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Byzantine Greece has a history that mainly coincides with that of theByzantine Empire itself.
TheGreek peninsula became aRoman protectorate in 146 BC, and theAegean islands were added to this territory in 133 BC.Athens and other Greek cities revolted in 88 BC, and the peninsula was crushed by the Roman generalSulla. The Roman civil wars devastated the land even further, untilAugustus organized the peninsula as the province ofAchaea in 27 BC.
Greece was a typical eastern province of theRoman Empire. The Romans sent colonists there and contributed new buildings to its cities, especially in theAgora of Athens, where the Agrippeia ofMarcus Agrippa, the Library of Titus Flavius Pantaenus, and theTower of the Winds, among others, were built. Romans tended to be philhellenic and Greeks were generally loyal to Rome.[citation needed]
Life in Greece continued under the Roman Empire much the same as it had previously, andGreek continued to be the lingua franca in the Eastern and most important part of the Empire. Roman culture was heavily influenced by classical Greek culture (seeGreco-Roman). AsHorace said:Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit,'Captive Greece took captive her rude conqueror'. The epics ofHomer inspired theAeneid ofVirgil, and authors such asSeneca the Younger wrote using Greek styles, while famous Romans such asScipio Africanus,Julius Caesar andMarcus Aurelius compiled works in theGreek language.
During that period, Greek intellectuals such asGalen andApollodorus of Damascus were continuously being brought toRome. Within the city of Rome, Greek was spoken by Roman elites, particularly philosophers, and by lower, working classes such as sailors and merchants. TheemperorNero visited Greece in 66, and performed at theOlympic Games, despite the rules against non-Greek participation. He was, of course, honored with a victory in every contest, and in 67 he proclaimed the freedom of the Greeks at theIsthmian Games inCorinth, just asFlamininus had over 200 years previously.
Hadrian was also particularly fond of the Greeks; before he became emperor he served aseponymous archon of Athens. He also built hisnamesake arch there, and had a Greek lover,Antinous.[citation needed]
At the same time, Greece and much of the rest of the Roman east came under the influence ofChristianity. The apostlePaul had preached in Corinth and Athens, and Greece soon became one of the most highlyChristianized areas of the empire.
During the second and third centuries, Greece was divided into provinces includingAchaea,Macedonia,Epirus vetus andThracia. During the reign ofDiocletian in the late3rd century, the western Balkans were organized as aRoman diocese, and was ruled byGalerius. UnderConstantine I Greece was part of the dioceses ofMacedonia andThrace. The eastern and southernAegean islands formed the province of Insulae in theDiocese of Asia.
Greece faced invasions from theHeruli,Goths, andVandals during the reign ofTheodosius I.Stilicho, who acted as regent forArcadius, evacuated Thessaly when theVisigoths invaded in the late4th century. Arcadius'Chamberlain Eutropius allowedAlaric to enter Greece, and he lootedCorinth, and thePeloponnese. Stilicho eventually drove him out around 397 and Alaric was mademagister militum inIllyricum. Eventually, Alaric and the Goths migrated to Italy, sacked Rome in 410, and built the Visigothic Empire in Iberia and southern France, which lasted until 711 with the advent of the Arabs.
Greece remained part of the relatively unified eastern half of the empire. Contrary to outdated visions oflate antiquity, the Greek peninsula was most likely one of the most prosperous regions of the Roman and later the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire. Older scenarios of poverty, depopulation, barbarian destruction and civil decay have been revised in light of recent archaeological discoveries.[1] In fact, thepolis, as an institution, appears to have remained prosperous until at least the sixth century. Contemporary texts such as Hierocles'Synecdemus affirm that inlate Antiquity, Greece was highly urbanised and contained approximately 80 cities.[1] This view of extreme prosperity is widely accepted today, and it is assumed between the4th and7th centuries AD, Greece may have been one of the most economically active regions in the eastern Mediterranean.[1]
Following theloss ofAlexandria andAntioch to the Arabs,Thessalonica became the Byzantine Empire's second largest city, called the "co-regent" (symbasileuousa), second only to Constantinople. The Greek peninsula remained one of the strongest centers of Christianity in the late Roman and early Byzantine periods. After the area's recovery from the Slavic invasions, its wealth was restored. Events such as theSeljuk invasion of Asia Minor and theLatin occupation of Constantinople gradually focused Byzantine imperial interest to the Greek peninsula during the late Byzantine period. ThePeloponnese in particular continued to prosper economically and intellectually even during itsLatin domination, theByzantine recovery, and until its final fall to theOttoman Empire.
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Greece was raided in Macedonia in 479 and 482 by theOstrogoths under their king,Theodoric the Great (493–526).[2] TheBulgars also raided Thrace and the rest of northern Greece in 540 and on repeated other occasions. These continuing Bulgar invasions required the Byzantine Empire to build a defensive wall, called the "Anastasian Wall," that extended for some thirty (30) miles, or more, from the city of Selymbria (nowSilivri) to theBlack Sea.[3] TheHuns and Bulgars raided Greece in 559 until theByzantine army returned from Italy, whereJustinian I had been attempting to capture the heart of the Roman Empire.[4]
According to historical documents, theSlavs invaded and settled in parts of Greece beginning in 579 and Byzantium nearly lost control of the entire peninsula during the 580s.[5] However, there is no archaeological evidence indicating Slavic penetration of imperial Byzantine territories before the end of the 6th century. Overall, traces of Slavic culture in Greece are very rare.[6]
The city ofThessalonica remained unconquered even after being attacked by the Slavs around 615. The Slavs were eventually defeated, gathered by the Byzantines and placed into segregated communities known asSclaviniae.
In 610,Heraclius became Emperor. During his reign,Greek became the official language of the empire.
During the early 7th century,Constans II made the first mass-expulsions of Slavs from the Greek peninsula to the Balkans and central Asia Minor.Justinian II defeated and destroyed most of the Sclaviniae, and moved as many as 100–200,000 Slavs from the Greek peninsula toBithynia, while he enlisted some 30,000 Slavs in his army.[7]
The Slavic populations that were placed in these segregated communities were used for military campaigns against the enemies of the Byzantines. In thePeloponnese, more Slavic invaders brought disorder to the western part of the peninsula, while the eastern part remained firmly under Byzantine domination.Empress Irene organised a military campaign which liberated those territories and restored Byzantine rule to the region, but it was not until emperorNicephorus I's reign that the last trace of Slavic element was eliminated:[8] when the Slavs firstoccupied the Peloponnese in the 6th century, a number Greeks had fled Patras and found refuge near Reggio Calabria, in southern Italy; the descendants of these refugees were ordered to return by Nicephorus, who resettled them in the Peloponnese.[9]
In the mid-7th century, the empire was reorganized into "themes" by the EmperorConstans II, including theTheme of Thrace, the navalKarabisianoi corps in southern Greece and the Aegean islands. TheKarabisanoi were later divided byJustinian II into theTheme of Hellas (centred on Corinth) and theCibyrrhaeotic Theme. By this time, the Slavs were no longer a threat to the Byzantines since they had been either defeated numerous times or placed in theSclaviniae. The Slavic communities inBithynia were destroyed by the Byzantines after GeneralLeontios lost to the Arabs in theBattle of Sebastopolis in 692, as a result of the Slavs having defected to the Arab side.[10]
These themes rebelled against theiconoclast emperorLeo III in 727 and attempted to set up their own emperor, although Leo defeated them. Leo then moved the headquarters of theKarabisianoi to Anatolia and created theCibyrrhaeotic Theme of them. Up to this time, Greece and the Aegean were still technically under the ecclesiastic authority of thePope, but Leo also quarreled with the Papacy and gave these territories to thePatriarch of Constantinople. As emperor, Leo III, introduced more administrative and legal reforms than had been promulgated since the time of Justinian.[11] Meanwhile, theArabs began their first serious raids in the Aegean. Bithynia was eventually re-populated by Greek-speaking population from mainland Greece andCyprus.
Nicephorus I also began to reconquer Slavic and Bulgar-held areas in the early 9th century.[12] He resettled Greek-speaking families from Asia Minor to the Greek peninsula and the Balkans, and expanded the theme of Hellas to the north to include parts of Thessaly and Macedonia, and to the south to include the regained territory of the Peloponnese. Thessalonica, previously organized as anarchontate surrounded by the Slavs, became a theme of its own as well. These themes contributed another 10,000 men to the army, and allowed Nicephorus to convert most of the Slavs to Christianity.
Crete was conquered by the Arabs in 824. In the late9th century,Leo VI faced also invasions from the Bulgarians underSimeon I, who pillaged Thrace in 896, and again in 919 duringZoe's regency forConstantine VII. Simeon invaded northern Greece again in 922 and penetrated deep to the south seizingThebes, just north of Athens. Crete was reconquered in 961 from the Arabs, byNikephoros II Phokas after theSiege of Chandax.
In the late10th century, the greatest threat to Greece was fromSamuel, who constantly fought over the area withBasil II. In 985, Samuel captured Thessaly and the important city of Larissa, and in 989, he pillaged Thessalonica. Basil slowly began to recapture these areas in 991, but Samuel captured the areas around Thessalonica and the Peloponnese again in 997 before being forced to withdraw to Bulgaria. In 999, Samuel capturedDyrrhachium and raided northern Greece once more. Basil recaptured these areas by 1002 and had fully subjugated completely the Bulgarians in the decade before his death (seeByzantine conquest of Bulgaria).
By Basil's death in 1025, Greece was divided intothemes including Crete, thePeloponnese,Thrace,Macedonia,Hellas,Nicopolis,Dyrrhachium,Cephalonia,Thessalonica andStrymon, theCyclades and theAegean Sea. They were protected from raids and invasions by the new themes created out of Bulgar territory.
Greece became more prosperous in the 10th century and towns and cities began to grow again. Athens and Corinth probably grew to about 10,000 people, while Thessalonica may have had as many as 100,000 people. There was an important aristocratic class from these themes, especially the Macedonian emperors who ruled the empire from 867 to 1056.
Greece and the empire as a whole faced a new threat from theNormans ofSicily in the late11th century.Robert Guiscard took Dyrrhachium andCorcyra in 1081 (seeBattle of Dyrrhachium), butAlexius I defeated him, and later his sonBohemund, by 1083. ThePechenegs also raided Thrace during this period.
In 1147, while the knights of theSecond Crusade made their way through Byzantine territory,Roger II of Sicily captured Corcyra and pillagedThebes and Corinth.
In 1197,Henry VI of Germany continued his fatherFrederick Barbarossa's antagonism towards the empire by threatening to invade Greece to reclaim the territory the Normans had briefly held.Alexius III was forced to pay him off, although the taxes he imposed caused frequent revolts against him, including rebellions in Greece and the Peloponnese. Also during his reign, theFourth Crusade attempted to placeAlexius IV on the throne, until it eventually invaded and sacked the capital.
Greece was relatively peaceful and prosperous in the 11th and12th centuries, compared toAnatolia which was being overrun by the Seljuks. Thessalonica had probably grown to about 150,000 people, despite being looted by the Normans in 1185. Thebes also became a major city with perhaps 30,000 people, and was the centre of a majorsilk industry. Athens and Corinth probably still had around 10,000 people. Mainland Greek cities continued to export grain to the capital in order to make up for the land lost to the Seljuks.
However, after Constantinople was conquered during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, Greece was divided among the Crusaders. TheLatin Empire held Constantinople and Thrace, while the rest of Greece was divided into theKingdom of Thessalonica, thePrincipality of Achaea, and theDuchy of Athens. TheVenetians controlled theDuchy of the Archipelago in the Aegean, while theDespotate of Epirus was established as one of the three Byzantine Greeksuccessor states.
Michael VIII restored the empire in 1261, having also regained the Kingdom of Thessalonica. By his death in 1282, Michael had taken back the Aegean islands, Thessaly, Epirus, and most of Achaea, including the Crusader fortress ofMystras, which became the seat of a Byzantine despotate. However, Athens and the northern Peloponnese remained in Crusader hands.Charles of Anjou and laterhis son claimed the throne of the defunct Latin Empire, and threatened Epirus, but were never able to make any progress there.
By the reign ofAndronicus III Palaeologus, beginning in 1328, the empire controlled most of Greece, especially the metropolis of Thessalonica, but very little else. Epirus was nominally Byzantine but still occasionally rebelled, until it was fully recovered in 1339. Greece was mostly used as a battleground during the civil war betweenJohn V Palaeologus andJohn VI Cantacuzenus in the 1340s, and at the same time theSerbs and Ottomans began attacking Greece as well. By 1356, another independent despotate was set up in Epirus and Thessaly.
The Peloponnese, usually calledMorea in this period, was now almost the centre of the empire, and was certainly the most fertile area. Mystras andMonemvasia were populous and prosperous, even after theBlack Plague in the mid-14th century. Mystras rivaled Constantinople in importance. It was a stronghold ofGreek Orthodoxy and bitterly opposed attempts by the emperors to unite with theCatholic Church, even though this would have allowed the empire to gain help from the west against the Ottomans.
The Ottomans had begun their conquest of the Balkans and Greece in the late 14th century and early15th century capturing among others Thessalonica, Ioannina and Thessaly. In 1445, Ottoman-occupied Thessaly was recaptured by the future emperorConstantine XI, at the time despot of Mystras, but there was little he could do against most of the other Ottoman territories. Emperor Constantine XI was defeated and killed in 1453 when the Ottomans finally captured Constantinople. After thefall of Constantinople, the Ottomans also captured Athens by 1458, but left a Byzantine despotate in the Peloponnese until 1460. The Venetians still controlled Crete, Aegean islands and some cities-ports, but otherwise the Ottomans controlled many regions of Greece except the mountains and heavily forested areas.
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