Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

716 23. the balkans and greece 420,602
as Romans, stimulated considerable social and political change among the
Slavs during the sixth century. The chronology of their invasions is difficult
to establish, since their attacks may have coincided with those of other,
more prominent, tribes such as the Bulgars, and hence may be concealed. 50
The earliest attested incursions were in 517; there was extensive raiding in
530 at a time of Bulgar attacks; and in 545 a Slav group was defeated in
Thrace by Herul federates. In 549 3,000 Slavs ravaged Thrace and
Illyricum, defeating imperial cavalry and capturing the city of Topirus; in
551 a Slav band was intending to assail Thessalonica but was diverted
towards Dalmatia by the fortuitous presence of an army under Germanus,
who was recruiting troops for service in Italy; in the same year other Slavs
reached the Long Walls of Constantinople and devastated the Thracian
plains, and in 552 Slavs plundered Illyricum and then escaped with the assistance
of the Gepids, who saved them from Roman pursuit by ferrying
them across the Danube for a solidus per person. 51
In spite of the best efforts of emperors, especially Anastasius and
Justinian, the Balkan provinces remained an unsettled area. Anastasius’
actions in the eastern Balkans were undermined by the troubles associated
with Vitalian’s revolt, which was centred on the lower Danube and the
Black Sea coast, while under Justinian the Balkans had to cede precedence
to military activity elsewhere in the empire: after the start of the western
reconquest this became a serious problem – Balkan military commanders
are found in action in Italy and large numbers of troops were recruited in
the Balkans for service in the west. Germanus in 549/50 and Narses in 551,
both en route for Italy, encountered invaders in the Balkans but concentrated
on their western missions rather than attend to the immediate threat. 52
Agathias, in a highly critical assessment of Justinian’s policies in the context
of Zabergan’s invasion, complains of demoralized soldiers cheated of their
pay, drastically reduced troop numbers, and remaining forces transferred
elsewhere; 53 accounts of Slav and Bulgar raids give an impression of an
empty land across which invaders could move with impunity. An illustration
is provided by the exploits of Ildigisal, a Lombard who had been
settled with 300 followers in Thrace: in 552, discontented by his treatment
in Constantinople, Ildigisal fled with a few companions to Apri, where they
joined other Lombards, raided the imperial horse pastures, defeated the
Kotrigurs settled in Thrace who attempted to oppose them, fled across
Thrace without further opposition, and escaped to the Gepids after killing
the commanders of a Roman force in Illyricum. 54 There was clearly empty
land available for the settlement of contingents like these Lombards and
Kotrigurs, as well as the Heruls mentioned above.
50 Lemerle (1954) 284; Ferjančič (1984) 88–9. 51 Procop. Wars vii.38; 40; viii.25.
52 Procop. Wars vii.39–40; Agathias, Hist. i.19.1; Procop. Wars vii.40; viii.21.
53 Agathias, Hist. v.13.7–14.4. 54 Procop. Wars viii.27.
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