Justinian.--In the 6th century the emperor Justinian, whose talents were equal to his ambitions, found himself, through the financial prudence of his predecessors, in a position to undertake the reconquest of some of the lost western provinces. The Vandal power had declined, and Africa was won back in one campaign by Belisarius in 533. The conquest of Italy was far more diffi cult. Begun by Belisarius in 535, it was not completed till 554, by Narses. A portion of southern Spain was also won from the Visigoths, so that the Romans again commanded the western straits. Justinian, possessed by large ideas and intoxicated with the majesty of Rome, aspired to be a great conqueror, a great lawgiver, a great pontiff, a great diplomatist, a great builder, and in each of these spheres his reign holds a conspicuous place in the annals of the empire. His legal work alone, or the building of Santa Sophia, was enough to ensure him immortal fame. But deep shadows balance the splendour. The reconquest of Africa was thoroughly justified and advantageous, but Italy was bought at a ruinous cost. In the first place, the Persian empire was at this time ruled by one of its greatest kings, Chosroes I. (q.v.), who was far from peacefully inclined. Justinian was engaged in a long Persian and a long Gothic war at the same time, and the State was unequal to the strain. In the second place, it was all-impor tant for his western policy to secure the goodwill of the Italian provincials and the Roman bishop, and for this purpose he in volved himself in an ecclesiastical policy (see below) which caused the final alienation of the Syrian and Egyptian provinces. The reconquest of the West was purchased by the disunion of the East. Thirdly, the enormous expenses of the Italian and Persian wars, augmented by architectural undertakings, caused a policy of financial oppression which hung as a cloud over all the bril liance of his reign, and led to the decline which ensued upon his death. Nor is it to be forgotten that he had at the same time to fulfil the task of protecting the Danube against the Germans, Slays and Bulgarians, who constantly threatened the Illyrian prov inces. He spared no expense in building forts and walls. Jus tinian's name will always be associated with that of the gifted Theodora, an actress of doubtful fame in her early life, who shared his throne. Their mosaic portraits are preserved in the contemporary church of San Vitale at Ravenna. She possessed great political influence, and the fact that she was a heretic (monophysite), while Justinian was devoted to orthodoxy, did riot mar their harmony, but only facilitated the policy of ex tending secret favour to the heretics who were publicly con demned, and enabled the left hand to act without the knowledge of the right. The events of the half-century after Justinian's death exhibited the weakness to which his grandiose policy had reduced the empire. It was attacked on the west, on the north and on the east, and at all points was unequal to coping with its enemies. (I) Italy fell a victim to the Lombards (q.v.), and in a few years more than half of the peninsula had passed under their sway. (2) The Avars, a Hunnic people who had advanced from the Caspian, took possession of Pannonia and Dacia, and formed an empire, consisting of Slavonic and Bulgarian subjects, which endured for about 6o years. Their chief occupation was to invade the Illyrian peninsula and extort tribute and ransoms from the emperors. So far as the Avars themselves were concerned, these incursions had no permanent significance, but the Slays who_over ran the provinces did more than devastate. These years saw the beginning of the Slavonic settlements which changed the ethnical character of the peninsula, and thus mark the commencement of a new period. Slays occupied Moesia and a large part of Mace donia, even close to Thessalonica, which they besieged; they penetrated southward into Greece and made large settlements in the Peloponnesus (see GREECE, History, "Roman period," ad fin.). They occupied the north-western provinces, which became Croatia and Servia, as well as Dalmatia (except some of the coast towns). In the northern part of the peninsula the Slavonic element re mained dominant, but in Greece it was assimilated to the Greek (after the 9th century) and has left little record of itself except in place names. (3) The empire was simultaneously engaged in the perennial strife with Persia. A short interval of peace was secured when the emperor Maurice assisted Chosroes II. to de throne a usurper, but after Maurice's death (6o2) the final and mortal struggle began (see PERSIA, History, section. "The Sas sanian Empire"). Throughout the incompetent reign of Phocas the eastern provinces were overrun by the Persians, as the Illyrian were overrun by the Slays. The unpopular rule of this cruel usurper was terminated in 6io by the intervention of the gov ernor of Africa, whose son Heraclius sailed to Constantinople and, welcomed by an influential party, met with little resistance. Pho cas, murderer of Maurice, was murdered by the people, and the victor was crowned emperor to find himself in presence of a desperate situation. Antioch, Damascus and many other great cities were captured by the Persians; and in 614 Jerusalem was destroyed and the Holy Cross, along with the patriarch, carried off to Ctesiphon. This event produced a profound sensation in Christendom. In 616 Egypt was conquered. The army had fallen into utter disorder under Phocas, and Heraclius so deeply de spaired of saving Constantinople that he thought of transferring the imperial capital to Carthage. But the extreme gravity of the situation seems to have wrought a moral change among his sub jects; the patriarch Sergius was the mouthpiece of a widespread patriotic feeling, and it was largely through his influence that Heraclius performed the task of creating a capable army. His
efforts were rewarded in a series of brilliant campaigns (622-628), which, in the emphasis laid on the contrast between Christianity and fire-worship and on the object of recovering the Cross, had the character of crusades. Heraclius recovered his provinces and held Persia at his mercy (decisive battle at Nineveh, end of 627).
This war is remarkable for the attempt of the Persians to take Constantinople (626) in conjunction with the Avars and Slays. Soon afterwards the Avar power began to decay, and the Slays and Bulgarians shook off their yoke. It seemed as if the Roman Government would now be able to regain the control in the Illyrian lands which it had almost entirely lost. It seems probable that Heraclius came to terms with the Slays—Croatians and Ser vians—in the north-west ; their position was regularized, as vassals of the empire But fate allowed no breathing-time to do more; the darkest hour had hardly passed when a new storm-cloud, from an unexpected quarter, overspread the heavens.
At this point we have to note that the Hellenic element in the State had definitely gained the upper hand before the end of the 6th century, so that henceforward the empire might be described as Greek. Justinian's mother-tongue was Latin, and he was devoted to the Latin traditions of Rome, but even he found it necessary to publish his later laws in Greek and from his reign Greek was the official language.
Rise of Islam.—With the rise of Islam (see CALIPHATE; MO HAMMED) two universal religions, for the first time, stood face to face, each aspiring to win the universe. The struggle, therefore, which then began was not only a new phase of the strife between Europe and Asia, but was one in which the religious element was fundamental. Fire-worship was only a national religion and did not present the danger of Islam. The creation of the political power of the Mohammedans was so sudden that it took the world by surprise. Bostra, the fortress of Roman Arabia, fell into their hands in 634, and before the death of Heraclius in 641 they had conquered Syria and all Egypt, except Alexandria, which opened its gates to them in 643. The religious alienation of the Syrian and Egyptian peoples from Constantinople, expressing as it did a national sentiment antagonistic to the Greeks, was an important political factor in the Mohammedan (as in the previous Persian) conquest. Thus the Mohammedans definitely cut the empire short in the East, as the Germans had cut it short in the West ; Egypt was never recovered, Syria only for short periods and partially, while the integrity of Asia Minor was constantly menaced and Cilicia occupied for many generations. By their conquest of Persia the Caliphs succeeded to the position of the Sassanids; this led to the conquest of Armenia (c. 654) ; while, in the West, Africa was occupied in 647 (though the conquest was not completed till the capture of Carthage and other strong places in 698). Thus within 20 years from the first attack the empire was girt about by the new aggressive power from the precincts of the Caucasus to the western Mediterranean.
Fortunately Constans II., grandson of Heraclius, was a man of eminent ability and firmness. The State owed to him the preser vation of Asia Minor, and the creation of a powerful fleet (see below) which protected the Aegean coasts and islands against the naval power which the Mohammedans created. He was respon sible for completing a new, efficient military organization, which determined the lines of the administrative reforms of Leo III. (see below). In his last years he turned his eyes to Italy and Africa He dreamed of restoring Old Rome as the centre of the empire. But he did not succeed in recovering south Italy from the Lom bards (Duchy of Beneventum), and having visited Rome he took up his residence in Syracuse, where he was assassinated, having lost two fleets which he sent against the Arabs of Africa The strain lasted for another 5o years. Constantinople sustained two great sieges (673-677 and 717-718) which stand out as crises, for, if in either case the enemy had been successful, the empire was doomed.
The Heraclian dynasty, which had fallen on evil times and rendered inestimable services to the empire, came to an end in anarchy, which was terminated by the elevation of the Syrian (commonly called Isaurian) Leo. III., whose reign opens a new period. His reforming hand was active in every sphere of govern ment, but the ill-fame which he won by his iconoclastic policy obscured in the memory of posterity the capital importance of his work. His provincial organization was revolutionary, and his legis lation departed from the Roman tradition (see below). From his reign to the middle of the loth century the continuous warfare by land with the Caliphs consisted of marauding expeditions of each power into the other's territory, captures of fortresses, gue rilla fighting, but no great conquests or decisive battles. The effi ciency of the army was carefully maintained, but the neglect of the navy led to the losses of Crete (conquered by Muslim adventurers from Spain 826) and Sicily (conquered by the Saracens of Africa). Panormus was taken in 832, Syracuse in 878 (see The Africans also made temporary conquests, including Bari, in south Italy. This period saw the loss of the exarchate of Ravenna to the Lombards (750), the expansion of the Frankish power under Pippin and Charlemagne in Italy, and in close connection there with the loss of Old Rome.