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120-450: Marcian ( / ˈ m ɑːr ʃ ən / ; Latin: Marcianus ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Μαρκιανός Markianos ; c. 392 – 27 January 457) was Roman emperor of the East from 450 to 457. Very little of his life before becoming emperor is known, other than that he was a domesticus (personal assistant) who served under the commanders Ardabur and his son Aspar for fifteen years. After

240-577: 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

360-517: A Roman historian writing a century after the event, states that the Vandals released Licinia Eudoxia, Placidia, and Eudocia to Marcian after he threatened them with war, in either late 456 or early 457. Marcian did not recognize any Western Emperor after Valentinian, denying Petronius Maximus, now Western Emperor, when he sent an embassy requesting it, and similarly refusing to recognize Avitus , who succeeded Maximus. Marcian's exact treatment of Avitus

480-577: 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,

600-508: 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

720-590: 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

840-400: 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

960-400: A lot of notability and took the throne as emperor from the sitting emperor, although many did not have long reigns because of the instability of the western Roman Empire . These emperors were the ones that did realize, because of their military experience, that it was not possible to sustain the size of the late Roman Empire leading to them continuing Diocletian's idea to have it separated into

1080-459: 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 ,

1200-454: A more conservative stance on it; Ernst Stein suggests that it is merely a reflection of West Roman propaganda, whereas Norman Baynes believes it indicates that Marcian was cordial to Avitus, neither hostile nor friendly. Classicist Courtenay Edward Stevens interprets the phrase as meaning only that the meeting of the diplomats was amicable, rather than reflecting a relationship between the two states. The historian Geoffrey Nathan suggests

1320-583: A reflection of their influence." Almost immediately after becoming emperor, Marcian revoked Theodosius' treaties with Attila and proclaimed the end of subsidies. He stated that he might grant gifts if Attila was friendly, but Attila would be repelled if he attempted to raid the Eastern Roman Empire. At this time Attila was preparing to invade the Western Roman Empire, under the guise of helping Emperor Valentinian III against

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1440-605: A remission of all debts owed to the state. Marcian attempted to improve the efficiency of the state in multiple ways. He laid out legal reforms in his novels , or codes of law, containing 20 laws, many of which were targeted at reducing the corruption and abuses of office that had existed during the reign of Theodosius; five of which are preserved in full. Marcian mandated that the office of praetorship (officer in charge of public games and works) could only be given to senators who resided in Constantinople, attempted to curb

1560-616: A siege of Orléans , before meeting Aetius' forces at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains , in northeast Gaul . This battle involved around 100,000 men and resulted in very large losses on both sides. After the battle, Attila retreated to the Great Hungarian Plain , and Aetius dismissed his coalition of tribes, sending them back to their own territories. In spring 452, Attila again launched a raid into Italy, which

1680-460: 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

1800-453: A tougher stance against the Huns and a more direct role in ecclesiastical affairs. Byzantist Constance Head considers Marcian to be "an independent-minded emperor." Lee states that Marcian "can appear as a stronger figure than many other fifth-century incumbents of the imperial office", but notes that "Flavius Zeno and Pulcheria had both been opponents of Chrysaphius, so the changes may be more

1920-524: A unit in one of the praesental armies—two field armies based near Constantinople. A later source claims that the Eastern Roman Senate offered to elect Aspar himself, but he declined, with the cryptic comment: "I fear that a tradition in ruling might be initiated through me". This comment has often been interpreted to be a reference to the fact that he was an Arian , or else to his Alanic heritage. Anthemius would later be sent by Leo to become

2040-586: Is almost certain that the Gepid king Ardaric came to an agreement with Marcian. Ardaric had formed a coalition of the Rugians, Sciri, Heruli, and his own Gepids, which he led against the remaining Hunnic confederation. Ardaric, alongside the Ostrogoth leaders Theodemir , Valamir and Videmir , decisively defeated Attila's oldest son, Ellac , at the Battle of Nedao in 455, where he was slain. After this battle,

2160-461: Is debated. The Roman historian Hydatius states that in 455 Avitus sent ambassadors to Marcian "for the sake of unanimity of power," and that, "Marcian and Avitus make use of Roman power in concord". The exact usage of concord ( concordia in the original Latin) has led to debate among scholars. Some such as Thomas Hodgkin , J. B. Bury , and William Bayless consider it grounds for the belief that Marcian may have recognized Avitus. Most scholars take

2280-653: Is given that Marcian, while captured by the Vandals in his youth, was shaded by an eagle while the other prisoners suffered the hot sun. According to this account, the Vandal King Gaiseric recognized that Marcian would later be emperor. In exchange for being released, he made Marcian pledge not to attack the Vandals should he become emperor. This account originates from Priscus , who served as an advisor to Marcian's confidant, Euphemius. Because of Euphemius' influence over foreign policy, some historians, such as Edward Arthur Thompson , have suggested that this account

2400-777: Is known. His father had served in the military and at a young age Marcian enlisted at Philippopolis in Thrace. By the time of the Roman–Sassanian War of 421–422 , Marcian had likely reached the military rank of tribune —the historian Theophanes the Confessor mentions him commanding a military unit. He did not see action in the war, having become ill in Lycia . There he was cared for by Tatianus , who would be made praefectus urbi (prefect of Constantinople) by Marcian, and Tatianus' brother Iulius . Marcian eventually rose to become

2520-683: 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

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2640-861: 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 Domesticus (Roman Empire) The domestici rose to prominence during

2760-763: 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,

2880-409: Is thought to be propaganda created by Marcian's supporters after his election. Marcian had served Aspar and his father Ardabur loyally for fifteen years. Aspar conspired to have Marcian elected and was able to negotiate with other powerful figures to have him made the emperor, despite his relative obscurity. There was a one-month interregnum where negotiations for the succession took place, one of which

3000-632: 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

3120-506: The domesticus (personal assistant) of Aspar , the magister militum (commander-in-chief) of the Eastern Roman Empire. Despite being half- Alanic and half- Gothic , Aspar held much influence in the empire. In the early 430s, Marcian served under Aspar in Roman Africa , where he was captured by Vandals . Evagrius Scholasticus , Procopius and later authors give a likely false account in which Marcian, while in captivity, met

3240-561: The magister officiorum (master of offices), Palladius the praetor, and Anatolius of Constantinople . In 453, Marcian had his daughter from a previous marriage, Marcia Euphemia , marry Anthemius , an aristocrat and talented general. Marcian patronized the Blues, who were one of the two circus teams , the other being the Greens. The two teams had become more like political parties than sports teams by his time, wielding large influence in

3360-542: The laeti had been replaced by foederati , although the distinction between the two was increasingly breaking down. Marcian's successors would grant the status of foederati to multiple peoples and ceding them lands in the recovered European provinces: the Rugians in eastern Thrace, Sciri in Lower Moesia and Scythia , Gepids in Dacia . This network of subject peoples, who were generally reliable and manageable,

3480-631: The Blemmyes in Egypt . During the 5th century, a central religious issue was the debate concerning how the human and divine nature of Jesus Christ were associated, following the Arian controversy . The School of Alexandria , including theologians such as Athanasius , asserted the equality of Christ and God, and therefore focused upon the divinity of Christ. The School of Antioch , including theologians such as Theodore of Mopsuestia , determined not to lose

3600-562: 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

3720-646: The Church of the Holy Apostles , in Constantinople, next to his wife Pulcheria, in a porphyry sarcophagus that was described in the 10th century by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in the De Ceremoniis . He left the Eastern Empire with seven million solidi in its treasury, an impressive achievement considering the economic ruin inflicted upon Eastern Rome by the Huns, both through warfare and

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3840-480: The Council of Chalcedon , which declared that Jesus had two " natures ": divine and human. This led to the alienation of the population of the eastern provinces of Syria and Egypt , as many of them were miaphysites , rejecting the new official Christology . Marcian died on 27 January 457, leaving the Eastern Roman Empire with a treasury surplus of seven million solidi coins, an impressive achievement considering

3960-513: The Crisis of the 3rd Century , the myriad of societal catastrophes nearly led to the collapse of the Roman Empire. The accession of Diocletian and his subsequent reforms ended the continual strife and unstable leadership Ancient Rome had faced during this period. The title of “Domesticus” was developed to advocate for better control over the empire. The domesticus provided defined leadership in

4080-801: The Danube into the Great Hungarian Plain , defeating the Huns in their own heartland. This action, accompanied by the famine and plague that broke out in northern Italy, allowed the Western Roman Empire to bribe Attila into retreating from the Italian peninsula. After Attila's death in 453, Marcian took advantage of the resulting fragmentation of the Hunnic confederation by settling Germanic tribes within Roman lands as foederati ("federates" providing military service in exchange for benefits). Marcian also convened

4200-582: The East–West Schism . Marcian's reign ended on 27 January 457, when he died, aged 65, possibly of gangrene . Theodorus Lector and Theophanes the Confessor say that Marcian died after a long religious procession from the Grand Palace to the Hebdomon , where he made the journey on foot, despite the fact that he could barely walk because of severe foot inflammation , possibly gout . He was buried in

4320-657: 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

4440-516: 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

4560-687: The Sassanian Empire . The separation of the Miaphysites from the churches accepting Chalcedonian doctrine would be made final after the failed attempts of reconciliation under Emperor Justinian I ( r.  527–565 ), the Miaphysites splitting the Oriental Orthodox Churches from the main body of Christians. Marcian also funded Pulcheria's extensive building projects until her death in July 453. All of them focused on

4680-652: 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

4800-837: The Visigoths . Attila reacted angrily to Marcian's proposal, demanding tribute, but did not alter his invasion plans. He led his horde from Pannonia in spring 451 into the Western Roman Empire. Flavius Aetius , who was the supreme commander of the Western Roman army as Comes et Magister Utriusque Militiae , organized a defense and called upon the Visigoths, Franks , Burgundians , Alans, Saxons, Celtic Armoricans , and other tribal groups numbering about 60,000 to aid him. Attila's forces were made up of Gepids , Alans, Sciri , Heruli , Rugians , along with some Franks, Burgundians, and Ostrogoths . Attila sacked Metz and attempted

4920-569: The Western Roman emperor ; Leo nominated him to be Western Emperor in the spring of 467, to fill the vacancy left by the death of Emperor Libius Severus since 465. Leo sent Anthemius to Rome with an army, headed by Marcellinus , the magister militum of Dalmatia ; upon nearing Rome, Anthemius was installed as emperor on 12 April 467. Marcian was regarded favorably by Eastern Roman and Byzantine sources, often compared to Emperors Constantine I and Theodosius I . Marcian's reign

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5040-468: 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

5160-417: 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,

5280-535: The 10th century encyclopedia Suda states that Emperor Justin II built it, a view with which most historians agree. The Byzantine historian Joannes Zonaras states that Justin II actually rebuilt an older construction, which some historians identify as the Heptaconch Hall of Emperor Justinian. Marcian is played by the Hollywood star Jeff Chandler in the 1954 period adventure Sign of

5400-566: 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

5520-655: The Coptic Pope Dioscorus ;I of Alexandria , who had overseen the Second Council of Ephesus, and revoke the condemnations of Ibas of Edessa and Theodoret , which had taken place during this council. The council also repeated the importance of the See of Constantinople , placing it firmly in second place behind the See of Rome, and giving it the right to appoint bishops in the Eastern Roman Empire, over

5640-587: The Danube frontier. The Council of Chalcedon met in October 451. About 500 bishops attended it, most of them Eastern Roman, although two African bishops and two Papal legates sent by Pope Leo I attended. This council condemned the Second Council of Ephesus and agreed that Jesus had a divine nature ( physis ) and a human nature, united in one person ( hypostasis ), "without confusion, change, division, or separation." The council also agreed to condemn

5760-589: The Eastern Empire to retake any European provinces it might lose. This campaign never came to fruition, as Attila died unexpectedly in 453, either from hemorrhaging or alcoholic suffocation , after celebrating a marriage to one of his many wives. After his death, his tribal confederation rapidly fell apart, starting first with rebellions of the Ostrogoths. This fragmentation allowed the Eastern Empire to resume its policy of playing off barbarians against each other, to stop any one tribe from becoming too powerful. It

5880-527: The Eastern Roman Empire. This influence was enhanced by the promotion of his son Ardabur to magister militum per Orientem . It is unknown if Aspar and Ardabur influenced Marcian ' s policies directly, but if so, they were extremely careful to avoid upsetting the ruling elites of Constantinople. Despite Aspar's great influence, the Eastern Roman elites retained much of their anti-German sentiment. Marcian's principal advisors were Pulcheria, Euphemius

6000-512: The Eastern Roman Empire. Vasiliev states that this would lead to long-lasting disloyalty toward the Eastern Roman government among the eastern provinces, ultimately facilitating the loss of these provinces to the Sassanians and later to the Arabs . Another result of the council and the subsequent edicts was that many Christians who disagreed with the council, including many Nestorians, migrated to

6120-517: The Eastern Roman forces was a huge gamble on Theodosius' part. He was betting the fortified cities along the Danube could delay the Huns long enough for the invasion force to gain a secure foothold in Africa, allowing troops to be withdrawn back to the northern frontier. This gamble worked until 442 when the bishop of Margus led a raiding party into the Huns' territory and desecrated their royal tombs. In response to this desecration, Attila demanded that

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6240-552: The Eastern Romans was home to Ostrogoths and Gepids, two groups bitterly opposed to Hunnic rule, and was the breadbasket of the Hunnic Empire. The loss of food supply from Attila's own land coupled with a famine that Italy was suffering at the time, along with a plague that followed it, placed yet more strain upon Attila, allowing the Western Roman Empire to bribe him into retreating to his homeland. After returning to

6360-571: The Great Hungarian Plain, he threatened to invade the Eastern Empire the following spring and conquer it entirely. Marcian and Aspar ignored his threats. They reasoned, based upon the previous treaties that Attila had broken, that he could not be permanently deterred even by tons of gold. The pair believed the gold would be better spent building up armies, not appeasing threats. Also, the rich Asian and African provinces, which were protected behind Constantinople, were secure enough to allow

6480-544: 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

6600-549: 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

6720-484: The Hunnic Confederation, busy campaigning to the north, Theodosius refused to pay the tribute and continued to refuse to until 439. On 19 October 439, the Vandals defeated the weakened Eastern Roman armies and captured the major city of Carthage . Both the Western and Eastern Roman Empires began preparing a massive counter-offensive, stripping the Balkan provinces of protection. In the spring of 440, 1,100 ships set sail from Constantinople for Africa; sending away so many of

6840-580: The Hunnic confederation could no longer sustain the cohesion of its previous days, although they still remained prominent. In the wake of the reduced power of the Hunnic Empire, Marcian accepted the Ostrogoths, who had established themselves in Pannonia Prima and Valeria —nominally two Western Roman provinces—as foederati . This marked the continuation of the tacit abandonment of a rigid Danube barrier , which had previously been manned by Roman laeti , barbarians settled directly in Roman land in exchange for military service. For some time before Marcian,

6960-434: The Huns, confusingly led by a man named Aetius, which may simply be a muddling of Aetius' campaign against Attila and Marcian's campaign against the Huns on the Danube. When Marcian granted part of Pannonia to the Ostrogoths, and the Tisza region to the Gepids, he was accused of encroaching upon the border of Western Roman land. Marcian avoided involving himself with the affairs of the Western Roman Empire when possible. When

7080-402: The Pagan . Jack Palance co-stars as Attila and Ludmilla Tchérina plays Pulcheria. 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 the Indo-European language family. It

7200-468: The Vandal king Gaiseric , who predicted he would later become emperor. After his capture, Marcian is not mentioned again until the death of the eastern emperor, Theodosius II . The Eastern Roman Empire was plagued by external threats during the reign of Theodosius II . In 429, the Vandals, led by Gaiseric , began to conquer Roman Africa . Theodosius immediately organized a response, sending Aspar and three other commanders to attempt to repel them in

7320-409: The Vandals sacked Rome in 455, after Petronius Maximus assassinated Valentinian III and broke an engagement treaty with the Vandals, Marcian did not respond violently, possibly because of the influence of Aspar. He merely sent an envoy demanding that the Vandals return the Dowager Empress , Licinia Eudoxia and her daughters by Valentinian III, Placidia and Eudocia . A likely false account

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7440-526: The accession of Marcian. Marcian was counseled by the diplomat Anatolius and patricius Florentius not to make war with the Sassanians, as it would engulf a large amount of the Eastern Roman military resources, and thus Marcian did not agree to help them. King Gubazes I of Lazica —a Caucasian state in theory under Eastern Roman suzerainty—was attempting to form an alliance with the Sassanians to break free of Roman control in 456. Marcian's troops invaded Lazica and restored Roman rule. In 455, Marcian banned

7560-404: 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),

7680-423: 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

7800-405: The belief in miaphysis as heretical . To repudiate the Second Council of Ephesus, Marcian convened a new council of the imperial church, deemed to pass universally respected canons , in 451. Pulcheria may have influenced this decision or even made the convention of a council a requirement during her negotiations with Aspar to marry Marcian. The council was to take place near Constantinople so that

7920-430: The bishop be handed over. To ensure his own safety, the bishop struck a deal with Attila, surrendering the city of Margus to him in exchange for his own life. With control of Margus, Attila had a foothold across the Danube, which he aggressively exploited, capturing and destroying the cities of Viminacium , Singidunum , and Sirmium . Theodosius recalled Aspar to Constantinople and launched a counter-attack. After his force

8040-404: The citizens of Constantinople, respectively. He further decreed that only a vir illustris (a high-ranking man) could hold either office. He also partially repealed a marriage law enacted by Constantine I , which decreed that a man of senatorial status could not marry a slave, freedwoman , actress, or woman of no social status ( humilis ), which had been created in an attempt to preserve

8160-515: The construction of religious buildings, including the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae and the Hodegon Monastery . Marcian was compared to both Paul the Apostle and the Biblical king David , by the legates at the Council of Chalcedon. At the beginning of Marcian's reign, the Eastern Roman treasury was almost bankrupt, the result of the huge tributes paid to Attila by Theodosius. Marcian reversed this near bankruptcy, not by levying new taxes, but by cutting expenditure. Upon his accession, he declared

8280-495: 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 ,

8400-441: 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

8520-461: The death of Emperor Theodosius II on 28 July 450, Marcian was made a candidate for the throne by Aspar, who held much influence because of his military power. After a month of negotiations Pulcheria , Theodosius' sister, agreed to marry Marcian. Zeno , a military leader whose influence was similar to Aspar's, may have been involved in these negotiations, as he was given the high-ranking court title of patrician upon Marcian's accession. Marcian

8640-528: 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

8760-639: The eastern and western halves. This cycle of instability and military rule in the western Roman Empire continued until its fall in 476. As the Byzantine Empire was gaining strength, new patterns in governing emerged. Under the rule of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I , the successor to Zeno, the title of Domesticus began evolving and was often used as synonyms of Vicarius and Locoservator. The translation of Domesticus, Vicarius, and Locoservator respectively mean belonging to

8880-441: The economic ruin inflicted upon the Eastern Roman Empire by the Huns and Theodosius' tribute payments. After his death, Aspar passed over Marcian's son-in-law, Anthemius , and had a military commander, Leo I , elected as emperor. Marcian was born in c. 392, in either Thrace or Illyria . The ancient historian John Malalas describes him as being tall and having some sort of foot impediment. Little of Marcian's early life

9000-726: The empire; both vied for power. After the Greens responded angrily to his patronage, Marcian censured them, forbidding any of them to hold any public office for three years. Marcian's patronage of the Blues may have had personal motivations, as the once powerful Chrysaphius had been favorable to the Greens. The Armenian king Vardan II Mamikonian , who was leading a revolt against the Sassanian Empire, sent an embassy to Theodosius in 450, composed of his brother Hmayeak Mamikonian , along with Atom Gnuni , Vardan Amatuni , and Meruzhan Artsruni , to ask for assistance. Theodosius received it favorably. Any plans were cut short by his death and

9120-806: The export to barbarian tribes of weapons and the tools used to manufacture them. Marcian was elected without any consultation with the Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III , a clear indication of further separation between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires than before his reign. Valentinian would later recognize Marcian as the Eastern Roman Emperor, although the date of this recognition is disputed; Lee states that Valentinian recognized Marcian in March 452, whereas historian Timothy E. Gregory states that Marcian

9240-412: 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

9360-563: The fact that only two Western delegates attended the Council of Chalcedon points to a new level of Western Roman self-absorption in their own political and religious affairs. He mentions that the canon from this council delegating authority over the whole east to the See of Constantinople marks a religious separation. Authority over the Church in the Eastern Roman Empire would prove a point of contention between Rome and Constantinople, leading up to

9480-486: The government could watch the proceedings closely. Initially, it was to be held at the city of Nicaea , which held enormous religious importance to the early church, as it was the site of its first council, the First Council of Nicaea in 325. However, Marcian successfully requested the transfer of the location to Chalcedon . This was closer to Constantinople and would allow him to respond quickly to any events along

9600-630: The human aspect of Christ, focused upon his humanity. Shortly before Marcian became emperor, the Second Council of Ephesus was held in 449. The council stated that Jesus had one divine united nature, a position called miaphysis ; this was rejected by the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople because of disputes on the matter of Christology , as the Pope and Patriarch of Constantinople saw

9720-449: 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

9840-467: 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

9960-452: 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

10080-469: The massive subsidies they received under Theodosius. Although Marcian had a son-in-law, Anthemius , he did not have any connection to the Theodosians, which Marcian himself had gained through his marriage to Pulcheria, and thus would not be considered a legitimate dynastic heir, so Aspar was once again left to play the role of emperor-maker. He selected Leo I , a fifty-year-old officer commanding

10200-531: The military as officers; oversaw individual households and lands to protect common civilians and servants; and served as palace troops assigned to the emperor himself—all to prevent further crises in the future and transitioning into later periods of the Roman Empire. The roles of the domestici evolved during the late Roman Empire . From 330 AD to 474 AD they performed a variety of functions. Many held positions as generals and were even elevated to become emperors if they gained enough notability. Constantius Chlorus

10320-728: The military to suppress monks in Palestine and placing troops in Alexandria to ensure the installation of Proterius of Alexandria , who was to replace the deposed Pope Dioscorus I. According to the Byzantist Alexander Vasiliev , even after these revolts were put down, the popular dissatisfaction with the state church among the Miaphysite and Nestorian population remained, as the eastern provinces became increasingly convinced of their need for independence from

10440-465: 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

10560-639: The north branch of the Mese , though the statue of Marcian that originally topped it has been lost. Marcian also had a statue in the Forum of Arcadius , which contained the statues of several of the successors of Emperor Arcadius . Marcian may have been the sponsor of the Chrysotriklinos of the Great Palace of Constantinople. The Patria of Constantinople states that Marcian constructed it, whereas

10680-528: The objection of Pope Leo I; the Patriarchs of Alexandria also objected to the elevation of the See of Constantinople. The council ended in November 451, after which Marcian issued numerous edicts confirming the outcomes of the council; showing that the outcome of the council was not universally accepted. One such edict ordered the repression of Eutychianists , who did not believe in the hypostatic union of

10800-491: The practice of selling administrative offices, and decreed that consuls should be responsible for the maintenance of Constantinople's aqueducts . He repealed the follis , a tax on senators' property that amounted to seven pounds of gold per annum. Marcian removed the financial responsibilities of the consuls and praetors, held since the time of the Roman Republic , to fund public sports and games or give wealth to

10920-589: The purity of the senatorial class. Marcian adjusted this law by declaring that the law should not exclude a woman of good character, regardless of her social status or wealth. By the time of his death, Marcian's shrewd cutting of expenditures and his avoidance of large-scale wars left the Eastern Roman treasury with a surplus of 100,000 pounds (45,000 kg) of gold. In 451, Marcian decreed that anyone who performed pagan rites would lose their property and be condemned to death and that no pagan temples, which had previously been closed, could be reopened. To ensure this law

11040-643: 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

11160-456: The regnal name of Imperator Caesar Flavius Marcianus Augustus upon his coronation. The election of Marcian in 450 resulted in large changes to eastern imperial policy. Chrysaphius , the eunuch and spatharios (guard of the imperial chambers), who had exercised much influence over Theodosius, was either murdered or executed. Both Pulcheria and Zeno were opposed to Chrysaphius' influence, which may have motivated Marcian's actions. Marcian took

11280-437: 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

11400-414: The summer of 431 . To the north, the Huns, who had customarily attacked the empire whenever its armies were preoccupied, withdrawing as those forces returned, sent ambassadors to Theodosius in 431, demanding tribute. He agreed to their demand to pay 350 pounds (160 kg) of gold each year. In 434, the Eastern Roman armies were still campaigning against the Vandals in Africa, having faced initial defeats and

11520-516: The throne for himself; Zeno would ultimately die within a year of Marcian ' s accession. Aspar 's son, Ardabur , was promoted to command the army of the Prefecture of the East as the new magister militum per Orientem , soon after Marcian's accession. Marcian was elevated on 25 August 450, and Pulcheria's agreement to marry him likely boosted Marcian's legitimacy further. Marcian took

11640-529: The two greatest external threats to Rome, the Sassanian Empire and the Huns, were absorbed with their own internal problems. Further, no natural disasters or plagues occurred during his reign. He was remembered fondly by the people of Constantinople, who would shout "Reign like Marcian!" at the installation of future emperors. The Prefect of Constantinople Tatianus built a column dedicated to Marcian , sometime between 450 and 452. It still stands in Istanbul, near

11760-659: The two natures of Jesus, barring them from holding state offices, forbidding them from criticizing the Council of Chalcedon, and ordering their literature, along with that of the Nestorians , to be burned. The anti-Miaphysite resolutions of the council led to a large increase in civil disruption in the eastern provinces of Syria and Egypt, where the majority of the population was Miaphysitic. Several violent revolts were put down with military force after significant bloodshed, in Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch; as well as sending

11880-418: The vow of virginity she had made in 413, at age 14, during her three years of marriage to him. Historian Doug Lee proposes that negotiations were also needed between Aspar and Flavius Zeno , who was in a similar position of military power. Zeno was given the prestigious rank of patrician upon Marcian's ascension in 450, suggesting a deal whereby Zeno was rewarded for supporting Marcian instead of claiming

12000-435: The walls of which were weaker than those of some cities he had already captured. During this period, other than cutting his lines of communication and harassing his rear forces, Aetius did not launch a direct attack on Attila. Despite the plunder he now had from capturing Aquileia, Milan, and other cities, Attila was quickly placed in a precarious situation, because of the actions of both Eastern and Western Rome. In Italy, he

12120-425: The withdrawal of many of the Western Roman soldiers. In the face of Eastern Roman weakness, the Huns doubled their demand, asking for 700 pounds (320 kg) of gold per year, which Theodosius agreed to. The threat the Huns posed to his weakly protected empire was enough that Theodosius recalled many of his forces from Africa. With large numbers of the Eastern Roman armies home, and Attila , who had just taken power in

12240-400: Was a Domesticus who, after many successful military campaigns, became one of the joint Emperors of the Roman Empire with Maximian. Many of the notable Domestici of the Roman Empire lived around the time period in which the Roman Empire was splitting into its eastern and western halves. Many of Diocletian's successors mirrored his successes because they too, after many military successes, gained

12360-574: 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

12480-452: Was a part of official imperial propaganda, which was generated to excuse Marcian's lack of retribution towards the Vandals, and quell any discontent. Marcian made several diplomatic attempts to have the prisoners returned, before finally beginning to plan an invasion of the Vandal's territory shortly before his death. The historian Frank Clover has suggested that this sudden reversal of policy

12600-440: Was almost entirely undefended. He was likely motivated by a desire for revenge, along with a need to raid to stabilize his tribal state, which was dependent upon raiding for loot and resources. Attila captured the city of Aquileia after a long and difficult siege, and sacked it. He then raided across northern Italy, taking Mediolanum ( Milan ) and other important cities. There was much fear that Attila would attack Rome itself,

12720-557: 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

12840-539: Was beneficial to the Eastern Empire. The tribal peoples generally kept each other's power in check without Roman intervention. They could also be induced to serve the empire against its enemies by way of gifts, subsidies, and treaties. With the Hunnic empire's diminished might after the death of Attila, Marcian enjoyed a relatively peaceful reign, although he won some small campaigns against the Saracens in Syria and against

12960-556: 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

13080-442: Was caused by the marriage of Eudocia to Huneric , the son of Gaiseric, which led to such pressure from Eastern Roman elites that Marcian was forced to begin preparations for war to ensure the return of the hostages. Around this time, Marcian made peace with Lazica, which would allow him to direct his attention elsewhere. The East Roman historian Theodorus Lector speaks of Marcian's sudden reversal of policy, and Evagrius Scholasticus,

13200-424: Was decisively defeated, Theodosius undertook to pay tribute to the Huns every year, which he did until his death in 450. After Theodosius II died unexpectedly in a riding accident on 28 July 450, the Eastern Roman Empire faced its first succession crisis in 60 years. Theodosius had no sons, nor had he designated a successor. Some later sources state that he willed the throne to Marcian on his deathbed, but this

13320-576: Was elected and inaugurated on 25 August 450. Marcian reversed many of the actions of Theodosius   II in the Eastern Roman Empire 's relationship with the Huns under Attila and in religious matters. Marcian almost immediately revoked all treaties with Attila, ending all subsidy payments to him. In 452, while Attila was raiding Roman Italy , then a part of the Western Roman Empire , Marcian launched expeditions across

13440-411: Was implemented, he set a penalty of 50 pounds (23 kg) of gold for any judge, governor or official who did not enforce the law. When Marcian became emperor, he was influenced by Flavius Zeno , Pulcheria , and Aspar . Flavius Zeno died soon after Marcian ascended the throne, possibly as early as the end of 451, and Pulcheria died in July 453, leaving Aspar as the only major influence in the court of

13560-520: Was recognized by Valentinian on 30 March 451. Marcian ' s appointment marked a further stage of separation between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. One source, John of Antioch's Excerpta de insidiis , even suggest that Valentinian would have attempted to depose Marcian, but for Aetius ' opposition. Valentinian also did not recognize the Eastern Roman consuls for 451 or 452. The Western Roman chronicler Hydatius suggests that Marcian made Eastern Roman troops available to Valentinian to repel

13680-485: 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

13800-472: Was seen by many later Byzantine writers, such as Theophanes the Confessor, as a golden age: Marcian secured the Eastern Empire both politically and financially, set an orthodox religious line that future emperors would follow, and stabilized the capital city politically. Some later scholars attribute his success not just to his skill, but also to a large degree of luck. Not only had he been fortunate enough to have Pulcheria to legitimize his rule, but for much of it

13920-417: Was seriously lacking in funds, having not received subsidies from either Eastern or Western Rome for two years. Constant warfare had depleted his forces. As well, Attila's homeland was threatened by the Eastern Empire which, despite the punitive raids he ordered, took the offensive against the Great Hungarian Plain in mid-452, attacking across the Danube and inflicting a defeat upon the Huns. The area attacked by

14040-580: 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

14160-637: 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

14280-479: Was with Pulcheria, Theodosius II's sister, who agreed to marry Marcian; it is thought that Pulcheria agreed to marry Marcian on the condition that he would abandon Theodosius II ' s religious policies and convoke a Church council. Their marriage helped to legitimize Marcian's rule, as Pulcheria's family, the Theodosian dynasty , had direct ties to the throne. Despite being married to Marcian, Pulcheria kept

14400-673: 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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