum Toletanum after the new capital of Toledo. The ethnic distinction between the indigenous Hispano-Roman population and the Visigoths had largely disappeared by this time, Liber Iudiciorum abolished the old tradition of having different laws for Romans and for Visigoths. Most of the Visigothic Kingdom was conquered by Arab Umayyad troops from North Africa in 711 AD and these gave birth to the medieval Kingdom of Asturias when a local landlord called Pelayo, most likely of Gothic origin, was elected Princeps by the Astures. The Visigoths also developed the influential law code known in Western Europe as the Liber Iudiciorum. From 407 to 409 AD, the Germanic Vandals, with the allied Alans and Suebi, crossed the frozen Rhine, for their part, the Visigoths under Alaric famously sacked Rome in 410, capturing Galla Placidia, the sister of Western Roman emperor Honorius. After he married Placidia, the Emperor Honorius enlisted him to provide Visigothic assistance in regaining nominal Roman control of Hispania from the Vandals, Alans and Suevi. In 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic federates under King Wallia by giving land in the Garonne valley of Gallia Aquitania on which to settle. This probably took place under hospitalitas, the rules for billeting army soldiers, the Visigoths with their capital at Toulouse, remained de facto independent, and soon began expanding into Roman territory at the expense of the feeble Western empire. Under Theodoric I, the Visigoths attacked Arles and Narbonne, but were checked by Flavius Aetius using Hunnic mercenaries, by 451, the situation had reversed and the Huns had invaded Gaul, now Theodoric fought under Aetius against Attila the Hun in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. Attila was driven back, but Theodoric was killed in the battle, the Vandals completed the conquest of North Africa when they took Carthage on October 19,439 and the Suevi had taken most of Hispania. The Roman emperor Avitus now sent the Visigoths into Hispania, Theodoric II invaded and defeated the King of the Suevi, Rechiarius, at the battle on the river Orbigo in 456 near Asturica Augusta and then sacked Bracara Augusta the Suevi capital. The Goths sacked the cities in Spain quite brutally, they massacred a portion of the population and even attacked some holy places, theoderic took control over Hispania Baetica, Carthaginiensis and southern Lusitania. In 461, the Goths received the city of Narbonne from the emperor Libius Severus in exchange for their support. This led to a revolt by the army and by Gallo-Romans under Aegidius, as a result, Romans under Severus and the Visigoths fought other Roman troops, in 466, Euric, who was the youngest son of Theodoric I, came to the Visigothic throne. He is infamous for murdering his elder brother Theodoric II who had become king by murdering his elder brother Thorismund. Under Euric, the Visigoths began expanding in Gaul and consolidating their presence in the Iberian peninsula, Euric fought a series of wars with the Suebi who retained some influence in Lusitania, and brought most of this region under Visigothic power, taking Emerita Augusta in 469. Euric also attacked the Western Roman Empire, capturing Hispania Tarraconensis in 472, by 476, he had extended his rule to the Rhone and the Loire rivers which comprised most of southern Gaul
38.
Walhaz
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*Walhaz is a reconstructed Proto-Germanic word, meaning foreigner, stranger, Roman, Romance-speaker, or Celtic-speaker. The term was used by the ancient Germanic peoples to describe inhabitants of the former Western Roman Empire, the form of these words imply that they are descended from a Proto-Germanic form *walhiska-. It is attested in the Roman Iron Age from an inscription on one of the Tjurkö bracteates, *Walhaz is almost certainly derived from the name of the tribe which was known to the Romans as Volcae and to the Greeks as Οὐόλκαι / Ouólkai. This tribe occupied territory neighbouring that of the Germanic people and seem to have referred to by the proto-Germanic name *Walhaz. It is assumed that this term referred to the Celtic Volcae. Subsequently, this term *Walhōz was applied rather indiscriminately to the neighbours of the Germanic people, as evidenced in geographic names such as Walchgau. These southern neighbours, however, were already completely Romanised. Thus, Germanic speakers generalised this name first to all Celts, for instance, the historical German name for Trentino, the part of Tyrol with a Romance speaking majority, is Welschtirol, and the historical German name for Verona is Welschbern. Today, welsch is not in usage in German except in Switzerland and this term is used there not only in a historical context, but also as a somewhat pejorative word to describe Swiss speakers of Italian and French. In Central and Eastern Europe, the word for Latin peoples was borrowed from the Goths into Proto-Slavic some time before the 7th century, the first source using the word was the writings of Byzantine historian George Kedrenos in the mid-11th century. From the Slavs the term passed to other peoples, such as the Hungarians, Turks, over time, the term Vlach also acquired different meanings. The Polish words Włoch, Italian, and Włochy, Italy, and the Slovenian lah, in Hungarian, Oláh, referring to Romanians, Vlachok referring to Romanians/Vlachs, generally, Olasz, referring to Italians. In Serbo-Croatian and Bulgarian, Vlah – to Romanians or other Romanian/Vlach subgroup, also in Vlašić, the mountain in Bosnia and Herzegovina named after the Vlach shepherds that inhabited it. In Slovene, Laški, archaic name referring to Italians, it is also the name of several settlements in Slovenia, like Laško near Celje, Laško is also the old Slovene name for the area around Monfalcone and Ronchi in Italy, on the border with Slovenia. These names are linked to the presence of larger nuclei of Romance-speaking populations at the time where the Slavs settled the area in the 6th century, in English usage the words Gaul and Gaulish are used synonymously with Latin Gallia, Gallus and Gallicus. However the similarity of the names is coincidental, the English words are borrowed from French Gaule and Gaulois. Germanic w is regularly rendered with French gu / g, Gaule or Gaulle can hardly be derived from Latin Gallia, since g would become j before a, so the regular outcome of Latin Gallia would have been *Jaille in French. This also applies to the French name for Wales, which is le pays de Galles, in Welschnofen lived until the eighteenth century a Ladin community, while in Deutschnofen lived a German community
39.
Athalaric
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Athalaric was the King of the Ostrogoths in Italy between 526 and 534. He was a son of Eutharic and Amalasuntha and his maternal grandfather was Theoderic the Great. He succeeded his grandfather as king in 526, as Athalaric was only ten years old, the regency was assumed by his mother, Amalasuntha. His mother attempted to provide for him an education in the Roman tradition, as a result, Athalaric drank heavily and indulged in vicious excesses, which ruined his constitution. Attribution This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
40.
Emilia-Romagna
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Emilia-Romagna is an administrative Region of Northeast Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia and Romagna. It has an area of 22,446 km2, and about 4.4 million inhabitants, Emilia-Romagna is one of the wealthiest and most developed regions in Europe, with the third highest GDP per capita in Italy. Bologna, its capital, has one of Italys highest quality of life indices, the name Emilia-Romagna is a legacy of Ancient Rome. Emilia derives from the via Aemilia, the Roman road connecting Rome to northern Italy, completed in 187 B. C. and named after the consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. Romagna derives from Romània, the name of the Eastern Roman Empire applied to Ravenna by the Lombards when the western Empire had ceased to exist, before the Romans took control of present-day Emilia-Romagna, it had been part of the Etruscan world and then that of the Gauls. During the first thousand years of Christianity trade flourished, as did culture and religion, afterwards the University of Bologna—arguably the oldest university in Europe—and its bustling towns kept trade and intellectual life alive. After the referendum of 2006, seven municipalities of Montefeltro were detached from the Province of Pesaro, the municipalities are Casteldelci, Maiolo, Novafeltria, Pennabilli, San Leo, SantAgata Feltria and Talamello. On 20 and 29 May 2012 two powerful earthquakes hit the area and they killed at least 27 people and caused churches and factories to collapse. The 5.8 magnitude quake left 14,000 people homeless, the region of Emilia-Romagna consists of nine provinces and covers an area of 22,446 km2, ranking sixth in Italy. Nearly half of the consists of plains while 27% is hilly. The regions section of the Apennines is marked by areas of flisch, badland erosion, the mountains stretch for more than 300 km from the north to the south-east, with only three peaks above 2,000 m – Monte Cimone, Monte Cusna and Alpe di Succiso. The plain was formed by the retreat of the sea from the Po basin. Almost entirely marshland in ancient times, its history is characterised by the work of its people to reclaim. All the rivers rise locally in the Apennines except for the Po, the northern border of Emilia-Romagna follows the path of the river for 263 km. Emilia Romagna has been a populated area since ancient times. Inhabitants over the centuries have radically altered the landscape, building cities, reclaiming wetlands, all these transformations in past centuries changed the aspect of the region, converting large natural areas to cultivation, up until the 1960s. The trend then changed, and agricultural lands began giving way to residential and industrial areas, the increase of urban-industrial areas continued at very high rates until the end of the 2010s. In the same period, hilly and mountainous areas saw an increase in the registration of semi-natural areas, land use changes can have strong effects on ecological functions
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