Most notably he is recorded as appearing in person, on foot and bearing a cudgel, to repel an attack by the Drougoubitai against a postern at a place called Arktosâan event which some modern commentators have interpreted as indicating that the Slavs penetrated into the city. For when the steering paddles had been suspended aloft by their handles in the manner described, they placed long strips of wood over them in rows, one next to the other, flooring in by this ingenious method the intervening space. They asked the assistance of the Drougoubitai, a large tribe, or confederation of tribes, living northwest of Thessalonica, who possessed the knowledge of making siege engines. While the Byzantines were preoccupied in the East against the Persians, the 580s saw ever deeper and more destructive raids in the Balkans, even into southern Greece. [47][48] The Greek scholar Andreas Stratos proposes an even longer time-frame, with the Perboundos affair taking place sometime in 672â674, his execution taking place in 674/675, just as the Arab siege began in earnest, followed by the start of the Slavic attacks on Thessalonica in 675. The citizens, in fact, were anything but remiss in their use of archery, and used it to great and conspicuous effect by stationing all the Sklavenes [a southern Slav peoples] gathered from the neighbouring regions at those points from which it was easiest to shoot accurately and where there was nothing to deflect the momentum of their missiles. Nevertheless, in order not to create the impression of having lost their nerve at the start of their offensive, they advanced neither fearlessly, nor with the rage which they later displayed, but with a certain blend of frenzy and fear, protecting themselves against their opponents by means of a barrage of missiles. [38], The Miracles mention no specific date other than the "fifth indiction", leading to speculation by modern scholars as to the timing of these events. Indeed they were not even vaguely aware of the fact that their own bodies were broken with fatigue and scorched by the sun which was beating down on their heads. The result was a remarkable and novel contraption. [33], Despite the failure of the assault and the successful replenishment of the city's food supply, the Slavs continued with their blockade and raids, setting up ambushes around the city, but their pressure on the city itself relaxed somewhat. But death forestalled their plan and before they could form a clear idea of how to carry out their scheme they lost their lives. In this manner they devised towers that were more effective than those surmounting walls on dry land. When they realized this, however, they no longer resorted to these particular evil tactics. Exacerbated by a lack of water, the famine caused great suffering among the inhabitants, described at length in the text of the Miracles. After that they split up, and moved down the main thoroughfares. Chapter 26: But while both parties were shooting and being shot at, and neither side was gaining the upper hand, a detachment of barbarians, consisting no doubt of individuals bolder and more daring than the rest, leaped overboard. In 42 BC, after the battle at Philippi, Thessalonica was made a free city. [42] Another theory, supported by Francis Dvornik and Konstantin JireÄek among others, identified the campaign at the end of the siege with the expedition launched by Justinian II (r. 685â695, 705â711) in 687/688, when the emperor led in person a campaign through Thrace and Macedonia up to Thessalonica, thus restoring the overland connection between the latter and Constantinople. They wounded the barbarians with their spears and sent them pitching backwards together with the ladder. The only imperial reaction came in 658, when Emperor Constans II campaigned in Thrace, brought many Sclaviniae under imperial control, and relocated many Slavs to Asia Minor. The idea was that, if they could penetrate the outwork when the outer gates were burnt down and creep up to the high wall, they could wreck the inner gates without having anything to fear and pen everyone up in the city by posting expert archers opposite the wall to shoot their arrows continually and prevent anyone inside from venturing out. They employed this pause in their incendiarism by shooting at us with stone-throwers and with bows during the rest of the day until darkness succeeded daylight and put an obligatory stop to their exertions. He was installed as Archbishop of Thessalonica in 1416/1417, and arrived as Ottoman forces were surrounding the city. They are in fact extremely clever in this area, and once they have decided to act, they act decisively. In 1422 Murad revoked all the privileges accorded to the Byzantines by his father and laid siege to Constantinople. His armies invaded Greece and blockaded Thessalonica. (At the time of the siege, the bishop of Thessaloniki was not Ioannes, but Eusebius.) The account given below begins while Kaminiates describes the prayers that were being undertaken to ask for protection of the city. He too was once a Christian, was reborn in the saving grace of baptism and taught the precepts of our religion. The city of Thessalonica was a Christian light in a sea of pagan darkness, filled with hostile Germanic tribes and their powerful demons who threatened George, his family and his city. Chapter 31: They set about their cunning plan in the following way: They found carts on which they placed upside down very small boats of the kind our fishermen use to fish with, adding a great quantity of firewood and a pile of brushwood. THESSALONICA. [b] Many other Slavic tribes, however, did not join the revolt, and some, like the Belegezitai, proved willing to assist the Roman side. Chapter 33: But when on that same night these impious men had brought all their preparations into effect and no detail of what was being done escaped our notice because, as has been pointed out, they had plentiful illumination and the beach on which they had forged ahead with their plans was nearby, all of us were overcome by fear and consternation, not knowing how to preserve our safety for the future. The following account of the short siege comes from John Kaminiates, who was captured and taken as a prisoner with his father and brothers. In fact, they did not allow the ships to get anywhere near, but by showering them with missiles and firebrands, they prevented them from approaching the wall and putting their plans into effect. The exact meaning of this passage is unclear; it may indicate a failed military operation by the besieged, or the massacre of a group of defectors who tried to return to the city, but it also indicates that at least a part of the besiegers (probably, based on their location, belonging to the Strymonitai) maintained relations with the city, and that the blockade was not entirely impenetrable. With these they raided across the northern Aegean, even penetrating the Dardanelles and reaching the Prokonnesos in the Sea of Marmara. The events of the siege are described in the second book of the Miracles of Saint Demetrius. Their territory is unknown, but a plausible localisation based on the sources is west of the. EUSEBIUS AND THE SIEGE OF THESSALONICA Jacoby, FGrH 101, comprises the only extant specimen of the historical writings of a certain Eusebius, who dealt with Roman affairs from Augustus to the death ofCams. At their request, a joint delegation including Thessalonian envoys went to Constantinople to intercede on his behalfâa unique event, according to Byzantinist Paul Lemerle, that illustrates the surprisingly close and amicable relationship between the Byzantine city and its "barbarian" neighbours. The siege of Thessalonica between 1422 and 1430 saw the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Murad II capture the city of Thessalonica, which remained in Ottoman hands for the next five centuries, until it became part of the Kingdom of Greece in 1912. Thessalonica was a free city, having no Roman garrison within its walls and maintaining the privilege of minting its own coins. And it so happened at the time that the ships were driven by a tailwind in such a way as to create the impression that they were not gliding over the surface of the water but floating through the air. [25] In the same context, but in passing, the author mentions the betrayal of a part of the Slavs to the north of the city, who, while appearing to trade with the city, slaughtered "the flower of our most valorous fellow citizens". But now the present crisis has afforded an occasion for entertaining high hopes of you. During the Middle Ages, the construction of fortified cities led to a new type of military campaign — the siege. No sooner, in fact, had their feet touched the rungs of the ladder than a volley of stones as thick as hail was unleashed against them, toppling them off and sending them headlong to a watery grave. Following his confession, he was executed. He had a sword in his hand, which he brandished as he leaped down from the wall. But if, along with their previous ventures, this too were to fail, they would first dispatch with their weapons those who had put the idea into their heads and had made them sail so far to no purpose, and then would return home. In June 1422 as the Ottomans were forming their siege, Abp. [39] Hélène Antoniades-Bibicou and Halina Evert-Kappesova suggested a different reconstruction, with the arrest of Perboundos occurring in 644, followed by the two-year siege of Thessalonica, with the great Slavic assault on the "fifth indiction" in 647, followed by an imperial campaign against the Strymonitai in 648/649. Some used bows and arrows, others the handmade thunder of stones. But when he was taken prisoner by the barbarians, he embraced their impiety in exchange for the true piety of the faith and there is no way in which he more eagerly seeks to ingratiate himself with them than by making his deeds conform to his name and by taking a particular pride in flaunting the actions of a felon and a brigand. The Sack of Thessalonica refers to the capture, and subsequent sack, of the city of Thessalonica by the Abbasid Caliphate in the year 904, led by Leo of Tripoli, a privateer and Muslim convert. Preparations are quickly made, with one person named Petronas leading the efforts to strengthen the harbour defences. [19], The city could expect little assistance from the emperor, who in the face of the Arab threat could not spare any troops. Thessaloniki, one of the largest cities of the Byzantine empire in the early tenth century, was captured and pillaged in 904 by a Muslim force led by Leo of Tripoli. These consisted of pitch, firebrands, quicklime and other flammable substances got ready in earthenware vessels for possible use against ships riding at anchor, the idea being to hurl these objects in their midst and put them out of action. Our main source for its introduction comes from the Miracles of St Demetrios where they describe the Avar siege of Thessalonica. After another failed attempt to escape, he publicly proclaimed his intention of raising all the Slavic tribes in revolt and seizing Thessalonica. First of all, they lowered the sails, having positioned themselves alongside the wall, and began to take careful note of the layout of the city. The translator was executed, but Perboundos was returned to confinement in Constantinople, as before. The city was then a possession of Manuel II’s son Andronicus, who in…. [8], The second book of the Miracles of Saint Demetrius names Perboundos, the "king of the Rhynchinoi",[a] as a powerful ruler, who was sufficiently assimilated to be able to speak Greek, had relations with Thessalonica to the point of maintaining a residence there, and even dressed in the Byzantine style. Laying siege to a walled city required new war machines like battering rams for splintering thick doors and siege towers for breaching high walls. [26], Some relief was provided by the arrival of a squadron of ten armed transports, all that the emperor could spare, as he was engaged "in the other war" with the Arabs. [19], This Slavic league blockaded Thessalonica by land and raided its environs, with each tribe being assigned a specific area: the Strymonitai attacked from the east and north, the Rhynchinoi from the south, and the Sagoudatai from the west. Protecting themselves with their shields and throwing their entire being into the struggle, they stood like statues with bodies of bronze or some other hard material and displayed limitless qualities of endurance and a fighting spirit that defied description. In fact, they kept their bodies underwater until they got close up and swam in holding their shields over their heads. But should you suffer some reverse and succumb to the threats of the barbarians, there will be nothing to which one can liken the extent of your misfortune and the depth of your shame. Already the light of day was dissolving the darkness of night, when to and behold! Chapter 32: Then, when they had stopped fighting, they went aboard their ships and after a brief spell of inaction, they began to carry out the plan of attack they had cunningly contrived beforehand. But those who were manning the wall shouted back even louder and invoked the aid of the saving weapon of the cross against the enemy forces. [36][37] The emperor also sent a grain fleet under strong escort by warships, carrying 60,000 measures of wheat for the city, in what Lemerle considers an eloquent testament of renewed ability of the Byzantine central government to intervene decisively in the Balkans after the Arab danger had passed. The emperor, who was in the midst of extensive preparations for a war with the Arabs, promised to set Perboundos free once the war was over. [40] Charles Diehl and others identified the latter with Constans II's campaign in 657â658;[41] Henri Grégoire suggested 692 as the date of the general assault, but the Byzantines and Arabs were at peace in the years prior to then. Initially, the Sultan desired to capture the city in order to punish the ruling Byzantine Palaiologoi dynasty for their attempts at inciting rebellion within the Ottoman ranks. Against the already-mentioned gate alone they placed seven stone-throwing engines heavily protected on all sides, which they had previously equipped specially for this purpose during their progress by way of Thasos. Sack of Thessalonica Part of the Arab–Byzantine Wars The sack of Thessalonica, from the Madrid Skylitzes Date904 Location Thessalonica Result Short term control of Thessalonica by the Abbasids … In the rest, he too follows Lemerle's chronology. The Siege of Thessalonica in 676–678 was an attempt by the local Slavic tribes to capture the Byzantine city of Thessalonica, taking advantage of the preoccupation of the Byzantine Empire with the repulsion of the First Arab Siege of Constantinople. Abandoning all hope of safety, they walked as though dazed up and down the wall, completely overwhelmed by the magnitude of their misfortune. And we no longer allowed them to get anywhere near the wall for even a short time, even though they were kindled to greater fury and sharpened their tusks like wild boars and would have torn us up alive with them, had it been possible. If you prove superior to the present peril you will become a fitting object of praise in the estimation of all men. Once these barbarians were inside, they slew all those whom they found writhing about on the ground in the vicinity of the wall, regardless of whether they found them prostrated and paralysed with fear and so unable to move or languishing without any hope of flight owing to the injuries they had sustained during their earlier falls. Their one preoccupation was either to sack the city and vent their rage upon us or, in the event of failure, to despair of life and to dispatch themselves with their own weapons. But then (it was the third hour of the day) the glint of swords brandished by barbarian hands flashed like lightning through the air and revealed at every point the entry of the enemy. Then they lit the wood from underneath and covering themselves with their shields, went back to the archers, having carried out their plan unnoticed. Nor would they take any food throughout the entire course of that day but were insatiable for battle in spite of the tremendous heat. But some, in whose hearts the flame of courage had not been entirely extinguished, decided while waiting for the enemy to make some preparations to defend the wall and repel their advance. There was indeed no concern to ward off impending disaster, only a morbid obsession with the question of how soon and how painfully death would occur. If, thanks to it, they should be able to sack the city, they would have an easy success since there is no more effective siege tactic in existence, especially when the offensive is conducted from the water with no intervening dry land to cramp one’s style. Over three days, from 25 until 27 July, the Slavs launched attacks on the city walls but were repelled by the defenders, with the aid, according to the Miracles, of Saint Demetrius himself, who intervened numerous times to repel the assaults. They took with them a wooden ladder, which they propelled through the water and with which they attempted to scale the wall, paying no heed to the weapons discharged against them from that quarter. The mere fact that that cunning expedient had succeeded gave more than a hint to everyone of what might be the end. For the struggle concerns you yourselves, men of substance and of principle, and it concerns the rest of the city, whose title to fame has no serious contender. [43][44], The chronology accepted today by most scholars[45] is that established by Paul Lemerle in his critical edition of the Miracles, which relies on a number of factors: the great time elapsed since the previous Slavic sieges, as inferred from the narrative, points to an exclusion of earlier dates; the emperor reigning during the siege was the same as that reigning when the account was compiled, which excludes Justinian II, since his arrival in person in Thessalonica would have been mentioned by the author; and the emperor's preoccupation with a conflict with the Arabs, which removes 662, when the Arabs were in peace with Byzantium due to the First Fitna. Then they disembarked and began to shoot at those who were positioned on the high section of wall where the so called ‘Rome Gate’ stands, close to the sea. Three or four raids were launched each day, both on land and at sea, for two years; all livestock was carried off, agriculture ceased, and maritime traffic was stopped. They fought there until late into the night and then, apparently fatigued by their exertions, rested on board their ships; though perhaps they were exercising their minds how best to attack us on the following day and were intent on preparing a further series of treacherous and deceitful moves. The Siege of Thessalonica in 676–678 was an attempt by the local Slavic tribes to capture the Byzantine city of Thessalonica, taking advantage of the preoccupation of the Byzantine Empire with the repulsion of the First Arab Siege of Constantinople. In the reign of Justinian I (r. 527â565), Slavic tribes (Sclaveni) had already appeared on the Danube frontier of the Byzantine Empire. We were so far emboldened as to mock them and to hurl missiles at them and stones from the stone-throwing engines even more eagerly than on the day before. Olympus in Greece, and each summer day from daybreak to the ninth hour falling upon the city and causing a breeze. Having agreed, therefore, upon this plan, they began early in the night to put into effect their complicated scheme. For once the wrath of the barbarians has been kindled, it is borne along by an unreasoning impulse, and will not desist until it witnesses the shedding of its own or its opponent’s blood. Chapter 23: While we were thus exerting ourselves in vain, someone arrived with the news that the ships of the barbarians were already nearing the neck of land described as the ‘Jetty.’ This occurred at daybreak on Sunday the 29th of July in the six thousand four hundred and twelfth year of the Creation of the World (AD 904). Any docu mentpertaining to thethirdcenturyis guaranteedtobe ofinter est, given the lack of sources for this grimly vital period. Chapter 29: But when daybreak came and announced the second day of fighting, the strategoi [Leo Chitzilakes and Niketas] once more went to great lengths to put us on our mettle and prepare us for action. The events of the siege are described in the second book of the Miracles of Saint Demetrius. [11][16][17], On receiving news of Perboundos' execution, the Rhynchinoi rose in revolt,[18] soon joined by the Strymonitai and another neighbouring tribe, the Sagoudatai. Yet by resorting to other tactics still more cunning and more violent, they were destined to bring about our destruction by a means so effective and so far surpassing all contrivance that it was henceforth in no wise possible to stave it off. Find the perfect Siege Of Thessalonica (617) stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. Chapter 24: While we were in this situation, the leader of the barbarian forces decided to patrol the entire section of the wall that is washed by the sea. Then the white heat, spreading inwards, reduced the gates to a sheet of flame, so that in a short time they collapsed, which threw everyone into a state of abject fear. However, according to the author of the Miracles, the sailors took advantage of the Thessalonians, and sold them the grain they had brought at highly inflated prices, while the authorities used them as manpower to seek out any hidden caches of grain in the city. And in fact, when the sun was in its noonday course, when more than any other time of day it heats the air up like a furnace, they kindled their inborn fury with that last extreme of heat and goading their irrational frenzy still further with the stimulus of despair, they threw all their energies into a different (and particularly deadly) kind of siege. Thessalonica’s location and use as a port made it a prominent city. It is set in a universe closely paralleling our own but one where henotheistic gods impact human affairs. The other ships dropped anchor at a single point on the eastern shoreline and began to make their preparations. Siege of Thessalonica (617): | | | | | | Siege of Thessaloni... World Heritage Encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, … Beholding that disaster had well and truly struck, people all began to mill about in different directions, herded together by death, which loomed over them and left no further loophole for escape. [20][21] The historian Florin Curta comments that the Slavs "appear as better organized than in any of the preceding sieges, with an army of special units of archers and warriors armed with slings, spears, shields, and swords". Siege of Philadelphia. A second strategos named Niketas was also sent by Emperor Leo VI to Thessaloniki, but in a tragic incident, when he met Leo Chitzilakes they were both on horseback and Leo’s mount unexpectedly threw the rider off, seriously injuring Leo and leaving him unable to be of any use for the upcoming siege. The phrasing of the Miracles makes clear that Perboundos was guilty of some transgression, since the embassy was sent to request clemency but not exoneration. They ordered some to shoot arrows, others to fling large stones (big enough to fill a man’s hand) at those manning the inner circuit of the fortification. The new arrivals were not sufficient to prevent the Slavs from operating freely in the city's environs; anyone who ventured outside the city walls, by land or sea, seeking food was in danger of attack. [14][15] Subsequent events proved the eparch's suspicions well-founded. Select from premium Siege Of Thessalonica (617) of the highest quality. [46] The reconstructed chronology that Lemerle suggested places the arrest and execution of Perboundos sometime in early 676, with the Slavic alliance starting the siege in summer 676 and culminating in the great assault against Thessalonica in July 677. This would place the siege in the years 685â687, but once again, these years were a period of peace with the Arabs. Chapter 25: But when that wild beast had surveyed the entire extent of the wall and had noticed that the entrance to the harbour was barred by an iron chain and obstructed by the sunken hulks of a number of ships, he decided to launch his attack just at those points which he perceived to be free of those blocks of stone which, lurking on the seabed where they had earlier been placed, impeded the access of his ships and where his fleet would not be under heavier fire from that part of the wall which had already been built up to some considerable height. Thus reinforced, the Slavs launched their decisive attack on 25 July "of the fifth indiction" (677). [28], Their absence was noted and the Slavs decided to exploit the absence of so many defenders to assault the city. 8 reviews. Some scholars followed the proposal of the nineteenth-century Austrian historian T. L. Tafel, who placed the events in 634, but the then reigning emperor, Heraclius (r. 610â641) was not in Constantinople, nor had the conflict with the Arabs begun. In them they posted armed barbarians, an elite force mounted aloft on account of their physical strength and natural daring and destined to deal us the coup de grace. [1] Over the next few decades, they raided into Thrace and Illyricum, while at times serving as mercenaries in the Byzantine army. He was constructing an underwater barrier, known as porporella, which Kaminiates believed would have been able to fend off the attack, but when the military command was taken over by a strategos named Leo Chitzilakes, this plan was abandoned in favour of raising the sea walls. Drawing themselves up in rows, they took their stand some distance away yet near enough for their shots to fall upon the city with undiminished force. He chose a location, in fact, where a great depth of sea water beat against a particularly low stretch of wall, made a careful note of his position, and then, returning to his men, gave the signal for battle. Thessalonica is a historical fantasy novel by Harry Turtledove and published by Baen in 1997. We, for our part, began to pluck up courage and in the short ensuing respite to restore our morale. You are quite right to do so. This leaves 676/677, when the Byzantines under Constantine IV (r. 668â685) were confronted with the huge attack launched by the Umayyad Caliphate in 671/672, that culminated in the Siege of Constantinople in 674â678, as the only "fifth indiction" that matches all the facts described in the source. In the last third of the 6th century, the Byzantine Balkans were threatened by large-scale raids of the And so Leo, this untamable beast, this felon, sailed around the wall gazing intently and searching out with studied malice a possible point from which to launch his attack. A large-scale manhunt was launched against Perboundos, and fears of an imminent Slavic move on Thessalonica led the emperor to send a swift dromon to warn the city and instruct its leaders to take precautions and stockpile food in case of a siege. The plan involved a peculiar kind of gamble. [9][10] According to the Miracles, the peace existing between the Slavs and the Byzantines ended when theâunnamedâByzantine eparch of Thessalonica was informed that Perboundos planned to move against the city. Then he waited for the crowd to surge forward, trying to discover whether they had made off in feigned or in genuine flight. [20][35], This lasted until the emperor, free from other concerns, ordered his army to advance against the Slavs (only the Strymonitai are mentioned by name henceforth) through Thrace. The Siege of Thessalonica in 254 was the successful defense of the city of Thessalonica by local Roman militia during an invasion of the Balkans by the Goths. The anonymous author of the Miracles is highly critical of the commercial and civic elites for their greed and short-sightedness, which led to the rapid onset of famine inside the city. Therefore, stand your ground courageously and endeavour to secure victory for your native city and for yourselves and do not turn and flee from the enemy, lest, having for the sake of one small moment of weakness placed yourselves in such terrible danger, you leave behind you a novel tale for posterity to tell.’ With these fighting words he encouraged the people and went the rounds, instilling no small degree of confidence into the hearts of all. [5], By the 610s, the city of Thessalonica was surrounded by large Slavic settlements, being reduced to itself within its wall, according to historian John Van Antwerp Fine, to "virtually a Roman island in a Slavic sea". When, in fact, the latter saw that the structure of the wall was in a more serious state of disrepair in one place than anywhere else (it was the spot where we had earlier erected wooden breastworks), and noticed also that the sea was deeper just at that point, they propelled in that direction one of the pairs of ships that had been lashed together, rowing gently until they got near and had brought the bows of the ships right up to the battlement. The extent of the participation of the Drougoubitai in the siege is unclear; according to Lemerle, they likely provided only the engines and perhaps their crews. Siege of Candia 1648 – 1669. Two of these, the previously mentioned Rome Gate, and the so-called Kassandreiotic Gate, they planned to burn down. Then they hoisted by means of the rigging at the fore the pieces of wood that stand up in the middle, which sailors call masts, and attaching by their handles to these the steering-paddles of each ship, they slung them high up in the air across the ropes leading to the prow so that their blades projected beyond the side of the ship.
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