1.
Magister officiorum
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The magister officiorum was one of the most senior administrative officials in the late Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantium, the office was transformed into a senior honorary rank. Although some scholars have supported its creation under Emperor Diocletian, the office can first be traced to the rule of Roman emperor Constantine I. Constantine probably created it in an effort to limit the power of the praetorian prefect, the first bureau handled imperial decisions called annotationes, because they were notes made by the emperor on documents presented to him, and also handled replies to petitions to the emperor. Especially this control of the feared agentes, or magistriani, as they were colloquially known, the office rose quickly in importance, initially ranked as a tribunus, by the end of Constantines reign the magister was a full comes. These last changes are reflected in the Notitia Dignitatum, a list of all offices compiled circa 400, sometime in the 5th century, the Eastern magister also assumed authority over the border guards or limitanei. One of the most important incumbents of this office was Peter the Patrician, the office was also retained in Ostrogothic Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and was held by eminent Roman senators such as Boethius and Cassiodorus. The rank continued in existence thereafter, but lost increasingly in importance, in the late 10th and 11th centuries, it was often held in combination with the title of vestēs. From the late 11th century it was devalued, especially in the Komnenian period. The Imperial Administrative System of the Ninth Century - With a Revised Text of the Kletorologion of Philotheos, new York and Oxford, Oxford University Press. The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine, martindale, John Robert, Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, Morris, J. eds. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume II, A. D. 395–527, the Reign of Leo VI, Politics and People
2.
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
3.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
4.
Historian
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A historian is a person who researches, studies, and writes about the past, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race, if the individual is concerned with events preceding written history, the individual is an historian of prehistory. Although historian can be used to describe amateur and professional historians alike, some historians, though, are recognized by publications or training and experience. Historian became an occupation in the late nineteenth century as research universities were emerging in Germany. Modern historical analysis usually draws upon other social sciences, including economics, sociology, politics, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, while ancient writers do not normally share modern historical practices, their work remains valuable for its insights within the cultural context of the times. Understanding the past appears to be a human need. What constitutes history is a philosophical question, the earliest chronologies date back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name. Systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around the Mediterranean region, the earliest known critical historical works were The Histories, composed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus who later became known as the father of history. Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts, and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving accounts of various Mediterranean cultures. Although Herodotus overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men and he was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor Xenophon introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his Anabasis. The Romans adopted the Greek tradition, while early Roman works were still written in Greek, the Origines, composed by the Roman statesman Cato the Elder, was written in Latin, in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. Strabo was an important exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, livy records the rise of Rome from city-state to empire. His speculation about what would have happened if Alexander the Great had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of alternate history, in Chinese historiography, the Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and one of the earliest narratives of China. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Christian historiography began early, perhaps as early as Luke-Acts, which is the source for the Apostolic Age. Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in the Middle Ages and they wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers. In the Early Middle Ages historical writing often took the form of annals or chronicles recording events year by year, muslim historical writings first began to develop in the 7th century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet Muhammads life in the centuries following his death. With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his companions from various sources, to evaluate these sources, they developed various methodologies, such as the science of biography, science of hadith and Isnad
5.
Lawyer
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A lawyer is a person who practices law, as an advocate, barrister, attorney, counselor or solicitor or chartered legal executive. The role of the lawyer varies greatly across legal jurisdictions, in practice, legal jurisdictions exercise their right to determine who is recognized as being a lawyer. As a result, the meaning of the lawyer may vary from place to place. In Australia, the lawyer is used to refer to both barristers and solicitors. In Canada, the word lawyer refers to individuals who have been called to the bar or. Common law lawyers in Canada are formally and properly called barristers and solicitors, however, in Quebec, civil law advocates often call themselves attorney and sometimes barrister and solicitor in English. The Legal Services Act 2007 defines the activities that may only be performed by a person who is entitled to do so pursuant to the Act. Lawyer is not a protected title, in India, the term lawyer is often colloquially used, but the official term is advocate as prescribed under the Advocates Act,1961. In Scotland, the word refers to a more specific group of legally trained people. It specifically includes advocates and solicitors, in a generic sense, it may also include judges and law-trained support staff. In the United States, the term refers to attorneys who may practice law. It is never used to refer to patent agents or paralegals, in fact, there are regulatory restrictions on non-lawyers like paralegals practicing law. Other nations tend to have terms for the analogous concept. In most countries, particularly civil law countries, there has been a tradition of giving many legal tasks to a variety of civil law notaries, clerks, and scriveners. Several countries that originally had two or more legal professions have since fused or united their professions into a type of lawyer. Most countries in this category are common law countries, though France, in countries with fused professions, a lawyer is usually permitted to carry out all or nearly all the responsibilities listed below. Arguing a clients case before a judge or jury in a court of law is the province of the barrister in England. However, the boundary between barristers and solicitors has evolved, in England today, the barrister monopoly covers only appellate courts, and barristers must compete directly with solicitors in many trial courts
6.
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
7.
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
8.
Ravenna
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Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the city of the Western Roman Empire from 402 until that empire collapsed in 476. It then served as the capital of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths until it was re-conquered in 540 by the Eastern Roman Empire. Afterwards, the city formed the centre of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna until the invasion of the Lombards in 751, although an inland city, Ravenna is connected to the Adriatic Sea by the Candiano Canal. It is known for its well-preserved late Roman and Byzantine architecture, the origin of the name Ravenna is unclear, although it is believed the name is Etruscan. Some have speculated that ravenna is related to Rasenna, the term that the Etruscans used for themselves, the origins of Ravenna are uncertain. Ravenna consisted of houses built on piles on a series of islands in a marshy lagoon – a situation similar to Venice several centuries later. The Romans ignored it during their conquest of the Po River Delta, in 49 BC, it was the location where Julius Caesar gathered his forces before crossing the Rubicon. Later, after his battle against Mark Antony in 31 BC and this harbor, protected at first by its own walls, was an important station of the Roman Imperial Fleet. Nowadays the city is landlocked, but Ravenna remained an important seaport on the Adriatic until the early Middle Ages, during the German campaigns, Thusnelda, widow of Arminius, and Marbod, King of the Marcomanni, were confined at Ravenna. Ravenna greatly prospered under Roman rule, Emperor Trajan built a 70 km long aqueduct at the beginning of the 2nd century. During the Marcomannic Wars, Germanic settlers in Ravenna revolted and managed to seize possession of the city, for this reason, Marcus Aurelius decided not only against bringing more barbarians into Italy, but even banished those who had previously been brought there. In AD402, Emperor Honorius transferred the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Milan to Ravenna, at that time it was home to 50,000 people. However, in 409, King Alaric I of the Visigoths simply bypassed Ravenna, after many vicissitudes, Galla Placidia returned to Ravenna with her son, Emperor Valentinian III and the support of her nephew Theodosius II. The late 5th century saw the dissolution of Roman authority in the west, Odoacer ruled as King of Italy for 13 years, but in 489 the Eastern Emperor Zeno sent the Ostrogoth King Theoderic the Great to re-take the Italian peninsula. After losing the Battle of Verona, Odoacer retreated to Ravenna, Theoderic took Ravenna in 493, supposedly slew Odoacer with his own hands, and Ravenna became the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy. Both Odoacer and Theoderic and their followers were Arian Christians, but co-existed peacefully with the Latins, Ravennas Orthodox bishops carried out notable building projects, of which the sole surviving one is the Capella Arcivescovile. Theoderic allowed Roman citizens within his kingdom to be subject to Roman law, the Goths, meanwhile, lived under their own laws and customs
9.
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
10.
Sasanian Empire
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The Sasanian Empire was founded by Ardashir I, after the fall of the Parthian Empire and the defeat of the last Arsacid king, Artabanus V. According to a legend, the vexilloid of the Sasanian Empire was the Derafsh Kaviani, in many ways, the Sasanian period witnessed the peak of ancient Iranian civilization. Persia influenced Roman culture considerably during the Sasanian period, the Sasanians cultural influence extended far beyond the empires territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China and India. It played a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asian medieval art, much of what later became known as Islamic culture in art, architecture, music and other subject matter was transferred from the Sasanians throughout the Muslim world. Conflicting accounts shroud the details of the fall of the Parthian Empire, the Sassanid Empire was established in Estakhr by Ardashir I. Papak was originally the ruler of a region called Khir, however, by the year 200, he managed to overthrow Gochihr, and appoint himself as the new ruler of the Bazrangids. His mother, Rodhagh, was the daughter of the governor of Pars. Papak and his eldest son Shapur managed to expand their power all of Pars. The subsequent events are unclear, due to the nature of the sources. It is certain, however, that following the death of Papak, Ardashir, sources reveal that Shapur, leaving for a meeting with his brother, was killed when the roof of a building collapsed on him. By the year 208, over the protests of his brothers who were put to death. Once Ardashir was appointed shahanshah, he moved his capital further to the south of Pars, the city, well supported by high mountains and easily defendable through narrow passes, became the center of Ardashirs efforts to gain more power. The city was surrounded by a high, circular wall, probably copied from that of Darabgird, in a second attempt to destroy Ardashir, Artabanus V himself met Ardashir in battle at Hormozgan, where Artabanus V met his death. Following the death of the Parthian ruler, Ardashir I went on to invade the provinces of the now defunct Parthian Empire. Ardashir was aided by the geography of the province of Fars, in the next few years, local rebellions would form around the empire. Nonetheless, Ardashir I further expanded his new empire to the east and northwest, conquering the provinces of Sistan, Gorgan, Khorasan, Margiana, Balkh and he also added Bahrain and Mosul to Sassanids possessions. In the west, assaults against Hatra, Armenia and Adiabene met with less success, in 230, he raided deep into Roman territory, and a Roman counter-offensive two years later ended inconclusively, although the Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, celebrated a triumph in Rome. Ardashir Is son Shapur I continued the expansion of the empire, conquering Bactria, invading Roman Mesopotamia, Shapur I captured Carrhae and Nisibis, but in 243 the Roman general Timesitheus defeated the Persians at Rhesaina and regained the lost territories
11.
Lazic War
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The Lazic War lasted for twenty years, from 541 to 562, with varying success and ended in a relative victory for the Persians, who obtained an annual tribute in exchange of ending the war. The Lazic War is narrated in detail in the works of Procopius of Caesarea, Lazica, situated on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, and controlling important mountain passes across the Caucasus and to the Caspian Sea, had a key strategic importance for both empires. For Byzantines, it was a barrier against a Persian advance through Iberia to the coasts of the Black Sea. Persians on the other side hoped to gain access to the sea, and control a territory from which Iberia, the Persian Sasanians recognized Lazica as part of the Roman/Byzantine sphere of influence by the Eternal Peace Treaty of 532. Byzantine garrisons were stationed in Lazica and in neighboring Abasgia, mostly in the cities of Poti, Sebastopolis. The kingdoms capital, Archaeopolis, was fortified, as well as the access to the kingdom on the coastal road at Petra. In 536, however, the Byzantine presence turned into a full protectorate and those calls were answered that year by the Persian king Khosrau I, who entered Lazica, captured the Byzantine main stronghold of Petra, and established another protectorate over the country. Gubazes II requested aid from Emperor Justinian I and brought Alans, Justinian sent 7,000 Roman and 1,000 Tzani auxiliaries under Dagisthaeus to assist Gubazes, and besieged the Petra fortress. Persian reinforcements under Mihr-Mihroe defeated a small Byzantine force guarding the mountain passes, Mihr-Mihroe garrisoned 3,000 men in the fortress and marched to Armenia leaving 5,000 soldiers to plunder Lazica. This force was destroyed by Dagisthaeus at the Phasis river in 549, the next Persian offensive also proved to be unsuccessful with the commander Chorianes killed in a decisive battle at the river Hippis. The new Byzantine commander Bessas quelled a revolt of the Abasgi tribe, took Petra. However, the managed to capture the town Kutatisi and the Uchimerion fortress blocking the important roads to the mountains. In the summer of 555, he won a victory at Telephis. After the death of Mihr-Mihroe, Nachoragan was appointed the Persian commander-in-chief in 555 and he repulsed the Byzantine attack on the Persian positions at Onoguris and forced the enemy out of Archaeopolis, a city which Mihr-Mihroe had twice tried and failed to take. These defeats caused a feud between the Lazic and Byzantine generals. King Gubazes quarreled with Byzantine commanders Bessas, Martin, and Rusticus, Bessas was recalled, but Rusticus and his brother John eventually murdered Gubazes. The Lazi people got the Emperor to nominate Tzathes, the brother of Gubazes, as their new king. Rusticus and John were arrested, tried, and executed, in 556, the allies retook Archaeopolis and routed the Persian general Nachoragan in his abortive attack on Phasis
12.
Basilica of San Vitale
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The Basilica of San Vitale is a church in Ravenna, Italy, and one of the most important examples of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture in Europe. It is one of eight Ravenna structures inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the final cost amounted to 26,000 solidi. The central vault used a technique of hollow tubes inserted into each other, rather than bricks. The ambulatory and gallery were vaulted only later in the Middle Ages, the Baroque fresco on the dome was made between 1778 and 1782 by S. Barozzi, U. The church has an octagonal plan, the building combines Roman elements, the dome, shape of doorways, and stepped towers, with Byzantine elements, polygonal apse, capitals, narrow bricks, and an early example of flying buttresses. The church is most famous for its wealth of Byzantine mosaics, the church is of extreme importance in Byzantine art, as it is the only major church from the period of the Emperor Justinian I to survive virtually intact to the present day. Furthermore, it is thought to reflect the design of the Byzantine Imperial Palace Audience Chamber, the belltower has four bells, the tenor one dates to the 16th century. According to legends, the church was erected on the site of the martyrdom of Saint Vitalis, the central section is surrounded by two superposed ambulatories. The upper one, the matrimoneum, was reserved for married women, a pair of angels, holding a medallion with a cross, crowns each lunette. On the side walls the corners, next to the windows, have mosaics of the Four Evangelists, under their symbols. Especially the portrayal of the lion is remarkable in its ferocity, the cross-ribbed vault in the presbytery is richly ornamented with mosaic festoons of leaves, fruit and flowers, converging on a crown encircling the Lamb of God. The crown is supported by four angels, and every surface is covered with a profusion of flowers, stars, birds and animals, above the arch, on both sides, two angels hold a disc and beside them a representation of the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. All these mosaics are executed in the Hellenistic-Roman tradition, lively and imaginative, with colors and a certain perspective. They were finished when Ravenna was still under Gothic rule, the apse is flanked by two chapels, the prothesis and the diaconicon, typical for Byzantine architecture. The theophany was begun in 525 under bishop Ecclesius and it has a great gold fascia with twining flowers, birds, and horns of plenty. Jesus Christ appears, seated on a globe in the summit of the vault, robed in purple. On the left, Bishop Ecclesius offers a model of the church, at the foot of the apse side walls are two famous mosaic panels, executed in 547. On the right is a mosaic depicting the East Roman Emperor Justinian I, clad in Tyrian purple with a halo, standing next to court officials, Bishop Maximian, palatinae guards
13.
Thessaloniki
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Its nickname is η Συμπρωτεύουσα, literally the co-capital, a reference to its historical status as the Συμβασιλεύουσα or co-reigning city of the Eastern Roman Empire, alongside Constantinople. The city is renowned for its festivals, events and vibrant cultural life in general, Thessaloniki was the 2014 European Youth Capital. The city of Thessaloniki was founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon, an important metropolis by the Roman period, Thessaloniki was the second largest and wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. It was conquered by the Ottomans in 1430, and passed from the Ottoman Empire to modern Greece on November 8,1912, the citys main university, Aristotle University, is the largest in Greece and the Balkans. Thessaloniki is a popular tourist destination in Greece, among street photographers, the center of Thessaloniki is also considered the most popular destination for street photography in Greece. All variations of the name derive from the original appellation in Ancient Greek, i. e. Θεσσαλονίκη. The alternative name Salonica derives from the variant form Σαλονίκη in colloquial Greek speech, in local speech, the citys name is typically pronounced with a dark and deep L characteristic of Macedonian Greek accent. The name often appears in writing in the abbreviated form Θεσ/νίκη, the city was founded around 315 BC by the King Cassander of Macedon, on or near the site of the ancient town of Therma and 26 other local villages. He named it after his wife Thessalonike, a half-sister of Alexander the Great, under the kingdom of Macedon the city retained its own autonomy and parliament and evolved to become the most important city in Macedon. After the fall of the kingdom of Macedon in 168 BC, the city later became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia. Later it became the capital of all the Greek provinces of the Roman Empire because of the importance in the Balkan peninsula. At the time of the Roman Empire, about 50 A. D. Later, Paul wrote two letters to the new church at Thessaloniki, preserved in the Biblical canon as First and Second Thessalonians. Some scholars hold that the First Epistle to the Thessalonians is the first written book of the New Testament, in 306 AD, Thessaloniki acquired a patron saint, St. Demetrius, a native of Thessalonica whom Galerius put to death. A basilical church was first built in the 5th century AD dedicated to St. Demetrius, in 379, when the Roman Prefecture of Illyricum was divided between the East and West Roman Empires, Thessaloniki became the capital of the new Prefecture of Illyricum. In 390, Gothic troops under the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, led a massacre against the inhabitants of Thessalonica, by the time of the Fall of Rome in 476, Thessaloniki was the second-largest city of the Eastern Roman Empire. From the first years of the Byzantine Empire, Thessaloniki was considered the city in the Empire after Constantinople. With a population of 150,000 in the mid-12th century, the city held this status until its transfer to Venetian control in 1423. In the 14th century, the population exceeded 100,000 to 150,000
14.
Illyrians
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The Illyrians were a group of Indo-European tribes in antiquity, who inhabited part of the western Balkans and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula. The first account of Illyrian peoples comes from the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, the Illyrian tribes never collectively regarded themselves as Illyrians, and it is unlikely that they used any collective nomenclature for themselves. The term Illyrians last appears in the record in the 7th century. In later Greek mythology, Illyrius was the son of Cadmus and Harmonia who eventually ruled Illyria, Illyrius had multiple sons and daughters. From these, sprang the Taulantii, Parthini, Dardani, Encheleae, Autariates, Dassaretae, autareius had a son Pannonius or Paeon and these had sons Scordiscus and Triballus. Even before the advent of post-modernism, scholars recognized a difficulty in producing a single theory on the ethnogenesis of the Illyrians given their heterogeneous nature, nevertheless, scholars traditionally looked for the origins of the Illyrian peoples centuries, even millennia, before their first historical attestation. Following the theories of Gustaf Kossinna, scholars sought to equate tribes mentioned by later Greco-Roman historians with preceding Bronze, in particular, scholars such as Julian Pokorny and Richard Pittioni placed the Illyrian homeland within the Luzatian culture, itself an offshoot of the trans-Central European Urnfield culture. From c.1200 BC, the bearers of the Lausitz culture are said to have engaged in widespread migrations throughout Europe. With regard to the Balkans, their movement south in turn initiated the Dorian migrations into southern Greece and these Pan-Illyrian theories have since been dismissed by scholars, based as they were on racialistic notions of Nordicism and Aryanism. The above theories have found little archaeological corroboration, as no convincing evidence for significant migratory movements from the Luzatian culture into the west Balkans have ever been found. Rather, archaeologists from the former Yugoslavia highlighted the continuity between the Bronze and succeeding Iron Age, ultimately developing the so-called autochthonous theory of Illyrian genesis, the autochthonous model was most elaborated upon by Alojz Benac and B. They argued that the proto-Illyrians had arrived earlier, during the Bronze Age as nomadic Indo-Europeans from the steppe. From that point, there was a gradual Illyrianization of the western Balkans leading to historic Illyrians and he did not deny a minor cultural impact from the northern Urnfield cultures, however these movements had neither a profound influence on the stability. Of the Balkans, nor did they affect the ethnogenesis of the Illyrian ethnos, aleksandar Stipčević raised concerns regarding Benacs all-encompassing scenario of autochthonous ethnogenesis. They rather see the emergence of historic Illyrians tribes as a recent phenomenon - just prior to their first attestation. The exception to this are the communities in Glasinac and Mati, the impetus behind the emergence of larger regional groups, such as Iapodes, Liburnians, Pannonians etc. is traced to increased contacts with the Mediterranean and La Tène global worlds. This catalyzed the development of complex political institutions and the increase in differences between individual communities. Emerging local elites selectively adopted either La Tène or Hellenistic and, later, Roman cultural templates in order to legitimise and they were competing fiercely through either alliance or conflict and resistance to Roman expansion
15.
Procopius
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Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent late antique scholar from Palaestina Prima. He is commonly held to be the last major historian of the ancient Western world, apart from his own writings, the main source for Procopius life is an entry in the Suda, a Byzantine encyclopaedia, written sometime after 975, which tells everything about his early life. He was a native of Caesarea in the Roman Province Palaestina Prima and he evidently knew Latin, as was natural for a man with legal training. In 527, the first year of Eastern Roman Emperor Justinians reign, he became the adsessor for Belisarius, Procopius was with Belisarius on the eastern front until the latter was defeated at the Battle of Callinicum in 531 and recalled to Constantinople. Procopius witnessed the Nika riots of January,532, which Belisarius, Procopius recorded a few of the extreme weather events of 535–536, although these were presented as a backdrop to Roman military activities, such as a mutiny, in and near Carthage. He rejoined Belisarius for his campaign against the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy and experienced the Gothic siege of Rome that lasted a year and nine days and he witnessed Belisarius entry into the Gothic capital, Ravenna, in 540. Book Eight of the Wars of Justinian, and the Secret History, suggest that his relationship with Belisarius seems to have cooled thereafter. When Belisarius was sent back to Italy in 544 to cope with a renewal of the war with the Goths, now led by the able king Totila, Procopius appears to have no longer been on Belisarius staff. As magister militum, Belisarius was a vir illustris, and Procopius, as his adsessor, must and he thus belonged to the middle-ranking group of the ordo senatorius. However, the Suda, which is well informed in such matters. Should this information be correct, then Procopius had a seat in the senate of Constantinople and it is not known when Procopius himself died, and many historians date his death to 554, but in 562 there was an urban prefect of Constantinople who happened to be called Procopius. In that year, Belisarius was implicated in a conspiracy and was brought before this urban prefect, the writings of Procopius are the primary source of information for the rule of the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian. Procopius Wars of Justinian is clearly his most important work, although it is not as known as the Secret History. The first two deal with the conflict between the Romans and Sassanid Persia in Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia, Lazica and Caucasian Iberia. They also cover the early career of the Roman general Belisarius, Procopius patron, the next two books, the Vandal War, cover Belisarius successful campaign against the Vandal kingdom in Roman Africa. The remaining books cover the Gothic War, the campaigns by Belisarius and others to recapture Italy and this includes accounts of the sieges of Naples and Rome. Later, Procopius added a book, which brings the history to 552/553. This eighth book covers both in Italy and on the Eastern frontier
16.
Theophylact Simocatta
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Theophylact Simocatta was an early seventh-century Byzantine historiographer, arguably ranking as the last historian of Late Antiquity, writing in the time of Heraclius about the late Emperor Maurice. Simocatta is best known as the author of a history in eight books, of the reign of the emperor Maurice and he mentions the war of Heraclius against the Persians, but not that against the Arabs, so it is likely that he was writing around 630. Among his sources he used the history of John of Epiphania, edward Gibbon wrote, His want of judgement renders him diffuse in trifles and concise in the most interesting facts. This notwithstanding, Simocattas general trustworthiness is admitted, the history contains an introduction in the form of a dialogue between History and Philosophy. Nicolaus Copernicus translated Greek verses by Theophylact into Latin prose and had his translation, dedicated to his uncle Lucas Watzenrode and it was the only book that Copernicus ever brought out on his own account. Simocatta was also the author of Physical Problems, a work on natural history, Simocatta also provided cursory information about the geography of China along with its customs and culture, deeming its people idolatrous but wise in governance. He also related how the ruler was named Taisson, the meaning of which was Son of God and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed
17.
Dara (Mesopotamia)
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Dara or Daras was an important East Roman fortress city in northern Mesopotamia on the border with the Sassanid Empire. Because of its strategic importance, it featured prominently in the Roman-Persian conflicts of the 6th century. The former bishopric remains a multiple Catholic titular see, today the Turkish village of Oğuz, Mardin Province, occupies its location. During the Anastasian War in 502–506, the Roman armies fared badly against the Sassanid Persians, masons and workers from all over Mesopotamia were gathered and worked with great haste. The new city was built on three hills, on the highest of which stood the citadel, and endowed with great storehouses and it took the name Anastasiopolis and became the seat of the Roman dux Mesopotamiae. According to Procopius, the hasty construction of the walls resulted in poor quality. Thus Byzantine Emperor Justinian I was compelled to undertake repairs to the city. The walls were rebuilt and the inner wall raised by a new storey, the towers were strengthened and raised to three stories high, and a moat dug out and filled with water. Justinians engineers also diverted the nearby river Cordes towards the city by digging a canal, the river now flowed through the city, ensuring ample water supply. To avert the danger of flooding, which had already once wrecked large parts of the city, in addition, barracks were built for the garrison, and two new churches were constructed, the Great Church, and one dedicated to St Bartholomew. The city was besieged and captured by the Persians in 573-574. It was taken again by Khosrau in 604-05 after a nine-month siege, finally captured in 639 by the Arabs, the city then lost its military significance, declined and was eventually abandoned. Dara became the site of massacre during the Armenian Genocide, according to some reports, the cisterns were filled with the bodies of slaughtered Armenians from Diyarbakır, Mardin, and Erzurum in the spring and summer of 1915. The new city became the seat of a Christian bishop and was at first a Metropolitan see and its first bishop was Eutychianus, who took possession in 506. His successor, Thomas, was deposed in 519 for his opposition to the Council of Chalcedon, stephanus took part in the Second Council of Constantinople in 553. After the 7th-century Arab conquest, Dara became the seat of Jacobite bishops, in the 10th century Dara lost its Metropolitan rank, which passed to its former suffragan Rhesaina. The diocese was restored in the 15th century as the Latin Catholic titular bishopric of Dara. Girolamo della Carità pro hac vice Title Nicholas Thomas Elko Established as Titular bishopric of Anastasiopolis, suppressed without incumbent, italo Furlan, Accertamenti a Dara, Padua 1984 Michael Whitby, Procopius description of Dara, in, The defence of the Roman and Byzantine East
18.
Mesopotamia
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In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. The Sumerians and Akkadians dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of history to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD226, eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians, division of Mesopotamia between Roman and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. The regional toponym Mesopotamia comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος middle and ποταμός river and it is used throughout the Greek Septuagint to translate the Hebrew equivalent Naharaim. In the Anabasis, Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria, the Aramaic term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical concept. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazira, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran. In modern academic usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation and it is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests, with names like Syria, Jazirah, and Iraq being used to describe the region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments, Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the Armenian Highlands. Both rivers are fed by tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 15,000 square kilometres region of marshes, lagoons, mud flats, in the extreme south, the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since prehistoric times, periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and these trends have continued to the present day in Iraq
19.
Law
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Law is a system of rules that are created and enforced through social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior. Law as a system helps regulate and ensure that a community show respect, private individuals can create legally binding contracts, including arbitration agreements that may elect to accept alternative arbitration to the normal court process. The formation of laws themselves may be influenced by a constitution, written or tacit, the law shapes politics, economics, history and society in various ways and serves as a mediator of relations between people. Islamic Sharia law is the worlds most widely used religious law, the adjudication of the law is generally divided into two main areas referred to as Criminal law and Civil law. Criminal law deals with conduct that is considered harmful to social order, Civil law deals with the resolution of lawsuits between individuals or organizations. Law provides a source of scholarly inquiry into legal history, philosophy, economic analysis. Law also raises important and complex issues concerning equality, fairness, there is an old saying that all are equal before the law, although Jonathan Swift argued that Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through. In 1894, the author Anatole France said sarcastically, In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets, and steal loaves of bread. Writing in 350 BC, the Greek philosopher Aristotle declared, The rule of law is better than the rule of any individual, mikhail Bakunin said, All law has for its object to confirm and exalt into a system the exploitation of the workers by a ruling class. Cicero said more law, less justice, marxist doctrine asserts that law will not be required once the state has withered away. Regardless of ones view of the law, it today a completely central institution. Numerous definitions of law have been put forward over the centuries, at the same time, it plays only one part in the congeries of rules which influence behavior, for social and moral rules of a less institutionalized kind are also of great importance. There have been attempts to produce a universally acceptable definition of law. In 1972, one indicated that no such definition could be produced. McCoubrey and White said that the question what is law, glanville Williams said that the meaning of the word law depends on the context in which that word is used. He said that, for example, early customary law and municipal law were contexts where the law had two different and irreconcilable meanings. Thurman Arnold said that it is obvious that it is impossible to define the word law and it is possible to take the view that there is no need to define the word law. The history of law links closely to the development of civilization, Ancient Egyptian law, dating as far back as 3000 BC, contained a civil code that was probably broken into twelve books
20.
Constantinople
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Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
21.
Theodora (6th century)
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Theodora was empress of the Byzantine Empire and the wife of Emperor Justinian I. She was one of the most influential and powerful of the Byzantine empresses, some sources mention her as empress regnant with Justinian I as her co-regent. Along with her husband, she is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, the main historical sources for her life are the works of her contemporary Procopius. The historian offered three contradictory portrayals of the Empress, the Wars of Justinian, largely completed in 545, paints a picture of a courageous and influential empress who saved the throne for Justinian. Later he wrote the Secret History, which survives in one manuscript suggesting it was not widely read during the Byzantine era. The work revealed an author who had become disillusioned with the emperor Justinian, the empress. Yet much of the covers the same time period as The Wars of Justinian. Besides her piety, her beauty is excessively praised, although Theodora was dead when this work was published, Justinian was alive, and probably commissioned the work. Her contemporary John of Ephesus writes about Theodora in his Lives of the Eastern Saints and he mentions an illegitimate daughter not named by Procopius. Various other historians presented additional information on her life, theophanes the Confessor mentions some familial relations of Theodora to figures not mentioned by Procopius. Victor Tonnennensis notes her familial relation to the empress, Sophia. Michael the Syrian, the Chronicle of 1234 and Bar-Hebraeus place her origin in the city of Daman, near Kallinikos and they contradict Procopius by making Theodora the daughter of a priest, trained in the pious practices of Miaphysitism since birth. These are late Miaphysite sources and record her depiction among members of their creed and these accounts are thus usually ignored in favor of Procopius. Theodora, according to Michael Grant, was of Greek Cypriot descent, there are several indications of her possible birthplace. Her father, Acacius, was a trainer of the hippodromes Green faction in Constantinople. Her mother, whose name is not recorded, was a dancer and her parents had two more daughters. After her fathers death, when Theodora was four, her mother brought her children wearing garlands into the hippodrome, from then on Theodora would be their supporter. Lynda Garland in Byzantine Empresses, Women and Power in Byzantium, employment as an actress at the time would include both indecent exhibitions on stage and providing sexual services off stage
22.
Amalasuntha
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Amalasuntha was a regent of the Ostrogoths from 526 to 534. She was the youngest daughter of Theoderic the Great, and firmly believed in the upholding of Roman virtues and values and she is most well known for her diplomatic relationship with Justinian I, who would invade Italy in response to her assassination. It was important to Amalasunthas father, Theoderic the Great, that she marry into a royal family. She was very much an intellectual, and was known for her extensive knowledge. In addition, she was a student of philosophy, said to bear the wisdom of Solomon and her husband died, apparently in the early years of her marriage, leaving her with two children, Athalaric and Matasuntha, wife c.550 of Germanus. On the death of her father in 526, her son succeeded him at the age of ten and her tremendous influence in her position as regent can be seen in a diptych she appears in alongside her son, Athalaric, in 530. Deeply imbued with the old Roman culture, she gave to that sons education a more refined and her sons death in 534 made little change in the posture of affairs. After Athalarics death, Amalasuntha became queen, ruling independently only for a short while making her cousin Theodahad partner of her throne. Theodahad was a prominent leader of the Gothic military aristocracy, the group that so opposed her pro-Roman stances. Amalasuntha believed this pairing would help to make out of her harshest critics. The death of Amalasuntha would give Justinian a reason to go to war with the Ostrogoths, according to the Byzantine historian Procopius, it is believed that Amalasuntha and Justinian I had a very close diplomatic relationship. More specifically, Procopius believed that Amalasuntha was thinking about handing over Italy to Justinian around the time of her death, shortly after Amalasunthas murder, Theodahad would be replaced by Witigis, Amalasunthas son-in-law. With the peoples support, Witigis would have Theodahad put to death, the letters of Cassiodorus, chief minister and literary adviser of Amalasuntha, and the histories of Procopius and Jordanes, give us our chief information as to the character of Amalasuntha. Cassiodorus was a part of a greater pro-Roman party that desired to Romanize the traditional Ostrogothic kingship, the life of Amalasunta was made the subject of a tragedy, the first play written by the young Carlo Goldoni and presented at Milan in. Asteroid 650 Amalasuntha is named in her honour and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Amalasuntha
23.
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
24.
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
25.
Roman Senate
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The Roman Senate was a political institution in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, during the days of the kingdom, it was little more than an advisory council to the king. The last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was following a coup détat led by Lucius Junius Brutus. During the early Republic, the Senate was politically weak, while the executive magistrates were quite powerful, since the transition from monarchy to constitutional rule was most likely gradual, it took several generations before the Senate was able to assert itself over the executive magistrates. By the middle Republic, the Senate had reached the apex of its republican power, the late Republic saw a decline in the Senates power, which began following the reforms of the tribunes Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. After the transition of the Republic into the Principate, the Senate lost much of its power as well as its prestige. Following the constitutional reforms of the Emperor Diocletian, the Senate became politically irrelevant, when the seat of government was transferred out of Rome, the Senate was reduced to a municipal body. This decline in status was reinforced when the emperor Constantine the Great created an additional senate in Constantinople, the Senate in Rome ultimately disappeared at some point after AD603, although the title senator was still used well into the Middle Ages as a largely meaningless honorific. However, the Eastern Senate survived in Constantinople, until the ancient institution finally vanished there c. 14th century, the senate was a political institution in the ancient Roman kingdom. The word senate derives from the Latin word senex, which means old man, the early Roman family was called a gens or clan, and each clan was an aggregation of families under a common living male patriarch, called a pater. When the early Roman gentes were aggregating to form a common community, over time, the patres came to recognize the need for a single leader, and so they elected a king, and vested in him their sovereign power. When the king died, that power naturally reverted to the patres. The senate is said to have created by Romes first king, Romulus. The descendants of those 100 men subsequently became the patrician class, Romes fifth king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, chose a further 100 senators. They were chosen from the leading families, and were accordingly called the patres minorum gentium. Romes seventh and final king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, executed many of the men in the senate. During the years of the monarchy, the senates most important function was to new kings. While the king was elected by the people, it was actually the senate who chose each new king
26.
Ultimatum
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An ultimatum is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance. An ultimatum is generally the demand in a series of requests. As such, the time allotted is usually short, and the request is not to be open to further negotiation. The threat which backs up the ultimatum can vary depending on the demand in question and on the other circumstances, the word is used in diplomacy to signify the final terms submitted by one of the parties in negotiation for settlement of any subject of disagreement. It is accompanied by an intimation as to how refusal will be regarded and this opens up a variety of possibilities, such as good offices, mediation, the appointment of a commission of inquiry, arbitration, reprisals, pacific blockade and war. An ultimatum may also serve to provide legitimacy for military action, as reasons for a declaration of war are necessarily in the nature of an ultimatum, the ultimatum may now be regarded as an indispensable formality precedent to the outbreak of hostilities. The actor that presents the other side with an ultimatum should be prepared to make good on the threat, for instance, initiate military action, There are dangers if the threatened actor decides not to comply. On the other hand, the opponent may take the ultimatum seriously, the ultimatum may encourage the opponent to remain firm so as not to be seen as weak. One danger here is that the opponent may profess to accept the ultimatum, possibly with conditions, another danger is that the issuer may keep negotiating with the opponent when the requested period of time ends, thus making the issuer look like a laughable fool. A threat of force to defeat the opponent or deny him his objectives quickly with little cost, an assurance to the adversary against future demands. An offer of inducements for compliance, boulwarism Hobsons choice Byman, Daniel, Waxman, Matthew. The Dynamics of Coercion, American Foreign Policy and the Limits of Military Might, George, Alexander L. Art, Robert J. Cronin, Patrick M. eds. Forceful Persuasion, Coercive Diplomacy as an Alternative to War, in Art, Robert J. Cronin, Patrick M. The United States and coercive diplomacy, threats of Force, International Law and Strategy. Levy, Jack S. Deterrence and Coercive Diplomacy, The Contributions of Alexander George, the Use of Pauses in Coercion, An Explanation in Theory. School of Advanced Military Studies, United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, building a Psychological Strategy for the U. S. Leveraging the Informational Element of National Power, U. S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. Art, Robert J. Waltz, Kenneth Neal, eds, the Use of Force, Military Power and International Politics
27.
Belisarius
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Flavius Belisarius was a general of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Emperor Justinians ambitious project of reconquering much of the Mediterranean territory of the former Western Roman Empire, one of the defining features of Belisarius career was his success despite varying levels of support from Justinian. His name is given as one of the so-called Last of the Romans. Born into an Illyrian or Thracian family of possible Gothic ancestry, he spoke Latin as a tongue and became a Roman soldier as a young man. He came to the attention of Justin and his nephew, Justinian, as a promising and he was given permission by the emperor to form a bodyguard regiment, of heavy cavalry, which he later expanded into a personal household regiment,1,500 strong. Belisarius bucellarii were the nucleus around which all the armies he would later command were organized, armed with a lance, composite bow, and broadsword, they were fully armoured to the standard of heavy cavalry of the day. A multi-purpose unit, they were capable of skirmishing at a distance with bow, like the Huns, or could act as shock cavalry, charging an enemy with lance. In essence, they combined the best and most dangerous aspects of both of Romes greatest enemies, the Huns and the Goths. Following Justins death in 527, the new emperor, Justinian I and he quickly proved himself an able and effective commander, defeating the larger Sassanid army through superior generalship. This led to the negotiation of an Eternal Peace with the Persians and this freed resources for redeployment elsewhere. In 532, he was the military officer in the Imperial capital of Constantinople when the Nika riots broke out in the city. For his efforts, Belisarius was rewarded by Justinian with the command of a land and sea expedition against the Vandal Kingdom, the Romans had political, religious, and strategic reasons for such a campaign. The pro-Roman Vandal king Hilderic had been deposed and murdered by the usurper Gelimer, furthermore, the Arian Vandals had periodically persecuted the Nicene Christians within their kingdom, many of whom made their way to Constantinople seeking redress. The Vandals had launched many pirate raids on Roman trade interests, in the late summer of 533, Belisarius sailed to Africa and landed near Caput Vada. He ordered his fleet not to lose sight of the army, ten miles from Carthage, the forces of Gelimer and Belisarius finally met at the Battle of Ad Decimum on September 13,533. It nearly turned into a defeat for the Romans, Gelimer had chosen his position well and had some success along the main road. The Romans, however, seemed dominant on both sides of the road to Carthage. At the height of the battle, Gelimer became distraught upon learning of the death of his brother in battle and this gave Belisarius a chance to regroup, and he went on to win the battle and capture Carthage
28.
Sicily
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Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
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Dalmatia
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Dalmatia is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea. The hinterland ranges in width from fifty kilometres in the north, to just a few kilometres in the south,79 islands run parallel to the coast, the largest being Brač, Pag and Hvar. The largest city is Split, followed by Zadar, Dubrovnik, the name of the region stems from an Illyrian tribe called the Dalmatae, who lived in the area in classical antiquity. Later it became a Roman province, and as result a Romance culture emerged, along with the now-extinct Dalmatian language, later largely replaced with related Venetian. With the arrival of Croats to the area in the 8th century, who occupied most of the hinterland, Croatian and Romance elements began to intermix in language and the culture. During the Middle Ages, its cities were conquered by, or switched allegiance to. The longest-lasting rule was the one of the Republic of Venice, between 1815 and 1918, it was as a province of Austrian Empire known as the Kingdom of Dalmatia. It was the Romans who first gave Dalmatia its name, inspired by the Illyrian word “delmat”, meaning a proud and its Latin form Dalmatia gave rise to its current English name. In the Venetian language, once dominant in the area, it is spelled Dalmàssia, the modern Croatian spelling is Dalmacija, pronounced. Dalmatia is referenced in the New Testament at 2 Timothy 4,10 so its name has been translated in many of the worlds languages. In antiquity the Roman province of Dalmatia was much larger than the present-day Split-Dalmatia County, Dalmatia is today a historical region only, not formally instituted in Croatian law. Its exact extent is uncertain and subject to public perception. According to Lena Mirošević and Josip Faričić of the University of Zadar, simultaneously, the southern part of Lika and upper Pounje, which were not a part of Austrian Dalmatia, became a part of Zadar County. From the present-day administrative and territorial point of view, Dalmatia comprises the four Croatian littoral counties with seats in Zadar, Šibenik, Split, Dalmatia is therefore generally perceived to extend approximately to the borders of the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia. The Encyclopædia Britannica defines Dalmatia as extending to the narrows of Kotor, other sources, however, such as the Treccani encyclopedia and the Rough Guide to Croatia still include the Bay as being part of the region. This definition does not include the Bay of Kotor, nor the islands of Rab, Sveti Grgur and it also excludes the northern part of the island of Pag, which is part of the Lika-Senj County. However, it includes the Gračac Municipality in Zadar County, which was not a part of the Kingdom of Dalmatia and is not traditionally associated with the region, the inhabitants of Dalmatia are culturally subdivided into two or three groups
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Crown (headgear)
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In art, the crown may be shown being offered to those on Earth by angels. In religious art, a crown of stars is used similarly to a halo, crowns worn by rulers often contain jewels. A crown is often an emblem of the monarchy, a monarchs government, the word itself is used, particularly in Commonwealth countries, as an abstract name for the monarchy itself, as distinct from the individual who inhabits it. A specific type of crown is employed in heraldry under strict rules, costume headgear imitating a monarchs crown is also called a crown. Such costume crowns may be worn by actors portraying a monarch, people at parties, or ritual monarchs such as the king of a Carnival krewe. The nuptial crown, sometimes called a coronal, worn by a bride, in the present day, it is most common in Eastern Orthodox cultures. The Eastern Orthodox marriage service has a section called the crowning, wherein the bride and groom are crowned as king, in Greek weddings, the crowns are diadems usually made of white flowers, synthetic or real, often adorned with silver or mother of pearl. They are placed on the heads of the newlyweds and are held together by a ribbon of white silk and they are then kept by the couple as a reminder of their special day. In Slavic weddings, the crowns are made of ornate metal, designed to resemble an imperial crown. A parish usually owns one set to use for all the couples that are married there since these are more expensive than Greek-style crowns. This was common in Catholic countries in the past, a Crown of thorns according to the Bible, was placed on the head of Jesus before his crucifixion and has become a common symbol of martyrdom. According to Roman Catholic tradition, the Blessed Virgin Mary was crowned as Queen of Heaven after her assumption into heaven and she is often depicted wearing a crown, and statues of her in churches and shrines are ceremonially crowned during May. The Crown of Immortality is also common in historical symbolism, dancers of certain traditional Thai dances often wear crowns on their head. These are inspired in the worn by deities and by kings. Three distinct categories of crowns exist in those monarchies that use crowns or state regalia, coronation, worn by monarchs when being crowned. State, worn by monarchs on other state occasions, consort crowns, worn by queens consort, signifying rank granted as a constitutional courtesy protocol. In Classical antiquity, the crown that was awarded to people other than rulers, such as triumphal military generals or athletes, was actually a wreath or chaplet. Numerous crowns of various forms were used in antiquity, such as the Hedjet, Deshret, the Pschent double crown and it was referred to as the chaplet studded with sunbeams” by Lucian, about 180 AD
31.
Vitiges
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Vitiges or Witiges was king of the Ostrogoths in Italy from 536 to 540. Vitiges was the husband of Amalasunthas only surviving child, Matasuntha, soon after he was made king, Vitiges had his predecessor Theodahad murdered. Theodahad had enraged the Goths because he failed to send any assistance to Naples when it was besieged by the Byzantines, justinians general Belisarius took both Vitiges and Matasuntha as captives to Constantinople, and Vitiges died there, without any children. After his death, Matasuntha married the patrician Germanus Justinus, a nephew of Justinian I by his sister Vigilantia
32.
Scholae Palatinae
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The Scholae survived in Roman and later Byzantine service until they disappeared in the late 11th century, during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos. When Constantine the Great, launching an invasion of Italy in 312, forced a confrontation at the Milvian Bridge. Later, in Rome, the victorious Constantine definitively disbanded the Praetorian Guard, nevertheless, some units, such as the schola gentilium are attested much earlier than 312, and may have their origins in the reign of Diocletian. Each schola was formed into a cavalry regiment of around 500 troops. Many scholarians were recruited from among Germanic tribes, in the West, these were Franks and Alamanni, while in the East, Goths were employed. In the East, under the impact of policies, from the mid-5th century they were largely replaced with Armenians and Isaurians. However, evidence of the mentioned in primary sources indicates that the presence of native Romans in the scholae was not negligible. Of the recorded and named scholarians in the century, ten are definitely Roman, forty one probably Roman, whilst only five are definitely barbarian. Each schola was commanded by a tribunus who ranked as a comes of the first class, the tribunus had a number of senior officers called domestici or protectores directly under him. In the Notitia Dignitatum of the late 4th century, seven scholae are listed for the Eastern Empire, gradually however, the ease of palace life and lack of actual campaigning, as the Emperors ceased to take the field themselves, lessened their combat abilities. Emperor Justinian is said to have caused panic amongst their members by proposing that they be sent on an expedition, Justinian also raised four supernumerary scholae of 2,000 men purely in order to raise money from the sale of the appointments. It seems that increase was reverted by the same emperor later. Scola scutariorum clibanariorum, a unit of clibanarii, the seniores are the senior Western units, while iuniores their junior Eastern counterparts. Saints Sergius and Bacchus were officers in Emperor Maximians schola gentilium, saint Martin of Tours, an officer in the scholae of Caesar Julian. Mallobaudes, a Frankish king, tribunus armaturarum, later magister militum, claudius Silvanus, a Frankish tribune and later usurper. Bacurius, prince of Caucasian Iberia, tribunus sagittariorum at the Battle of Adrianople, cassio, tribunus scutariorum at the Battle of Adrianople. Justinian I served as a candidatus in 518, at the time of the death of Emperor Anastasius, the scholae, along with the excubitores, continued to exist in the 7th and early 8th centuries, although diminished in size, as purely ceremonial units. In addition, like their Late Roman ancestors, they were an important stage in a career for young aristocrats
33.
Roman consul
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A consul was the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic, and the consulship was considered the highest level of the cursus honorum. Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term, the consuls alternated in holding imperium each month, and a consuls imperium extended over Rome, Italy, and the provinces. Originally, consuls were called praetors, referring to their duties as the military commanders. By at least 300 BC the title of Consul was being used, in Greek, the title was originally rendered as στρατηγός ὕπατος, strategos hypatos, and later simply as ὕπατος. The consul was believed by the Romans to date back to the establishment of the Republic in 509 BC. These remained in place until the office was abolished in 367/366 BC, consuls had extensive powers in peacetime, and in wartime often held the highest military command. Additional religious duties included certain rites which, as a sign of their formal importance, consuls also read auguries, an essential step before leading armies into the field. Two consuls were elected each year, serving together, each with power over the others actions. It is thought that only patricians were eligible for the consulship. Consuls were elected by the Comitia Centuriata, which had a bias in its voting structure which only increased over the years from its foundation. If a consul died during his term or was removed from office, a consul elected to start the year - called a consul ordinarius - held more prestige than a suffect consul, partly because the year would be named for ordinary consuls. The first plebeian consul, Lucius Sextius, was elected the following year and it is possible that only the chronology has been distorted, but it seems that one of the first consuls, Lucius Junius Brutus, came from a plebeian family. Another possible explanation is that during the 5th century social struggles, during times of war, the primary qualification for consul was military skill and reputation, but at all times the selection was politically charged. With the passage of time, the became the normal endpoint of the cursus honorum. When Lucius Cornelius Sulla regulated the cursus by law, the age of election to consul became. Beginning in the late Republic, after finishing a year, a former consul would usually serve a lucrative term as a proconsul. The most commonly chosen province for the proconsulship was Cisalpine Gaul, throughout the early years of the Principate although the consuls were still formally elected by the Comitia Centuriata, they were in fact nominated by the princeps. It was a post that would be occupied by a man halfway through his career, in his early thirties for a patrician, emperors frequently appointed themselves, or their protégés or relatives, consuls, even without regard to the age requirements
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Pope Vigilius
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Pope Vigilius was Pope from 29 March 537 to his death in 555. He is considered the first pope of the Byzantine Papacy and he belonged to an aristocratic Roman family, his father Johannes is identified as a consul in the Liber pontificalis, having received that title from the emperor. According to Procopius, his brother Reparatus was one of the senators taken hostage by Witigis, but managed to escape before the Ostrogothic king ordered their slaughter in 537. Vigilius entered the service of the Roman Church and was ordained a deacon in 531, Vigilius was chosen by Pope Boniface II as his successor and presented to the clergy assembled in St. Peters Basilica. The opposition to such a procedure led Boniface in the year to withdraw his designation of a successor. The second successor of Boniface, Pope Agapetus I, appointed Vigilius papal representative at Constantinople, Vigilius is said to have agreed to the plans of the intriguing empress who promised him the Papal See and a large sum of money. While Vigilius was in Constantinople, Pope Agapetus died on 22 April 536, soon after Silverius was ordained, the Byzantine general Belisarius occupied Rome, which was then besieged by the Goths. Although the Goths were unable to encircle the city completely, both the Byzantine soldiers and the inhabitants feared they would be destroyed. Soon after the siege began, for example, Belisarius ordered the women, children, around the same time, Silverius was accused of offering to betray Rome to the Goths. Belisarius had him deposed, put in a habit and exiled to Greece. Several other senators were also banished from Rome on the same charges, what part Vigilius played in the deposition of Silverius is unclear in the primary sources. Procopius, on the hand, states that Belisarius appointed Vigilius shortly after Silverius was deposed. It is certain that Vigilius was consecrated and enthroned Pope on 29 March 537, after the death of his predecessor Vigilius was recognized as pope by all the Roman clergy, even though the manner of his elevation was not regular. Empress Theodora soon learned that she had been deceived, after Vigilius had attained the object of his ambition and been made pope, he maintained the same position as his predecessor against the Monophysites and the deposed Anthimus. A letter purported to be from the pope to the deposed Monophysite patriarchs Anthimus, Severus and this letter, however, is not regarded as genuine by most investigators and bears all the marks of forgery. The pope did not restore Anthimus to his office, in the year 540 Vigilius took a stand in regard to Monophysitism, in two letters sent to Constantinople. One of the letters is addressed to Emperor Justinian, the other to the Patriarch Menas, in both letters the pope supports positively the Synods of Ephesus and Chalcedon, the decisions of his predecessor Pope Leo I, and the deposition of the Patriarch Anthimus. Several other letters written by the pope in the first years of his pontificate give information respecting his interposition in the affairs of various countries
35.
Second Council of Constantinople
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The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized as such by both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics and Old Catholics unanimously recognise it, protestant opinions and recognition of it are varied. Some Protestants, such as Calvinists and Lutherans, recognise the first four councils, Constantinople II was convoked by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I under the presidency of Patriarch Eutychius of Constantinople. It was held from 5 May to 2 June 553, participants were overwhelmingly Eastern bishops – only sixteen Western bishops were present, including nine from Illyricum and seven from Africa, but none from Italy – out of the 152 total. The main work of the council was to confirm the condemnation issued by edict in 551 by the Emperor Justinian against the Three Chapters. The council also condemned the teaching that the Virgin Mary could not be called the Mother of God. Justinian hoped that this would contribute to a reunion between the Chalcedonians and monophysites in the provinces of the Empire. Various attempts at reconciliation between these parties within the Byzantine Empire were made by many emperors over the four following the Council of Ephesus. The Council was presided over by Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople, Pope Vigilius was also invited, but even though he was at this period resident in Constantinople, he declined to attend, and even issued a document forbidding the council from preceding without him. For more details see Pope Vigilius, the council, however, proceeded without the pope to condemn the Three Chapters. Vigilius was then imprisoned in Constantinople by the emperor and his advisors were exiled, after six months, in December 553, he agreed, however, to condemn the Three Chapters, claiming that his hesitation was due to being misled by his advisors. His approval of the council was expressed in two documents, condemning the Three Chapters, on his own authority and without mention of the council, in Northern Italy the ecclesiastical provinces of Milan and Aquileia broke communion with Rome. Though ranked as one of the councils, it never attained in the West the status of either Nicaea or Chalcedon. It used to be argued that the extant acts are incomplete, however, the solution generally accepted today is that the bishops signed the canons condemning Origenism before the council formally opened. This condemnation was confirmed by Pope Vigilius and the subsequent ecumenical council gave its assent in its Definition of Faith to the five previous synods, the last, that is the Fifth holy Synod assembled in this place, against Theodore of Mopsuestia, Origen, Didymus, and Evagrius. Its full conciliar authority has only been questioned in modern times and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Thomas J. Shahan. The Formation of Christendom, revised, illustrated paperback edition, london, Princeton University Press and Fontana. Imperial unity and Christian divisions, The Church 450-680 A. D, crestwood, NY, St. Vladimirs Seminary Press
36.
Lazica
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Lazica was the name given to the territory of Colchis during the Roman period, from about the 1st century BC. By the mid-3rd century, Lazica was given autonomy within the Roman Empire. Throughout much of its existence, it was mainly a Byzantine strategic vassal kingdom occasionally coming under Sassanid Persian rule, the kingdom fell to the Muslim conquest in the 7th century. Egrisi in the 8th century successfully repelled the Arab occupation and formed the Kingdom of Abkhazia-Egrisi from c,780, one of the early medieval polities which would converge into the unified kingdom of Georgia in the 11th century. In the early 4th century, the Christian eparchy of Pitiunt was established in this kingdom, other ancient episcopal sees in Lazica include Rhodopolis, Saesina, and Zygana. In 325 among the participants of the First Council of Nicaea was the bishop of Pitiunt, the first Christian king of Lazica was Gubazes I, in the 5th century, Christianity was made the official religion of Lazica. Later, the nobility and clergy of Lazica switched from the Hellenic ecclesiastic tradition to the Georgian, the Bichvinta Cathedral is one of oldest monuments of the Georgian Christian architecture constructed by the Georgian King Bagrat III of the Bagrationi Royal House in the late 10th century. It was under Bagrat III, that Lazica unified with the eastern Georgian lands of Iberia-Kartli to form a united Kingdom of Georgia. 456 –466 Damnazes. –521/522 Tzath I, attested 521/522 – 527/528 Opsites, dates of reign unknown, likely some time before 541 Gubazes II c.541 –555 Tzath II, 556–. 662, mentioned as patricius of Lazica in the Hypomnensticum of Theodosius and Theodore of Gangra Grigor 670 – c.675 Sergius, son of Barnucius, c. 696/697 Culture of Georgia Diaokhi History of Georgia History of Abkhazia Laz people Lazic War Roman Georgia Sanigs http, //web. raex. com/~obsidian/caucasus. html#Colchis www. colchis. de
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Armenian Highlands
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The Armenian Highlands is the central-most and highest of three land-locked plateaus. that together form the northern sector of the Middle East. To its west is the Anatolian plateau which rises slowly from the lowland coast of the Aegean Sea, to its southeast is the Iranian plateau, where the elevation drops rapidly by about 600 metres to 1,500 metres above sea level. The Caucasus extends to the northeast of the Armenian Highlands, to the southwest of the Armenian Highlands is Upper Mesopotamia. During the Middle Ages, Turkmens settled in numbers in the Armenian Highlands. The region was mainly inhabited by Armenians, and minorities of Georgians and Assyrians. The Christian population of the Western half of the region was exterminated during the Armenian Genocide of 1915, today, the region is mainly inhabited by Armenians, Kurds, Azerbaijanis, Turks, and Georgians. Their total area is about 400,000 km2, historically, the Armenian Highlands have been the scene of great volcanic activity. The Armenian Highlands are rich in water resources, most of the Armenian Highlands is in eastern Turkey, and also includes northwestern Iran, all of Armenia, southern Georgia, and western Azerbaijan. Its northeastern parts are known as Lesser Caucasus, which is a center of Armenian culture. From 4000 to 1000 BC, tools and trinkets of copper, bronze and iron were produced in this region. It is also believed to be one of the possible locations of the Garden of Eden. The Armenian Plateau has been called the epicenter of the Iron Age, in the Early Iron Age, the Kingdom of Van controlled much of the region, until it was overthrown by the Medes and Orontid dynasty. In Gilgamesh, the land of Aratta is placed in a space that could be describing the Armenian plateau. From the early era and on, the region came directly under Safavid Iranian rule. The apricot was known by the Romans as the prunus armenicus and was brought to Europe from the Armenian plateau, history of Armenia Geography of Armenia Hewsen, Robert H. Armenia, A Historical Atlas
