The Belegezites ( Greek : Βελεγεζίται , Belegezitai ) were a South Slavic ( Sklavenoi ) tribe that lived in the area of Thessaly in the Early Middle Ages . They are one of the tribes listed in the Miracles of Saint Demetrius .
41-726: According to the Miracles of Saint Demetrius , they were settled around Demetrias and Phthiotic Thebes on the northern shores of the Pagasetic Gulf . The area is usually identified with the region of Velechatouia ( Βελεχατουΐα , Velechativa in Latin ) in the chrysobull of 1198 granting privileges to the Republic of Venice , and in the 1204 Partitio Romaniae . At the time, it formed an imperial episkepsis (fiscal district). The Greek scholar Alkmini Stavridou-Zafraka on
82-617: A girl from Chalcis, whom he named "Euboea". They had no children. Laodice III may have fallen in disgrace; however, she clearly survived Antiochus III, and appears in Susa in 183 BC. Antiochus III resettled 2000 Jewish families from Babylonia into the Hellenistic Anatolian regions of Lydia and Phrygia . Josephus portrays him as friendly towards the Jews of Jerusalem and cognizant of their loyalty to him (see Antiquities of
123-412: A small citadel, of which the foundations still subsist. A level space in the middle elevation of the height was conveniently placed for the central part of the city. The acropolis contained a large cistern cut in the rock, which is now partly filled with earth . . . . Many of the ancient streets of the town are traceable in the level which lies midway to the sea, and even the foundations of private houses:
164-619: A temple and the administrative center of the city), and the Anaktoron (royal palace) east of the city on the top of a hill, which was occupied until the middle of second century BCE, and later used by the Romans as a cemetery. [REDACTED] This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Smith, William , ed. (1854–1857). "Demetrias". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography . London: John Murray. Antiochus III Antiochus III
205-677: Is first mentioned in 1 Maccabees 1:10 , when Antiochus IV is introduced as "son of King Antiochus [Antiochus III]". Antiochus III is mentioned later in 1 Maccabees 8 , which describes Judas Maccabeus' knowledge of the deeds of the Roman Republic, including an allusion to the defeat of Antiochus III by the Romans . The NRSV says "They [the Romans] also had defeated Antiochus the Great, king of Asia , who went to fight against them with one hundred twenty elephants and with cavalry and chariots and
246-588: The Battle of Magnesia . He died three years later on campaign in the east. Antiochus III was a member of the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty . He was the son of king Seleucus II Callinicus and Laodice II , aunt of Seleucus, and was born around 242 BC near Susa in Persia . He may have initially borne a non-dynastic name (starting with Ly-), according to a Babylonian chronicle. He succeeded, under
287-758: The Battle of Mount Labus . The Parthian king Arsaces II apparently successfully sued for peace. The year 209 BC saw Antiochus in Bactria , where the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus I had supplanted the original rebel. Antiochus again met with success. Euthydemus was defeated by Antiochus at the Battle of the Arius , but after resisting the Seleucid king in the Siege of Bactra , he obtained an honourable peace by which Antiochus promised Euthydemus's son Demetrius
328-574: The Battle of Panium , near the sources of the Jordan , a battle which marks the end of Ptolemaic rule in Judea . Antiochus then moved to Asia Minor, by land and by sea, to secure the coast towns which belonged to the remnants of Ptolemaic overseas dominions and the independent Greek cities. This enterprise earned him the antagonism of the Roman Republic , since Smyrna and Lampsacus appealed to
369-650: The Gerrhaeans of the Arabian coast (205 BC/204 BC). Antiochus seemed to have restored the Seleucid empire in the east, which earned him the title of "the Great" (Antiochos Megas). In 205/204 BC the infant Ptolemy V Epiphanes succeeded to the Egyptian throne, and Antiochus is said (notably by Polybius ) to have concluded a secret pact with Philip V of Macedon for the partition of the Ptolemaic possessions. Under
410-660: The Christianization of the tribe, after the campaigns of Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I against the Slavs of the area. Their name is rendered in English as Belegezites, Velegesites, Belegizites and Velzite Slavs. In Macedonian, Bulgarian and Serbian, Velegeziti ( Cyrillic : Велегезити ) is used. Demetrias 39°20′52″N 22°54′39″E / 39.34773°N 22.91091°E / 39.34773; 22.91091 Demetrias ( Ancient Greek : Δημητριάς )
451-468: The Great ( / æ n ˈ t aɪ ə k ə s / ; Greek : Ἀντίοχος ὁ Μέγας, Antíochos ho Mégas ; c. 241 – 3 July 187 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic king and the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire , reigning from 223 to 187 BC. He ruled over the region of Syria and large parts of the rest of western Asia towards the end of the 3rd century BC. Rising to the throne at
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#1732773036186492-568: The Indians, and received more elephants, raising their number to a total of one hundred and fifty, and provisioned his army once more on the spot. He himself broke camp with his troops, leaving behind Androsthenes of Cyzicus to bring back the treasure which this king (Sophagasenus) had agreed to give him. From Seleucia on the Tigris he led a short expedition down the Persian Gulf against
533-616: The Jews , Book XII, Chapter 3), in stark contrast to the attitude of his son. In fact, Antiochus III lowered taxes, granted subventions to the Temple, and let the Jews live, as Josephus puts it, "according to the law of their forefathers." Antiochus III is mentioned in the deuterocanonical Books of the Maccabees . The subject of Maccabees is the Maccabean Revolt against Antiochus' son, Antiochus IV Epiphanes . Antiochus III
574-558: The Persian kings . A militarily active ruler, Antiochus restored much of the territory of the Seleucid Empire, before suffering a serious setback, towards the end of his reign, in his war against Rome. Declaring himself the "champion of Greek freedom against Roman domination", Antiochus III waged a four-year war against the Roman Republic beginning in mainland Greece in the autumn of 192 BC before being decisively defeated at
615-606: The Republic, which at the time acted as a defender of Greek freedom. The tension grew when Antiochus in 196 BC established a footing in Thrace . The evacuation of Greece by the Romans gave Antiochus his opportunity, and he now had the fugitive Hannibal at his court to urge him on. In 192 BC Antiochus invaded Greece with a 10,000-man army, and was elected the commander in chief of the Aetolian League . In 191 BC, however,
656-457: The Romans under Manius Acilius Glabrio routed him at Thermopylae , forcing him to withdraw to Asia Minor. The Romans followed up their success by invading Anatolia , and the decisive victory of Scipio Asiaticus at Magnesia ad Sipylum (190 BC), following the defeat of Hannibal at sea off Side , delivered Asia Minor into their hands. By the Treaty of Apamea (188 BC) Antiochus abandoned all
697-531: The age of eighteen in April/June 223 BC, his early campaigns against the Ptolemaic Kingdom were unsuccessful, but in the following years Antiochus gained several military victories and substantially expanded the empire's territory. His traditional designation, the Great , reflects an epithet he assumed. He also assumed the title Basileus Megas (Greek for " Great King "), the traditional title of
738-770: The beginning of the 6th century" (T.E. Gregory). Demetrias is mentioned by Hierocles in the sixth century. Its territory was settled by the Slavic tribe of the Belegezitai in the 7th/8th centuries, raided and sacked by the Saracens in 901/2, and by rebels during the Uprising of Peter Delyan in 1040. Following the Fourth Crusade , the town was granted to the exiled Byzantine empress Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera , and after her death in 1210 to Margaret of Hungary ,
779-499: The central part of Asia Minor (for the Seleucid government had perforce to tolerate the dynasties in Pergamon , Bithynia and Cappadocia ), Antiochus turned to recovering the outlying provinces of the north and east. He besieged Xerxes of Armenia in 212 BC, who had refused to pay tribute, and forced his capitulation. In 209 BC Antiochus invaded Parthia , occupied the capital Hecatompylos and pushed forward into Hyrcania , winning
820-554: The city, outside the walls, known as the Cemetery Basilica. Under Roman emperor Constantine the Great (ruled 306–337) it became a Christian episcopal see and is now a titular see of the Catholic Church. According to Procopius ( De Aedificiis , 4.3.5), Demetrias was rebuilt by Justinian I (r. 527–565), but other evidence points to the possibility that "ancient urban life may have already come to an end by
861-618: The confines of the Ptolemaic Kingdom , but in 217 BC Ptolemy IV defeated Antiochus at the Battle of Raphia . This defeat nullified all Antiochus's successes and compelled him to withdraw north of Lebanon . In 216 BC his army marched into western Anatolia to suppress the local rebellion led by Antiochus's own cousin Achaeus , and had by 214 BC driven him from the field into Sardis . Capturing Achaeus, Antiochus had him executed. The citadel managed to hold out until 213 BC under Achaeus's widow Laodice who surrendered later. Having thus recovered
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#1732773036186902-585: The country north and west of the Taurus Mountains , most of which the Roman Republic gave either to Rhodes or to the Attalid ruler Eumenes II , its allies (many Greek cities were left free). As a consequence of this blow to the Seleucid power, the outlying provinces of the empire, recovered by Antiochus, reasserted their independence. Antiochus mounted a fresh eastern expedition in Luristan , where he
943-474: The favourite residence of the Macedonian kings. It was favourably situated for commanding the interior of Thessaly, as well as the neighbouring seas; and such was the importance of its position that it was called by Philip V of Macedon one of the three fetters of Greece, the other two being Chalcis and Corinth . In 196 BCE, the Romans, victorious in the Battle of Cynoscephalae over Philip V in
984-529: The hand of Laodice, his daughter, and allowed Euthydemus himself to keep his royal title. Antiochus next, following in the steps of Alexander, crossed into the Kabul valley, reaching the realm of Indian king Sophagasenus and returned west by way of Seistan and Kerman (206/5). According to Polybius : He crossed the Caucasus and descended into India, renewed his friendship with Sophagasenus , king of
1025-465: The height upon which stood the citadel, into the middle of the city." The site, about 3 km south of Volos , was excavated from the end of the 19th century. Remains of the walls (about 11 km) and the acropolis that was to the northwest in the highest point of the city are preserved. Also uncovered were the theater, the Heroon (a temple above the theater), an aqueduct, the sacred agora (with
1066-668: The king's cousin, Achaeus , represented the Seleucid cause, did its prestige recover, driving the Pergamene power back to its earlier limits. In 221 BC Antiochus at last went far east, and the rebellion of Molon and Alexander collapsed which Polybius attributes in part to his following the advice of Zeuxis rather than Hermeias. The submission of Lesser Media, which had asserted its independence under Artabazanes , followed. Antiochus conspired with his physician and allies to have Hermeias assassinated, and then returned to Syria (220 BC). Meanwhile, Achaeus himself had revolted and assumed
1107-550: The late 7th century, the leaders of the Belegezites provided supplies for the besieged population. During the same period, along with other tribes they were using armed logboats to plunder the coasts of Thessaly. One of the leaders of the tribe in the late 7th century was a person named Tihomir, whose name has been found on artifacts of the same period. Religious buildings of the 8th century in Thessaly have been connected with
1148-596: The name Antiochus, his brother Seleucus III Ceraunus , upon the latter's murder in Anatolia; he was in Babylon at the time. Antiochus III inherited a disorganized state. Not only had Asia Minor become detached, but the easternmost provinces had broken away, Bactria under the Seleucid Diodotus of Bactria , and Parthia under the rebel satrap Andragoras in 247–245 BC, who was himself later vanquished by
1189-578: The nomad chieftain Arsaces . In 222 BC, soon after Antiochus's accession, Media and Persis revolted under their governors, the brothers Molon and Alexander . The young king, under the influence of the minister Hermeias , headed an attack on Ptolemaic Syria instead of going in person to face the rebels. The attack against the Ptolemaic empire proved a fiasco, and the generals sent against Molon and Alexander met with disaster. Only in Asia Minor, where
1230-604: The other hand rejects this identification and proposes an identification of Velechativa with 'Little Vlachia', a Vlach -inhabited region in Aetolia . The later, 13th/14th-century name "land of the Levachatai" ( γῆ τῶν Λεβαχάτων ), and the name of the village Levache (Λεβάχη), both found in the cadasters of the Lykousada Monastery, also possibly derive from the same locality. The area of Belzetia , which
1271-470: The place. It continued in the hands of Philip and his successor till the over-throw of the Macedonian monarchy at the Battle of Pydna , 169 BCE. During Roman times it lost importance, but it was the capital of the Magnesian League . In Christian times some buildings were built, especially two churches, one in the northern port, called Basilica of Damokratia, and another one to the south of
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1312-487: The previous year, took possession of Demetrias and garrisoned the town. Four years later the Aetolian League captured it by surprise. The Aetolians allied themselves with Antiochus III of the Seleucid Empire in the Roman–Seleucid War . This ended in the defeat of Antiochus. After the return of Antiochus to Asia in 191 BCE, Demetrias surrendered to Philip, who was allowed by the Romans to retain possession of
1353-409: The southward of the middle of Volo. Though little more than foundations remains, the inclosure of the city, which was less than 2 miles [3 km] in circumference, is traceable in almost every part. On three sides the walls followed the crest of a declivity which falls steeply to the east and west, as well as towards the sea. To the north the summit of the hill, together with an oblong space below it, formed
1394-437: The space between one street and the next parallel to it, is little more than 15 feet [5 m]. About the centre of the town is a hollow, now called the lagúmi or mine, where a long rectangular excavation in the rock, 2 feet wide [0.6 m], 7 deep [2.1 m], and covered with flat stones, shows by marks of the action of water in the interior of the channel that it was part of an aqueduct, probably for the purpose of conducting some source in
1435-546: The terms of this pact, Macedon was to receive the Ptolemaic possessions around the Aegean Sea and Cyrene , while Antiochus would annex Cyprus and Egypt. Once more Antiochus attacked the Ptolemaic province of Coele Syria and Phoenicia, and by 199 BC he seems to have had possession of it before the Aetolian leader Scopas recovered it for Ptolemy. But that recovery proved brief, for in 198 BC Antiochus defeated Scopas at
1476-416: The title of king in Asia Minor. Though, due to the brewing mutiny of his troops arising from their dissatisfaction over his rebellion against their king, Achaeus desisted from his attempted coup and retreated. While sending additional threats to Achaeus, Antiochus left him for the time being and renewed his attempts on Ptolemaic Syria. The campaigns of 219 BC and 218 BC carried the Seleucid armies almost to
1517-781: The widow of the King of Thessalonica , Boniface of Montferrat . The city came under the rule of Manuel Komnenos Doukas ca. 1240, but was de facto controlled by a branch of the Melissenos family. In the 1270s, the Byzantines scored an important victory against the Venetians and the Lombard barons of Euboea at the Battle of Demetrias . The Catalan Company sacked the town in 1310 and kept it until 1381 at least, but from 1333 on, it began to be abandoned for neighbouring Volos . It
1558-569: Was a Greek city in Magnesia in ancient Thessaly (east central Greece ), situated at the head of the Pagasaean Gulf , near the modern city of Volos . It was founded in 294 BCE by Demetrius Poliorcetes , who removed thither the inhabitants of Nelia , Pagasae , Ormenium , Rhizus , Sepias , Olizon , Boebe and Iolcos , all of which were afterwards included in the territory of Demetrias. It soon became an important place, and
1599-659: Was also located in Greece and is mentioned as the area ruled by Akameros in c. 799 , most likely does not derive from the Belegezites, but rather from the related Slavic tribe of the Berzites . After settling in the region of Thessaly, the economic activities of the tribe included trade with the Byzantine city of Thessalonica by 670–80. When the city was besieged by the Sagudates , Drogubites and other tribes in
1640-541: Was finally captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1393. The site of Demetrias is at a place called Aivaliotika (Αϊβαλιώτικα) in the municipality of Volos . The ancient town was described by William Martin Leake , who visited the site in the early 19th century, as occupying "the southern or maritime face of a height, now called Gorítza, which projects from the coast of Magnesia, between 2 and 3 miles [3 to 5 km] to
1681-432: Was killed while pillaging a temple of Bel at Elymaïs , Persia, in 187 BC. In 222 BC, Antiochus III married Princess Laodice of Pontus , a daughter of King Mithridates II of Pontus and Princess Laodice of the Seleucid Empire . The couple were first cousins through their mutual grandfather, Antiochus II Theos . Antiochus and Laodice had eight children (three sons and five daughters): In 191 BC, Antiochus III married