Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

538 19. italy, a.d. 425,605
Byzantine possessions to the duchies of Calabria (modern Apulia), Naples
(comprising coastal Campania and modern Calabria south of the river
Crati) and Sicily. 59
The instability which had marked Lombard politics after the death of
Cleph was overcome with the reinstatement of the monarchy by Authari
in 584. His resolute defence of Lombard possessions in the north against
combined Byzantine and Frankish assaults prepared the ground for his
dynamic successor, Agilulf (590–616), to restore unity to Lombard possessions
in the Po valley and encroach still further on the Byzantine territories.
Elsewhere, however, he was less successful. Benevento and Spoleto
retained their autonomy, and Tuscany remained in the hands of quasi-independent
dukes. 60 In the face of Lombard successes in the north, the
Byzantine authorities could do little other than accept that Justinian’s
dream of a restored imperial Italy had come to nothing. Smaragdus, the
exarch of Ravenna, had already made peace with Authari. In 603 and 604
he made further treaties recognizing the extent of Agilulf ’s kingdom.
Then, in 605, the emperor Phocas himself ratified these arrangements. 61 In
so doing, the Byzantines admitted that the total reconquest of Italy was
beyond their grasp.
Like the Gothic wars which had preceded them, the Lombard conquests
brought further devastation to Italy. As has been shown, the development
of internal frontiers altered settlement patterns in Venetia. It also provoked
the construction of new fortifications in the Apennines, not only on the
Via Amerina but along the limits of the duchy of Genoa. 62 In the countryside,
the presence of the invaders had provoked famine, so that on one
occasion the emperor Justin II had to supply Rome with corn from Egypt.
The foul weather and plague which afflicted much of Europe in the 580s
brought further misery. 63 Even allowing for a certain apocalyptic exaggeration,
it is easy to sympathize with Gregory the Great’s vision of Italy: ‘Our
cities are destroyed; our fortresses are overthrown; our fields are laid waste;
and the land is become a desert.’ 64
v. italy transformed: the ruling ilite
The fifth and sixth centuries saw the utter transformation of Italian political
fortunes. At the outset, Italy had been the centre of an empire, albeit a
crumbling one. With its metamorphosis into a conglomeration of
Byzantine marches and Lombard principalities came a radical realignment
of its ruling élite. Under Valentinian III, Odoacer and Theoderic, the
59 Diehl (1888) 6–78. 60 Wickham (1981) 32–4. 61 Paul. Diac. Hist. Lang. iii.18; iv.28, 32, 35.
62 Christie (1990).
63 Egyptian corn: Lib. Pont. 1.308. Natural disasters: Coronatus, Vita Zenonis 9; Greg. Mag. Dial.
3.19.2; Paul. Diac. Hist. Lang. iii.23. 64 Greg. Mag. Hom. in Ezech. 2.6.22.
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