Byzantine Castle of Sant'Aniceto and the Theme of Calabria



The Castle of Sant'Aniceto (also San Niceto) is an Eastern Roman Empire castle built in the early 11th century on a hill in Motta San Giovanni, now in the province of Reggio Calabria, southern Italy.

It is one of the few examples of High Middle Ages architecture in Calabria, as well as one of the few well-preserved Byzantine fortifications in the world. The name derives from that of St. Nicetas, a Eastern Roman admiral who lived in the 7th-8th centuries.

The castle is one of the few Byzantine fortifications subjected to the work of restoration and recovery.

The castle has an irregular shape, which resembles the shape of a ship with the bow facing the mountain and the stern to the sea.

Near the entrance are visible and two square towers at the foot of a short climb which connects it with the plain below there is a church equipped with a painted dome with a painting of Christ Pantocrator , subject typical of Byzantine art.

The walls have a height varying from 3 to 3.5 meters , a thickness of about one meter and are still in excellent condition. The construction materials used are mostly made ​​of stone square, brick and mortar.

Theme of Calabria
Theme of the Byzantine Empire
ca. 950 AD
Capital  Rhegion (Reggio Calabria)
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Following the Muslim conquest of Sicily, from 902 the Theme of Sicily was limited to Calabria, but retained its original name until the middle of the 10th century.  The Castle of Sant'Aniceto would have been the principal Roman fortification of the theme against Arab attacks from Sicily.
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The themes or themata were the main administrative divisions of the middle Byzantine Empire. They were established in the mid-7th century in the aftermath of the Muslim conquests of Byzantine territory and replaced the earlier provincial system established by emperors Diocletian and Constantine the Great.

In their origin, the first themes were created from the areas of encampment of the field armies of the East Roman Army, and their names corresponded to the military units they had resulted from. The theme system reached its apogee in the 9th and 10th centuries, as older themes were split up and the conquest of territory resulted in the creation of new ones. The original theme system underwent significant changes in the 11th and 12th centuries, but the term remained in use as a provincial and financial circumscription, until the very end of the Empire.

Arab Pirates
For centuries the Eastern Roman Empire was subjected to an endless series of invasions and raids from Muslim forces in the Middle East and North Africa.  The Castle of Sant'Aniceto was one of many fortifications used to ward off attacks by Muslims looking for gold, slaves or conquest.

History

The castle was built as a refuge and a warning place during a period in which the ravages of Muslim Saracen pirates on the Calabrian and Sicilian coasts were frequent. When the Normans conquered southern Italy, the structure was enlarged, with the addition of rectangular towers.

The Muslim conquest of Byzantine Italy began began with their first settlement in Mazara, which was occupied in 827.  The Arab-Byzantine war over Sicily lasted until 902, when the last major Byzantine stronghold on the island, Taormina, fell.  Isolated fortresses remained in Byzantine hands for a time.

The Emirate of Sicily lasted from 965 until 1061.  It was during the early 1000s that the Castle of Sant'Aniceto was built.  It was part of the defensive system of the Eastern Roman Empire against constent raids or invasions of Muslims from both Sicily and North Africa.

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus

The Fatimid Caliph Ismail al-Mansur named Hassan al-Kalbi as emir of the island. As his charge soon became hereditary, his emirate became de facto independent from the African government.

In 950, Hassan waged war against the Byzantines in southern Italy, reaching up to Gerace and Cassano allo Ionio. A second Calabrian campaign in 952 resulted in the defeat of the Byzantine army; Gerace was again besieged, but in the end Emperor Constantine VII was forced to accept having the Calabrian cities pay a tribute to Sicily.

In 956, the Byzantines reconquered Reggio and invaded Sicily. A truce was signed in 960. Two years later a revolt in Taormina was bloodily suppressed, but the heroic resistance of the Christians in Rometta led the new Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas to send an army of 40,000 Armenians, Thracians and Slavs under his nephew Manuel who captured Messina in October 964.

On 25 October, a fierce battle between the Byzantines and the Kalbids resulted in a defeat for the former. Manuel, along with 10,000 of his men, was killed in the fray.

The new Emir Abu al-Qasim (964–982) launched a series of attacks against Calabria in the 970s while the fleet under his brother attacked the Adriatic coasts of Apulia, capturing some strongholds.

As the Byzantines were busy against the Fatimids in Syria and the Bulgars in Macedon, the German Emperor Otto II decided to intervene, and the allied German-Lombard army was defeated in 982 at the Battle of Stilo. However, as al-Qasim himself had been killed, his son Jabir al-Kalbi prudently retreated to Sicily without exploiting the victory.

11th Century Muslim Soldiers
North Africa and Sicily 

 

Byzantine Infantry, 11th Century
Stratēlatai Tagma & Varangian Gaurd Tagma, re-created military units.  The Eastern Roman forces fought a 75 year long war with Muslims for the control of the island of Sicily.
(www.kismeta.com)

 

 

With the support of the Fatimids, al-Akhal defeated two Byzantine expeditions in 1026 and 1031. His attempt to raise a heavy tax to pay his mercenaries caused a civil war. Al-Akhal asked the Byzantines for support while his brother abu-Hafs, leader of the rebels, received troops from the Zirid Emir of Ifriqiya, al-Muizz ibn Badis, which were commanded by his son Abdallah.

In 1038, a Byzantine army under George Maniaces crossed the strait of Messina. This included a corps of Normans which saved the situation in the first clash against the Muslims from Messina. After another decisive victory in the summer of 1040, Maniaces halted his march to lay siege to Syracuse. Despite his conquest of the latter, Maniaces was removed from his position, and the subsequent Muslim counter-offensive reconquered all the cities captured by the Byzantines.

The Norman Robert Guiscard, son of Tancred, invaded Sicily in 1060. The island was split between three Arab emirs, and the sizable Christian population rose up against the ruling Muslims. After taking Apulia and Calabria, Roger I occupied Messina with an army of 700 knights.

Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas
As a general and later as Emperor he
organized campaigns in Sicily, the
Saracen Emirate of Crete, Mesopotamia,
Syria, Cyprus and Bulgaria.

In 1068, Roger de Hauteville and his men defeated the Muslims at Misilmeri but the most crucial battle was the siege of Palermo, which led to Sicily being completely in Norman control by 1091. After the conquest of Sicily, the Normans removed the local emir.

By the 11th century Muslim power in the Mediterranean had begun to wane.

With the passage of Calabria under the rule of the Normans , who conquered the fortress around the year 1050 , this structure was renovated and expanded with the addition of some rectangular towers. From this time were written documents that give news.

During the thirteenth century the castle became the command center of the burgeoning feud Sant'Aniceto who in 1200 was plagued by wars between the Angevins and Aragonese who took turns on the territory of Reggio, and like many other areas of Calabria , passed in different hands; in 1321 it was handed over to the Angevins.

In 1434 the Holy Niceto became barony and dominates the territories of Motta San Giovanni and Montebello (a reference earlier Motta San Giovanni is located in a document of 1412 ).

With the passage of time Sant'Aniceto gradually lost power and came into conflict with the city of Reggio and for this reason it was destroyed in 1459 by the Duke Alfonso of Calabria . Sant'Aniceto then finally fell at the hands of Reggini supported by the Aragonese, the final winners of the age-old struggle against the Angevins.

In a document dated 1604 Holy Niceto is said to belong to the Barony of Motta San Giovanni .

Arab troops of the period.

The Byzantine Castle of Sant'Aniceto

Castle of Sant'Aniceto
Italy, Motta Sant'Aniceto, Reggio Calabria. The Byzantine castle of Motta Sant'Aniceto was built in the 11th century. In the background, the Etna volcano.  The Byzantine troops in the castle were looking directly at the now Muslim conquered island of Sicily.  The Arabs were constantly attacking Byzantine troops in southern Italy. 

Emirate of Sicily
Map of Italy on the eve of the arrival of the Normans. The area they eventually conquered included Sicily, and all the territory on the mainland south of the Holy Roman Empire (the bold line), as well as southern regions of the Papal States and the Duchy of Spoleto.
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The Emirate of Sicily was an Islamic state on the island of Sicily, which existed from 831 to 1072. Its capital was Palermo.
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Muslims, who first invaded in 652 AD, seized control of the entire island from the Byzantine Empire in a prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902. Despite the invaders' Arabic language and Islamic faith, an Arab-Byzantine culture developed, producing a multiconfessional and multilingual state. The Emirate was conquered by Christian Norman mercenaries under Roger I of Sicily who founded the County of Sicily in 1071.
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The Sicilian Muslims remained citizens of the multi-ethnic County and subsequent Kingdom of Sicily until deportations in the 1240s. Their influence remains in elements of the Sicilian language.



Southern Italy in 1084 after the Eastern Romans were driven out of Italy.  The map shows the remains of the Kalbid emirate, then fought over by multiple claimants, on the eve of the final Norman conquest.

(Castle of Sant Aniceto)          (History of Islam in southern Italy)

(Muslim conquest of Sicily)          (Themes of the Byzantine Empire)

The Black Death of the Roman Empire



Illustration of the Black Death from the Toggenburg Bible (1411)

The Great Pestilence (A.D. 542‑543)

Long before the famous Black Death of the Middle Ages, the Eastern Roman Empire was devastated by the plague.  The massive deaths weakened the Empire and its economy.

History of the Later Roman Empire
by J. B. Bury
(1923)

Justinian had been fourteen years on the throne when the Empire was visited by one of those immense but rare calamities in the presence of which human beings could only succumb helpless and resourceless until the science of the nineteenth century began to probe the causes and supply the means of preventing and checking them.

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The devastating plague, which began its course in the summer of A.D. 542 and seems to have invaded and ransacked nearly every corner of the Empire, was, if not more malignant, far more destructive, through the vast range of its ravages, than the pestilences which visited ancient Athens in the days of Pericles and London in the reign of Charles II; and perhaps even than the plague which travelled from the East to Rome in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. It probably caused as large a mortality in the Empire as the Black Death of the fourteenth century in the same countries.

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The infection first attacked Pelusium, on the borders of Egypt, with deadly effect, and spread thence to Alexandria and throughout Egypt, and northward to Palestine and Syria. In the following year it reached Constantinople, in the middle of spring, and spread over Asia Minor and through Mesopotamia into the kingdom of Persia. Travelling by sea, whether from Africa or across the Adriatic, it invaded Italy and Sicily.

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It was observed that the infection always started from the coast and went up to the interior, and that those who survived it had become immune. The historian Procopius, who witnessed its course at Constantinople, as Thucydides had studied the plague at Athens, has detailed the nature and effects of the bubonic disease, as it might be called, for the most striking feature was a swelling in the groin or in the armpit, sometimes behind the ear or on the thighs.

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Hallucinations occasionally preceded the attack. The victims were seized by a sudden fever, which did not affect the colour of the skin nor make it as hot as might be expected.

The outbreak in Constantinople was thought to have been carried to the city by infected rats on grain boats arriving from Egypt. To feed its citizens, the city and outlying communities imported massive amounts of grain—mostly from Egypt. Grain ships may have been the original source of contagion, as the rat (and flea) population in Egypt thrived on feeding from the large granaries maintained by the government. The Byzantine historian Procopius first reported the epidemic in AD 541 from the port of Pelusium, near Suez in Egypt.

The Roman Emperor Justinian I
The Emperor contracted the disease himself yet survived.  The plague, which lasted from 541 to 543 decimated the Empire's population, and probably created a scarcity of labor and a rising of wages. The lack of manpower also led to a significant increase in the number of "barbarians" in the Byzantine armies after the early 540s

The Angel of Death comes.

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The Historian Procopius Says -

 

 

"The fever was of such a languid sort from its commencement and up till evening that neither to the sick themselves nor a physician who touched them would it afford any suspicion of danger. . . . But on the same day in some cases, in others on the following day, and in the rest not many days later a bubonic swelling developed. . . . Up to this point everything went in about the same way with all who had taken the disease. But from then on very marked differences developed. . . . There ensued with some a deep coma, with others a violent delirium, and in either case they suffered the characteristic symptoms of the disease. For those who were under the spell of the coma forgot all those who were familiar to them and seemed to be sleeping constantly. And if any one cared for them, they would eat without waking, but some also were neglected and these would die directly through lack of sustenance."

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"But those who were seized with delirium suffered from insomnia and were victims of a distorted imagination; for they suspected that men were coming upon them to destroy them, and they would become excited and rush off in flight, crying out at the top of their voices. And those who were attending them were in a state of constant exhaustion and had a most difficult time. . . . Neither the physicians nor other persons were found to contract this malady through contact with the sick or with the dead, for many who were constantly engaged either in burying or in attending those in no way connected with them held out in the performance of this service beyond all expectation. . . . [The patient] had great difficulty in the matter of eating, for they could not easily take food. And many perished through lack of any man to care for them, for they were either overcome with hunger, or threw themselves from a height."

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Procopius continues, "And in those cases where neither coma nor delirium came on, the bubonic swelling became mortified and the sufferer, no longer able to endure the pain, died. And we would suppose that in all cases the same thing would have been true, but since they were not at all in their senses, some were quite unable to feel the pain; for owing to the troubled condition of their minds they lost all sense of feeling."

 

"Now some of the physicians who were at a loss because the symptoms were not understood, supposing that the disease centred in the bubonic swellings, decided to investigate the bodies of the dead. And upon opening some of the swellings they found a strange sort of carbuncle [ἄνθραξ] that had grown inside them."

"Death came in some cases immediately, in others after many days; and with some the body broke out with black pustules about as large as a lentil, and these did not survive even one day, but all succumbed immediately. With many also a vomiting of blood ensued without visible cause and straightway brought death. Moreover I am able to declare this, that the most illustrious physicians predicted that many would die, who unexpectedly escaped entirely from suffering shortly afterwards, and that they declared that many would be saved who were destined to be carried off almost immediately. . . . "

 

"While some were helped by bathing others were harmed in no less degree. And of those who received no care many died, but others, contrary to reason, were saved. And again, methods of treatment showed different results with different patients. . . . And in the case of women who were pregnant death could be certainly foreseen if they were taken with the disease. For some died through miscarriage, but others perished immediately at the time of birth with the infants they bore. However they say that three women survived though their children perished, and that one woman died at the very time of child-birth but that the child was born and survived."

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"Now in those cases where the swelling rose to an unusual size and a discharge of pus had set in, it came about that they escaped from the disease and survived, for clearly the acute condition of the carbuncle had found relief in this direction, and this proved to be in general an indication of returning health. . . . And with some of them it came about that the thigh was withered, in which case, though the swelling was there, it did not develop the least suppuration. With others who survived the tongue did not remain unaffected, and they lived on either lisping or speaking incoherently and with difficulty."

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Dead?  -  You Must Still Pay Taxes.
"When pestilence swept through the whole known world and notably the Roman Empire, wiping out most of the farming community and of necessity leaving a trail of desolation in its wake, Justinian showed no mercy towards the ruined freeholders. Even then, he did not refrain from demanding the annual tax, not only the amount at which he assessed each individual, but also the amount for which his deceased neighbors were liable."
Procopius
Secret History

This description shows that the disease closely resembled in character the terrible oriental plague which devastated Europe and parts of Asia in the fourteenth century. In the case of the Black Death too the chief symptom was the pestboils, but the malady was generally accompanied by inflammation of the lungs and the spitting of blood, which Procopius does not mention.

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In Constantinople the visitation lasted for four months altogether, and during three of these the mortality was enormous. At first the deaths were only a little above the usual number, but as the infection spread 5000 died daily, and when it was at its worst 10,000 or upward. This figures are too vague to enable us to conjecture how many of the population were swept away; but we may feel sceptical when another writer who witnessed the plague assures us that the number of those who died in the streets and public places exceeded 300,000.

If we could trust the recorded statistics of the mortality in some of the large cities which were stricken by the Black Death — in London, for instance, 100,000, in Venice 100,000, in Avignon 60,000 — then, considering the much larger population of Constantinople, we might regard 300,000 as not an excessive figure for the total destruction. For the general mortality throughout the Empire we have no data for conjecture; but it is interesting to note that a physician who made a careful study of all the accounts of the Black Death came to the conclusion that, without exaggeration, Europe (including Russia) lost twenty-five millions of her inhabitants through that calamity.

At first, relatives and domestics attended to the burial of the dead, but as the violence of the plague increased this duty was neglected, and corpses lay forlorn not only in the streets, but even in the houses of notable men whose servants were sick or dead.

Aware of this, Justinian placed considerable sums at the disposal of Theodore, one of his private secretaries, to take measures for the disposal of the dead. Huge pits were dug at Sycae, on the other side of the Golden Horn, in which the bodies were laid in rows and tramped down tightly; but the men who were engaged on this work, unable to keep up with the number of the dying, mounted the towers of the wall of the suburb, tore off their roofs, and threw the bodies in.

Virtually all the towers were filled with corpses, and as a result "an evil stench pervaded the city and distressed the inhabitants still more, and especially whenever the wind blew fresh from that quarter." It is particularly noted that members of the Blue and Green parties laid aside their mutual enmity and co-operated in the labour of burying the dead.

During these months all work ceased; the artisans abandoned their trades. "Indeed in a city which was simply abounding in all good things starvation almost absolute was running riot. Certainly it seemed a difficult and very notable thing to have a sufficiency of bread or of anything else." All court functions were discontinued, and no one was to be seen in official dress, especially when the Emperor fell ill. For he, too, was stricken by the plague, though the attack did not prove fatal.

Our historian observed the moral effects of the visitation. Men whose lives had been base and dissolute changed their habits and punctiliously practised the duties of religion, not from any real change of heart, but from terror and because they supposed they were to die immediately. But their conversion to respectability was only transient. When the pestilence abated and they thought themselves safe they recurred to their old evil ways of life. It may be confidently asserted, adds the cynical writer, that the disease selected precisely the worst men and let them go free.

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Fifteen years later there was a second outbreak of the plague in Constantinople (spring A.D. 558), but evidently much less virulent and destructive. It was noticed in the case of this visitation that females suffered less than males.

 

 

History Channel - The Plague part 1 of 6 

Excellent History Channel show on the Black Death that came 800 years later from the plague faced by the Eastern Romans.

 

 

 

Inspired by the Black Death, The Dance of Death, an allegory on the universality of death, is a common painting motif in the late medieval period.

Bubonic plague victims in a mass grave from 1720-1721 in Martigues, France

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The plague weakened the Eastern Roman Empire at a critical point, when Justinian's armies had nearly retaken all of Italy and the western Mediterranean coast; this evolving conquest could have credibly reformed the Western Roman Empire and reunited it with the Eastern under a single Emperor for the first time since 395.
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As a result of plague in the countryside, farmers could not take care of crops and the price of grain rose at Constantinople. Justinian had expended huge amounts of money for wars against the Vandals in the Carthage region and the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy. He had dedicated significant funds to the construction of great churches, such as Hagia Sophia.
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As the empire tried to fund these projects, the plague caused tax revenues to decline, possibly due to so many deaths and the disruption of agriculture and trade. Justinian swiftly enacted new legislation to deal more efficiently with the glut of inheritance suits being brought as a result of victims dying intestate.
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The number of deaths will always be uncertain. Modern scholars believe that the plague killed up to 5,000 people per day in Constantinople at the peak of the pandemic. The initial plague ultimately killed perhaps 40% of the city's inhabitants and caused the deaths of up to a quarter of the human population of the eastern Mediterranean. Frequent subsequent waves of the plague continued to strike throughout the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries, with the disease becoming more localized and less virulent. One high estimate is that the Plague of Justinian killed as many as 25 million people across the world.
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After the last recurrence in 750, major epidemic diseases did not appear again in Europe until the Black Death of the 14th century.

 

J.B. Bury - The History of the Later Roman Empire

(The Plague of Justinian)

Berat Castle, Albania

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Berat Castle is a fortress overlooking the town of Berat, Albania. It dates mainly from the 13th century and contains many Byzantine churches in the area and Ottoman mosques. It is built on a rocky hill on the left bank of the river Osum and is accessible only from the south.

After being burned down by the Romans in 200 B.C., the walls were strengthened in the fifth century under Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II, and were rebuilt during the 6th century under the Emperor Justinian I and again in the 13th century under the Despot of Epirus, Michael I Komnenos Doukas, cousin of the Byzantine Emperor.

Emperor Justinian

In the Siege of Berat the forces of the Angevin Kingdom of Sicily faced off against the Byzantine garrison of the city in 1280–1281.  Berat was a strategically important fortress, whose possession would allow the Angevins access to the heartlands of the Byzantine Empire.

A Byzantine relief force arrived in spring 1281, and managed to ambush and capture the Angevin commander, Hugo de Sully. Thereupon, the Angevin army panicked and fled, suffering heavy losses in killed and wounded as it was attacked by the Byzantines. This defeat ended the threat of a land invasion of the Byzantine Empire, and along with the Sicilian Vespers marked the end of the Western threat to reconquer Byzantium.

The main entrance, on the north side, is defended by a fortified courtyard and there are three smaller entrances.

The fortress of Berat in its present state, even though considerably damaged, remains a magnificent sight. The surface that it encompasses made it possible to house a considerable portion of the cities inhabitants. The buildings inside the fortress were built during the 13th century and because of their characteristic architecture are preserved as cultural monuments.

The population of the fortress was Christian, and it had about 20 churches most built during the 13th century and only one mosque, for the use of the Turkish garrison (of which there survives only a few ruins and the base of the minaret).

The churches of the fortress were damaged through years and only some have remained.

Berat Castle is depicted on the reverse of the Albanian 10 lekë coin, issued in 1996 and 2000.


Berat Castle

Statue in Berat Castle (UNESCO World Heritage site), Albania

(Berat Castle)

The Milion of Constantinople

Re-Construction of the Milion by Byzantium 1200.
The Milion was the Golden Milestone in the centre of the city, close to the Basilica, the Hippodrome and Hagia Sophia, on which the distances to the important cities of the empire were inscribed. Built shortly after the foundation, it was restored in the time of Justinian and is last mentioned in 1268. According to the texts it was a tetrapylon, i. e. a square of four pillars connected by arches and covered by a domical vault.

Constantinople  -  Capital of the Western World



The Milion was a mile-marker monument erected in the early 4th century AD in Constantinople. It was the starting-place for measurement of distances for all the roads leading to the cities of the Byzantine Empire and had the same function as the Milliarium Aureum of Rome.

The domed building of the Milion rested on 4 large arches, and it was expanded and decorated with several statues and paintings. It had survived intact, following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453), for about the next 50 years, but disappeared at the start of the 16th century. During excavations in the 1960s, some partial fragments of it were discovered under houses in the area.

The remains of the monument are located in Istanbul, in the district of Eminönü, in the neighborhood of Cağaloğlu, at the northern corner of the square of Hagia Sophia, and close to the Basilica Cistern


A fragment of the Milion has been
re-erected as a pillar.

History and description

When Emperor Constantine I the Great rebuilt the city of Byzantium to make it his new imperial capital, which he named Nova Roma ("New Rome"), he consciously emulated many of the features of "Old Rome".

Among these was the Milion: it was a tetrapylon surmounted by a dome, built in the first Region of the city, near the old Walls of Constantinople, at the very beginning of the main thoroughfare of the new city, the Mese, which at that point formed a bend.

The new building fulfilled the same role as the Milliarium Aureum in Rome: it was considered as the origin of all the roads leading to the European cities of the Byzantine Empire, and on its base were inscribed the distances of all the main cities of the Empire from Constantinople.

The monument was just west of the Augustaeum, and was much more complex than its Roman counterpart. It can be described as a double triumphal arch surmounted by a dome, which was carried by four arches. It was crowned by the statues of Constantine and his mother Helena with a cross, looking towards the east, between them.

A statue of the Tyche of the City stood behind them.

From the beginning of the sixth century, the building became an increasingly important station of the imperial ceremonial. Justinian I added to it a Sundial, while Justin II adorned the lower part with the statues of his wife Sophia, his daughter Arabia and his niece Helena . The monument was also adorned with equestrian sculptures of Trajan, Hadrian, Theodosius II and a bronze Quadriga of Helios.

During the first half of the eighth century, the vaults of the building were adorned by Emperors Philippikos and Anastasios II with paintings of past ecumenical councils, but during the Iconoclastic Age, Emperor Constantine V replaced them with scenes from the Hippodrome.

During the Comnenian Age, the Milion, due to its strategic position, witnessed fights in the city, like those between Nikephoros III and Alexios I, or those between imperial troops and Empress Maria of Antioch, who from this position was controlling the Augustaeum.

In the period 1268 to 1271, after the end of the Latin Empire, the Milion — together with the Augustaeum — became property of the church of Hagia Sophia.

After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople (1453), the building remained intact up to the end of the fifteenth century. It disappeared possibly at the beginning of the sixteenth century because of the enlargement of the nearby aqueduct and the subsequent erection of the nearby suterazi (Turkish: "water tower", lit. "water scale").

In the years 1967 and 1968, following theoretical studies about the location of the monument and after the demolition of the houses placed above it, excavations revealed some foundations and a fragment (now re-erected as a pillar) belonging to the building. These remains could be positively identified as belonging to the Milion thanks to their vicinity to a part of bent Byzantine canalization. This seems to indicate the angle of the disappeared Mese, as reported by the literary sources.

(Byzantium 1200 - Milion)          (Milion of Constantinople)

Siege of Phasis - Rome vs Persia

Sassanid Persian Cavalry Reinactment

Siege of Phasis  -  Rome vs Persia


The Siege of Phasis took place in 555–556 during the Lazic War between the Eastern Roman Empire and Sassanid Persia. The Persians besieged the town of Phasis in Lazica, held by the Byzantines, but failed to take it. The main source for the siege is the 6th-century historian Agathias.

Background

The Lazic War had started in 541 with the defection of the Lazi under their king Gubazes II from Rome to Persia. The Persians quickly overran the country, but after Gubazes learned that the Persians planned to kill him, deport his people and bring in Persian colonists, he asked the Byzantines for help.

In 554, the Persians won a major victory against the Laz-Byzantine forces at Telephis, forcing the latter to withdraw to the western parts of the country, and in the next year they were able to thwart a Byzantine attack on the fortress of Onoguris. In the spring of 556, the Persian general Nachoragan took the initiative in besieging their major stronghold, the town of Phasis, which lay at the mouth of the namesake river.

Byzantine Warrior

Illustration showing a Byzantine Army archer of Emperor Justinian I in the 6th century AD

The exact site of Phasis has never been found.
The town's location was between the Black Sea and the River Phasis secured it from the east, north and west. At its south side, a moat was its first line of defense.  The Persians expected an easy victory as the town and its fortifications were built of wood and were vulnerable to fire.  The wooden fortifications above could have been something like what the Persians faced at Phasis.

A bridge of boats.
The city of Phasis was proteced by the river of the same name.  The Persians overcame that advantage by building a bridge of boats over the river and brought their infantry up to the walls.

Opposing forces and preparations for the siege

Nachoragan led an army of ca. 60,000 men. The Byzantine forces of the area were led by the magister militum per Armeniam Martin and his second-in-command Justin, son of Germanus. Their combined forces were less than 20,000 men. Nachoragan could expect an easy victory as the town and its fortifications were built of wood and were vulnerable to fire.

The Phasis River helped secure the city.

The town's location between the Black Sea and the River Phasis secured it from the east, north and west. At its south side, a moat was its first line of defense.

Nachoragan's forces however emptied the moat after days of hard work, and managed to surround the town from its river side too by building a bridge of boats across the Phasis.

Meanwhile, the Byzantines had organized the defense of the city, with their forces taking their places at the various sides of the fortifications.

The extreme western side, the one closest to the river, was guarded by Justin, while Martin positioned himself in the south-western side.

The south side was defended by Angilas, Theodore and Philomathius. Angilas is recorded leading a regiment of Moorish peltasts and spearmen, probably meaning they were only armed with shield and lances.

Theodore led heavy infantry consisting of Tzani, a recently Christianized tribe living in the mountains above Trapezus, while Philomathius led Isaurian slingers and dart-throwers.

The south-eastern side was guarded by Gibrus, who led a combined force of Heruli and Lombards. The extreme eastern side was guarded by Valerian, leading forces from the praetorian prefecture of the East. Their composition is not recorded. Finally, the Byzantine ships were placed under the protection of Dabragezas the Wend and Elmingir (Elminegeir) the Hun.

Eastern Roman infantry reenactors
The composition of the Roman Army at Phasis reflected the international nature and wide reach of the Empire.  Roman units came from as far away as Morocco.  Other ethnic groups represented were Huns, Isaurians, Heruli, Lombards and Wends (Western Slavs from Northern Europe).

Sassanid Cataphract

Events of the siege

Operations started with a volley of arrows from the Persians. Martin, the overall commander of the Byzantine troops, had given instructions to the whole army to stay at their respective posts. They were to disregard attempts by the Persians to induce them to sally forth from the fortifications and fight in the open. However, Angilas and Philomathius with about two hundred of their men opened a town gate, exited the town and attacked the nearest force of Sassanids whose archers were harassing the defenders.

Theodore at first attempted to restrain them, but then bowed down to "majority opinion" and followed them in attacking. He was reportedly reluctant to violate orders, but unwilling to be branded a coward by the soldiers.

The Byzantine force was heavily outnumbered, and Agathias reports that they "would almost certainly have been annihilated", but they were saved by an error of the Dailamites. The Dailamites were a force of auxiliaries, originating in the mountains of Persia. "They fought on foot, armed each with a sword, a shield, and three javelins".


Persian Dailamite infantry

They decided against attacking the Byzantines from a distance, and instead they "calmly awaited their approach" and then easily performed an encirclement. The encircled Byzantines however began a desperate attack on the enemies positioned closer to the town walls, and the Dailamites "opened up their ranks and made way from them" instead of standing their ground. Thus Angilas and the others escaped back to the safety of the city.

Martin eventually conceived a ruse of war, which would both raise the morale of his soldiers and spread fear in enemy units. He called the army in an assembly, supposedly to discuss further measures of defense. The assembly was interrupted by an unknown person, posing as a messenger from Constantinople.

Martin reported the contents of the "imperial message" to all those assembled. The fabricated message congratulated the defenders for their valour and informed them that reinforcements were approaching, and the "messenger" claimed that they were camped near the river Neocnus, at a short distance from the town itself. Martin then feigned indignation that newcomers would share the glory and spoil "with those who had borne the burden and the heat", to which his troops shouted their approval, being motivated to action.

The Byzantine reinforcements did not in fact exist, but news of their approach reached Nachoragan, who reacted in two ways. He first assigned a large reconnaissance force, sending them out to locate and observe the Byzantine reinforcements, and then launched the rest of his forces in a general attack on the walls, hoping to capture the city before the reinforcements arrived.

He boasted that he would burn the city and its inhabitants down, and sent his camp servants to the nearby woods and instructed them to gather timber to burn down the city. He also instructed them to watch for great smoke rising to the heavens, for it would mean that the city had fallen and that they should immediately return to help.


The Romans employed
Isaurian slingers and dart-throwers.

While Nachoragan was forming his plan, Justin decided to take advantage of the calm before the storm: he exited the city, leading a force of 5,000 men, cavalrymen and an infantry brigade to "a church of great sanctity in the vicinity".

We need to stop right here and question this part of the original account by the historian Agathias. 

Justin did not take 5,000 troops on some casual stroll or religious "pilgramage" to a local church.  With this seriously large force, there is no doubt that Justin was looking to meet the Persians and perhaps take out some smaller units that might have become separated from the main army.

Agathias says the Persians somehow failed to notice the departure of Justin's force, and began their great attack that same morning.  Did the Romans leave under cover of darkness to avoid detechtion?  We do not know, but it is a logical assumption.

A large Roman force walking out of the city implies that the Persians were not there in great enough numbers to completely cut off the city.

In the attack arrows and darts filled the air, while Sassanid siege weapons were attempting to destroy the wooden walls. The defenders answered by throwing "huge blocks of stone" at the weapons and smaller stones at the enemy soldiers.

The initial stages of the fight lasted long enough for Justin to return from his pilgrimage. He could not return to the city, but was able to organize his own forces and attack the rear of the enemy force. 

Attacking the rear of the Persians may, or may not, have been in the original Roman plan.  But a good general knows to take advantage of an opportunity.

The sudden attack of the Romans spread havoc, breaking through enemy lines. At least some of the Sassanid forces believed that Justin's men were the rumoured Byzantine reinforcements.

Panicked Sassanid troops started to retreat, and most of the Dailamites left their positions to "relieve those who were being hard pressed". Angilas and Theodore noticed that there were few troops left besieging their section of the fortifications and led a sortie against the besiegers.

The few Dailamites left behind were either slain or forced to flee, "pressed in relentless pursuit" by the Byzantine force. The other Dailamites noted that their kinsmen were in peril and abandoned their current positions in an attempt to face Angilas and Theodore, but their counterattack was disorganized and ineffective.


Sassanian Persian War Elephant Unit battle formation.
War Elephant Unit: Rider armed with spear and Persian 
Sword rides in front and archers armed with spears
and supplied with bow and arrows ride in the cabin.

The nearby Persian forces in turn thought that the Dailamites were retreating in haste, panicked and started fleeing "ignominiously in all directions". The Dailamites were left unsupported and "rushed to join them in flight".

Agathias regards them as the cause and victims of a "double misunderstanding". Angilas and Theodore thus succeeded in causing a general flight of the Sassanid forces. The rest of the Byzantine troops sallied forth from behind the walls and started pursuing the fleeing enemies. The entire left wing of the Sassanid army fell apart, although the right wing remained unbroken and continued to fight.

The right wing included the war elephants of the Sassanid force. They might have stopped the Byzantine advance, but one of the elephants panicked and turned against the Persian ranks. The horses of the Sassanid cavalry were terrified of the attacking elephant, panicked in turn and bolted. In the confusion, the Sassanid forces scattered.

Nachoragan gave the command to retreat, but by that time most of his forces had either already fled the battlefield or were in the process of doing so.

By the time night fell, the Persians had reportedly lost at least ten thousand fighting men and most of their siege equipment.

The Byzantine casualties "did not number more than two hundred". The Byzantines set the siege equipment on fire. The servants and porters of the Sassanid army reportedly mistook the smoke for a sign that the city had fallen, and started rushing towards the Byzantine lines. Nearly two thousand of them were killed that night, others captured.


Islamic Mughal Empire:  War Elephants
The Mughal Empire used war elephants in a sophisticated and pioneering manner, this part looks at the armour and tusks of the elephants.

The elephant war "tank" was used in wars for centuries in wars Africa, the Middle East and in Habbibal's famous invasion of Italy.

Aftermath  -  Flayed Alive

Nachoragan was already running out of supplies and winter was approaching. He broke off the siege and retreated the following day. His troops headed towards Kotais and Mochereisis. Sassanid reinforcements arrived too late to make a difference and also retreated. The Byzantine forces were left in undisputed control of the western districts of Lazica. Nachoragan eventually crossed into Caucasian Iberia to winter.

News of the disaster however reached the Persian shah, Khosrau I (r. 531–579), who was enraged with his general. Agathias reports that Nachoragan was flayed alive by orders of Khosrau. "His skin, torn off in one piece from head to foot, so as to retain the shape of the body, was sewn up and inflated like a bladder". Khosrau reportedly kept it on display as a warning against "anyone who fled before the enemies" of the King of Kings.

 

The Lazic War had started in 541 with the defection of the Lazi under their king Gubazes II from Rome to Persia. The Persians quickly overran the country, but after Gubazes learned that the Persians planned to kill him, deport his people and bring in Persian colonists, he asked the Byzantines for help.

The Roman - Persian Wars.
For centuries both empires had fought a series of nearly meaningless border wars with each other over the control of assorted smaller client states and selected fortresses.  For the most part, the Roman-Persian border hardly moved. 

Sassanid Persian Empire



Persian soldier at the walls of Ctesiphon, Persia.

(Lazic War)          (iranpoliticsclub.net - Sassanian)

(books.google - Siega of Phasis)         (Siege of Phasis)