Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

the last decade (c. 554,65) 83
and Naples; again, the effects of war were severe. 117 A series of Greek
popes and a strong eastern monastic presence in Sicily and south Italy kept
religious and cultural ties with the east alive in the seventh century; but after
the Gothic war there was no long-standing Byzantine investment in Italy
such as happened in the case of North Africa.
The northern frontiers in the Balkans and Thrace came under attack in
the later part of the reign, and Justinian’s fortifications did not serve to keep
these raiders out, though they did preserve Roman control of the main
centres. In 550 Sclavenes crossed the Danube, not for the first time, reaching
the Adriatic coast and threatening Thessalonica. Justinian’s plans for
dealing with them, like his intentions for the final stages of the war in Italy,
were upset by the death of his cousin, the general Germanus, 118 recently
married to the Ostrogothic princess Matasuintha, and the Sclavenes
remained within Roman territory. The Balkans and the Danube area
received much attention in Justinian’s programme of fortification, causing
Procopius to make extravagant claims, 119 yet Kotrigurs were permitted to
settle in Thrace in the 550s and in 559 a dangerous invasionary force of
Kotrigurs and Sclavenes crossed the Danube, and eventually even threatened
Constantinople, undeterred by Justinian’s Long Walls. Agathias gives
a colourful account of the panic that set in and the emergency measures
which had to be taken. 120 Palace guards, more used to ceremonial than to
fighting, were mobilized, and finally the aged Belisarius was summoned to
take charge. But despite an extraordinary success at the head of an army
allegedly consisting of peasants and civilians, he was once again slandered
and recalled, leaving the young Germanus, the son of Dorotheus, a fellow
countryman of the emperor, to defend the wall which protected the
Chersonese. In this task he had considerable success, but the Kotrigurs
retreated and returned Roman captives only after a large payment from the
emperor. 121 The threats from the north were to continue. The first Avar
embassy arrived in Constantinople in 558, and another in 561; their haughty
dismissal by Justin II was an ominous prelude to future danger. 122
Following the classic pattern of the last years of a great ruler, plots and
suspicion darkened Justinian’s final years. 123 The dome of St Sophia was
cracked in an earthquake in 557 and, while under repair, partially collapsed
during further tremors in 558. In the following year it was rumoured that
the emperor had died; 124 the people’s agitation was successfully calmed, but
117 Wickham (1981) 64. 118 Procop. Wars vii.40.1–9;cf.PLRE ii.507, s.v. Germanus 4.
119 Buildings 4.1.14; 11.20. 120 Hist. v.11–20.
121 Ibid. 21–3; Agathias’ defence of Justinian’s subsidy policy, which his successor made a great show
of ending: v.24.1–2.
122 Malal. 489.11–12; Theoph. Chron. 232.6–14. Justin II: Corippus, Laud. Iust. iii.151–401,cf.Praef.
4–9; Men. Prot. fr. 8 Blockley; John Eph. HE vi.24.
123 See Malal. 493–5, supplemented by Theoph. Chron. 232–41.
124 Theoph. Chron. 234.20–235.15.
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