tr6

:rthlmr

Its

llhtorlcr

Eooh,

and rolllng_ dow_n ctones, had no dlllleulty in dhlodgrng them, after whlch
they sallied forth against thern slew about forty men 6n put the rert to n
ignominious rout. 8 Elated by their uno<pected success the barbnrinna
moved close to the camp. Fierce fighting ensued with the Tzani dctermlnetl
to get in and take all by storm and the Romans convinced tlrat not jurt
failure _to repulse t\ engmy but anything short of exrerminating therl
would be a stain on their honour. rt was a scene of violent and dpernt.
hand-to-hand fighting in whidr both sides threw all their weight inio the
struggle. For a long time the issue hung precariously in the balance and rhe
multifarious and all-pervasive din of battle raged confusedly.
-2. on seeing that the.enemy were leadedess and were not emptroying
safe tactics or attacking rh enclosure ar various points but were at nat",i
into one part, the Roman commander Theodorus ordered some of his troops

to

stand their ground and tace the enemy whilst he secretly dispatched

rear.

ns

Targe aforce as he could muster to take the enemy in the

z dvancing
stealthily
they appeared behind the bad<s of the enemy and suddenly l"t oui
u lg"i and piercing urar-cry. TheTzaniwere rhrown into compl.ie confusion

and had only one thought in their minds

to take to iheir heels like
cowards. And so they fled, almost beside themselves
with fear, and the
Romans made short wgrlc g! them, killing two rhousand and scatiering the
rest. 3- H,aving thus forcibly suMued the entire nation, Theodorus sent n
reporl of what had happened to the Emperor and asked what further measures he wished him to take.
'w[rerzupon Justinian bade him impose upon
them a fixed annual tri!"J" to be paid in prpetrrity. It was his purpose that

in this yy
*ey _should become ,.ur. oi their position ,, d.p.ndants and
ral,oe that they belonged to a rributary srate a;d were rhe embers of a
s.ubject race._Accordingly their names were all inscribed in a r.girter,
an&
they w-ere subfected to the payment of a tdbute whidr to this veray'they
are still aying.
4 The Ernperor Justinian was especially pleased at this success and
regarded it, I think as one of his majoiadrievements; so much so that in one
of his own supplementary decrees, whidr are known ,, ,,Nor,,,-*h.r. h.
is enumerating his other victories he makes speciar mention o{ thi, people. r

l-No".

pr.f. The relevant passage may be translated as follows: *Busied as

we re
with_the-cares of Empire, our mind intent on sucrr weighty
*-rrring thrt
-r,r..,
the Persians
n9 trouble, that the vandars and thT 1fu;;;; ;;rr"
L.i, ,tt"_cu1e
giance, that_the Carthaginians continue in the possession of
their ancient freedom to
whidr they have been restored and that the T),*l, who have rr"* r* the firrt tim.
come under the dominion of
R_ogary,, may be classed among the subl.ect peoples,
(an r:,nprecedented boon whidr$9
God has bstowed upon the Romir,
ii, * ,.ig"l
we are in addition beset by the multitude of individual problems"Jv
."tin"uuy Joumitted to us _by our subjecrs and for which in eadr and .u..y
*"-give the
appropriate mling".
"*

l'7

had been firmly put i'n

! So, once aI[ eggrculon 'il ended and thc Tzanl
tha
to
Bcneroh ln Lazico.
.r ariiiUoa, Thelorur returnod
ilh;;tr";
"' ffi;1ong
waE once more almost
Constantino,ple
Uiio* itiro evcnts

2
to thtsiuni by a tertible earihquake' A convulsion of
ri rrutior, its ho*or was further accentuated by
;;;;lfiiigifr"a.
the fatetul nd harrowins events that followed in
;iil;;i;#;;-by
to
iit *tf.*. , It *r, in fact that time of yeat when autumn was drawingcelewas being
.f*lra the paditionrl Ro*r' Festival of the Names3
expected seeing
to
be
v/s
in,
whidr
set
already
had
**ther
;;. iir".ria
the
;h;; rh" ,*, ;r, udrrn"irrg towards the winter solstice and approaching
of
zone-gr
"clima
;ig" ; Crp;icorn. rt *rt tti*rtTlv t9ut19 in the eighdr
towards
j
Then
it.n
;t-E;i;, as I believe te tpeciatirts in this field call in thlir beds disaster
iart *n.i Jl th" citizens were sleeping nea;efr1lly
to its foundations'
;"dd;it;;.k, and every srructure wai instantly shaken
in intensity as
growing
kepl
t[-ri.-orr, *iri.h were violent to start with,Everbod{
yut.awakened and
*.wf, rising to , .rtrrtrophi"- 9liqo' . 4
by the usual pious
ccornpanied_
heard,
;ilJ; and urrr.r,trtions cdd be
moments of crisis'
in
lips
to
the
quch
;l;J;,ir* that spring spontaneously
like thundql
sound
grgylincdu"pf
a
ty
followed
Each successirr" tr"-or""s
sense of
general
the
dub1ed
whidi
earth,
the
of
il the bowels
ev*.,alavaporous
the
with
grew
dim
air
surrounding
alarm.The
;;;*J
a du11
gleamed
with
and
source,
,rnkno*n
ai
from
rising
haze
i, of , smoky
filling
of their houses'
,di"""' 5 i']anic-strid<n' the people poured out
not overtake them
could
thorrgh^destruction
,r
alleywayr,
Jnd
ifr"-r"*"
o
;;;rr,r1" ort of door, ,r indoois. 6 The fact is that every ofquarter
obstnrcfrel
ih;d;i; hua"ily built up that wide open spaces -entirely anxiety of mind
;i;;;;" "" .*rr.*ly irr. ,ight. Neverthless ih"it f.rtofandsomehow turning
,*r"a to subside graduall; at the mere possibility

*iot.iAu trri.l

z l4th-21td
e

December

L.D.557.

classes of
fir. nro,,rtir, n f.rtirrd-of prlrn o.igl" ofletred by the Emp_erot to. certain
dav
correseach
Dec')'
17th
t*,riv-fo".*a'vs
l"rt
*. p"p"f"r. It
aNov' guest beine
;;;ds * ;;; oi tf," t*untv*o.rr l.tt.rr oi the Greek alphabet and eadr
,invited"onthedaycorrespondingtotheinitialletterofhisnarne.

;idr.ven climata (or belts of latitude), the positions of

n""d *ith respct to these zones' Though the Byzartines were
ciiies being"r;rllt
.rrt"or simply to trnsmit -or. oi l.r, mechanically the data contained in ancient
qlrrh"iir i,ra ,r Pt1.-y, it did become_nece-ssryin the course.of time for them
the world's
ti add to or otherwise moify th. ancient lists indicating the position_of ertoneously
to.be
came
Byzantium
process
soch
adiustments
f
the
major citi.s. In
insrted into the seventh instead of the flfth zone. There is also evidence however
division of the inhabited
i.f-ptr.tirr". Capella VIII, 876) of a difierently consructed refering
to this or some
wrld into eight elts of latitude. Agathias seems here to be
sucih scheme mployed by the savanti of his day who, he tells us, inserted Byzantium
into the eighth zone'

n n.i.nt geographrs

i;;;*;