Byzantine Greece has a history that mainly coincides with that of the Byzantine Empire itself.
137-519: The Greek peninsula became a Roman protectorate in 146 BC, and 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 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 typical eastern province of
274-661: A Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity . The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the command of Alaric I . Their exact origins are believed to have been diverse but they probably included many descendants of the Thervingi who had moved into the Roman Empire beginning in 376 and had played
411-474: A Greek lover, Antinous . At the same time, Greece and much of the rest of the Roman east came under the influence of Christianity . The apostle Paul had preached in Corinth and Athens, and Greece soon became one of the most highly Christianized areas of the empire. During the second and third centuries, Greece was divided into provinces including Achaea , Macedonia , Epirus vetus and Thracia . During
548-636: A durable building material in many buildings such as the Parthenon . Greece has substantial marine life with plentiful fish in its EEZ. Irrigated land: 15,550 km (2007) [REDACTED] Mainland Greece forms the southernmost part of the Balkan peninsula with two additional smaller peninsulas projecting from it: the Chalkidiki and the Peloponnese . The north of the country includes
685-693: A forced Christian conversion upon all Jews residing in Spain. This mandate apparently achieved only partial success: similar decrees were repeated by later kings as central power was consolidated. These laws either prescribed forcible baptism of the Jews or forbade circumcision, Jewish rites, and the observance of the Sabbath and other festivals. Throughout the 7th century the Jews were persecuted for religious reasons, had their property confiscated, were subjected to ruinous taxes, forbidden to trade and, at times, dragged to
822-603: A hoped-for spearhead to a "Reconquest" of the far west envisaged by emperor Justinian I . Imperial Roman armies took advantage of Visigothic rivalries and established a government at Córdoba. The last Arian Visigothic king, Liuvigild , conquered most of the northern regions (Cantabria) in 574, the Suevic kingdom in 584, and regained part of the southern areas lost to the Byzantines , which King Suintila recovered in 624. Suintila reigned until 631. Only one historical source
959-671: A major city with perhaps 30,000 people, and was the centre of a major silk industry. Athens and Corinth probably still had around 10,000 people. Mainland Greek cities continued to export grain to the capital in order to make up for the land lost to the Seljuks. However, after Constantinople was conquered during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Greece was divided among the Crusaders. The Latin Empire held Constantinople and Thrace, while
1096-632: A major role in defeating the Romans at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. Relations between the Romans and Alaric's Visigoths varied, with the two groups making treaties when convenient, and warring with one another when not. Under Alaric, the Visigoths invaded Italy and sacked Rome in August 410 . The Visigoths were subsequently settled in southern Gaul as foederati to the Romans, a relationship that
1233-673: A people is as obscure as that of the Franks and Alamanni . The Visigoths spoke an eastern Germanic language that was distinct by the 4th century. Eventually the Gothic language died as a result of contact with other European people during the Middle Ages . Long struggles between the neighboring Vandili and Lugii people with the Goths may have contributed to their earlier exodus into mainland Europe. The vast majority of them settled between
1370-594: A recorded continuous human presence. The Greek islands account for about 20% of the country's total territory, and vary greatly in size as well as in climate. The country's largest island is Crete , with Euboea being second largest. Other large Greek islands include Rhodes and Lesbos in the Aegean Sea, and Corfu and Cephalonia in the Ionian Sea. Many of the smaller Greek islands form groups or chains, often called archipelagos , with notable examples being
1507-500: A separate mountain), rising to 2,917 m above sea level . The Rhodope Mountains form the border between Greece and Bulgaria; that area is covered with vast and thick forests. Plains are found in eastern Thessaly , in central Macedonia and in Thrace . The extreme points of Greece are Greece has notable deposits of petroleum , magnetite , lignite , bauxite , hydropower , marble , limestone Ancient Greeks used limestone as
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#17327722053331644-477: Is "entirely arguable, but so is the opposite". Wolfram believes that "Vesi" and "Ostrogothi" were terms each tribe used to boastfully describe itself and argues that "Tervingi" and "Greuthungi" were geographical identifiers each tribe used to describe the other. This would explain why the latter terms dropped out of use shortly after 400, when the Goths were displaced by the Hunnic invasions . Wolfram believes that
1781-461: Is a Visigothic chapel from the mid-7th century, built during the reign of Wamba to preserve the remains of the martyr Saint Antoninus of Pamiers , a Visigothic-Gallic nobleman brought from Narbonne to Visigothic Hispania in 672 or 673 by Wamba himself. These are the only remains of the Visigothic cathedral of Palencia. Reccopolis, located near the tiny modern village of Zorita de los Canes in
1918-428: Is mild. A Mediterranean climate prevails on the coast and islands, and a Continental climate prevails in the mountainous regions of the interior. Summers are hot and dry and winters are cool and humid. Summer is rainless and the almost cloudless season lasts about three months. In July and August, the temperature usually rises to around 30–35 °C and even above 40 °C. In the eastern part of the country and especially in
2055-465: Is now referred to as Germanic paganism . While the Germanic peoples were slowly converted to Christianity by varying means, many elements of the pre-Christian culture and indigenous beliefs remained firmly in place after the conversion process, particularly in the more rural and distant regions. The Visigoths, Ostrogoths and Vandals were Christianized while they were still outside the bounds of
2192-632: Is rare in the archipelago. In low-lying areas, snow hardly ever stays on the ground. On the tops of the highest mountains, snow remains well into the summer. Spring and autumn are short in-between seasons when the weather is variable. Extensive forest fires cause problems almost every year in late summer. Sometimes they lead to widespread evacuations and even deaths. [REDACTED] This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook . CIA . Visigoths The Visigoths ( / ˈ v ɪ z ɪ ɡ ɒ θ s / ; Latin : Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi ) were
2329-700: The Notitia Dignitatum as equating the Vesi with the Tervingi in a reference to the years 388–391. On the other hand, another recent interpretation of the Notitia is that the two names, Vesi and Tervingi, are found in different places in the list, "a clear indication that we are dealing with two different army units, which must also presumably mean that they are, after all, perceived as two different peoples". Peter Heather has written that Wolfram's position
2466-402: The polis , as an institution, appears to have remained prosperous until at least the sixth century. Contemporary texts such as Hierocles' Synecdemus affirm that in late Antiquity , Greece was highly urbanised and contained approximately 80 cities. This view of extreme prosperity is widely accepted today, and it is assumed between the 4th and 7th centuries AD, Greece may have been one of
2603-512: The Cyclades and the Sporades in the south and central Aegean Sea respectively. The islands of the Aegean Sea are situated between mainland Greece to the west and north, Anatolia to the east and the island of Crete to the south. Traditionally, the islands are classified into seven groups, from north to south: The Ionian Islands are a group of seven islands. The six northern islands lie off
2740-594: The Eastern Mediterranean , after Cyprus . The island spans 260 km from east to west and 60 km from north to south at its widest. The island narrows in the region close to Ierapetra, where it is only 12 km wide. Crete covers an area of 8,336 km (3,219 sq mi), with a coastline of 1046 km. It is surrounded to the north by the Sea of Crete ; to the south by the Libyan Sea ; to
2877-865: The Meteora and the Vikos Gorges – the latter being the world's deepest canyon in proportion to its width, and the third deepest after the Copper Canyon in Mexico and the Grand Canyon in the United States , plunging vertically for more than 1,100 metres. Mount Olympus is the highest point in Greece, the 7th highest and the 9th most prominent mountain in mainland Europe (together with Gerlachovský štít and including Großglockner as
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#17327722053333014-517: The Oder and Vistula rivers until overpopulation (according to Gothic legends or tribal sagas) forced them to move south and east, where they settled just north of the Black Sea . However, this legend is not supported by archaeological evidence so its validity is disputable. Historian Malcolm Todd contends that while this large en masse migration is possible, the movement of Gothic peoples south-east
3151-674: The Olympic Games , despite the rules against non-Greek participation. He was, of course, honored with a victory in every contest, and in 67 he proclaimed the freedom of the Greeks at the Isthmian Games in Corinth , just as Flamininus had over 200 years previously. Hadrian was also particularly fond of the Greeks; before he became emperor he served as eponymous archon of Athens. He also built his namesake arch there, and had
3288-722: The Ottoman Empire . Greece was raided in Macedonia in 479 and 482 by the Ostrogoths under their king, Theodoric the Great (493–526). The Bulgars also raided Thrace and the rest of northern Greece in 540 and on repeated other occasions. These continuing Bulgar invasions required the Byzantine Empire to build a defensive wall, called the " Anastasian Wall ," that extended for some thirty (30) miles, or more, from
3425-530: The Peloponnese , Thrace , Macedonia , Hellas , Nicopolis , Dyrrhachium , Cephalonia , Thessalonica and Strymon , the Cyclades and the Aegean Sea . They were protected from raids and invasions by the new themes created out of Bulgar territory. Greece became more prosperous in the 10th century and towns and cities began to grow again. Athens and Corinth probably grew to about 10,000 people, while Thessalonica may have had as many as 100,000 people. There
3562-665: The Roman Empire . The Romans sent colonists there and contributed new buildings to its cities, especially in the Agora of Athens, where the Agrippeia of Marcus Agrippa , the Library of Titus Flavius Pantaenus, and the Tower of the Winds , among others, were built. Romans tended to be philhellenic and Greeks were generally loyal to Rome. Life in Greece continued under the Roman Empire much
3699-574: The Roman Empire ; however, they converted to Arianism rather than to the Nicene version (Trinitarianism) followed by most Romans, who considered them heretics . There was a religious gulf between the Visigoths, who had for a long time adhered to Arianism, and their Catholic subjects in Hispania. There were also deep sectarian splits among the Catholic population of the peninsula which contributed to
3836-631: The Salarian Gate , and sacked the city . However, Rome, while still the official capital, was no longer the de facto seat of the government of the Western Roman Empire. From the late 370s up to 402, Milan was the seat of government, but after the siege of Milan the Imperial Court moved to Ravenna in 402. Honorius visited Rome often, and after his death in 423 the emperors resided mostly there. Rome's fall severely shook
3973-720: The Visigoths invaded in the late 4th century . Arcadius' Chamberlain Eutropius allowed Alaric to enter Greece, and he looted Corinth , and the Peloponnese . Stilicho eventually drove him out around 397 and Alaric was made magister militum in Illyricum . Eventually, Alaric and the Goths migrated to Italy, sacked Rome in 410, and built the Visigothic Empire in Iberia and southern France, which lasted until 711 with
4110-538: The gens Gothorum or the Hispani . An unknown number of them fled and took refuge in Asturias or Septimania. In Asturias they supported Pelagius's uprising, and joining with the indigenous leaders, formed a new aristocracy. The population of the mountain region consisted of native Astures , Galicians , Cantabri , Basques and other groups unassimilated into Hispano-Gothic society. Other Visigoths who refused to adopt
4247-551: The only new cities founded in Western Europe between the 5th and 8th centuries . It is certain (through contemporary Spanish accounts) that they founded four: Reccopolis , Victoriacum (modern Vitoria-Gasteiz , though perhaps Iruña-Veleia ), Luceo and Olite . There is also a possible 5th city ascribed to them by a later Arabic source: Baiyara (perhaps modern Montoro ). All of these cities were founded for military purposes and three of them in celebration of victory. Despite
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4384-492: The province of Guadalajara , Castile-La Mancha, Spain, is an archaeological site of one of at least four cities founded in Hispania by the Visigoths. It is the only city in Western Europe to have been founded between the 5th and 8th centuries. The city's construction was ordered by the Visigothic king Liuvigild to honor his son Reccared and to serve as Reccared's seat as co-king in the Visigothic province of Celtiberia , to
4521-608: The "greatest of the Visigothic kings" for he managed to secure territorial gains denied to his predecessors and even acquired access to the Mediterranean Sea . At his death, the Visigoths were the most powerful of the successor states to the Western Roman Empire and were at the very height of their power. Not only had Euric secured significant territory, he and his son, Alaric II , who succeeded him, adopted Roman administrative and bureaucratic governance, including Rome's tax gathering policies and legal codes. At this point,
4658-620: The 580s. However, there is no archaeological evidence indicating Slavic penetration of imperial Byzantine territories before the end of the 6th century. Overall, traces of Slavic culture in Greece are very rare. The city of Thessaloniki remained unconquered even after being attacked by the Slavs around 615. The Slavs were eventually defeated, gathered by the Byzantines and placed into segregated communities known as Sclaviniae . In 610, Heraclius became Emperor. During his reign, Greek became
4795-400: The 7th century. Two older tribal names from outside the Roman empire are associated with Visigoths who formed within the empire. The first references to any Gothic tribes by Roman and Greek authors were in the third century, notably including the Thervingi , who were once referred to as Goths by Ammianus Marcellinus . Much less is known of the "Vesi" or "Visi", from whom the term "Visigoth"
4932-558: The Aegean islands, Thessaly, Epirus, and most of Achaea, including the Crusader fortress of Mystras , which became the seat of a Byzantine despotate. However, Athens and the northern Peloponnese remained in Crusader hands. Charles of Anjou and later his son claimed the throne of the defunct Latin Empire, and threatened Epirus, but were never able to make any progress there. By the reign of Andronicus III Palaeologus , beginning in 1328,
5069-765: The Aegean were still technically under the ecclesiastic authority of the Pope , but Leo also quarreled with the Papacy and gave these territories to the Patriarch of Constantinople . As emperor, Leo III, introduced more administrative and legal reforms than had been promulgated since the time of Justinian. Meanwhile, the Arabs began their first serious raids in the Aegean. Bithynia was eventually re-populated by Greek-speaking population from mainland Greece and Cyprus . Nicephorus I also began to reconquer Slavic and Bulgar-held areas in
5206-675: The Byzantines after General Leontios lost to the Arabs in the Battle of Sebastopolis in 692, as a result of the Slavs having defected to the Arab side. These themes rebelled against the iconoclast emperor Leo III in 727 and attempted to set up their own emperor, although Leo defeated them. Leo then moved the headquarters of the Karabisianoi to Anatolia and created the Cibyrrhaeotic Theme of them. Up to this time, Greece and
5343-487: The Danube provinces were effectively sealed off by concerted Roman efforts, and while there was no decisive victory to claim, it was essentially a Roman triumph ending in a treaty in 382. The treaty struck with the Goths was to be the first foedus on imperial Roman soil. It required these semi-autonomous Germanic tribes to raise troops for the Roman army in exchange for arable land and freedom from Roman legal structures within
5480-588: The Eastern Roman Emperor Valens to be allowed to settle with his people on the south bank of the Danube . Here, they hoped to find refuge from the Huns . Valens permitted this, as he saw in them "a splendid recruiting ground for his army". However, a famine broke out and Rome was unwilling to supply them with either the food they were promised or the land. Generally, the Goths were abused by
5617-542: The Empire's confidence, especially in the West. Loaded with booty, Alaric and the Visigoths extracted as much as they could with the intention of leaving Italy from Basilicata to northern Africa . Alaric died before the disembarkation and was buried supposedly near the ruins of Croton. He was succeeded by his wife's brother. The Visigothic Kingdom was a Western European power in the 5th to 8th centuries, created first in Gaul, when
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5754-431: The Empire's military capabilities. Adrianople shocked the Roman world and eventually forced the Romans to negotiate with and settle the tribe within the empire's boundaries, a development with far-reaching consequences for the eventual fall of Rome . Fourth-century Roman soldier and historian Ammianus Marcellinus ended his chronology of Roman history with this battle. Despite the severe consequences for Rome, Adrianople
5891-431: The Empire. The new emperor, Theodosius I , made peace with the rebels, and this peace held essentially unbroken until Theodosius died in 395. In that year, the Visigoths' most famous king, Alaric I , made a bid for the throne, but controversy and intrigue erupted between the East and West, as General Stilicho tried to maintain his position in the empire. Theodosius was succeeded by his incompetent sons: Arcadius in
6028-404: The Goths and their neighbors. After the Romans withdrew from the territory of Dacia, the local population was subjected to constant invasions by the migratory tribes, among the first being the Goths. In 238, the Goths invaded across the Danube into the Roman province of Moesia , pillaging and exacting payment through hostage taking. During the war with the Persians that year, Goths also appeared in
6165-407: The Goths, which was a simplification and literary device, while political realities were more complex. Cassiodorus used the term "Goths" to refer to only the Ostrogoths, whom he served, and reserved the geographic reference "Visigoths" for the Gallo-Spanish Goths. The term "Visigoths" was later used by the Visigoths themselves in their communications with the Byzantine Empire , and was still in use in
6302-438: The Iberian Visigoths maintained their Christian Arianism, especially the Visigothic elite until the end of Liuvigild's reign. When Reccared I converted to Catholicism, he sought to unify the kingdom under a single faith. While the Visigoths retained their Arian faith, the Jews were well tolerated. Previous Roman and Byzantine law determined their status, and it already sharply discriminated against them, but royal jurisdiction
6439-458: The Judges) and Lex Visigothorum (English: Law of the Visigoths), is a set of laws first promulgated by king Chindasuinth (642–653 AD) that had been part of aristocratic oral tradition and were set in writing in the year 654. This book survives in two separate codices preserved at el Escorial (Spain). It goes into more detail than a modern constitution commonly does and reveals a great deal about Visigothic social structure. The code abolished
6576-410: The Muslim faith or live under their rule fled north to the kingdom of the Franks , and Visigoths played key roles in the empire of Charlemagne a few generations later. In the early years of the Emirate of Córdoba , a group of Visigoths who remained under Muslim dominance constituted the personal bodyguard of the Emir , al-Haras . During their long reign in Spain, the Visigoths were responsible for
6713-420: The Ottomans controlled many regions of Greece except the mountains and heavily forested areas. Greek peninsula Greece is a country in Southeastern Europe , on the Balkan Peninsula . It is bordered to the north by Albania , North Macedonia and Bulgaria ; to the east by Turkey , and is surrounded to the east by the Aegean Sea , to the south by the Cretan and the Libyan seas, and to
6850-425: The Peloponnese. Also during his reign, the Fourth Crusade attempted to place Alexius IV on the throne, until it eventually invaded and sacked the capital. Greece was relatively peaceful and prosperous in the 11th and 12th centuries, compared to Anatolia which was being overrun by the Seljuks. Thessalonica had probably grown to about 150,000 people, despite being looted by the Normans in 1185. Thebes also became
6987-507: The Rhine near Mogontiacum (modern Mainz ) the last day of 406 and eventually were invited into Spain by a Roman usurper in the autumn of 409 (the latter two tribes were devastated). This was probably done under hospitalitas , the rules for billeting army soldiers. The settlement formed the nucleus of the future Visigothic kingdom that would eventually expand across the Pyrenees and onto the Iberian peninsula. That Visigothic settlement proved paramount to Europe's future as had it not been for
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#17327722053337124-404: The Roman armies of Gordian III . When subsidies to the Goths were stopped, the Goths organized and in 250 joined a major barbarian invasion led by the Germanic king, Kniva . Success on the battlefield against the Romans inspired additional invasions into the northern Balkans and deeper into Anatolia . Starting in approximately 255, the Goths added a new dimension to their attacks by taking to
7261-414: The Roman legions massacred the families of thousands of barbarian soldiers who were trying to assimilate into the Roman empire, Alaric decided to march on Rome. After two defeats in Northern Italy and a siege of Rome ended by a negotiated pay-off, Alaric was cheated by another Roman faction. He resolved to cut the city off by capturing its port. On August 24, 410, however, Alaric's troops entered Rome through
7398-402: The Romans lost their control of the western half of their empire and then in Hispania until 711. For a brief period, the Visigoths controlled the strongest kingdom in Western Europe. In response to the invasion of Roman Hispania of 409 by the Vandals , Alans , and Suebi , Honorius , the emperor in the West, enlisted the aid of the Visigoths to regain control of the territory. From 408 to 410
7535-413: The Romans, who began forcing the now starving Goths to trade away their children so as to stave off starvation. Open revolt ensued, leading to 6 years of plundering throughout the Balkans, the death of a Roman Emperor and a disastrous defeat of the Roman army. The Battle of Adrianople in 378 was the decisive moment of the war. The Roman forces were slaughtered and the Emperor Valens was killed during
7672-619: The Samariá Gorge is the home of the Cretan goat, or kri-kri , while the endangered Bearded vulture or lammergeyer lives in the Cretan mountains and gorges. Crete's rivers include the Ieropotamos River in the southern part of the island. Greece is a mostly mountainous country with a very long coastline, filled with peninsulas and islands. The climate can range from semi-desert to cold climate mountain forests. Greece's natural hazards include severe earthquakes, floods, droughts and wildfires. Current environmental issues in Greece include air pollution and water pollution. The climate of Greece
7809-465: The Umayyad forces in the Battle of Covadonga in 718 and established the Kingdom of Asturias in the northern part of the peninsula. According to Joseph F. O'Callaghan, the remnants of the Hispano-Gothic aristocracy still played an important role in the society of Hispania. At the end of Visigothic rule, the assimilation of Hispano-Romans and Visigoths was occurring at a fast pace. Their nobility had begun to think of themselves as constituting one people,
7946-415: The Visigothic identity emerged from the Gothic War of 376–382 when a collection of Tervingi, Greuthungi and other "barbarian" contingents banded together in multiethnic foederati (Wolfram's "federate armies") under Alaric I in the eastern Balkans , since they had become a multi ethnic group and could no longer claim to be exclusively Tervingian. Other names for other Gothic divisions abounded. In 469,
8083-440: The Visigothic kings, that is, until their transition from Arianism to Catholicism. Conversion to Catholicism across Visigothic society reduced much of the friction between the Visigoths and the Hispano-Roman population. However, the Visigothic conversion negatively impacted the Jews, who came under scrutiny for their religious practices. King Reccared convened the Third Council of Toledo to settle religious disputations related to
8220-420: The Visigothic throne. Sometime in 549, the Visigoth Athanagild sought military assistance from Justinian I and while this aide helped Athanagild win his wars, the Romans had much more in mind. Granada and southernmost Baetica were lost to representatives of the Byzantine Empire (to form the province of Spania ) who had been invited in to help settle this Visigothic dynastic struggle, but who stayed on, as
8357-410: The Visigothic warriors who fought side by side with the Roman troops under general Flavius Aetius , it is perhaps possible that Attila would have seized control of Gaul, rather than the Romans being able to retain dominance. The Visigoths' second great king, Euric , unified the various quarreling factions among the Visigoths and, in 475, concluded the peace treaty with the emperor Julius Nepos . In
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#17327722053338494-402: The Visigoths built several churches in the basilical or cruciform style that survive, including the churches of San Pedro de la Nave in El Campillo, Santa María de Melque in San Martín de Montalbán , Santa Lucía del Trampal in Alcuéscar, Santa Comba in Bande, and Santa María de Lara in Quintanilla de las Viñas. The Visigothic crypt (the Crypt of San Antolín) in the Palencia Cathedral
8631-438: The Visigoths caused so much damage to Rome and the immediate periphery that nearly a decade later, the provinces in and around the city were only able to contribute one-seventh of their previous tax shares. In 418, Honorius rewarded his Visigothic federates by giving them land in Gallia Aquitania on which to settle after they had attacked the four tribes— Suebi , Asding and Siling Vandals , as well as Alans —who had crossed
8768-403: The Visigoths created the polity for which they are best remembered. During their governance of Hispania, the Visigoths built several churches that survived and left many artifacts, items which have been discovered in increasing numbers by archaeologists in recent years. The Treasure of Guarrazar of votive crowns and crosses are the most spectacular among the finds thus far. In or around 589,
8905-447: The Visigoths less distinguishable from the indigenous Roman citizens of the Iberian peninsula; when the last Visigothic strongholds fell to the Muslim armies, whose subsequent invasions transformed Spain from the beginning of the 8th century, their Gothic identity faded. In the eighth through 11th centuries, the muwallad clan of the Banu Qasi claimed descent from the Visigothic Count Cassius . During their governance of Hispania,
9042-422: The Visigoths to restore their royal line and re-partition the Visigothic kingdom through Amalaric, who incidentally, was more than just Alaric II's son; he was also the grandson of Theodoric the Great through his daughter Theodegotho. Amalaric reigned independently for five years. Following Amalaric's assassination in 531, another Ostrogothic ruler, Theudis took his place. For the next seventeen years, Theudis held
9179-456: The Visigoths under Reccared I converted from Arian Christianity to Nicene Christianity , gradually adopting the culture of their Hispano-Roman subjects. Their legal code, the Visigothic Code (completed in 654), abolished the longstanding practice of applying different laws for Hispano-Roman population and Visigoths. Once legal distinctions were no longer being made between Romani and Gothi , they became known collectively as Hispani . In
9316-489: The Visigoths were also the dominant power in the Iberian Peninsula , quickly crushing the Alans and forcing the Vandals into north Africa . By 500, the Visigothic Kingdom, centred at Toulouse , controlled Aquitania and Gallia Narbonensis and most of Hispania with the exception of the Kingdom of the Suebi in the northwest and small areas controlled by the Basques and Cantabrians . Any survey of western Europe taken during this moment would have led one to conclude that
9453-461: The Visigoths were called the "Alaric Goths". The Frankish Table of Nations , probably of Byzantine or Italian origin, referred to one of the two peoples as the Walagothi , meaning "Roman Goths" (from Germanic * walhaz , foreign). This probably refers to the Romanized Visigoths after their entry into Spain. Landolfus Sagax , writing in the 10th or 11th century, calls the Visigoths the Hypogothi . The name Tervingi may mean "forest people", with
9590-501: The Younger wrote using Greek styles, while famous Romans such as Scipio Africanus , Julius Caesar and Marcus Aurelius compiled works in the Greek language . During that period, Greek intellectuals such as Galen or Apollodorus of Damascus were continuously being brought to Rome . Within the city of Rome, Greek was spoken by Roman elites, particularly philosophers, and by lower, working classes such as sailors and merchants. The emperor Nero visited Greece in 66, and performed at
9727-435: The advent of the Arabs. Greece remained part of the relatively unified eastern half of the empire. Contrary to outdated visions of late antiquity , the Greek peninsula was most likely one of the most prosperous regions of the Roman and later the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire. Older scenarios of poverty, depopulation, barbarian destruction and civil decay have been revised in light of recent archaeological discoveries. In fact,
9864-424: The archipelago, a cooling Etesian wind blows in the summer, but in big cities like Athens it can get sweltering hot. The wind can be very strong at times, which makes sailing difficult. A special feature of Greek weather is the high amount of sunshine. It is available for five hours even in winter, and up to 12–14 hours a day in summer. The rains mostly occur in winter. Snow can be found everywhere in Greece, but it
10001-709: The area's recovery from the Slavic invasions, its wealth was restored. Events such as the Seljuk invasion of Asia Minor and the Latin occupation of Constantinople gradually focused Byzantine imperial interest to the Greek peninsula during the late Byzantine period. The Peloponnese in particular continued to prosper economically and intellectually even during its Latin domination , the Byzantine recovery , and until its final fall to
10138-539: The areas around Thessalonica and the Peloponnese again in 997 before being forced to withdraw to Bulgaria. In 999, Samuel captured Dyrrhachium and raided northern Greece once more. Basil recaptured these areas by 1002 and had fully subjugated completely the Bulgarians in the decade before his death (see Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria ). By Basil's death in 1025, Greece was divided into themes including Crete,
10275-432: The army, and allowed Nicephorus to convert most of the Slavs to Christianity. Crete was conquered by the Arabs in 824. In the late 9th century , Leo VI faced also invasions from the Bulgarians under Simeon I , who pillaged Thrace in 896, and again in 919 during Zoe 's regency for Constantine VII . Simeon invaded northern Greece again in 922 and penetrated deep to the south seizing Thebes , just north of Athens. Crete
10412-522: The baptismal font. Many were obliged to accept Christianity but continued privately to observe the Jewish religion and practices. The decree of 613 set off a century of difficulty for Spanish Jewry, which was only ended by the Muslim conquest. The political aspects of the imposition of Church power cannot be ignored in these matters. With the conversion of the Visigothic kings to Chalcedonian Christianity ,
10549-474: The basis for court procedure in most of Christian Iberia until the Late Middle Ages , centuries after the demise of the kingdom. The Visigoths were never called Visigoths, only Goths, until Cassiodorus used the term, when referring to their loss against Clovis I in 507. Cassiodorus apparently invented the term based on the model of the " Ostrogoths ", but using the older name of the Vesi, one of
10686-662: The beginning of the Reconquista by Christian troops under Pelagius . The Visigoths founded the only new cities in western Europe from the fall of the Western half of the Roman Empire until the rise of the Carolingian dynasty . Many Visigothic names are still in use in the modern Spanish and Portuguese languages. Their most notable legacy, however, was the Visigothic Code , which served, among other things, as
10823-487: The bishops increased their power, until, at the Fourth Council of Toledo in 633, they selected a king from among the royal family, a practice previously reserved for nobles. This was the same synod that spoke out against those who had been baptized but had relapsed into Judaism. As far as the Visigoths were concerned, the time for religious pluralism "was past". By the end of the 7th century, Catholic conversion made
10960-577: The center of the country in a northwest-to-southeast direction, with a maximum elevation of 2,637 m. Extensions of the same mountain range stretch across the Peloponnese and underwater across the Aegean, forming many of the Aegean Islands including Crete , and joining with the Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey. Central and western Greece contain high and steep peaks intersected by many canyons and other karstic landscapes , including
11097-542: The century that followed, the region was dominated by the Councils of Toledo and the episcopacy. In 711, an invading force of Arabs and Berbers defeated the Visigoths during the Battle of Guadalete . The Visigoth king, Roderic , and many members of the Visigothic governing elite were killed and their kingdom rapidly collapsed. This was followed by the subsequent formation of the Kingdom of Asturias in northern Spain and
11234-518: The child-king Amalaric , first to Narbonne , which was the last Gothic outpost in Gaul, and further across the Pyrenees into Hispania. The center of Visigothic rule shifted first to Barcelona , then inland and south to Toledo . From 511 to 526, the Visigoths were ruled by Theoderic the Great of the Ostrogoths as de jure regent for the young Amalaric. Theodoric's death in 526, however, enabled
11371-453: The city of Selymbria (now Silivri ) to the Black Sea . The Huns and Bulgars raided Greece in 559 until the Byzantine army returned from Italy, where Justinian I had been attempting to capture the heart of the Roman Empire. According to historical documents, the Slavs invaded and settled in parts of Greece beginning in 579 and Byzantium nearly lost control of the entire peninsula during
11508-705: The country has considerable climatic variation. Greece is located in South Eastern Europe , bordering the Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea . It is a peninsular country, with an archipelago of about 3,000 islands. It has a total area of 131,957 km (50,949 sq mi), of which land area is 130,647 km and internal waters (lakes and rivers) account for 1,310 km . Land boundaries with Albania (212 km), North Macedonia (234 km), Bulgaria (472 km) and Turkey (192 km) measure approximately 1,110 km in total. Of
11645-436: The country's total territory, 83.33% or 110,496 km (42,663 sq mi) is mainland territory and the rest 16.67% or 21,461 km (8,286 sq mi) is island territory. It has an exclusive economic zone of 505,572 km (195,202 sq mi) which is the 53rd largest. Greece's coastline measures 13,676 km (8,498 mi). 80% of Greece is mountainous . The Pindus mountain range lies across
11782-707: The crown of Suintila, this crown was stolen in 1921 and never recovered. There are several other small crowns and many votive crosses in the treasure. These findings, along with others from some neighbouring sites and with the archaeological excavation of the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and the Royal Spanish Academy of History (April 1859), formed a group consisting of: The aquiliform (eagle-shaped) fibulae that have been discovered in necropolises such as Duratón , Madrona or Castiltierra (cities of Segovia ), are an unmistakable example of
11919-437: The early 9th century. He resettled Greek-speaking families from Asia Minor to the Greek peninsula and the Balkans, and expanded the theme of Hellas to the north to include parts of Thessaly and Macedonia, and to the south to include the regained territory of the Peloponnese. Thessalonica, previously organized as an archontate surrounded by the Slavs, became a theme of its own as well. These themes contributed another 10,000 men to
12056-429: The east and Honorius in the west. In 397, Alaric was named military commander of the eastern Illyrian prefecture by Arcadius. Over the next 15 years, an uneasy peace was broken by occasional conflicts between Alaric and the powerful Germanic generals who commanded the Roman armies in the east and west, wielding the real power of the empire. Finally, after the western general Stilicho was executed by Honorius in 408 and
12193-534: The emperors to unite with the Catholic Church , even though this would have allowed the empire to gain help from the west against the Ottomans. The Ottomans had begun their conquest of the Balkans and Greece in the late 14th century and early 15th century capturing among others Thessaloniki, Ioannina and Thessaly. In 1445, Ottoman-occupied Thessaly was recaptured by the future emperor Constantine XI , at
12330-504: The empire controlled most of Greece, especially the metropolis of Thessalonica, but very little else. Epirus was nominally Byzantine but still occasionally rebelled, until it was fully recovered in 1339. Greece was mostly used as a battleground during the civil war between John V Palaeologus and John VI Cantacuzenus in the 1340s, and at the same time the Serbs and Ottomans began attacking Greece as well. By 1356, another independent despotate
12467-408: The enemies of the Byzantines. In the Peloponnese , more Slavic invaders brought disorder to the western part of the peninsula, while the eastern part remained firmly under Byzantine domination. Empress Irene organised a military campaign which liberated those territories and restored Byzantine rule to the region, but it was not until emperor Nicephorus I 's reign that the last trace of Slavic element
12604-517: The equation of Vesi with the Tervingi, argues that while primary sources occasionally list all four names (as in, for example, Gruthungi, Austrogothi, Tervingi, Visi ), whenever they mention two different tribes, they always refer either to "the Vesi and the Ostrogothi" or to "the Tervingi and the Greuthungi", and they never pair them up in any other combination. In addition, Wolfram interprets
12741-766: The fact that the Visigoths reigned in Spain for upwards of 250 years, there are few remnants of the Gothic language borrowed into Spanish. The Visigoths as heirs of the Roman empire lost their language and intermarried with the Hispano-Roman population of Spain. A genetic study published in Science in March 2019 examined the remains of eight Visigoths buried at Pla de l'Horta in the 6th century. These individuals displayed genetic links to northern and central Europe . The Visigothic Code of Law ( Latin : Forum Iudicum), also called Liber Iudiciorum (English: Book of
12878-416: The fighting. Precisely how Valens fell remains uncertain but Gothic legend tells of how the emperor was taken to a farmhouse, which was set on fire above his head, a tale made more popular by its symbolic representation of a heretical emperor receiving hell's torment. Many of Rome's leading officers and some of their most elite fighting men died during the battle which struck a major blow to Roman prestige and
13015-428: The first part of the name related to Gothic triu , and English "tree". This is supported by evidence that geographic descriptors were commonly used to distinguish people living north of the Black Sea both before and after Gothic settlement there, by evidence of forest-related names among the Tervingi, and by the lack of evidence for an earlier date for the name pair Tervingi–Greuthungi than the late third century. That
13152-462: The fourth-century Tervingian king Athanaric , and the Ostrogoth kings from Theoderic the Great to Theodahad as the heirs of the Greuthungi king Ermanaric . Based on this, many scholars have traditionally treated the terms "Vesi" and "Tervingi" as referring to one distinct tribe, while the terms "Ostrogothi" and " Greuthungi " were used to refer to another. Wolfram, who still recently defends
13289-486: The high point of Visigothic goldsmithery. The two most important votive crowns are those of Recceswinth and of Suintila , displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid; both are made of gold, encrusted with sapphires, pearls and other precious stones. The discoverer of the second lot gave Spanish Queen Elizabeth II some of the pieces that she still had in her possession, including
13426-609: The knights of the Second Crusade made their way through Byzantine territory, Roger II of Sicily captured Corcyra and pillaged Thebes and Corinth. In 1197, Henry VI of Germany continued his father Frederick Barbarossa 's antagonism towards the empire by threatening to invade Greece to reclaim the territory the Normans had briefly held. Alexius III was forced to pay him off, although the taxes he imposed caused frequent revolts against him, including rebellions in Greece and
13563-635: The largest being Crete , Euboea , Lesvos , Rhodes , Chios , Kefalonia , and Corfu ; groups of smaller islands include the Dodecanese and the Cyclades . According to the CIA World Factbook , Greece has 13,676 kilometres (8,498 mi) of coastline , the largest in the Mediterranean Basin. Greece's latitude ranges from 35°N to 42°N and its longitude from 19°E to 28°E. As a result of this and its physical geography,
13700-400: The most economically active regions in the eastern Mediterranean. Following the loss of Alexandria and Antioch to the Arabs, Thessaloniki became the Byzantine Empire's second largest city, called the "co-regent" ( symbasileuousa ), second only to Constantinople. The Greek peninsula remained one of the strongest centers of Christianity in the late Roman and early Byzantine periods. After
13837-454: The name Tervingi has pre-Pontic, possibly Scandinavian, origins still has support today. The Visigoths are called Wesi or Wisi by Trebellius Pollio , Claudian and Sidonius Apollinaris. The word is Gothic for "good", implying the "good or worthy people", related to Gothic iusiza "better" and a reflex of Indo-European * wesu "good", akin to Welsh gwiw "excellent", Greek eus "good", Sanskrit vásu-ş "id.". Jordanes relates
13974-576: The naval Karabisianoi corps in southern Greece and the Aegean islands. The Karabisanoi were later divided by Justinian II into the Theme of Hellas (centred on Corinth) and the Cibyrrhaeotic Theme . By this time, the Slavs were no longer a threat to the Byzantines since they had been either defeated numerous times or placed in the Sclaviniae . The Slavic communities in Bithynia were destroyed by
14111-550: The official language of the empire. During the early 7th century, Constans II made the first mass-expulsions of Slavs from the Greek peninsula to the Balkans and central Asia Minor. Justinian II defeated and destroyed most of the Sclaviniae, and moved as many as 100–200,000 Slavs from the Greek peninsula to Bithynia , while he enlisted some 30,000 Slavs in his army. The Slavic populations that were placed in these segregated communities were used for military campaigns against
14248-435: The old tradition of having different laws for Romans ( leges romanae ) and Visigoths ( leges barbarorum ), and under which all the subjects of the Visigothic kingdom ceased being romani and gothi and instead became hispani . All the kingdom's subjects were under the same jurisdiction, which eliminated social and legal differences and facilitated greater assimilation of the various population groups. The Visigothic Code marks
14385-468: The people Zosimus describes were those Tervingi who had remained behind after the Hunnic conquest. For the most part, all of the terms discriminating between different Gothic tribes gradually disappeared after they moved into the Roman Empire. Many recent scholars, such as Peter Heather , have concluded that Visigothic group identity emerged only within the Roman Empire. Roger Collins also believes that
14522-549: The regions of Macedonia and Thrace . To the south the mainland narrows and includes the regions of Epirus , Thessaly and Central Greece , where the region of Attica and the capital city Athens are located. Further south, the smaller peninsula of Peloponnese is separated from the rest of the Greek mainland by the Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs , but joined by the Isthmus of Corinth . Mainland Greece covers about 80% of
14659-601: The reign of Diocletian in the late 3rd century , the western Balkans were organized as a Roman diocese , and was ruled by Galerius . Under Constantine I Greece was part of the dioceses of Macedonia and Thrace . The eastern and southern Aegean islands formed the province of Insulae in the Diocese of Asia . Greece faced invasions from the Heruli , Goths , and Vandals during the reign of Theodosius I . Stilicho , who acted as regent for Arcadius , evacuated Thessaly when
14796-429: The religious conversion from Arianism to Catholicism. The discriminatory laws passed at this Council seem not to have been universally enforced, however, as indicated by several more Councils of Toledo that repeated these laws and extended their stringency. These entered canon law and became legal precedents in other parts of Europe as well. The culmination of this process occurred under King Sisibut, who officially decreed
14933-669: The rest of Greece was divided into the Kingdom of Thessalonica , the Principality of Achaea , and the Duchy of Athens . The Venetians controlled the Duchy of the Archipelago in the Aegean, while the Despotate of Epirus was established as one of the three Byzantine Greek successor states . Michael VIII restored the empire in 1261, having also regained the Kingdom of Thessalonica. By his death in 1282, Michael had taken back
15070-527: The same as it had previously, and Greek continued to be the lingua franca in the Eastern and most important part of the Empire. Roman culture was heavily influenced by classical Greek culture (see Greco-Roman ) as Horace said, Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit (Translation: "Captive Greece took captive her rude conqueror" ). The epics of Homer inspired the Aeneid of Virgil , and authors such as Seneca
15207-484: The sea and invading harbors which brought them into conflict with the Greeks as well. When the city of Pityus fell to the Goths in 256, the Goths were further emboldened. Sometime between 266 and 267, the Goths raided Greece but when they attempted to move into the Bosporus straits to attack Byzantium, they were repulsed. Along with other Germanic tribes, they attacked further into Anatolia, assaulting Crete and Cyprus on
15344-523: The second highest of the Balkan peninsula after Musala in the Rila Mountain . The number of islands vary between 1,200 and 6,000. A figure frequently cited in travel guides is 1,425 islands, of which 166 are said to be inhabited. The Greek Tourism Organization reports a figure of 6,000, with 227 of them inhabited. Paris Match , however, raises this number to 9,841 islands, of which only 169 have
15481-699: The throne according to the Chronica Regum Visigothorum . The kingdom survived until 711, when King Roderic (Rodrigo) was killed while opposing an invasion from the south by the Umayyad Caliphate in the Battle of Guadalete . This marked the beginning of the Umayyad conquest of Hispania , when most of the Iberian Peninsula came under Islamic rule in the early 8th century. A Visigothic nobleman, Pelayo , defeated
15618-444: The time despot of Mystras, but there was little he could do against most of the other Ottoman territories. Emperor Constantine XI was defeated and killed in 1453 when the Ottomans finally captured Constantinople. After the fall of Constantinople , the Ottomans also captured Athens by 1458, but left a Byzantine despotate in the Peloponnese until 1460. The Venetians still controlled Crete, Aegean islands and some cities-ports, but otherwise
15755-627: The toleration of the Arian Visigoths on the peninsula. The Visigoths scorned to interfere among Catholics but were interested in decorum and public order. King Liuvigild (568–586), attempted to restore political unity between the Visigothic-Arian elite and the Hispano-Roman Nicene Catholic population through a doctrinal settlement of compromise on matters of faith, but this failed. Sources indicate that
15892-515: The total territory and is largely mountainous. The largest mountain range of Greece is the Pindus range , the southern extension of the Dinaric Alps , which forms the spine of the Greek mainland, separating Epirus from Thessaly and Macedonia. The country's tallest mountain is Mount Olympus , which also separates Thessaly from Macedonia. Its highest peak rises to 2,918 m above sea level, making it
16029-427: The transition from Roman law to Germanic law . One of the greatest contributions of the Visigoths to family law was their protection of the property rights of married women, which was continued by Spanish law and ultimately evolved into the community property system now in force throughout the majority of western Europe. Before the Middle Ages , the Visigoths, as well as other Germanic peoples, followed what
16166-405: The treaty the emperor was called a friend ( amicus ) to the Visigoths, while requiring them to address him as lord ( dominus ). Though the emperor did not legally recognize Gothic sovereignty, according to some views under this treaty the Visigothic kingdom became an independent kingdom. Between 471 and 476, Euric captured most of southern Gaul. According to historian J. B. Bury, Euric was probably
16303-412: The tribal names which the fifth-century poet Sidonius Apollinaris , had already used when referring to the Visigoths. The first part of the Ostrogoth name is related to the word "east", and Jordanes , the medieval writer, later clearly contrasted them in his Getica , stating that "Visigoths were the Goths of the western country." According to Wolfram, Cassiodorus created this east–west understanding of
16440-611: The tribe's name to a river, though this is probably a folk etymology or legend like his similar story about the Greuthung name. The Visigoths emerged from the Gothic tribes, probably a derivative name for the Gutones , a people believed to have their origins in Scandinavia and who migrated southeastwards into eastern Europe. Such understanding of their origins is largely the result of Gothic traditions and their true genesis as
16577-465: The very future of Europe itself "depended on the Visigoths". However, in 507, the Franks under Clovis I defeated the Visigoths in the Battle of Vouillé and wrested control of Aquitaine. King Alaric II was killed in battle. French national myths romanticize this moment as the time when a previously divided Gaul morphed into the united kingdom of Francia under Clovis. Visigothic power throughout Gaul
16714-540: The way; shortly thereafter, they pillaged Troy and the temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Throughout the reign of emperor Constantine the Great , the Visigoths continued to conduct raids on Roman territory south of the Danube River. By 332, relations between the Goths and Romans were stabilized by a treaty but this was not to last. The Goths remained in Dacia until 376, when one of their leaders, Fritigern , appealed to
16851-463: The west by the Ionian Sea which separates Greece from Italy . The country consists of a mountainous, peninsular mainland jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea at the southernmost tip of the Balkans , and two smaller peninsulas projecting from it: the Chalkidiki and the Peloponnese , which is joined to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth . Greece also has many islands , of various sizes,
16988-591: The west by the Myrtoan Sea ; and to the east by the Karpathion Sea. It lies about 160 km south of the Greek mainland. Crete is characterized by a mountain range crossing from west to east, formed by three different subranges: These encompass fertile plateaus, such as Lasithi, Omalos and Nidha; caves such as Diktaion and Idaion ; and gorges such as the Samariá Gorge . The protected area of
17125-652: The west of Carpetania , where the main capital, Toledo, lay. In Spain, an important collection of Visigothic metalwork was found in Guadamur , in the Province of Toledo , known as the Treasure of Guarrazar . This archeological find is composed of twenty-six votive crowns and gold crosses from the royal workshop in Toledo, with signs of Byzantine influence. According to Spanish archaeologists, this treasure represents
17262-476: The western coast of Greece, in the Ionian Sea . The other island, Kythira , lies off the southern tip of the Peloponnese . Kythira is part of the modern administrative region of Attica , not the Ionian Islands ( Ionioi Nisoi ). The Ionian Islands are distinct from the historical region of Ionia , which is today part of western Turkey . Crete is the largest island of Greece and the second largest in
17399-583: Was an important aristocratic class from these themes, especially the Macedonian emperors who ruled the empire from 867 to 1056. Greece and the empire as a whole faced a new threat from the Normans of Sicily in the late 11th century . Robert Guiscard took Dyrrhachium and Corcyra in 1081 (see Battle of Dyrrhachium ), but Alexius I defeated him, and later his son Bohemund , by 1083. The Pechenegs also raided Thrace during this period. In 1147, while
17536-413: Was derived. Before Sidonius Apollinaris, the Vesi were first mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum , a late-4th- or early-5th-century list of Roman military forces. This list also contains the last mention of the " Thervingi " in a classical source. Although he did not refer to the Vesi, Tervingi or Greuthungi, Jordanes identified the Visigothic kings from Alaric I to Alaric II as the successors of
17673-487: Was eliminated: when the Slavs first occupied the Peloponnese in the 6th century, a number Greeks had fled Patras and found refuge near Reggio Calabria, in southern Italy; the descendants of these refugees were ordered to return by Nicephorus, who resettled them in the Peloponnese. In the mid-7th century, the empire was reorganized into " themes " by the Emperor Constans II , including the Theme of Thrace ,
17810-475: Was established in 418. This developed as an independent kingdom with its capital at Toulouse , and they extended their authority into Hispania at the expense of the Suebi and Vandals who had taken control of large swathes of Roman territory. In 507, Visigothic rule in Gaul was ended by the Franks under Clovis I , who defeated them in the Battle of Vouillé . It is within what is now Spain and Portugal that
17947-444: Was in any case quite limited: local lords and populations related to Jews as they saw fit. We read of rabbis being asked by non-Jews to bless their fields, for example. Historian Jane Gerber relates that some of the Jews "held ranking posts in the government or the army; others were recruited and organized for garrison service; still others continued to hold senatorial rank". In general, then, they were well respected and well treated by
18084-472: Was not lost in its entirety due to the support from the powerful Ostrogothic king in Italy, Theodoric the Great , whose forces pushed Clovis I and his armies out of Visigothic territories. Theodoric the Great's assistance was not some expression of ethnic altruism, but formed part of his plan to extend his power across Spain and its associated lands. After Alaric II's death, Visigothic nobles spirited his heir,
18221-410: Was not nearly as productive overall for the Visigoths and their gains were short-lived. Still confined to a small and relatively impoverished province of the Empire, another Roman army was being gathered against them, an army which also had amid its ranks other disaffected Goths. Intense campaigns against the Visigoths followed their victory at Adrianople for upwards of three years. Approach routes across
18358-482: Was probably the result of warrior bands moving closer to the wealth of Ukraine and the cities of the Black Sea coast. Perhaps what is most notable about the Gothic people in this regard was that by the middle of the third century AD, they were "the most formidable military power beyond the lower Danube frontier". Throughout the 3rd and 4th centuries there were numerous conflicts and exchanges of varying types between
18495-455: Was reconquered in 961 from the Arabs, by Nikephoros II Phokas after the Siege of Chandax . In the late 10th century , the greatest threat to Greece was from Samuel , who constantly fought over the area with Basil II . In 985, Samuel captured Thessaly and the important city of Larissa, and in 989, he pillaged Thessalonica. Basil slowly began to recapture these areas in 991, but Samuel captured
18632-519: Was set up in Epirus and Thessaly. The Peloponnese, usually called Morea in this period, was now almost the centre of the empire, and was certainly the most fertile area. Mystras and Monemvasia were populous and prosperous, even after the Black Plague in the mid- 14th century . Mystras rivaled Constantinople in importance. It was a stronghold of Greek Orthodoxy and bitterly opposed attempts by
18769-499: Was written between the years 625 through 711, which comes from Julian of Toledo and only deals with the years 672 and 673. Wamba was the king of the Visigoths from 672 to 680. During his reign, the Visigothic kingdom encompassed all of Hispania and part of southern Gaul known as Septimania . Wamba was succeeded by King Ervig, whose rule lasted until 687. Collins observes that "Ervig proclaimed Egica as his chosen successor" on 14 November 687. In 700, Egica's son Wittiza followed him on
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