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HISTORY OF GREECE UNDER THE ROMANS A
HISTORICAL VIEWCONDITION OF THE GREEK NATIONFROM ITS CONQUEST BY THE ROMANS UNTIL THE EXTINCTION OF THE ROMAN POWER
IN THE EAST
B.C. 546 TO A.D 716.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. FROM THE CONQUEST OF GREECE TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF
CONSTANTINOPLE AS CAPITAL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. B. C. 146—A. D. 330.
CHAPTER II. FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CONSTANTINOPLE AS CAPITAL OF THE
ROMAN EMPIRE, TO THE ACCESSION OF JUSTINIAN. A. D. 330-527.
CHAPTER III. CONDITION OF THE GREEKS UNDER THE REIGN OF JUSTINIAN. A. D.
527-565.
CHAPTER IV. CONDITION OF THE GREEKS FROM THE DEATH OF JUSTINIAN TO
THE RESTORATION OF ROMAN POWER IN THE EAST BY HERACLIUS. A. D. 565-633.
CHAPTER V. CONDITION OF THE GREEKS FROM THE MOHAMMEDAN INVASION OF ISTRIA TO THE EXTINCTION OF THE ROMAN POWER IN THE EAST. A. D. 633-710
PREFACE.
The history of Greece under
foreign domination records the degradation and the calamities of the nation
which attained the
highest degree of civilization in the ancient world. Two thousand years of
suffering have not obliterated the national character, nor extinguished the
national ambition. In order to compress an account of the vicissitudes in the
condition of Greece, during this long period, within the space of five volumes,
it has been necessary to confine the attention of the reader to the political
state of the nation, without entering into details concerning the general
history of the foreign conquerors. This plan has perhaps circumscribed the
interest of the work. The history of enslaved Greece has hitherto been
neglected, because it was supposed to offer little instruction to the patriot
and the scholar; but it deserves to be attentively studied by the statesman and
the political economist, for under the government of the Byzantine emperors it
affords an instructive example of the great power that scientific
administrative arrangements exert on the political existence and material
prosperity of a nation, even when the government is neither supported by
The records of
enslaved Greece are as much a portion of her national existence as her heroic
poetry and her classic history. The people who sent out a hundred colonies, and
who fought at Salamis and Plataea, were the ancestors of the men who fled before
the Romans, and who yielded up their own land to be peopled by Slavonians and
Albanians. The ancient Greeks purchased foreign slaves to work in their fields,
the modern Greeks delivered up their own children to form the janissaries, who
held them in a state of slavery. The modern Greeks turn with aversion from the
study of their own history. They take no interest in the fortunes of their
ancestors, but they claim an imaginary genealogy to connect their national
existence with the extinct races of privileged aristocratic tribes, whose
existence ceased as Paganism expired. Indeed, the lineal descendants of the
Spartans, and of the original citizens of Solon’s Athens, did not survive the
Roman conquest. The rich inheritance of the intellectual wealth of Greece was
divided with Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, while Greece still retained its
independence. In order to acquire political knowledge, the present race of
Greeks must study their history as a subject people. More practical information
is to be gained by an examination of the effects of their communal institutions
under the Ottomans, than by unravelling the signification of impure fables and
obscure myths. They can only trace their connection with the Hellenes through
the records of twenty centuries of national or political slavery. If they
emulate the patriotism of the ancient Greeks, and rival their eminence in
literature and art, all Europe will readily admit their claims to the purest
Hellenic genealogy. National vanity has for the present so completely vitiated
public opinion at Athens, that an English writer may expect more readers than a
Greek. To those who are familiar with the works of Grote, it may not be
uninteresting to know something of the political changes which degraded the
social civilization of Greece. The history of a people which preserved its
language and its nationality through centuries of misfortune, and whose energy
has so far revived as to form an independent State, ought not to be utterly
neglected.
The condition
of Greece during its long period of servitude was not one of uniform
degeneracy. Under the Romans, and subsequently under the Ottomans, the Greeks
formed only an insignificant portion of a vast empire. Their unwarlike
character rendered them of little political importance, and many of the great
changes and revolutions which occurred in the dominions of the emperors and of
the sultans, exerted no direct influence on Greece. Consequently, neither the
general history of the Roman nor of the Ottoman empire forms a portion of Greek
history. Under the Byzantine emperors the case was different; the Greeks became
then identified with the imperial administration. The dissimilarity in the
political position of the nation during these periods requires a different
treatment from the historian to explain the characteristics of the times.
The changes
which affected the political and social condition of the Greeks divide their
history, as a subject people, into six distinct periods.
1. The first of
these periods comprises the history of Greece under the Roman government. The
physical and moral degradation of the people deprived them of all political
influence, until Greek society was at length regenerated by the Christian
religion. After Christianity became the religion of the Roman emperors, the
predominant power of the Greek clergy, in the ecclesiastical establishment of
the Eastern Empire, restored to the Greeks some degree of influence in the
government, and gave them a degree of social authority over human civilization
in the East, which rivalled that which they had formerly obtained by the
Macedonian conquests. In the portion of this work devoted to the condition of
Greece under the Romans, the Author has confined his attention exclusively to
the condition of the people, and to those branches of the Roman administration
which affected their condition. The predominant influence of Roman feelings
and prejudices in the Eastern Empire terminates with the accession of Leo the
Isaurian, who gave the administration at Constantinople a new character.
2. The second
period embraces the history of the Eastern Roman Empire in its new form, under
its conventional title of the Byzantine Empire. The records of this despotism,
modified, renovated, and reinvigorated by the Iconoclast emperors, constitute
one of the most remarkable and instructive lessons in the history of
monarchical institutions. They teach us that a well-organized central government
can with ease hold many subject nations in a state of political nullity. During
this period, the history of the Greeks is closely interwoven with the annals of
the Imperial government, so that the history of the Byzantine Empire forms a
portion of the history of the Greek nation. Byzantine history extends from the
accession of Leo the Isaurian, in the year 716, to the conquest of
Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204.
3. After the
destruction of the Eastern Roman Empire, Greek history diverges into many
channels. The exiled Roman-Greeks of Constantinople fled to Asia, and established
their capital at Nicaea; they prolonged the Imperial administration in some
provinces on the old model and with the old names. After the lapse of less than
sixty years, they recovered possession of Constantinople; but though the
government they exercised retained the proud title of the Roman Empire, it was
only a degenerate representative even of the Byzantine state. This third
period is characterized as the Greek Empire of Constantinople. Its feeble
existence was terminated by the Ottoman Turks at the taking of Constantinople
in 1458.
4. When the
Crusaders conquered the greater part of the Byzantine Empire, they divided
their conquests with the Venetians, and founded the Latin Empire of Romania,
with its feudal principalities in Greece. The domination of the Latins is
important, as marking the decline of Greek influence in the East, and as
causing a rapid diminution in the wealth and numbers of the Greek nation. This
period extends from the conquest of Constantinople in 1204, until the conquest
of Naxos by the Ottoman Turks in 1565.
5. The conquest
of Constantinople in 1204 caused the foundation of a new Greek state in the
eastern provinces of the Byzantine Empire, called the Empire of Trebizond. Its
existence is a curious episode in Greek history, though the government was
characterized by peculiarities which indicated the influence of Asiatic rather
than of European manners. It bore a strong resemblance to the Iberian and
Armenian monarchies. During two centuries and a half, it maintained a
considerable degree of influence, based, however, rather on its commercial
position and resources than on its political strength or its Greek
civilization. Its existence exerted little influence on the fate or fortunes of
Greece, and its conquest, in the year 1461, excited little sympathy.
6.The sixth and
last period of the history of Greece under foreign domination extends from 1453
to 1821, and embraces the records both of the Ottoman rule and of the temporary
occupation of the Peloponnesus by the Venetian Republic, from 1685 to 1715.
Nations have, perhaps, perpetuated their existence in an equally degraded
position; but history offers no other example of a nation which had sunk to
such a state of debasement making a successful effort to recover its
independence.
The object of
this work is to lay before the reader those leading facts that are required to
enable him to estimate correctly the political condition of the Greek nation
under its different masters; not to collect all the materials necessary to
form a complete history of Greece under foreign domination. The ecclesiastical
and literary records are consequently only noticed with reference to political
history. A complete history of the modern Greeks might, perhaps, be rendered
both instructive and interesting to Greeks, but it would be difficult to render
it attractive to foreigners.
Athens,21st December 1855.
PREFACE TO GREECE UNDER THE ROMANS
The social and political organization of life among the Greeks and Romans
was essentially different, even during the period when they were subject to the
same government; and this difference must be impressed on the mind, before the
relative state of civilization in the Eastern and Western Empires can be
thoroughly understood.
The Romans were
a tribe of warriors. All their institutions, even those relating to property
and agriculture, were formed with reference to war. The people of the Western
Empire, including the greater part of Italy, consisted of a variety of races,
who were either in a low state of civilization at the time of their conquest by
the Romans, or else had been already subjected to foreigners. They were
generally treated as inferior beings, and the framework of their national
institutions was everywhere destroyed. The provincials of the West, when thus
left destitute of every bond of national union, were exposed to the invasions
of warlike tribes, which, under the first impulses of civilization, were driven
on to seek the means of supplying new wants. The moment, therefore, that the
military forces of the Roman government were unable to repulse these strangers,
the population of the provinces was exposed to subjection, slavery, or
extermination, according as the interests or the policy of the invading
barbarians might determine.
In that portion
of the Eastern Empire peopled by the Greeks, the case was totally different.
There the executive power of the Roman government was modified by a system of
national institutions, which conferred, even on the rural population, some
control over their local affairs. The sovereign authority was relieved from
that petty sphere of administration and police, which meddles with the daily
occupations of the people. The Romans found this branch of government
completely organized, in a manner not closely connected with the political sovereignty;
and though the local institutions of the Greeks proved less powerful than the
central despotism of their conquerors, they possessed greater vitality. Their
nationality continued to exist even after their conquest; and this nationality
was again called into activity when the Roman government, from increasing
weakness, gradually began to neglect the duties of administration.
But while the
conquest of Greece by the Romans had indeed left the national existence nearly
unaltered, time, as it changed the government of Rome, modified likewise the
institutions of the Greeks. Still, neither the Roman Caesars, nor the Byzantine
emperors, any more than the Frank princes and Turkish sultans, were able to
interrupt the continual transmission of a political inheritance by each
generation of the Greek race to its successors; though it is too true that,
from age to age, the value of that inheritance was gradually diminished, until
in our own times a noble impulse and a desperate struggle restored to the
people its political existence.
The history of
the Greek nation, even as a subject people, cannot be destitute of interest and
instruction. The Greeks are the only existing representatives of the ancient
world. They have maintained possession of their country, their language, and
their social organization, against physical and moral forces, which have swept
from the face of the
It was
impossible, in the following pages, to omit treating of events already
illustrated by the genius of Gibbon. But these events must be viewed by the
historian of the Roman Empire, and of the Greek people, under very different
aspects. The observations of both may be equally true, though inferior skill
and judgment may render the views, in the present work, less correct as a
picture, and less impressive as a history. The same facts afford innumerable
conclusions to different individuals, and in different ages. History will ever
remain inexhaustible ; and much as we have read of the Greeks and Romans, and
deeply as we appear to have studied their records, there is much still to be
learned from the same sources.
In the
references to the authorities followed in this work, a preference will often be
shown to those modern treatises, which ought to be in the hands of the general
reader. It has often required profound investigation and long discussion to
elicit a fact now generally known, or to settle an opinion now universally
adopted, and iii such cases it would be useless to collect a long array of
ancient passages.
May 1843.
GREECE UNDER THE ROMANS.
CHRONOLOGY.
B. C.
323. Death of
Alexander. Lamian war.
322. Autipater
disfranchised 12,000 Athenian citizens
321. Ptolemy
founds a monarchy in Egypt.
312. Era of
Seleucids.
310. Agathocles
invades Carthaginian possessions in Africa.
303. Demetrius
Poliorcetes raises siege of Rhodes.
300.
Mithridates Ariobarzanes founds kingdom of Pontus.
280. Achaean
league commenced.
Pyrrhus landed
in Italy to defend the Greeks against the Romans.
279. Gauls invade Greece, and are repulsed at
Delphi.
278. Nicomedes
brings the Gauls into Asia.
271. Romans
complete the conquest of Magna Graecia.
2G0. Romans
prepare their first fleet to contend with Carthage.
250. Parthian monarchy founded by Arsaces.
241. Attalus,
king of Pergamum.
228. First
Roman embassy to Greece
218. Hannibal
invades Italy.
212. Syracuse
taken by Romans. Sicily conquered.
210. Sicily
reduced to the condition of a Roman province.
202. Battle of
Zama.
197. Battle of
Cynoscephalae.
190. The Greeks
declared free by Flaminius at the Isthmian games.
192. Antiochus
the Great invaded Greece.
188. The laws
of Lycurgus abrogated by Philopoemen.
181. Death of
Hannibal.
1G8. Battle of
Pydna. End of Macedonian monarchy.
1G7. One
thousand Achaean citizens sent as hostages to Rome.
155. The fine
of 500 talents imposed on Athens for plundering the Oropians remitted by the
Romans.
147. Macedonia
reduced to the condition of a Roman province.
14G. Corinth
taken by Mummius. Greece reduced to the condition of a Roman province.
133. Rebellion
of slaves in the Attic silver mines.
130. Asia,
embracing great part of the country between the Halys and Mount Taurus,
constituted a Roman province.
96. Cyrenaica
became a Roman possession by the will of Ptolemy Apion.
86. Athens
taken by Sylla.
77.
Depredations of the pirates on the coasts of Greece and Asia Minor at their
acme.
75. Bithynia
and Pontus constituted a Roman province.
67. Crete
conquered by Metellus after a war of two years and a half, and shortly after
reduced to the condition of a Roman province. It was subsequently united with
Cyrenaica.
6G. Monarchy of
the Seleucids conquered by Pompey.
65. Cilicia
reduced to the condition of a Roman province.
48. Caesar
destroyed Megara.
44. Caesar
founded a Roman colony at Corinth.
30. Augustus
founded Nicopolis.
Egypt reduced
to the condition of a Roman province.
25. Galatia and
Lycaonia constituted a Roman province.
24. Pamphylia
and Lycia constituted a Roman province.
21.Cyprus
reduced to the condition of a Roman province.
Athens deprived
of its jurisdiction over Eretria and Aegina, and the confederacy of the free
Laconian cities formed by Augustus. 14. Augustus establishes a Roman colony at
Patras.
A. D. Year of Rome 753. 194th Olympiad, 4th year, A. M. 5508 of the
Byzantines, called the Era of Constantinople; but other calculations were
adopted at Alexandria and Antioch.
18. Cappadocia
reduced to the condition of a Roman province.
22. The Roman
senate restricted the right of asylum claimed by the Greek temples and
sanctuaries.
66. Nero in Greece.
67. Nero celebrates the Olympic games.
72. Commagene reduced to a Roman province
73. Thrace reduced to a Roman province by
Vespasian.
Rhodes, Samos,
and other islands on the coast of Asia deprived of their privileges as free
states, and reduced to the condition of a Roman province called the Islands.
74. Vespasian
expels the philosophers from Rome.
90. Domitian
expels the philosophers from Rome.
96. Apollonius
of Tyana at Ephesus at the time of Domitian’s death.
98. Plutarch
flourished.
103. Epictetus
taught at Nicopolis. Arrian heard his lessons.
112. Hadrian,
arch on of Athens.
115. Martyrdom
of Ignatius.
122. Hadrian
visits Athens.
125. Hadrian
again at Athens.
129. Hadrian
passes the winter at Athens.
132. Jewish
war.
135. Hadrian is
at Athens towards the close, of the Jewish war.
143. Herodes
Atticus consul.
162. Galen at
Rome. Pansanias, Polya3nus, Lucian, and Ptolemy flourished.
168. Disgrace
of Herodes Atticns at Sirmium.
176. Marcus
Aurelius visits Athens and establishes scholarchs of the four great philosophic
sects.
180. Dio
Cassius, Herodian, Athenreus flourished.
212. Edict of
Caracalla, conferring the Roman citizenship on all the free inhabitants of the
empire.
22G. Artaxerxes
overthrows the Parthian empire of the Arsacid, and founds the Persian monarchy
of the Sassanids.
238. Herodian,
Aelian, Philostratus.
251. The emperor Decius defeated and slain by the
Goths.
2G7. Athens
taken by the Goths.—Dexippus.
284. Era of
Diocletian, called Era of the Martyrs.
312. 1st
September. Cycle of Indictions of Constantine.
325. Council of
Nicaea.
330. Dedication
of Constantinople.
332. Cherson
assists Constantine against the Goths.
337. Constantine II., Constantius, Constans, emperors.
355. Julian
appointed Caesar.
361. Julian.
363. Jovian.
364. Valentinian I. Valens.
365. Earthquake
in Greece, Asia Minor, and Sicily
375. Earthquake
felt especially in Peloponnesus.
378. Defeat and
death of Valens.
379. Theodosius the Great.
381. Second
ecumenical council. Constantinople.
394. Olympic
games abolished.—
395. ARcadius and Honorius. Huns ravage Asia
[Minor. Alaric invades Greece.
398. Alaric
governor of Eastern Illyricum.
408. Theodosius
II.
425. University
of Constantinople organized.
428. Genseric
invades Africa.
431. Third
ecumenical council. Ephesus.
438. Publication of the Theodosian Code.
439. Genseric takes Carthage.
441. Theodosius II sends a fleet against Genseric.
442. Attila invades Thrace and Macedonia.
447. Attila
ravages the country of Thermopylae
Walls of
Constantinople repaired by Theodosius II.
449. Council of Ephesus, called the Council of
Brigands.
450. Marcian.
451. Fourth ecumenical council. Chalcedon.
457. Leo I., called the Great, and the Butcher.
458. Great earthquake felt from Antioch to Thrace.
460. Earthquake
at Cyzicus.
465. Fire which
destroyed parts of eight of the sixteen quarters of Constantinople.
468. Leo I
sends a great expedition against Genseric.
473. Leo II crowned.
474. Leo II Zeno the Isaurian.
476. End of the Western Roman Empire.
477. Return of Zeno, twenty months after he had
been driven from Constantinople by Basiliskos.
480. Earthquakes
at Constantinople during forty days.
Statue of
Theodosius the Great thrown from its column.
491. Anastasius I
499. Bulgarians
invade the empire.
507. Anastasius
constructs the long wall of Thrace. Revolt of Vitalianus.
518. Justin I.
526. Death of Theodoric.
527. Justinian I.
Gretes, king of
the Huns, receives baptism at Constantinople. The Tzans submit to the Roman
empire.
528. Gordas, king of the Huns, on the Cimmerian
Bosphorus, receives baptism at Constantinople, and is murdered by his subjects
on his return.
Justinian
commences his lavish expenditure on fortifications and public buildings.
529. First edition of the Code of Justinian.
Schools of
philosophy at Athens closed.
531. Battle of Callinicum. Death of Kobad, king of
Persia.
Plague commenced
which ravaged the Roman empire for fifty years.
532. Sedition of Nika.
Peace concluded
with Chosroes.
533. Conquest of the Vandal kingdom in Africa.
Institutions
and Pandects published.
534. Belisarius returns to Constantinople.
Second edition
of the Code.
536. Belisarius takes Rome.
537. Siege of Rome by Goths under Vitiges.
Dedication of
St Sophia’s.
538. Bulgarians invade the empire.
Famine in
Italy.
539. Vitiges besieged in Ravenna.
Huns plunder
Greece to the isthmus of Corinth.—
540. Surrender of Ravenna.—
Chosroes
invades Syria. Sack of Antioch.
541. Totila king of the Goths.
Consulate
abolished by Justinian.
542. Great pestilence at Constantinople.
546. Rome taken by Totila.
547. Rome taken by Belisarius.
548. Belisarius quits Italy.
Death of
Theodora.
549. Rome again taken by Totila.
Justinian’s
armies occupy the country of the Lazi.
550. Slavonians and Huns invade the empire.
551. Silkworm introduced into the Roman Empire.
552. Totila defeated. Rome retaken by Narses.
553. Fifth ecumenical council. Constantinople.
554. Earthquakes at Constantinople, Nicomedia,
Berytus, and Cos.
Church of
Cyzicus fell during divine service.
557. Terrible earthquake at Constantinople.
Justinian did not wear his crown for forty days.
558. Zabergan, king of the Huns, defeated near
Constantinople by Belisarius.
562. Treaty of peace with Persia. Belisarius
accused of treason.
563. Belisarius restored to his rank.
565.
March—death of Belisarius.
13th Nov.—death
of Justinian in the thirty-ninth year of his reign. Justin II.
567. Kingdom of Gepids destroyed by Lombards.
568. Lombards invade Italy.
569. Justin sends the embassy of Zeno arch os to
the Turks.
571. Mahomet born.
572. War between the Roman empire and Persia.
574. Tiberius
defeated by the Avars.
Tiberius
proclaimed Caesar by Justin.
576. Battle of
Melitene. Romans penetrate to Caspian Sea.
578. Death of Justin II. Tiberius II.
579. Death of Chosroes.
581. Persian army defeated by Maurice in his
fourth campaign.
582. 14th Aug.—death of Tiberius. Maurice.
John the
Faster, patriarch of Constantinople, uses the title Ecumenic, granted to the
patriarch by Justinian.
589. Incursions of the Avars and Slavonians into
Greece.—Evagrius,
590. Maurice crowns his son Theodosius at Easter, Hormisdas,
king of Persia, dethroned and murdered.
591. Chosroes II restored to the Persian throne by
the assistance of Maurice.
Maurice marches
out of Constantinople against the Avars.
600. Maurice
fails to ransom the Roman prisoners.
602. Rebellion of the army. PHocas proclaimed
emperor.
603. Persian war commences.
608. Priscus,
the son-in-law of Phocas, invites Heraclius.
609. Persians
lay waste Asia Minor, and reach Chalcedon.
610. Phocas
slain. Heraclius.
G13. Heraclius
Constantine, or Constantine III., crowned;
614. Jerusalem taken by the Persians, and Church
of the Holy Sepulchre burned.
615. Heraclius sends the patrician Niketas to
seize the wealth of John the Charitable, patriarch of Alexandria.
616. Persians invade Egypt.
617. Persians occupy Chalcedon with a garrison.
G18. Public
distributions of bread at Constantinople commuted for a payment in money
preparatory to its abolition.
619. Avars attempt to seize Heraclius at a
conference for peace.
620. Peace concluded with the Avars.
621. Great preparations for carrying on the
Persian war.
622. Monday, 5th April—Heraclius left
Constantinople and proceeded by sea to Fyke. He collected troops from the
provinces, and exercised his army. He advanced to the frontiers of Armenia, and
made dispositions to winter in Pontus, but suddenly advanced through Armenia
into Persia. The Persians made a diversion against Cilicia, but, on Heraclius continuing
his advance, turned and pursued him. Heraclius gained a battle, and placed his
army in winter quarters in Armenia. 16th July—Era of the Hegira of Mahomet.
623. 25th March—Heraclius left Constantinople,
joined the army in Armenia, and was in the Persian territory by the 20th April.
Chosroes rejects terms of peace, and Heraclius takes Ganzaca and Thebarmes.
Chosroes fled by the passes into Media, and Heraclius retired to winter in
Albania.
Death of
Sisebut, king of the Visigoths, who had conquered the Roman possessions in
Spain.
624. Chosroes sends an army, under Sarablagas and
Perozites, to guard the passes by which Heraclius was likely to invade Persia;
but the emperor, making a long circuit by the plains, engaged Sarablagas before
he was joined by Sarbaraza, and gained the battle. Sarbaraza, and then Saen,
are also defeated. The Lazes and Abasges abandoned Heraclius in this campaign.
Heraclius wintered in the Persian territory. This was a campaign of marches and
counter-marches in a mountainous country, and Heraclius was opposed by greatly
superior forces, who succeeded in preventing his advance into Persia.
625. Heraclius resolves to return into the
south-eastern part of Asia Minor. From his winter quarters there were two
roads—a short mountain-road by Taranton, where nothing could be found for the
troops; a longer road, by the passes of Mount Taurus, where supplies could be
obtained. After a difficult march of seven days over Taurus, Heraclius crossed
the Tigris, marched by Martyropolis to Amida, where he rested, and despatched a
courier to Constantinople. As the Persians were following, Heraclius placed
guards in the passes, crossed the Nymphius, and reached the Euphrates, where he
found the bridge of boats withdrawn. He crossed by a ford, and passed by
Samosata over Mount Taurus to Germanieia and Adana, where he encamped between
the city and the bridge over the Saros. Sarbaraza advances to the Saros, and,
after a battle, retires. Heraclius advances to Sebaste, crosses the Halys, and
puts his army into winter quarters.
Chosroes
plunders the Christian churches in Persia, and compels all Christians in his
dominions to profess themselves Nestorians.
626. The
scholarians make a tumult at Constantinople because they are deprived of the
bread which had previously been distributed. John Seismos attempts to raise the
price of bread from three to eight pholles.
Constantinople
besieged by the Avars from 29th July to 8th August.
A Persian army
under Sarbaraza occupies Chalcedon. Another under Saen is defeated by Theodore,
the emperor's brother. Heraclius stations himself in Lazica, and waits until he
is assured of the defeat of the Avars before Constantinople, and the passage of
the Caspian gates by an army of Khazars under Ziebel. Meeting of Heraclius and
Ziebel took place near Tiflis, which was occupied by a Persian garrison. The
Khazars furnish Heraclius with 40,000 troops.
The church of
Blachernes is enclosed within the fortifications of the city by a new wall.
627. Heraclius
appears to have derived little advantage from the assistance of the 40,000
Khazars, unless we suppose that by their assistance he was able to render
himself master of Persarmenia and Atropatene. They quitted him during the year
October—Heraclius
entered the district of Chamaetlia, where he remained seven days.
1st
December—Heraclius reached the greater Zab, crossed and encamped near Nineveh.
Rhazetas quitted his station at Ganzaca, and pursued Heraclius—crossed the
greater Zab by a ford three miles lower down than Heraclius passed it. Battle
in which Rhazetes was defeated on Saturday,
12th December.
Sarbaraza recalled from Chalcedon to oppose the advance of Heraclius, who
occupied Nineveh, and passed the greater Zab again.
23d
December—Heraclius passed the lesser Zab, and rested several days in the palace
of Jesdem, where lie celebrated Christmas.
028. 1st
January—Heraclius passed the river Toma, took the palace of Beglali with its
parks, and Dastagerd, where Chosroes had resided for twenty-four years, and
accumulated great treasures. Heraclius recovered three hundred standards taken
by the Persians from the Romans at different times, and passed the feast of
Epiphany (Gth January) at Dastagerd. He quitted Dastagerd on the 7th, and in three
days reached the neighbourhood of
Ctesiphon, and encamped twelve miles from the Arba, which he found was not
fordable. He then ascended the Arba to Siazouron, and spent the month of
February in that country. In March he spent seven days at Varzan, where he
received news of the revolution which had taken place, and that Siroes had
dethroned his father. Heraclius then retired from the neighborhood of Ctesiphon
by Siarzoura, Chalchas, Jesdem. He passed mount Zara (Zagros), where there was
a great fall of snow during the month of March, and encamped near Ganzaca,
which had then three thousand houses.
3d April—An
ambassador of Siroes arrived at the camp of Heraclius. Peace concluded. 8th
April—Heraclius quitted his camp at Ganzaca.
15th May—His
letters announcing peace were read in the church of St Sophia at
Constantinople.
629. Death of
Siroes, or Kabad, succeeded by his son Ardeshir.
Heraclius
visits Jerusalem, and restores the Holy Cross to the keeping of the patriarch.
630. Heraclius
at Hierapolis occupied with ecclesiastical reforms.
632. Death of
Mahomet, 7th or 8th June.
Era of
Yesdedjerd, 15th August.
633. Bosra besieged, and perhaps it was taken early
in the following year.
Abubekr was
occupied, for some time after the death of Mahomet, in reducing the rebellious
Arabs to submission, and in subduing several false prophets.
634. 30th
July—Battle of Adjnadin.
22d
August—Death of Abubekr.
September—Battle
of Yermuk (Hieromax). Omar was already proclaimed caliph in the Syrian army.
635. Damascus
taken after a siege of several months. The siege commenced after the battle of
Yermuk.
Heraclius, taking the Holy Cross with him,
quitted Syria, and retired to Constantinople.
636. Various
towns on the sea-coast taken by the Saracens, and another battle fought.
Vahan, the
commander of the Roman army, appears to have been proclaimed emperor in this or
the preceding year.
637. Capitulation of Jerusalem. The date of Omar's
entry into Jerusalem and of the duration of the siege are both uncertain
638. Invasion of Syria by a Roman army from Diarbekr,
which besieges Emesa, but is defeated.
Antioch taken.—
639. Jasdos (Aiad) takes Edessa and conquers
Mesopotamia
December—Amrou
invades Egypt
640. The 19th Hegira began 2d January 640.
The Caliph Omar
orders a census of his dominions.— Cairo taken. Capitulation of Mokaukas for
the Copts.
641. February or March—Death of Heraclius. His
reign of 30 years, 4 months, 6 days, would terminate 10th February.
Heraclius
Constantine reigned 103 days, to 24th May. Heracleonas sole emperor less than five months.
October—Constans II.—
December—Alexandria taken by
Saracens, retaken by Romans, and recovered by Saracens.
643. Omar rebuilds or repairs the temple of
Jerusalem
Canal of Suez
restored by Amrou
644. Death of Omar.
647. Saracens drive Romans out of Africa, and
impose tribute on the province.—
Moawyali
invades Cyprus.
648. Moawyali besieges Aradus, and takes it by
capitulation.
Constans II. publishes
the Type.
653. Moawyali takes Rhodes, and destroys the
Colossus
654. Pope Martin banished to Cherson.
655. Constans II. defeated by the Saracens in a
great naval battle off Mount Phoenix in Lycia.
656. Othman assassinated, 17th June.
658. Expedition of Constans II against the Slavonians.
Peace concluded
with Moawyali.
659. Constans II puts his brother Theodosius to
death.
661. Murder of Ali, 22d January
Constans II.
quits Constantinople, and passes the winter at Athens.
662. Saracens ravage Romania (Asia Minor), and
carry off many prisoners
663. Constans II. visits Rome.
668. The Saracens advance to Chalcedon, and take
Amorium, where they leave a garrison; but it is soon retaken.— Constans II.
assassinated at Syracuse.
CoNstantIne IV. (Pogonatus).
669. The Saracens carry off 180,000 prisoners from
Africa.
The troops of
the Orient theme demand that the brothers of Constantine IV should receive the
imperial crown, in order that three emperors might reign on earth to represent
the Trinity in heaven.—
670. Saracens pass the winter at Cyzicus.
671. Saracens
pass the winter at Smyrna and in Cilicia.
672.Constantine
IV. prepares ships to throw Greek fire on the Saracens, who besiege
Constantinople.
673. Saracens, who have wintered at Cyzicus,
penetrate into the port of Constantinople, and attack Magnaura and Cyclobium,
the two forts at the continental angles of the city.
Saracens again
pass the winter at Cyzicus.
674. Third year of the siege of Constantinople.
Saracen troops
pass the winter in Crete.
677. Sixth year of the siege of Constantinople.
The Mardaites
alarm the Caliph Moawyah by their conquests on Mount Lebanon.
Thessalonica
besieged by the Avars and Slavonians.
678. Seventh year of the siege of Constantinople.
The Saracen
fleet destroyed by Greek fire invented by Callinicus.
Bulgarians
found a monarchy south of the Danube, in the country still called Bulgaria.
Peace concluded
with the Caliph Moawyah.
679. War with the Bulgarians.
680. Death of the caliph Moawyah.
Sixth general
council of the church.
6S1. Heraclius
and Tiberius, the brothers of Constantine IV, are deprived of the imperial
title.
684. The caliph Abdalmelik offers to purchase
peace by the payment of an annual tribute of 365,000 pieces of gold, 365
slaves, and 365 horses.
685. September—Death of Constantine IV
(Pogonatus).
Justinian II.
ascends the throne, aged sixteen.
686. Treaty of peace between the emperor and the
caliph.
687. Emigration of Mardaites.
The Slavonians
of Strymon carry their piratical expeditions into the Propontis.
689. Justinian
II forces the Greeks to emigrate from Cyprus.
691. Defeat of Justinian II, and desertion of the
Slavonian colonists.
692. General council of the church in Trullo
The haratch
established by the caliph.
695. Justinian
II deposed, his nose cut off, and banished to Cherson.
Leontius emperor.
697. Saracens
carry off great numbers of prisoners from Romania (Asia Minor).
First doge of
Venice elected.
Carthage taken
by the Romans, and garrisoned.
698. Carthage
retaken by the Saracens.
698. Leontius
dethroned and his nose cut off.
Tiberius III.
(Apsimar), emperor.
703. Saracens
defeated in Cilicia by Heraclius, the brother of Tiberius III.
705. Justinian II.
(Rhinotmetus) recovers possession of the empire.
708. The Saracens push their ravages to the
Bosphorus.
709. Moslemah transports 80,000 Saracens from
Lampsacus into Thrace.
710. Ravenna and Cherson treated with inhuman
cruelty by Justinian II.
711. Justinian II. dethroned and murdered.
Piiilippicus emperor.
713. Philippicus
dethroned, and his eyes put out.
Anastasius II. emperor.
71G.
Anastasius II. dethroned.
Theodosius III. emperor.
Leo the
Isaurian relieves Amorium, concludes a truce with Moslemah, and is proclaimed
emperor by the army.
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