Archon ( Greek : ἄρχων , romanized : árchōn , plural: ἄρχοντες , árchontes ) is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ- , meaning "to be first, to rule", derived from the same root as words such as monarch and hierarchy .
152-434: In the early literary period of ancient Greece , the chief magistrates of various Greek city states were called archontes . The term was also used throughout Greek history in a more general sense, ranging from "club leader" to "master of the tables" at syssitia to "Roman governor". In Athens , a system of three concurrent archons evolved, the three office holders being known as archon eponymos ( ἄρχων ἐπώνυμος ),
304-408: A titanic battle , Bayezid force-marched his army to a stunning yet costly victory. Thousands were killed, but now Bayezid was able to turn his armies fully against Constantinople. The situation was dire; so much so that John VII, Manuel's dire opponent, was left in charge of Constantinople. He made one grand tour of Europe in 1399, stopping at Venice , Padua , Milan , Paris and London, where he met
456-546: A 'strongman' was often the best solution. Athens fell under a tyranny in the second half of the 6th century BC. When this tyranny was ended, the Athenians founded the world's first democracy as a radical solution to prevent the aristocracy regaining power. A citizens' assembly (the Ecclesia ), for the discussion of city policy, had existed since the reforms of Draco in 621 BC; all citizens were permitted to attend after
608-582: A Crusade. This time, however, the Papacy was unmoved by the calamity facing the Byzantine Empire. Fortunately for John V, he had other European connections — his mother was Anna of Savoy , and her nephew (being John V's cousin) was concerned for the safety of his Greek counterpart. Sailing from Venice in June 1366 with dreams of initiating yet another Crusade, Amadeo VI of Savoy arrived at and seized
760-630: A bridgehead in Europe. Meanwhile, the Serbs continued pressing south, removing any nominal Imperial control in Epirus. John V, ten years old at his ascension, was guided by a regency consisting of his mother, Anna of Savoy , John VI Kantakouzenos and the Patriarch of Constantinople ( John XIV Kalekas ). The Patriarch, aided by the ambitious Alexios Apokaukos , sparked the civil conflict when he convinced
912-470: A choregos, also selected by the archon, from among the wealthy citizens who would pay all the expenses of costumes, masks, and training the chorus. The archon also assigned each playwright a principal actor (the protagonist ), as well as a second and third actor. The City Dionysia, an ancient dramatic festival held in March in which tragedy, comedy, and satyric drama originated, was under the direction of one of
1064-500: A coalition of 31 Greek city states, including Athens and Sparta, determined to resist the Persian invaders. At the same time, Greek Sicily was invaded by a Carthaginian force. In 480 BC, the first major battle of the invasion was fought at Thermopylae , where a small rearguard of Greeks, led by three hundred Spartans, held a crucial pass guarding the heart of Greece for several days; at the same time Gelon , tyrant of Syracuse, defeated
1216-609: A council of elders (the Gerousia ) and magistrates specifically appointed to watch over the kings (the Ephors ). Only free, land-owning, native born men could be citizens entitled to the full protection of the law in a city-state. In most city-states, unlike the situation in Rome , social prominence did not allow special rights. Sometimes families controlled public religious functions, but this ordinarily did not give any extra power in
1368-528: A decisive victory, and in 447 lost Boeotia again. Athens and Sparta signed the Thirty Years' Peace in the winter of 446/5, ending the conflict. Despite the treaty, Athenian relations with Sparta declined again in the 430s, and in 431 BC the Peloponnesian War began. The first phase of the war saw a series of fruitless annual invasions of Attica by Sparta, while Athens successfully fought
1520-596: A few successes in the Aegean: in 1329, Chios was recovered, and in 1335, Andronikos arranged an alliance involving financial indemnities with the Turkic Emir Bahud-din Umur , Bey of Aydın , and was able to recover Lesbos and Phocaea from the Latins. In Europe, Andronikos III had mixed results; Thessaly returned to Imperial rule in 1333, but Serbia once again began expanding southwards: led by
1672-436: A group of city-states allied themselves to defend Greece, the vast majority of poleis remained neutral, and after the Persian defeat, the allies quickly returned to infighting. Thus, the major peculiarities of the ancient Greek political system were its fragmented nature (and that this does not particularly seem to have tribal origin), and the particular focus on urban centers within otherwise tiny states. The peculiarities of
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#17327661123371824-507: A job but to become an effective citizen. Girls also learned to read, write and do simple arithmetic so they could manage the household. They almost never received education after childhood. Palaiologan period The Byzantine Empire was ruled by the Palaiologos dynasty in the period between 1261 and 1453, from the restoration of Byzantine rule to Constantinople by the usurper Michael VIII Palaiologos following its recapture from
1976-675: A leading noble of military standing and the main figure of the regency of John IV, who had used this role to propel himself to the throne, and set the stage for his becoming sole Emperor of the restored Byzantine Empire. In 1261, while the bulk of the Latin Empire's military forces were absent from Constantinople, the Byzantine General Alexios Strategopoulos used the opportunity to seize the city with 600 troops. Thrace , Macedonia and Thessalonica had already been taken by Nicaea in 1246. Following
2128-484: A new class of generals known as strategoi . The polemarch thereafter had only minor religious duties. The archon eponymos remained the titular head of state under democracy , though of much reduced political importance. The archons were assisted by "junior archons", called thesmothetai (pl. of thesmothetēs ). After 487 BC, ex-archons were automatically enrolled as life members of the Areopagus , though that assembly
2280-760: A result of Epaminondas ' liberation of Messenia from Spartan rule, the helot system there came to an end and the helots won their freedom. However, it did continue to persist in Laconia until the 2nd century BC. For most of Greek history, education was private, except in Sparta. During the Hellenistic period, some city-states established public schools . Only wealthy families could afford a teacher. Boys learned how to read, write and quote literature. They also learned to sing and play one musical instrument and were trained as athletes for military service. They studied not for
2432-548: A result, coordinated efforts were made to defeat both. John V had his eldest son, Andronikos IV, along with the latter's son, John VII, partially blinded, while Murad I defeated his son, Savci, and had him executed. Manuel , the second son of John V, was made co-emperor and heir to the throne. Unfortunately for John V, Andronikos IV and his son John VII escaped. With Genoan and Turkish aid, they returned to Constantinople and succeeded in overthrowing John V, imprisoning him and Manuel. In exchange for Ottoman aid, Andronikos IV handed
2584-523: A special type of slaves called helots . Helots were Messenians enslaved en masse during the Messenian Wars by the state and assigned to families where they were forced to stay. Helots raised food and did household chores so that women could concentrate on raising strong children while men could devote their time to training as hoplites . Their masters treated them harshly, and helots revolted against their masters several times. In 370/69 BC, as
2736-476: A successful coup with Genoan aid. Kantakouzenos now abdicated and retired to a monastery, where he would write his memoirs and thoughts until his death in 1383. Matthew Kantakouzenos, no doubt disappointed with his father's failure, continued to resist John V. Since the Ottoman Sultan Orhan was his brother-in-law, he was able to obtain troops from him, but had barely begun his campaign when he
2888-447: A title in fraternities and sororities . In Gnostic religious traditions, the term archon generally refers to a group of seven supernatural beings, associated with the seven classical planets and considered to be responsible for the creation of the physical world. Ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( Ancient Greek : Ἑλλάς , romanized : Hellás ) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from
3040-722: A war with the Roman Republic in the late 3rd century. Although the First Macedonian War was inconclusive, the Romans, in typical fashion, continued to fight Macedon until it was completely absorbed into the Roman Republic (by 149 BC). In the east, the unwieldy Seleucid Empire gradually disintegrated, although a rump survived until 64 BC, whilst the Ptolemaic Kingdom continued in Egypt until 30 BC when it too
3192-684: A year, the Thirty had been overthrown. The first half of the fourth century saw the major Greek states attempt to dominate the mainland; none were successful, and their resulting weakness led to a power vacuum which would eventually be filled by Macedon under Philip II and then Alexander the Great. In the immediate aftermath of the Peloponnesian war, Sparta attempted to extend their own power, leading Argos, Athens, Corinth, and Thebes to join against them. Aiming to prevent any single Greek state gaining
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#17327661123373344-465: Is debated. Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides , Xenophon , Demosthenes , Plato and Aristotle . Most were either Athenian or pro-Athenian, which is why far more is known about the history and politics of Athens than of many other cities. Their scope is further limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, ignoring economic and social history. The archaic period, lasting from approximately 800 to 500 BC, saw
3496-522: Is known from much more fragmentary documents such as annals, king lists, and pragmatic epigraphy . Herodotus is widely known as the "father of history": his Histories are eponymous of the entire field . Written between the 450s and 420s BC, Herodotus' work reaches about a century into the past, discussing 6th century BC historical figures such as Darius I of Persia , Cambyses II and Psamtik III , and alluding to some 8th century BC persons such as Candaules . The accuracy of Herodotus' works
3648-458: Is mountainous, and as a result, ancient Greece consisted of many smaller regions, each with its own dialect, cultural peculiarities, and identity. Regionalism and regional conflicts were prominent features of ancient Greece. Cities tended to be located in valleys between mountains, or on coastal plains, and dominated a certain area around them. In the south lay the Peloponnese , consisting of
3800-421: Is not known, but the provocative actions of the Patriarch forced Kantakouzenos to fight to retain his power and started the civil war. There were not nearly enough troops to defend Byzantium's borders at the time and there certainly was not enough for the two factions to split; consequently, foreigner mercenaries were brought in. Kantakouzenos hired Turks and Serbs — his main supply of Turkish mercenaries came from
3952-479: Is unclear exactly how this change occurred. For instance, in Athens, the kingship had been reduced to a hereditary, lifelong chief magistracy ( archon ) by c. 1050 BC; by 753 BC this had become a decennial, elected archonship; and finally by 683 BC an annually elected archonship. Through each stage, more power would have been transferred to the aristocracy as a whole, and away from a single individual. Inevitably,
4104-417: The polemarch ( πολέμαρχος ), and the archon basileus ( ἄρχων βασιλεύς ). According to Aristotle 's Constitution of the Athenians , the power of the king first devolved to the archons, and these offices were filled from the aristocracy by elections every ten years. During this period, the archon eponymos was the chief magistrate, the polemarch was the head of the armed forces, and the archon basileus
4256-762: The Archaic period , the Greek population grew beyond the capacity of the limited arable land of Greece proper, resulting in the large-scale establishment of colonies elsewhere: according to one estimate, the population of the widening area of Greek settlement increased roughly tenfold from 800 BC to 400 BC, from 800,000 to as many as 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 -10 million. This was not simply for trade, but also to found settlements. These Greek colonies were not, as Roman colonies were, dependent on their mother-city, but were independent city-states in their own right. Greeks settled outside of Greece in two distinct ways. The first
4408-699: The Battle of Aegospotami , and began to blockade Athens' harbour; driven by hunger, Athens sued for peace, agreeing to surrender their fleet and join the Spartan-led Peloponnesian League. Following the Athenian surrender, Sparta installed an oligarchic regime, the Thirty Tyrants , in Athens, one of a number of Spartan-backed oligarchies which rose to power after the Peloponnesian war. Spartan predominance did not last: after only
4560-612: The Bey of Aydın , a nominal ally established by Andronikos III. The Regency of John V relied on Turkish mercenaries as well. However, Kantakouzenos began to draw support from the Ottoman Sultan Orhan, who wed Kantakouzenos' daughter in 1345. By 1347, Kantakouzenos had triumphed and entered Constantinople. However, in his hour of victory, he came to an accord with Anna and her son, John V: John V (now 15 years of age) and Kantakouzenos would rule as co-emperors, though John V would be
4712-576: The Delian League gradually transformed from a defensive alliance of Greek states into an Athenian empire, as Athens' growing naval power intimidated the other league states. Athens ended its campaigns against Persia in 450, after a disastrous defeat in Egypt in 454, and the death of Cimon in action against the Persians on Cyprus in 450. As the Athenian fight against the Persian empire waned, conflict grew between Athens and Sparta. Suspicious of
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4864-577: The Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( c. 600 AD ), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically related city-states and other territories. Prior to the Roman period , most of these regions were officially unified once under the Kingdom of Macedon from 338 to 323 BC. In Western history , the era of classical antiquity
5016-617: The Ilkhanids of Persia to send troops to attack the Turks, but negotiations for such an alliance failed. Andronikos II ordered the Union of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches to be canceled, a move which pleased many. But he also ordered drastic reductions in the military, and effectively disbanded the navy, which his father had worked hard to build up. As a result, tax reductions throughout
5168-653: The Italian Renaissance . Following the Fourth Crusade , the Byzantine Empire had fractured into the Greek successor-states of Nicaea , Epirus , and Trebizond, with a multitude of Frankish and Latin possessions occupying the remainder, nominally subject to the Latin Emperors at Constantinople. In addition, the disintegration of the Byzantine Empire allowed the Bulgarians , the Serbs, and
5320-682: The Latin Empire , founded after the Fourth Crusade (1204), up to the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire . Together with the preceding Nicaean Empire and the contemporary Frankokratia , this period is known as the late Byzantine Empire. From the start, the regime faced numerous problems. The Turks of Asia Minor had begun conducting raids and expanding into Byzantine territory in Asia Minor by 1263, just two years after
5472-603: The Orthodox Church faith and tradition. His main concern is to protect and promote the Holy Patriarchate and its mission. He is also concerned with human rights and the well-being and general welfare of the Church. As it is a significant religious position, the faith and dedication of a candidate for the role are extensively reviewed during consideration; the candidate should have demonstrated commitment for
5624-740: The Paeonians due north, the Thracians to the northeast, and the Illyrians , with whom the Macedonians were frequently in conflict, to the northwest. Chalcidice was settled early on by southern Greek colonists and was considered part of the Greek world, while from the late 2nd millennium BC substantial Greek settlement also occurred on the eastern shores of the Aegean , in Anatolia . During
5776-707: The Parthenon of Athens. Politically, the Classical Period was dominated by Athens and the Delian League during the 5th century, but displaced by Spartan hegemony during the early 4th century BC, before power shifted to Thebes and the Boeotian League and finally to the League of Corinth led by Macedon . This period was shaped by the Greco-Persian Wars , the Peloponnesian War , and
5928-671: The Rise of Macedon . Following the Classical period was the Hellenistic period (323–146 BC), during which Greek culture and power expanded into the Near and Middle East from the death of Alexander until the Roman conquest. Roman Greece is usually counted from the Roman victory over the Corinthians at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC to the establishment of Byzantium by Constantine as
6080-716: The Venetians and the Franks would no doubt launch another attempt to establish Latin rule in Constantinople. The situation became worse when Charles I of Anjou conquered Sicily from the Hohenstaufens in 1266. In 1267, Pope Clement IV arranged a pact, whereby Charles would receive land in the East in return for assisting a new military expedition to Constantinople. A delay on Charles' end meant that Michael VIII
6232-449: The poleis grouped themselves into leagues, membership of which was in a constant state of flux. Later in the Classical period, the leagues would become fewer and larger, be dominated by one city (particularly Athens , Sparta and Thebes ); and often poleis would be compelled to join under threat of war (or as part of a peace treaty). Even after Philip II of Macedon conquered the heartlands of ancient Greece, he did not attempt to annex
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6384-472: The 1340s which resulted in a civil war between the regency of John V(a coalition of Anna of Savoy, Alexios Apokaukos and the patriarch of Constantinople, John XIV) and the nobility who promoted John Kantakouzenos as emperor. In addition, diplomacy became less useful, as Byzantium's enemies realized that the Emperor had not the military or even economic might to back his word. While there was a general decline in
6536-464: The 146 BC conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. Macedonia became a Roman province while southern Greece came under the surveillance of Macedonia's prefect ; however, some Greek poleis managed to maintain a partial independence and avoid taxation. The Aegean Islands were added to this territory in 133 BC. Athens and other Greek cities revolted in 88 BC, and the peninsula was crushed by
6688-811: The 6,500 strong " Catalan Company " of Almogavars , led by Roger de Flor . Originating from Catalonia , these hardy mercenaries were used to skirmishing against the Moors in Spain and now, for an extraordinarily high price, they drove the Turks back in Asia Minor. Once again, these successes were nullified when their leader, Roger de Flor, was assassinated on his way to meet Andronikos; the Catalans then revolted against imperial authority, and began pillaging and raiding cities in Thrace, leaving Asia Minor open to Turkish incursions. After this, Andronikos turned to diplomacy, asking
6840-422: The 8th and 9th centuries, these were the governors of some of the more peripheral provinces, inferior in status to the themata : Dalmatia , Cephalonia , Crete and Cyprus . Archontes were also placed in charge of various naval bases and trade stations, as well as semi-autonomous Slavic -inhabited areas ( sclaviniae ) under Byzantine sovereignty. In the 10th–12th centuries, archontes are also mentioned as
6992-578: The Byzantine renegade Syrgiannes Palaiologos , Serbian forces took five key forts from Byzantium in 1334 and forced it to recognize the new borders. Andronikos was then forced to recognize Serbian rule in Macedonia. In addition, Andronikos faced a further reversal when leading his army at Rousokastron where he was defeated by the Bulgarians under their leader Ivan Alexander. Nevertheless, Andronikos
7144-583: The Carthaginian invasion at the Battle of Himera . The Persians were decisively defeated at sea by a primarily Athenian naval force at the Battle of Salamis , and on land in 479 BC at the Battle of Plataea . The alliance against Persia continued, initially led by the Spartan Pausanias but from 477 by Athens, and by 460 Persia had been driven out of the Aegean. During this long campaign,
7296-525: The Corinthian empire in northwest Greece and defended its own empire, despite a plague which killed the leading Athenian statesman Pericles . The war turned after Athenian victories led by Cleon at Pylos and Sphakteria , and Sparta sued for peace, but the Athenians rejected the proposal. The Athenian failure to regain control of Boeotia at Delium and Brasidas ' successes in northern Greece in 424 improved Sparta's position after Sphakteria. After
7448-455: The Crusade of 1204, was refurbished to Greek Orthodox tradition. The Kontoskalion harbour and the walls of Constantinople were all strengthened against a possible new expedition by the Latin West. Many hospitals, hospices, markets, baths, streets and churches were built, some with private patronage. Even a new Mosque was built to compensate for the one burnt during the Fourth Crusade. These attempts were costly and crippling taxes were placed on
7600-415: The Dark Ages was the Archaic Period , beginning around the 8th century BC, which saw early developments in Greek culture and society leading to the Classical Period from the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC until the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. The Classical Period is characterized by a "classical" style, i.e. one which was considered exemplary by later observers, most famously in
7752-451: The East and the great friendship achieved between Manuel II and Mehmed I. However, he lived long enough to see his son undo much of his achievements. Manuel II's first priority was to establish an agreement with Bayezid I . John VII was a favorite of Bayezid so Manuel II was in a dangerous position. He eventually sealed an agreement. However, the Ottoman Sultan became infuriated by Manuel II's attempts to reconcile his nephew John VII. Manuel
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#17327661123377904-471: The Empire and had once again made Byzantium a power to be reckoned with in the region. His army, however, was still small, and diplomacy was relied upon more than ever. An extortionate tax system supported his ambitious and successful foreign policies of expansion, as well as his numerous bribes and gifts to various potentates. He had put Byzantium on the road of recovery, but his achievements were still perilously fragile, as events would soon show. Andronikos II
8056-422: The Empire in no position to fight back. Although ultimately unsuccessful, the reign of Andronikos III was one of the last bright spots in Byzantine history, as the Empire's position was becoming increasingly precarious. Andronikos was able to score some successes in his life as he campaigned vigorously against the Genoese with success and reestablished some control over Epirus and Thessaly. Throughout his reign, he
8208-415: The Empire were possible, earning him greater popularity while seriously undermining Byzantium's abilities to deal with its opponents. He debased the hyperpyron currency and heavily taxed the military elite of the pronoiarioi , thereby further reducing Byzantium's military capability. While these solved some problems that Michael VIII had left for his son, it unraveled his father's attempts at restoring
8360-411: The Empire's fortunes, Andronikos III's death would be the coup de grâce for the Empire — his 10-year-old son was led by a regency that was torn apart in dynastic rivalries which led to the Second Palaiologan Civil War and the recognition of John Kantakouzenos as emperor and a catastrophe from which Byzantium would never recover. The Byzantine Empire entered into a new era of decay in 1341. The Empire
8512-796: The Empire, at least nominally, and thereby catching the Ottoman Sultan's attention. Murad I besieged Thessalonica in 1383, beginning a siege that would last until 1387. Meanwhile, Andronikos IV died and his son, John VII, began quarreling with his grandfather, John V. With Thessalonica surrendering in 1387 and his position rather hopeless, Manuel returned to John V and, with the Sultan's assent, began making conciliatory offers to his father. John V realized that accepting his second son back would cause his grandson to rebel in turn, and therefore he simply kept Manuel in exile in Lemnos . Eventually, John VII did rebel against his grandfather — news of Manuel's arrival at Constantinople and John V's reconciliation talks with him prompted John VII to head to Genoa and then to
8664-446: The Empire. Although Asia Minor was at this point destined to fall to the Turks, it had been in a worse position in 1091 and yet still recovered by Byzantium. Andronikos II attempted to solve Byzantium's internal problems more than his father had. The solutions he chose however had severe repercussions. They undermined the military and financial basis of the state, and the disasters suffered by his foreign policy failures further worsened
8816-488: The Empress that John V's rule was threatened by the ambitions of Kantakouzenos. In September 1341, while Kantakouzenos was in Thrace, Kalekas declared himself as regent and launched a vicious attack on Kantakouzenos, his supporters and family. In October, Anna ordered Kantakouzenos to resign his command. Kantakouzenos not only refused, but declared himself Emperor at Didymoteichon , allegedly to protect John V's rule from Kalekas. Whether or not Kantakouzenos wished to be Emperor
8968-482: The Genoese district of Galata with his family and hostages. John V, only interested in securing his throne and stability, came to conclude a pact with Andronikos IV in 1381, recognizing him as heir with John VII as heir apparent, thus removing Manuel from the line of succession. Naturally, Manuel felt betrayed by this move which demoted him from co-emperor. Returning to Thessalonica in 1382, he rebelled and established his rule over Thessaly and Epirus, thus "expanding"
9120-416: The Greek city-states. It greatly widened the horizons of the Greeks and led to a steady emigration of the young and ambitious to the new Greek empires in the east. Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria, Antioch and the many other new Hellenistic cities founded in Alexander's wake, as far away as present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan , where the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdom survived until
9272-460: The Greek colonies Syracusae ( Συράκουσαι ), Neapolis ( Νεάπολις ), Massalia ( Μασσαλία ) and Byzantion ( Βυζάντιον ). These colonies played an important role in the spread of Greek influence throughout Europe and also aided in the establishment of long-distance trading networks between the Greek city-states, boosting the economy of ancient Greece . Ancient Greece consisted of several hundred relatively independent city-states ( poleis ). This
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#17327661123379424-470: The Greek colony Sybaris in southern Italy, its allies, and the Serdaioi. In 499 BC, the Ionian city states under Persian rule rebelled against their Persian-supported tyrant rulers. Supported by troops sent from Athens and Eretria , they advanced as far as Sardis and burnt the city before being driven back by a Persian counterattack. The revolt continued until 494, when the rebelling Ionians were defeated. Darius did not forget that Athens had assisted
9576-420: The Greek system are further evidenced by the colonies that they set up throughout the Mediterranean , which, though they might count a certain Greek polis as their 'mother' (and remain sympathetic to her), were completely independent of the founding city. Inevitably smaller poleis might be dominated by larger neighbors, but conquest or direct rule by another city-state appears to have been quite rare. Instead
9728-660: The Greeks began 250 years of expansion, settling colonies in all directions. To the east, the Aegean coast of Asia Minor was colonized first, followed by Cyprus and the coasts of Thrace , the Sea of Marmara and south coast of the Black Sea . Eventually, Greek colonization reached as far northeast as present-day Ukraine and Russia ( Taganrog ). To the west the coasts of Illyria , Southern Italy (called " Magna Graecia ") were settled, followed by Southern France , Corsica , and even eastern Spain . Greek colonies were also founded in Egypt and Libya . Modern Syracuse , Naples , Marseille and Istanbul had their beginnings as
9880-423: The Greeks were very aware of their tribal origins; Herodotus was able to extensively categorise the city-states by tribe. Yet, although these higher-level relationships existed, they seem to have rarely had a major role in Greek politics. The independence of the poleis was fiercely defended; unification was something rarely contemplated by the ancient Greeks. Even when, during the second Persian invasion of Greece,
10032-420: The Ionian revolt, and in 490 he assembled an armada to retaliate. Though heavily outnumbered, the Athenians—supported by their Plataean allies—defeated the Persian hordes at the Battle of Marathon , and the Persian fleet turned tail. Ten years later, a second invasion was launched by Darius' son Xerxes . The city-states of northern and central Greece submitted to the Persian forces without resistance, but
10184-430: The League of Corinth following the death of Philip, Alexander began his campaign against Persia in 334 BC. He conquered Persia, defeating Darius III at the Battle of Issus in 333 BC, and after the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC proclaimed himself king of Asia. From 329 BC he led expeditions to Bactria and then India; further plans to invade Arabia and North Africa were halted by his death in 323 BC. The period from
10336-406: The Mediterranean region is commonly considered to have begun in the 8th century BC (around the time of the earliest recorded poetry of Homer) and ended in the 6th century AD. Classical antiquity in Greece was preceded by the Greek Dark Ages ( c. 1200 – c. 800 BC ), archaeologically characterised by the protogeometric and geometric styles of designs on pottery. Following
10488-431: The Ottoman Sultan Bayezid had recognized Manuel II Palaiologos as co-emperor of Byzantium alongside his father John V, and finally, when John V died in 1391, as sole Emperor. Manuel II's reign saw another temporary respite for the Byzantines. For an Empire in such trouble, he succeeded in retaking some territory and held it to the end of his reign. His limited success largely came through the resurrection of Mongol Power in
10640-584: The Peloponnese, that would grow to become the Despotate of the Morea . The downside however was that Michael's efforts in the West absorbed most of the Empire's manpower and resources, and neglected the Asian provinces, where a new and fateful threat was rising: the beylik of Osman I , who by 1263 had captured Sogut . Nevertheless, the border was kept relatively secure, and no significant losses occurred in Asia Minor during Michael's reign. Michael VIII's foreign policy relied heavily on diplomacy; nevertheless, his construction projects and military campaigns against
10792-402: The Pope and offered the promise of a Union of the two Churches in the hopes of receiving military assistance. As a guarantee of compliance, John V offered his son, Manuel. In the past, Byzantium's cry for assistance were answered with mixed results — pillaging Crusaders would sack both friend and foe but the First Crusade had been largely beneficial and no doubt John V envisioned a repeat of such
10944-583: The Roman general Sulla . The Roman civil wars devastated the land even further, until Augustus organized the peninsula as the province of Achaea in 27 BC. Greece was a key eastern province of the Roman Empire, as the Roman culture had long been in fact Greco-Roman . The Greek language served as a lingua franca in the East and in Italy , and many Greek intellectuals such as Galen would perform most of their work in Rome . The territory of Greece
11096-549: The Serbian King and ceding a number of forts from Ohrid to Stip to Strumica as a "dowry". Nonetheless, the Serbs continued their expansion. Unlike his father, Andronikos II recognized the gravity of the situation in Asia Minor, and tried to drive out the Turks, utilizing a variety of methods. His first action was to move his court to Asia Minor, where he could better oversee the construction of fortifications and raise troop morale. His General, Alexios Philanthropenos ,
11248-617: The Serbs mustered their strength and prepared to launch an attack to drive back the Turks from Thrace. In a crushing victory, the Ottomans annihilated the Serbian army at the Battle of Maritsa , and in its aftermath, many surviving lords submitted to the Ottoman Sultan Murad I . Byzantium was in no better position and after taking Serres from the defeated Serbs, John V swore allegiance as a vassal to Murad. John V's rule
11400-578: The Sultan's messages and Bayezid set about laying siege to Constantinople. In 1394, his siege began and would continue for eight years. Manuel II realized that while the city could endure a half-hearted blockade, it did not have the military assets to man the walls of Constantinople . At first, the situation was not so dire — a massive counter-attack by the West was to be launched as the Crusade of Nicopolis. In
11552-474: The Turks and in the West to the Bulgarians coincided with two disastrous civil wars, the Black Death , and the 1354 earthquake at Gallipoli which allowed the Turks to occupy the peninsula. By 1380, the Byzantine Empire consisted of the capital Constantinople and a few other isolated exclaves, which only nominally recognized the Emperor as their lord. Nonetheless, Byzantine diplomacy, political intrigue and
11704-617: The United States were organized into a service society, the Order of St. Andrew. This archon status is not part of the Church hierarchy and is purely honorary. An archon is an honoree by His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch, for his outstanding service to the Church, and a well-known, distinguished, and well-respected leader of the Orthodox Church (at large). It is the sworn oath of the archon to defend and promote
11856-579: The ancient Greeks did not think in terms of race . Most families owned slaves as household servants and laborers, and even poor families might have owned a few slaves. Owners were not allowed to beat or kill their slaves. Owners often promised to free slaves in the future to encourage slaves to work hard. Unlike in Rome, freedmen did not become citizens. Instead, they were mixed into the population of metics , which included people from foreign countries or other city-states who were officially allowed to live in
12008-549: The betterment of the Church, Parish-Diocese, Archdiocese and the community as a whole. "Archon" is used in Modern Greek colloquially, as άρχοντας ( archontas) , for someone that holds a form of status or power, and the Arab -speaking Copts use it in church parlance in the form أرخن ʼurḫun as a title for a leading member of the laity . Archon was the title of Great Officers of Sicily . It can also be used as
12160-560: The capital of the Roman Empire in 330 AD. Finally, Late Antiquity refers to the period of Christianization during the later 4th to early 6th centuries AD, consummated by the closure of the Academy of Athens by Justinian I in 529. The historical period of ancient Greece is unique in world history as the first period attested directly in comprehensive, narrative historiography , while earlier ancient history or protohistory
12312-547: The capital of the Empire, was under siege by Ottoman Turks. In the summer of 1329, Andronikos III launched a relief attempt which culminated in a defeat at the Battle of Pelekanon on June 10, and in 1331, the city fell. Not wishing to see Nicomedia or the other few remaining forts in Asia Minor suffer the same fate, Andronikos III sought to pay off the Ottomans with tribute — the Ottomans did not stop at this and seized Nicomedia as well in 1337. Despite this, Andronikos III scored
12464-546: The capture of Constantinople, Michael ordered the blinding of John IV in December 1261, so as to become sole emperor. As a result, Patriarch Arsenios excommunicated Michael, but he was deposed and replaced by Joseph I . The Fourth Crusade and their successors, the Latin Empire, had done much to reduce Byzantium's finest city to an underpopulated wreck. Michael VIII began the task of restoring many monasteries, public buildings and defence works. The Hagia Sophia , looted in
12616-666: The center, while in the east lay Boeotia , Attica , and Megaris . Northeast lay Thessaly , while Epirus lay to the northwest. Epirus stretched from the Ambracian Gulf in the south to the Ceraunian Mountains and the Aoos river in the north, and consisted of Chaonia (north), Molossia (center), and Thesprotia (south). In the northeast corner was Macedonia , originally consisting Lower Macedonia and its regions, such as Elimeia , Pieria , and Orestis . Around
12768-694: The citizens to serve in the city government as representatives of the Greeks. These archons served alongside the Cadi (Islamic judge) in the court of the Voivode . The archons of Ottoman Athens were chosen from the most powerful and wealthy families in the city. From time to time, laity of the Orthodox Church in communion with the Patriarch of Constantinople have been granted the title of archon to honor their service to Church administration. In 1963, archons in
12920-455: The course of the archaic period. Already in the seventh century, the right of all citizen men to attend the assembly appears to have been established. After a failed coup led by Cylon of Athens around 636 BC, Draco was appointed to establish a code of laws in 621. This failed to reduce the political tension between the poor and the elites, and in 594 Solon was given the authority to enact another set of reforms, which attempted to balance
13072-473: The course of the eighth and seventh century. According to Spartan tradition, this constitution was established by the legendary lawgiver Lycurgus . Over the course of the first and second Messenian wars , Sparta subjugated the neighbouring region of Messenia , enserfing the population. In the sixth century, Greek city-states began to develop formal relationships with one another, where previously individual rulers had relied on personal relationships with
13224-627: The culmination of political and social developments which had begun in the Greek dark age, with the polis (city-state) becoming the most important unit of political organisation in Greece. The absence of powerful states in Greece after the collapse of Mycenaean power, and the geography of Greece, where many settlements were separated from their neighbours by mountainous terrain, encouraged the development of small independent city-states. Several Greek states saw tyrants rise to power in this period, most famously at Corinth from 657 BC. The period also saw
13376-607: The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, and which included the Golden Age of Athens and the Peloponnesian War . The unification of Greece by Macedon under Philip II and subsequent conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great spread Hellenistic civilization across the Middle East. The Hellenistic Period is considered to have ended in 30 BC, when the last Hellenistic kingdom, Ptolemaic Egypt ,
13528-461: The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC until the death of Cleopatra , the last Macedonian ruler of Egypt, is known as the Hellenistic period. In the early part of this period, a new form of kingship developed based on Macedonian and Near Eastern traditions. The first Hellenistic kings were previously Alexander's generals, and took power in the period following his death, though they were not part of existing royal lineages and lacked historic claims to
13680-463: The death of the Seljuk Sultan. In the west, the Latins were unable to expand into Anatolia ; consolidating Thrace against Bulgaria was a challenge that kept the Latins occupied for the duration of the Latin Empire. In 1261, the Empire of Nicaea was ruled by John IV Laskaris , a boy of 10 years. However, John IV was overshadowed by his co-emperor, Michael VIII Palaiologos . Palaiologos was
13832-423: The deaths of Cleon and Brasidas, the strongest proponents of war on each side, a peace treaty was negoitiated in 421 by the Athenian general Nicias . The peace did not last, however. In 418 BC allied forces of Athens and Argos were defeated by Sparta at Mantinea . In 415 Athens launched an ambitious naval expedition to dominate Sicily; the expedition ended in disaster at the harbor of Syracuse , with almost
13984-636: The demands of the government. Religious controversy, the cancer of Byzantium in the 7th and 8th centuries, once again emerged in the form of the Hesychasm controversy, which eventually became a doctrine of the Eastern Orthodox church. There were numerous earthquakes, destroying Byzantium's infrastructure — the fortress of Gallipoli was destroyed in 1354 by such an earthquake and the Ottoman Turks lost no time in taking it and establishing
14136-674: The dominance that would allow it to challenge Persia, the Persian king initially joined the alliance against Sparta, before imposing the Peace of Antalcidas ("King's Peace") which restored Persia's control over the Anatolian Greeks. By 371 BC, Thebes was in the ascendancy, defeating Sparta at the Battle of Leuctra , killing the Spartan king Cleombrotus I , and invading Laconia. Further Theban successes against Sparta in 369 led to Messenia gaining independence; Sparta never recovered from
14288-409: The domination of politics and concomitant aggregation of wealth by small groups of families was apt to cause social unrest in many poleis . In many cities a tyrant (not in the modern sense of repressive autocracies), would at some point seize control and govern according to their own will; often a populist agenda would help sustain them in power. In a system wracked with class conflict , government by
14440-726: The east to the Indian king Chandragupta Maurya in exchange for war elephants, and later lost large parts of Persia to the Parthian Empire . By the mid-third century, the kingdoms of Alexander's successors was mostly stable, though there continued to be disputes over border areas. The great capitals of Hellenistic culture were Alexandria in the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Antioch in the Seleucid Empire . The conquests of Alexander had numerous consequences for
14592-552: The elites of other cities. Towards the end of the archaic period, Sparta began to build a series of alliances, the Peloponnesian League , with cities including Corinth , Elis , and Megara , isolating Messenia and reinforcing Sparta's position against Argos , the other major power in the Peloponnese. Other alliances in the sixth century included those between Elis and Heraea in the Peloponnese; and between
14744-611: The empire's supply of food and manpower dwindled. In this period, the Byzantine Empire found itself continually at war, both civil and interstate, with most interstate conflicts being with other Christian empires. Most commonly, these comprised the Second Bulgarian Empire , the Serbian Empire , the remnants of the Latin Empire and even the Knights Hospitaller . The loss of land in the East to
14896-619: The end of the first century BC. The city-states within Greece formed themselves into two leagues; the Achaean League (including Corinth and Argos) and the Aetolian League (including Sparta and Athens). For much of the period until the Roman conquest, these leagues were at war, often participating in the conflicts between the Diadochi (the successor states to Alexander's empire). The Antigonid Kingdom became involved in
15048-523: The enthronement of the first Palaiologos emperor Michael VIII . Anatolia , which had formed the very heart of the shrinking empire, was systematically lost to numerous Turkic ghazis , whose raids evolved into conquering expeditions inspired by Islamic zeal, the prospect of economic gain, and the desire to seek refuge from the Mongols after the disastrous Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243. The Palaiologoi were engaged on several fronts, often continually, while
15200-609: The entire army killed, and the ships destroyed. Soon after the Athenian defeat in Syracuse, Athens' Ionian allies began to rebel against the Delian league, while Persia began to once again involve itself in Greek affairs on the Spartan side. Initially the Athenian position continued relatively strong, with important victories at Cyzicus in 410 and Arginusae in 406. However, in 405 the Spartan Lysander defeated Athens in
15352-540: The exact borders of the Hellenistic kingdoms were not settled. Antigonus attempted to expand his territory by attacking the other successor kingdoms until they joined against him, and he was killed at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC. His son Demetrius spent many years in Seleucid captivity, and his son, Antigonus II , only reclaimed the Macedonian throne around 276. Meanwhile, the Seleucid kingdom gave up territory in
15504-482: The fortress of Gallipoli over to the Ottomans, thus rendering the only genuine European aid, provided by Amadeo of Savoy , useless. Again, prison break became the next event with John V and Manuel escaping Constantinople, offering the Ottoman Sultan higher tribute than normally paid, in return for help in taking over Constantinople. Andronikos IV, having been beaten yet again, evaded capture and slipped into
15656-465: The fortress of Gallipoli from the Ottomans and handed it back to the Byzantines, hoping that this would stem the tide of Turkish emigration into Thrace. However, the Turks had by now firmly established themselves in Thrace. Amadeo and John spent much time between 1367 and 1369 thinking of ways to stave off defeat. Amadeo returned to Europe via Rome and brought with him Byzantine envoys. The Pope again
15808-532: The founding of Greek colonies around the Mediterranean, with Euboean settlements at Al-Mina in the east as early as 800 BC, and Ischia in the west by 775. Increasing contact with non-Greek peoples in this period, especially in the Near East, inspired developments in art and architecture, the adoption of coinage, and the development of the Greek alphabet. Athens developed its democratic system over
15960-576: The government. In Athens, the population was divided into four social classes based on wealth. People could change classes if they made more money. In Sparta, all male citizens were called homoioi , meaning "peers". However, Spartan kings, who served as the city-state's dual military and religious leaders, came from two families. Women in Ancient Greece appear to have primarily performed domestic tasks, managed households, and borne and reared children. Slaves had no power or status. Slaves had
16112-430: The governors of specific cities. The area of an archon's jurisdiction was called an archontia ( ἀρχοντία ). The title was also used for the holders of several financial posts, such as the head of the mint ( ἄρχων τῆς χαραγῆς ), as well as directors of the imperial workshops, arsenals, etc. The title of megas archon ("grand archon") is also attested, as a translation of foreign titles such as "grand prince". In
16264-600: The increasing Athenian power funded by the Delian League, Sparta offered aid to reluctant members of the League to rebel against Athenian domination. These tensions were exacerbated in 462 BC when Athens sent a force to aid Sparta in overcoming a helot revolt, but this aid was rejected by the Spartans. In the 450s, Athens took control of Boeotia, and won victories over Aegina and Corinth. However, Athens failed to win
16416-717: The invasion of Anatolia by Timur allowed Byzantium to survive until 1453. The last remnants of the Byzantine Empire, the Despotate of the Morea and the Empire of Trebizond , fell shortly afterwards. However, the Palaiologan period witnessed a renewed flourishing in art and the letters, in what has been called the Palaiologian Renaissance . The migration of Byzantine scholars to the West also helped to spark
16568-427: The junior in this relationship. This unlikely partnership was not destined to last long. Kantakouzenos had a son, Matthew Kantakouzenos — and any hope of keeping peace between John V and Matthew became more remote as the two grew older and more independent. John V wed Kantakouzenos' daughter, thus becoming his son in law, in a move designed to bind the two families, but it was destined to fail. In 1353, Kantakouzenos
16720-429: The land through a mixture of conquest and trade. The result was that Byzantium's power was undermined beyond all recovery — two hundred years ago Byzantium could rely on the people living in the lands of Anatolia, Greece, Macedonia and several large islands like Cyprus and Crete. Now the population under its control was limited to the few remaining cities in Byzantine possession, namely Thessalonica and Constantinople and
16872-514: The loss of Messenia's fertile land and the helot workforce it provided. The rising power of Thebes led Sparta and Athens to join forces; in 362 they were defeated by Thebes at the Battle of Mantinea . In the aftermath of Mantinea, none of the major Greek states were able to dominate. Though Thebes had won the battle, their general Epaminondas was killed, and they spent the following decades embroiled in wars with their neighbours; Athens, meanwhile, saw its second naval alliance, formed in 377, collapse in
17024-462: The mid-13th century, it was established as a special court rank, held by the highest-ranking official of the emperor's company. It existed throughout the Palaiologan period , but did not have any specific functions. During the centuries of Ottoman rule in Greece , archons remained a part of urban administration. In Athens during this period, there were four archons appointed every two years by
17176-495: The mid-350s. The power vacuum in Greece after the Battle of Mantinea was filled by Macedon, under Philip II . In 338 BC, he defeated a Greek alliance at the Battle of Chaeronea , and subsequently formed the League of Corinth . Philip planned to lead the League to invade Persia, but was murdered in 336 BC. His son Alexander the Great was left to fulfil his father's ambitions. After campaigns against Macedon's western and northern enemies, and those Greek states that had broken from
17328-685: The new Ottoman Sultan, Bayezid the Thunderbolt , to seek aid in order to topple John V. John VII's rebellion succeeded initially, taking Constantinople from John V, but Manuel countered by rousing the rest of the empire and its few remaining military assets and turned them against John VII. Manuel also received aid from the Knights of St. John stationed at Rhodes , where he "donated" religious relics made of precious metals to them for their support. John refused to give up his right to rule as Emperor of Byzantium until his death in 1408. By then however,
17480-435: The ostensible union of the two Churches did little to avert Catholic aggression, while at the same time the Orthodox population, led by large parts of the priesthood, denounced Michael VIII as a traitor. His death in 1282 came as a relief to many, and his body was denied an Orthodox funeral, as a result of his policies towards Rome. Michael VIII was a very energetic, ambitious and capable emperor who had enlarged and preserved
17632-583: The outbreak of the Sicilian Vespers , a revolt that overthrew the Angevin King of Sicily and installed Peter III of Aragon as King of Sicily in 1281. For the remainder of his life, Michael campaigned to drive the Latins out of Greece and the Balkans, and secure his position versus the Bulgarians. He was largely successful, regaining several islands in the Aegean, and establishing a foothold in
17784-589: The peasantry. Nonetheless, the city grew new cultural and diplomatic contacts, notably with the Mamelukes . Both had common enemies; Latin aggression, and later on, the Ottoman Turks. The Sultanate of Rum was in chaos and decentralized ever since the Mongol invasions in ca. 1240. As a result, the greatest threat to Byzantium was not the Muslims but their Christian counterparts in the West — Michael VIII knew that
17936-445: The power of the Byzantine Empire; where Michael VIII had attempted to deal with problems outside the Empire, Andronikos aimed to solve the internal problems resulting from his father's reign. Andronikos II's policies were not successful in dealing with Byzantium's external problems; however, it would be threats from within the Empire that led to his abdication — in 1320 Andronikos III, the young (in his twenties) grandson of Andronikos II
18088-410: The power of the rich and the poor. In the middle of the sixth century, Pisistratus established himself as a tyrant, and after his death in 527 his son Hippias inherited his position; by the end of the sixth century he had been overthrown and Cleisthenes carried out further democratising reforms. In Sparta, a political system with two kings, a council of elders , and five ephors developed over
18240-484: The principal magistrates, the archon eponymos . Byzantine historians usually described foreign rulers as archontes . The rulers of the Bulgars themselves, along with their own titles , often bear the title archon placed by God in inscriptions in Greek. Inside Byzantium, the term could be used to refer to any powerful noble or magnate, but in a technical sense, it was applied to a class of provincial governors. In
18392-617: The reforms of Solon (early 6th century), but the poorest citizens could not address the assembly or run for office. With the establishment of the democracy, the assembly became the de jure mechanism of government; all citizens had equal privileges in the assembly. However, non-citizens, such as metics (foreigners living in Athens) or slaves , had no political rights at all. After the rise of democracy in Athens, other city-states founded democracies. However, many retained more traditional forms of government. As so often in other matters, Sparta
18544-420: The regions of Laconia (southeast), Messenia (southwest), Elis (west), Achaia (north), Korinthia (northeast), Argolis (east), and Arcadia (center). These names survive to the present day as regional units of modern Greece , though with somewhat different boundaries. Mainland Greece to the north, nowadays known as Central Greece , consisted of Aetolia and Acarnania in the west, Locris , Doris , and Phocis in
18696-542: The remaining Latins were extensive as well as expensive; the Nicaean army was modeled around the Komnenian army, and while it was not as effective, it was just as burdensome on the treasury. The result was that heavy taxes were levied on the peasantry, something that the Ottomans would later use to their advantage, winning over these poverty-stricken peasants with promises of lower taxes. The Second Council of Lyons and
18848-518: The right to have a family and own property, subject to their master's goodwill and permission, but they had no political rights. By 600 BC, chattel slavery had spread in Greece. By the 5th century BC, slaves made up one-third of the total population in some city-states. Between 40–80% of the population of Classical Athens were slaves. Slaves outside of Sparta almost never revolted because they were made up of too many nationalities and were too scattered to organize. However, unlike later Western culture ,
19000-427: The situation. Dissatisfaction from his failure, his old age and a "reckless grandson" culminated in his enforced abdication. The rule of Andronikos III is characterized as the last genuine attempt to restore Byzantine fortunes. His attempts came close to fruition, but the many hostile neighbors of Byzantium eventually took their toll on an Empire in decline. His first concern was that of Asia Minor. Nicaea, until 1261
19152-448: The state. City-states legally owned slaves. These public slaves had a larger measure of independence than slaves owned by families, living on their own and performing specialized tasks. In Athens, public slaves were trained to look out for counterfeit coinage , while temple slaves acted as servants of the temple's deity and Scythian slaves were employed in Athens as a police force corralling citizens to political functions. Sparta had
19304-568: The surrounding countryside, and the Despotate of the Morea . The immigration of Turks would be decisive in the survival of the Empire as it gave her most dire enemy, the Ottomans, a new power base, not in Asia but now in Europe. John V Palaiologos now had to face the serious threat the Ottomans posed to Byzantium. In the 1360s, the Turks continued to drive through Thrace, taking Byzantine, Bulgarian and Serbian settlements. Like his predecessors Alexios I Komnenos and Michael VIII, John V now turned to
19456-638: The territories they controlled. The most important of these rulers in the decades after Alexander's death were Antigonus I and his son Demetrius in Macedonia and the rest of Greece, Ptolemy in Egypt, and Seleucus I in Syria and the former Persian empire; smaller Hellenistic kingdoms included the Attalids in Anatolia and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom . In the early part of the Hellenistic period,
19608-515: The territory or unify it into a new province, but compelled most of the poleis to join his own Corinthian League . Initially many Greek city-states seem to have been petty kingdoms; there was often a city official carrying some residual, ceremonial functions of the king ( basileus ), e.g., the archon basileus in Athens. However, by the Archaic period and the first historical consciousness, most had already become aristocratic oligarchies . It
19760-626: The time of Alexander I of Macedon , the Argead kings of Macedon started to expand into Upper Macedonia , lands inhabited by independent Macedonian tribes like the Lyncestae , Orestae and the Elimiotae and to the west, beyond the Axius river , into Eordaia , Bottiaea , Mygdonia , and Almopia , regions settled by Thracian tribes. To the north of Macedonia lay various non-Greek peoples such as
19912-479: The various Turcoman emirates of Anatolia to make gains. Although Epirus was initially the strongest of the three Greek states, the Nicaeans succeeded in taking back the city of Constantinople from the Latin Empire. The Nicaean Empire was successful in holding its own against its Latin and Seljuk opponents. At the Battle of Meander Valley , a Turkic force was repelled and an earlier assault on Nicaea led to
20064-539: Was a notable exception to the rest of Greece, ruled through the whole period by not one, but two hereditary monarchs. This was a form of diarchy . The Kings of Sparta belonged to the Agiads and the Eurypontids, descendants respectively of Eurysthenes and Procles . Both dynasties' founders were believed to be twin sons of Aristodemus , a Heraclid ruler. However, the powers of these kings were held in check by both
20216-460: Was a situation unlike that in most other contemporary societies, which were either tribal or kingdoms ruling over relatively large territories. Undoubtedly, the geography of Greece —divided and sub-divided by hills, mountains, and rivers—contributed to the fragmentary nature of ancient Greece. On the one hand, the ancient Greeks had no doubt that they were "one people"; they had the same religion , same basic culture, and same language. Furthermore,
20368-422: Was able to bring back Epirus into the fold in 1341 through the use of diplomacy. The result was that while the Empire was reduced to its European territories, it had succeeded in bringing much of Greece under its control. Unfortunately for the newly expanded Byzantium, Stephen Dusan (ruling Serbia from 1331) decided to take these lands as well from Byzantium. The death of Andronikos III and the resulting chaos left
20520-446: Was also able to work with competent administrators such as John Kantakouzenos who, along with many of the nobles, supported Andronikos during the civil war with Andronikos II. However, numerous reversals against Byzantium's enemies such as Serbia and the rising Ottomans at battles such as Pelekanon further drained the power Byzantium had in comparison to its neighbors. This would be a situation that would not be helped by his sudden death in
20672-581: Was an able commander, campaigning with some success against the Turks in the Meander Valley. Unfortunately Byzantium was robbed of his services when he staged an unsuccessful coup, leading to his blinding. Next Andronikos sent his son, Michael IX , and the Heteriarch George Mouzalon to attack the Turks who were laying siege to Nicomedia , but they were beaten at the Battle of Bapheus in 1302. Not giving up, Andronikos hired
20824-439: Was an unhappy one, resulting in his vassalage to Murad I. However, it must have been even worse when his eldest son and heir to the throne Andronikos IV Palaiologos rebelled against his father in 1373. Curiously, this rebellion coincided with the rebellion of Murad I's son, Savcı Bey and the two worked towards fomenting revolution in their peoples. Consequently, both the Byzantine and Ottoman rulers were facing their sons and as
20976-542: Was annexed by the Roman Republic . Classical Greek culture , especially philosophy, had a powerful influence on ancient Rome , which carried a version of it throughout the Mediterranean and much of Europe. For this reason, Classical Greece is generally considered the cradle of Western civilization , the seminal culture from which the modern West derives many of its founding archetypes and ideas in politics, philosophy, science, and art. Classical antiquity in
21128-473: Was captured in the summer of 1356. He was forced to renounce his claims in 1357 and exiled to the Morea sometime between 1361 and 1383, though other sources indicate 1391 a possible date. At 25 years, John V had managed to establish himself firmly as ruler of the Empire, at the cost of bleeding out all its resources. The lands ravaged and depopulated by the civil war were filled up by arriving Turks who colonised
21280-421: Was concerned that John VII might once again launch a coup against him so wished to end the threat diplomatically. Bayezid ordered Manuel's execution, but then reduced his furious response and instead demanded that Constantinople build another Mosque and that a colony of Turks be established. Manuel's next steps were bold and seemingly foolish — not only did he refuse to pay the Sultan tribute, he refused to answer
21432-752: Was conquered by the Romans. The Aetolian league grew wary of Roman involvement in Greece, and sided with the Seleucids in the Roman–Seleucid War ; when the Romans were victorious, the league was effectively absorbed into the Republic. Although the Achaean league outlasted both the Aetolian league and Macedon, it was also soon defeated and absorbed by the Romans in 146 BC, bringing Greek independence to an end. The Greek peninsula came under Roman rule during
21584-484: Was disinherited by the Emperor. Andronikos III's brother Manuel Palaiologos had been accidentally murdered by Andronikos III's companions over a competitive love affair. His father (Michael IX), the son of Andronikos II, died of shock as a result of his son's death. Andronikos III did not take his disinheritance lightly — organizing an armed opposition, he succeeded in drawing support with promises of generous tax cuts, even beyond those enacted by Andronikos II. Andronikos II
21736-536: Was given enough time to negotiate a union between the Church of Rome and that of Constantinople in 1274, thus removing papal support for an invasion of Constantinople. Unfortunately for Michael VIII, the new union was seen as a fake by Clement's successor, Martin IV . The Greek Church was excommunicated, and Charles was given renewed papal support for the invasion of Constantinople. In order to counter this, Michael VIII subsidized Peter III of Aragon 's attempts to seize Sicily from Charles. Michael's efforts paid off with
21888-399: Was immediately followed by the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine period. Three centuries after the decline of Mycenaean Greece during the Bronze Age Collapse , Greek urban poleis began to form in the 8th century BC, ushering in the Archaic period and the colonization of the Mediterranean Basin. This was followed by the age of Classical Greece , from the Greco-Persian Wars to
22040-417: Was in permanent settlements founded by Greeks, which formed as independent poleis. The second form was in what historians refer to as emporia ; trading posts which were occupied by both Greeks and non-Greeks and which were primarily concerned with the manufacture and sale of goods. Examples of this latter type of settlement are found at Al Mina in the east and Pithekoussai in the west. From about 750 BC
22192-444: Was no longer extremely important politically at that time. Under the Athenian constitution, archons were also in charge of organizing festivals by bringing together poets, playwrights, actors, and city-appointed choregoi (wealthy citizen patrons). The archon would begin this process months in advance of a festival by selecting a chorus of three playwrights based on descriptions of the projected plays. Each playwright would be assigned
22344-402: Was powerless to stop the young usurper; he granted him Thrace as an appanage in 1321, the title of co-emperor in 1322, and after a small war where the Bulgarians and Serbians played the two sides against each other, Andronikos II was forced to abdicate and retire as a monk to a monastery, where he died in 1332. Despite the calamities of the civil war, Andronikos III was about to revitalise
22496-440: Was ravaged by multiple serious disasters — alongside wars and civil wars, renewed epidemics of bubonic plague swept through its diminished lands. The first outbreak occurred in 1347, and between the 1360s and 1420s, eight further outbreaks of plague are recorded. Cities were full of social unrest between the corrupt wealthy (who had been exploiting the tax system for their own benefit) and the countless landless peasants burdened by
22648-415: Was responsible for the civic religious arrangements. After 683 BC, the offices were held for only a single year, and the year was named after the archon eponymos. (Many ancient calendar systems did not number their years consecutively.) Although the process of the next transition is unclear, after 487 BC the archonships were assigned by lot to any citizen and the polemarch's military duties were taken over by
22800-552: Was still hopeful that peace would be maintained, but in that year, John V launched a military attack on Matthew, thereby re-igniting the civil war. John V was demoted and exiled to the island of Tenedos , one of the few islands in the Aegean still under Byzantine control, while Kantakouzenos made his son Matthew co-emperor. John V would not give up so easy however, and in 1354 Ottoman troops began crossing over into Thrace in his support. The citizens of Constantinople became gripped with fear and in November of that same year, John V launched
22952-463: Was the son of Michael VIII. He ascended the throne in 1282, at the age of 24. Andronikos II was tied down with events in the West and the East. The Serbians under King Stefan Uroš II Milutin had begun invading the Balkans and took Skopje in 1282 and raids against Macedonia were launched throughout the 1290s. Byzantine counter-attacks failed to stop these, and as a result Andronikos was forced to resort to diplomacy, marrying his 5-year-old daughter to
23104-408: Was uninterested, but called for John V to visit him. In 1369, when the Ottomans finally captured Adrianople (though some sources indicate 1365), John V rushed to Rome and confessed his Catholic faith both privately and at a public spectacle. Nevertheless, in 1371 John V returned empty-handed, having humiliated himself and done nothing to improve the deteriorating situation in the Balkans. In 1371,
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