125-615: Didymoteicho ( Greek : Διδυμότειχο , romanized : Didymóteicho IPA: [ðiðiˈmotixo] ) is a town located on the eastern edge of the Evros regional unit of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace , in northeastern Greece . It is the seat of the municipality of the same name. The town (pop. 8,681 in 2021) sits on a plain and located south east of Svilengrad , south of Edirne , Turkey and Orestiada , west of Uzunköprü , Turkey, about 20 km north of Soufli and about 90 km north of Alexandroupoli . The municipality of Didymóteicho has
250-577: A Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered
375-509: A "favourite resort of early Ottoman rulers" due to its rich hunting grounds even after the capital moved to Adrianople and Constantinople . As such the city was rebuilt, with the Byzantine walls repaired and a royal palace constructed, and beautified, an effect still evident in 1443, when the French traveller Bertrandon de la Broquiere visited it. Sultan Bayezid II ( r. 1481–1512 )
500-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,
625-607: A family of Libyan-Punic origin. Severus had thus Italic and North African ( Punic ) ancestry. He was described as "Libyan by race", by the Roman historian and senator Cassius Dio . Due to his family background he is considered the first provincial emperor, as he was the first emperor not only born in the provinces but also into a provincial family of non-Italian origin. Severus' father, an obscure provincial, held no major political status, but he had two cousins, Publius Septimius Aper and Gaius Septimius Severus, who served as consuls under
750-508: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on
875-505: A land area of 565.4 km and a population of 16,060 inhabitants. "Didymoteicho" is the modern Greek form of Διδυμότειχον , Didymóteichon , from δίδυμος , dídymos , "twin" and τεῖχος , teîchos , "wall". The name first appears in 591/592, and most resulted from the refortification of the city under Justinian I (see below ). The corrupted short form Dimotica or Demotica or variants thereof are attested in Western languages since
1000-590: A lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and
1125-400: A limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in the nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by
1250-487: A military central reserve with the capability to be sent anywhere. At the beginning of Severus' reign, Trajan 's policy toward the Christians was still in force. That is, Christians were only to be punished if they refused to worship the emperor and the gods, but they were not to be sought out. Therefore, persecution was inconsistent, local and sporadic. Faced with internal dissidence and external threats, Severus felt
1375-459: A mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and a fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes ,
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#17327755775321500-538: A more ambitious campaign. The following year he led another, more successful campaign against the Parthian Empire , reportedly in retaliation for the support it had given to Pescennius Niger . His legions sacked the Parthian royal city of Ctesiphon and he annexed the northern half of Mesopotamia to the empire; Severus took the title Parthicus Maximus , following the example of Trajan . However, he
1625-726: A multinational Entente military force led by the French General Charles Antoine Charpy. In the second half of April 1920, as a result of the San Remo conference of the leaders of the main allies of the Entente powers (except the United States), the region of Western Thrace was annexed by Greece . The Second World War devastated Didymoteicho. In May 1943, 731 Jews from the city were deported to Auschwitz concentration camp . Modern Didymoteicho
1750-525: A new city on the banks of the Evros river , between two surrounding hills, near modern Turkish Uzunköprü , and named it Plotinopolis after his wife Pompeia Plotina . The ruins of the ancient city are now known as the Kale , after the Turkish for "castle". A solid gold bust of Emperor Septimius Severus found on the site of Plotinopolis in 1965 is now in the museum at Komotini . The city had been built in
1875-508: A persecutor. However, the Christian apologist Tertullian stated that Severus was well disposed towards Christians, employed a Christian as his personal physician and had personally intervened to save several high-born Christians known to him from the mob. Some scholars think that Eusebius' description of Severus as a persecutor likely derives merely from the fact that numerous persecutions occurred during his reign, including those known in
2000-423: A relatively destructive effect on the centre of power. Plautianus' daughter Fulvia Plautilla was married to Severus' son Caracalla. Plautianus' excessive power came to an end in 204, when he was denounced by the emperor's dying brother. In January 205 Julia Domna and Caracalla accused Plautianus of plotting to kill him and Severus. The powerful prefect was executed while he was trying to defend his case in front of
2125-411: A relief army under Henry arrived. Before Branas had time to repair the fortifications, however, in early autumn, Kalojan returned and sacked the city. Henry of Flanders managed to rescue the inhabitants as they were being taken prisoner to Bulgaria, but before he withdrew from the city, Kalojan ordered the town's fortifications razed, making it useless as a military base. In 1225, the city was captured by
2250-519: A senior military appointment. Following the end of this term, Septimius Severus returned to Rome, taking up office as tribune of the plebs , a senior legislative position, with the distinction of being the candidatus of the emperor. About 175, Septimius Severus, in his early thirties at the time, contracted his first marriage, to Paccia Marciana , a woman from Leptis Magna. He probably met her during his tenure as legate under his uncle. Marciana's name suggests Punic or Libyan origin, but nothing else
2375-700: A short stay in Rome, Severus moved north to meet him. On 19 February 197 at the Battle of Lugdunum , with an army of about 75,000 men, mostly composed of Pannonian , Moesian and Dacian legions and a large number of auxiliaries, Severus defeated and killed Clodius Albinus, securing his full control over the empire. Upon returning to Rome, Septimus had 29 senators executed for treason over their support of Albinus, despite having previously taken an oath promising not to put any senators to death (a customary oath for emperors). In early 197 Severus left Rome and sailed to
2500-695: A single province. In 1205, French writer Geoffroi de Villehardouin wrote of the important of the city, referring to Didymoteicho “was the most powerful and one of the richest Romanic cities”. Following the fall of Constantinople to the Fourth Crusade in April 1204, the new Latin Emperor , Baldwin of Flanders , garrisoned the city in summer, but it was soon after surrendered by a local Greek to Baldwin's rival, Boniface of Montferrat , who held it in ransom until his claims against Baldwin were satisfied. In
2625-460: A state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in the early 19th century that
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#17327755775322750-399: A time decisive, securing Nisibis and Singara for the empire and establishing a status quo of Roman dominance in the region until 251. His policy of an expanded and better-rewarded army was criticised by his contemporaries Cassius Dio and Herodianus : in particular, they pointed out the increasing burden, in the form of taxes and services, the civilian population had to bear to maintain
2875-544: A very strategic position, because it had for exploitation a very fertile plain and also controlled a passage of Erythropotamos, through which passed a branch of the via Egnatia leading in the middle and upper valley of Evros river and on the shores of the Black Sea . The city would later be one of the most important towns in Thrace, having its own assembly, and an episcopal see (suffragan of Adrianople ). The first bishop of
3000-707: Is famously said to have given the advice to his sons: "Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, scorn all others" before he died on 4 February 211. On his death, Severus was deified by the Senate and succeeded by his sons, Caracalla and Geta , who were advised by his wife Julia Domna . Severus was buried in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. By the close of his reign the Roman Empire reached an extent of over 5 million square kilometres, which scholars like David L. Kennedy , Lukas De Blois, and Derrick Riley state expanded
3125-626: Is home to numerous descendants of Greek refugees from Eastern Thrace , now in Turkey, as well as members of Greece's Turkish-speaking Muslim minority ( Turks of Western Thrace ). Like the Pomaks of East Macedonia and Thrace , the Turkish population of Didymoteicho dates to the Ottoman period and, unlike the Turkish Muslims and Greek Muslims of Macedonia and Epirus , was exempted from
3250-516: Is known of her. Septimius Severus does not mention her in his autobiography, though he commemorated her with statues when he became emperor. The unreliable Historia Augusta claims that Marciana and Severus had two daughters, but no other attestation of them has survived. It appears that the marriage produced no surviving children, despite lasting for more than ten years. Marciana died of natural causes around 186. Septimius Severus, now in his forties, childless and eager to remarry, began enquiring into
3375-481: Is likely that he served as a vigintivir in Rome, overseeing road maintenance in or near the city, and he may have appeared in court as an advocate. At the time of Marcus Aurelius, he was the State Attorney ( Advocatus fisci ). However, he omitted the military tribunate from the cursus honorum and had to delay his quaestorship until he had reached the required minimum age of 25. To make matters worse,
3500-458: Is mountainous and forested, while farmlands are located in the central and the northern part. It is on the railway line Thessaloniki – Istanbul and the Greek road 51 (Alexandroupoli–Orestiada–Edirne in Turkey and Svilengrad in Bulgaria). Didymoteicho has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Csa ) with hot, mostly dry summers and cool, wet winters. The municipality Didymoteicho was formed at
3625-970: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus ( Latin: [ˈɫuːkiʊs sɛpˈtɪmiʊs sɛˈweːrʊs] ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211)
3750-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,
3875-632: Is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near the Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in
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4000-738: The Limes Tripolitanus along the southern desert frontier of the empire. With his second wife, Julia Domna , Severus had two sons; the elder, Caracalla , was proclaimed Augustus , or co-emperor, in 198, and the younger, Geta , in 209. Severus travelled to Britain in 208, strengthening Hadrian's Wall and reoccupying the Antonine Wall . In 209 he invaded Caledonia (modern Scotland ) with an army of 50,000 men but his ambitions were cut short when he died of an infectious disease in early 211 at Eboracum (modern York ). His sons, advised by Julia Domna, succeeded him, thus founding
4125-651: The Partitio Romaniae the city belonged to the portion accorded to the individual Crusaders. The city was finally given as a fief to Hugh IV of Saint Pol . In February 1205, however, the locals rose up in revolt in Didymoteicho, Adrianople and other cities, evicted their Latin garrisons, and acknowledged the suzerainty of the Bulgarian Tsar Kalojan . Baldwin of Flanders responded by marching into Thrace and besieging Adrianople, but at
4250-549: The Roman Martyrology as the martyrs of Madauros , Charalambos and Perpetua and Felicity in Roman-ruled Africa . These were probably the result of local persecutions rather than empire-wide actions or decrees by Severus. In late 202 Severus launched a campaign in the province of Africa. The legatus legionis or commander of Legio III Augusta , Quintus Anicius Faustus , had been fighting against
4375-595: The Antonine Plague swept through the capital in 166. With his career at a halt, Severus decided to temporarily return to Leptis, where the climate was healthier. According to the Historia Augusta , a usually unreliable source, he was prosecuted for adultery during this time but the case was ultimately dismissed. At the end of 169, Severus was of the required age to become a quaestor and journeyed back to Rome. On 5 December, he took office and
4500-562: The British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of the membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in
4625-657: The European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute the objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek
4750-576: The Garamantes along the Limes Tripolitanus for five years. He captured several settlements such as Cydamus , Gholaia, Garbia and their capital Garama —over 600 kilometres (370 mi) south of Leptis Magna . The province of Numidia was also enlarged: the empire annexed the settlements of Vescera , Castellum Dimmidi , Gemellae , Thabudeos and Thubunae . By 203 the entire southern frontier of Roman Africa had been dramatically expanded and re-fortified. Desert nomads could no longer safely raid
4875-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as
5000-747: The Lombards of the Crusade of 1101 to resupply at the city. During the 12th century, members of the Petraliphas family are known to have lived in the city. On 24 November 1189, the city was captured and largely destroyed by the forces of the Third Crusade under Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia , who had captured Adrianople two days before. In the 1198 chrysobull granted to the Republic of Venice , Didymoteicho and Adrianople are mentioned as forming
5125-488: The Praetorian Guard , which had murdered Pertinax and had then auctioned the Roman Empire to Didius Julianus. Its members were stripped of their ceremonial armour and forbidden to come within 160 kilometres (99 mi) of the city on pain of death. Severus replaced the old guard with 10 new cohorts recruited from veterans of his Danubian legions. Around 197 he increased the number of legions from 30 to 33, with
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5250-706: The Severan dynasty . It was the last dynasty of the Roman Empire before the Crisis of the Third Century . Born on 11 April 145 at Leptis Magna (in present-day Libya) as the son of Publius Septimius Geta and Fulvia Pia , Septimius Severus came from a wealthy and distinguished family of equestrian rank. On his mother's side, he descended from Roman immigrants (the Fulvii) who had intermarried with locals of Libyan origin. His father, Publius Septimius Geta, hailed from
5375-526: The Southern Uplands up to the Antonine Wall , which was also enhanced. Supported and supplied by a strong naval force, Severus then thrust north with his army across the wall into Caledonian territory. Retracing the steps of Agricola of over a century before, Severus rebuilt and garrisoned many abandoned Roman forts along the east coast, such as Carpow . Cassius Dio 's account of the invasion reads: Severus, accordingly, desiring to subjugate
5500-724: The United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout the Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to
5625-468: The genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in the ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in
5750-417: The syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow the noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However,
5875-405: The 1890s. The town had a marketplace but no bezesten ; its chief produce were grapes and quinces, but also local pottery and glassware, which had a great reputation. Swedish king Charles XII stayed in the town from February 1713 to October 1714 after his flight from the Battle of Poltava , but otherwise the town became an unimportant provincial backwater in early modern times. In 1912 the town
6000-506: The 1923 Greek-Turkish population exchange following the Treaty of Lausanne . The town was considerably affected by the Evros river flooding of 17 to 22 February 2005. Flood warnings were reported at that time. The flood affected much of the town on Wednesday, 2 March 2005 and continued for several days. On Friday, 4 March, flood waters began to ebb slowly. Over 5,000 mm of rainfall caused
6125-539: The 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units: The municipality has an area of 565.372 km, the municipal unit 354.134 km. The municipal unit Didymoteicho is subdivided into the following communities (constituent settlements in brackets): The largest settlements, other than Didymoteicho itself, are Sofikó (pop. 795), Metaxades (687), Koufóvouno (629), Lagós (620) and Ellinochóri (593). The province of Didymoteicho ( Greek : Επαρχία Διδυμοτείχου )
6250-566: The 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as
6375-679: The Central Lowlands. This is evidenced by extensive Severan-era fortifications in the Central Lowlands. The Caledonians, short on supplies and feeling that their position was desperate, revolted later that year with the Maeatae . Severus prepared for another protracted campaign within Caledonia. He was now intent on exterminating the Caledonians, telling his soldiers: "Let no-one escape sheer destruction, no-one our hands, not even
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#17327755775326500-544: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit
6625-549: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in
6750-593: The Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek
6875-525: The Parthians, he erected the Arch of Septimius Severus in Rome. According to Cassius Dio, however, after 197 Severus fell heavily under the influence of his Praetorian prefect, Gaius Fulvius Plautianus , who came to have almost total control of the imperial administration. At the same time, a bloody power crisis erupted between Plautianus and Julia Domna , Severus' influential and powerful wife, which had
7000-477: The Praetorian Guard in early 193. In response to the murder of Pertinax, Severus' legion XIV Gemina acclaimed him emperor at Carnuntum on 9 April. Nearby legions, such as X Gemina at Vindobona , soon followed suit. Having assembled an army, Severus hurried to Italy. Pertinax's successor in Rome, Didius Julianus , had bought the emperorship in an auction. Julianus was condemned to death by
7125-443: The Senate and killed. Severus took possession of Rome without opposition. He executed Pertinax's murderers and dismissed the rest of the Praetorian Guard , filling its ranks with loyal troops from his own legions. The legions of Syria had proclaimed Pescennius Niger emperor. At the same time Severus felt it reasonable to offer Clodius Albinus , the powerful governor of Britannia , who had probably supported Didius against him,
7250-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),
7375-415: The advice of Quintus Aemilius Laetus , prefect of the Praetorian Guard , emperor Commodus appointed Severus as governor of Pannonia Superior . At around this time he is described by the classicist Kyle Harper as being "a middling senator of modest physical stature and unexceptional accomplishment". Commodus was assassinated the following year. Pertinax was acclaimed emperor, but he was then killed by
7500-475: The ambitious Greek ruler of Epirus and Thessalonica , Theodore Komnenos Doukas , but after his defeat and capture at the Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230 it fell to Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria . As such, Dimotiko is mentioned in a grant of trading privileges issued by Ivan Asen to the Republic of Ragusa . Finally the Empire of Nicaea returned Didymoteicho to Byzantine control by capturing it around 1243, during
7625-479: The arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During the older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from
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#17327755775327750-460: The babe in the womb of the mother, if it be male; let it nevertheless not escape sheer destruction." Severus' campaign was cut short when he fell ill. He withdrew to Eboracum (York) and died there in 211. Although his son Caracalla continued campaigning the following year, he soon settled for peace. The Romans never campaigned deep into Caledonia again. Shortly after this, the frontier was permanently withdrawn south to Hadrian's Wall. Severus
7875-606: The city finally come into Palaiologan hands. The Battle of Demotika , the Ottomans ' first victory in Europe, was fought before the city in 1352 during the civil war. The city was the birthplace of emperors John III Doukas Vatatzes (born c. 1193) and John V Palaiologos (born 18 June 1332). The city—known as Dimetoka or Demotika under Ottoman rule—was captured by the Ottomans in 1359 and again, this time permanently (probably by
8000-416: The city remained in his hands throughout the conflict, serving as his main stronghold in Thrace. After the war, the city became part of the Thracian appanage of Matthew Kantakouzenos , who provided it with strong fortifications. In 1352, it was assigned to John V Palaiologos ( r. 1341–1391 ), but he quickly clashed with Matthew Kantakouzenos, and only after another round of warfare in 1352–57 did
8125-424: The city, Hierophilus, is mentioned in the 430s. According to Procopius of Caesarea , Emperor Justinian I ( r. 527–565 ) improved the fortifications of Plotinopolis. It was probably at that time that the nearby higher, rocky and hence more defensible hill was also fortified . The name "Didymoteichon" ("twin fortification") appears in 591/592, and probably referred to this double fortified settlement. Given
8250-450: The commander Hadji Ilbeg ), in 1361. Reportedly, the Serbian ruler Jovan Uglješa besieged the city sometime after. In 1373, following a failed joint revolt against their fathers, the Ottoman prince Savcı Bey and the Byzantine prince Andronikos IV Palaiologos fled to the city, which was then conquered by Savcı's father, Murad I ( r. 1362–1389 ). Murad made the city his residence, at least until 1377. It nevertheless remained
8375-479: The conflict, and the city remained a stronghold and was frequently visited by Andronikos III during his reign. The city also served as a secure place of exile and incarceration of the emperor's opponents, from his uncle Constantine Palaiologos in 1322 to the disgraced chief minister Theodore Metochites in 1328. During the Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 , it served as the base of Andronikos III's chief lieutenant, John VI Kantakouzenos ( r. 1347–1354 ), who
8500-441: The consolidation of his rule over the western provinces, Severus waged another brief, more successful war in the east against the Parthian Empire , sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 197 and expanding the eastern frontier to the Tigris . He then enlarged and fortified the Limes Arabicus in Arabia Petraea . In 202, he campaigned in Africa and Mauretania against the Garamantes , capturing their capital Garama and expanding
8625-495: The country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine ,
8750-441: The dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before
8875-401: The denarius again because of rising military expenditures. The silver purity decreased from 78.5% to 64.5%—the silver weight dropping from 2.46 grams to 1.98 grams. In 196 he reduced the purity and silver weight of the denarius again, to 54% and 1.82 grams, respectively. Severus' currency debasement was the largest since the reign of Nero , compromising the long-term strength of
9000-440: The disused royal palace was located, measured some 2,500 paces in circumference, with double stone walls and "a hundred" towers; the sole Muslim living there was the commander, the rest of it, some 100 households, being inhabited solely by non-Muslims. The citadel within it ( Iç Kale ) was arranged on two levels, one of which was known as the "Maiden's Castle" ( Kız Kalesı ). The outer town ( Varoş ) counted 600 multi-storey houses and
9125-528: The earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of the Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of
9250-767: The east. He embarked at Brundisium and probably landed at the port of Aegeae in Cilicia , travelling on to Syria by land. He immediately gathered his army and crossed the Euphrates . Abgar IX , titular King of Osroene but essentially only the ruler of Edessa since the annexation of his kingdom as a Roman province, handed over his children as hostages and assisted Severus' expedition by providing archers. King Khosrov I of Armenia also sent hostages, money and gifts. Severus travelled on to Nisibis , which his general Julius Laetus had prevented from falling into Parthian hands. Afterwards Severus returned to Syria to plan
9375-600: The emperor Antoninus Pius r. 138–161 . His mother's ancestors had moved from Italy to North Africa; they belonged to the gens Fulvia , an Italian patrician family that originated in Tusculum . Septimius Severus had two siblings: an elder brother, Publius Septimius Geta ; and a younger sister, Septimia Octavilla. Severus' maternal cousin was the praetorian prefect and consul Gaius Fulvius Plautianus . Septimius Severus grew up in Leptis Magna. He spoke
9500-409: The empire to its greatest physical extent. Edward Gibbon famously levelled a harsh indictment of Septimius Severus as a principal agent in the empire's decline. "The contemporaries of Severus, in the enjoyment of the peace and glory of his reign, forgave the cruelties by which it had been introduced. Posterity, who experienced the fatal effects of his maxims and example, justly considered him as
9625-455: The exposed lowland location of Plotinopolis, the site was soon abandoned in favour of the more recent fortress, a process that was possibly completed already in the 7th century. The name "Plotinopolis" survived for the episcopal see until the 9th century, before it too was replaced. In summer 813, during his invasion of Thrace , the Bulgarian ruler Krum captured the town, but in 879 it
9750-412: The extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English
9875-567: The general Evros and Erythropotamos river areas. Didymoteicho is just 2 kilometers away from the Greek-Turkish border, and as a result it is home to many Greek military units and Hellenic Army training centers. Hundreds of thousands of Greek men had to either receive military training or spend part of their military service here (see conscription in Greece ). The famous 1991 George Dalaras and Lavrentis Machairitsas song Didymoteicho Blues ( Greek : Διδυμότειχο Μπλουζ ) pays homage to
10000-782: The grandmother of the future emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus . Bassianus accepted Severus' marriage proposal in early 187, and in the summer the couple married in Lugdunum (modern-day Lyon , France), of which Severus was the governor. The marriage proved happy, and Severus cherished Julia and her political opinions. Julia built "the most splendid reputation" by applying herself to letters and philosophy. They had two sons, Lucius Septimius Bassianus (later nicknamed Caracalla, born 4 April 188 in Lugdunum) and Publius Septimius Geta (born 7 March 189 in Rome). In 191, on
10125-419: The help of the military, and he returned the sentiment. Severus ordered the execution of a large number of Senators on charges of corruption or conspiracy against him and replaced them with his favourites. Although his actions turned Rome more into a military dictatorship, he was popular with the citizens of Rome, having stamped out the rampant corruption of Commodus' reign. When he returned from his victory over
10250-569: The horoscopes of prospective brides. The Historia Augusta relates that he heard of a woman in Syria of whom it had been foretold that she would marry a king, and so Severus sought her as his wife. This woman was an Emesene Syrian named Julia Domna . Her father, Julius Bassianus , descended from the Arab Emesene dynasty and served as a high priest to the local cult of the sun god Elagabal . Domna's older sister, Julia Maesa , would become
10375-536: The incumbent emperor Didius Julianus , Severus fought his rival claimants, the Roman generals Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus . Niger was defeated in 194 at the Battle of Issus in Cilicia . Later that year Severus waged a short punitive campaign beyond the eastern frontier, annexing the Kingdom of Osroene as a new province. Severus defeated Albinus three years later at the Battle of Lugdunum in Gaul . Following
10500-581: The inhabitants of the cities of Serres and Philippopolis , the Thracian cities turned to the new regent of the Latin Empire, Henry of Flanders ( r. 1205–1216 ). Thus in early 1206 Didymoteicho and Adrianople submitted to the Greek lord Theodore Branas , who was in the Latin Emperor's service. Kalojan besieged Didymoteicho in early summer, and was on the point of taking the city when
10625-498: The introduction of the three new legions: I, II and III Parthica . He garrisoned Legio II Parthica at Albanum , only 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Rome. He gave his soldiers a donative of a thousand sesterces (250 denarii ) each, and raised the annual wage for a soldier in the legions from 300 to 400 denarii . Severus was the first Roman emperor to station some of the imperial army in Italy. He realized that Rome needed
10750-449: The language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to the modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows
10875-582: The late 12th century (early forms Timoticon , Dimothicon , Dimodica ), and remained in use for the city until the 20th century. The city was called ديمتوقه in Ottoman Turkish and is still called Dimetoka in Turkish , which was its name during the rule of the Ottoman Empire , and Dimotika (from Bulgarian Димотика) by the Pomaks of the region. Forests dominate the banks and parts of
11000-467: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write
11125-489: The local Punic language fluently, but he was also educated in Latin and Greek, which he spoke with a slight accent. Little else is known of the young Severus' education but, according to Cassius Dio , the boy had been eager for more education than he actually received. Presumably, Severus received lessons in oratory : at the age of 17, he gave his first public speech. Severus sought a public career in Rome in around 162. At
11250-452: The many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is
11375-465: The morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks the infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of
11500-498: The need to promote religious harmony by promoting syncretism . He possibly issued an edict that punished conversion to Judaism and Christianity. A number of persecutions of Christians occurred in the Roman Empire during his reign and were traditionally attributed to Severus by the early Christian community. A decree by Severus against the Christians is mentioned in the Historia Augusta , an unreliable mix of fact and fiction. Early church historian Eusebius described Severus as
11625-428: The new and better-paid army. The large and ongoing increase in military expenditure caused problems for all of his successors. To maintain his enlarged military, he debased the Roman currency . Upon his accession he decreased the silver purity of the denarius from 81.5% to 78.5%, although the silver weight actually increased, rising from 2.40 grams to 2.46 grams. Nevertheless, the following year he debased
11750-669: The nights in summer and winter, respectively. Having thus been conveyed through practically the whole of the hostile country (for he actually was conveyed in a covered litter most of the way, on account of his infirmity), he returned to the friendly portion, after he had forced the Britons to come to terms, on the condition that they should abandon a large part of their territory. By 210 Severus' campaigning had made significant gains, despite Caledonian guerrilla tactics and purportedly heavy Roman casualties. The Caledonians sued for peace, which Severus granted on condition they relinquish control of
11875-596: The personal stories and experiences of these soldiers while offering a more general commentary about life in the Army. The town is served by a station on the Alexandroupoli–Svilengrad Line . Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized : Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized : Hellēnikḗ ) is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within
12000-407: The plain. Much of the area is used for farming. The main products are cattle, fruit and vegetables and some flowers. The hills dominate further west. Near the area lies the great forest of Dadia . Didymoteicho is located around 12 km from Turkey and the western banks of the Evros . It is the easternmost municipality on the mainland of Greece (in its town of Pythio ). In the west, much of the land
12125-471: The principal author of the decline of the Roman empire." According to Gibbon, "his daring ambition [...] was never diverted from its steady course by the allurements of pleasure, the apprehension of danger, or the feelings of humanity." His enlargement of the Limes Tripolitanus secured Africa , the agricultural base of the empire where he was born. His victory over the Parthian Empire was for
12250-612: The rank of Caesar , which implied some claim to the succession. With his rear safe, he moved to the East and crushed Niger's forces at the Battle of Issus (194). While campaigning against Byzantium , he ordered that the tomb of his fellow-Carthaginian Hannibal be covered with fine marble. He devoted the following year to suppressing Mesopotamia and other Parthian vassals who had backed Niger. Afterwards, Severus declared his son Caracalla as his successor, which caused Albinus to be hailed emperor by his troops and to invade Gaul. After
12375-461: The recommendation of his relative Gaius Septimius Severus, the emperor Marcus Aurelius ( r. 161–180 ) granted him entry into the senatorial ranks. Membership in the senatorial order was a prerequisite to attain positions within the cursus honorum and to gain entry into the Roman Senate. Nevertheless, it appears that Severus' career during the 160s met with some difficulties. It
12500-548: The region's interior and escape back into the Sahara . In 208 Severus travelled to Britain with the intention of conquering Caledonia . Modern archaeological discoveries illuminate the scope and direction of his northern campaign. Severus probably arrived in Britain with an army of over 40,000, considering some of the camps constructed during his campaign could house this number. He strengthened Hadrian's Wall and reconquered
12625-538: The regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of
12750-652: The reign of John III Doukas Vatatzes . In 1255/56, Theodore II Laskaris used the city as a base of operations for his campaigns against Bulgaria. The city was once again the centre of military operations in 1306, when Michael IX Palaiologos campaigned against the Catalan Company , and again during the Byzantine civil war of 1321–1328 between Andronikos II Palaiologos ( r. 1282–1328 ) and his grandson, Andronikos III ( r. 1328–1341 ). The latter made Didymoteicho his main base and residence during
12875-453: The river to overflow its banks. Buildings, properties and stores were flooded, leaving people stranded. It was the worst flood in nearly 50 years. The railway line south of Didymoteicho and near the station was also flooded and was closed. Serious flooding was also experienced in March 2006 and November 2014, while in the Evros floods of 2021 the largest floods took place throughout the city and
13000-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of
13125-590: The subsequent Battle of Adrianople (14 April 1205) the Latin army suffered a crushing defeat and Baldwin was taken prisoner. The city, effectively autonomous, served as a place of refuge for the local population fleeing the depredations of Kalojan following his victory. A Latin siege of the city was broken up in September 1205 due to a flood of the Evros (or the Erythropotamos), but after Kalojan's massacres of
13250-463: The two emperors. One of the two following praefecti was the famous jurist Papinian . Executions of senators did not stop: Cassius Dio records that many of them were put to death, some after being formally tried. After the assassination of Gaius Fulvius Plautianus in the rest of his reign, he relied more on the advice of his clever and educated wife, Julia Domna , in the administration of the empire. Upon his arrival at Rome in 193, Severus discharged
13375-453: The water caused great suffering to the Romans, and when they became scattered, they would be attacked. Then, unable to walk, they would be slain by their own men, in order to avoid capture, so that a full fifty thousand died. But Severus did not desist until he approached the extremity of the island. Here he observed most accurately the variation of the sun's motion and the length of the days and
13500-445: The whole of it, invaded Caledonia. But as he advanced through the country he experienced countless hardships in cutting down the forests, levelling the heights, filling up the swamps, and bridging the rivers; but he fought no battle and beheld no enemy in battle array. The enemy purposely put sheep and cattle in front of the soldiers for them to seize, in order that they might be lured on still further until they were worn out; for in fact,
13625-600: Was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums , Libya) in the Roman province of Africa . As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus . Severus was the final contender to seize power after the death of the emperor Pertinax in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors . After deposing and killing
13750-510: Was a bishopric whose incumbent, Nikephoros, participated in the Ninth Council of Constantinople . A 9th-century seal attests to the presence of a kommerkiarios in the city. A century later, the town served as a place of exile for the general and rebel Bardas Skleros , who unsuccessfully tried to oust Byzantine Emperor Basil II . Bardas and his brother Constantine died there in March 991. In winter 1100/01, Alexios I Komnenos allowed
13875-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or
14000-556: Was able to leave Africa, Mauri tribesmen invaded southern Spain. Control of the province was handed over to the emperor, while the Senate gained temporary control of Sardinia as compensation . Thus, Septimius Severus spent the remainder of his second term as quaestor on the island of Sardinia. In 173, Severus' cousin Gaius Septimius Severus was appointed proconsul of the province of Africa Proconsularis and chose Severus as one of his two legati pro praetore ,
14125-505: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe
14250-402: Was born there and was on his way there to retire after abdicating in favour of his son, Selim I ( r. 1512–1520 ), when he died (probably of poison). The Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi visited the town in 1670. The town was the seat of a kadi and administrative centre of the local district ( nahiye ). Evliya also provides a description of the fortress. The upper fortress, where
14375-666: Was briefly occupied by the Bulgarians during the First Balkan War , only to return to Ottoman control in the Second Balkan War . The Ottoman Government offered the city to Bulgaria in 1915, as a reward for entering World War I on the side of the Central Powers . Under the terms of the 1919 Treaty of Neuilly , Didymoteicho, along with the rest of Western Thrace, came under the temporary management of
14500-556: Was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and
14625-522: Was crowned emperor in the city on 26 October 1341. Pressed by his enemies, Kantakouzenos was forced to abandon the city in March 1342, leaving his wife and a few close relatives in charge. With the aid of Umur Bey , ruler of the Turkish beylik of Aydin and owner of a considerable fleet, repeated attempts by the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander and Kantakouzenos' Byzantine opponents, headed by Alexios Apokaukos , were defeated, and
14750-603: Was divided into 12 wards ( mahalle ). There were several mosques and mesjits, of which the Bayezid Mosque was the most important, as well as four madrasahs , one of which was established by Sultan Bayezid I . From Evliya's references, the area of Didymoteicho appears to have been a major centre of the Bektashi dervishes . Of the local hamams , the most notable was the so-called " Whisper Bath " ( fısıltı hamamı ), with its "Ear of Dionysus "; it survived at least until
14875-535: Was officially enrolled in the Roman Senate . Between 170 and 180 his activities went largely unrecorded, in spite of the fact that he occupied an impressive number of posts in quick succession. The Antonine Plague had thinned the senatorial ranks and, with capable men now in short supply, Severus' career advanced more steadily than it otherwise might have. The sudden death of his father necessitated another return to Leptis Magna to settle family affairs. Before he
15000-584: Was one of the provinces of the Evros Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality Didymoteicho and the municipal unit Orfeas . It was abolished in 2006. The area around the town was inhabited in Neolithic times. It was later an important Thracian and Hellenistic town, sacked by the Romans in 204 BC. In the early 2nd century, the Roman emperor Trajan created
15125-430: Was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in
15250-598: Was unable to capture the fortress of Hatra , even after two lengthy sieges—just like Trajan, who had tried nearly a century before. During his time in the east, though, Severus also expanded the Limes Arabicus , building new fortifications in the Arabian Desert from Basie to Dumatha . Severus' relations with the Senate were never good. He was unpopular with them from the outset, having seized power with
15375-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect
15500-637: Was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to
15625-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage
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