BYZANTINE EMPIRE

the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which survived for a thousand years after the western half had crumbled into various feudal kingdoms and which finally fell to Ottoman Turkish onslaughts in 1453. The city of Byzantium grew from an ancient Greek colony founded on the European side of the Bosporus. In AD 330 the Roman emperor Constantine I, in an attempt to strengthen the empire, refounded Byzantium as Constantinople, the New Rome and capital of the eastern half of the empire. At his death in 395 Emperor Theodosius I divided the empire between his two sons, and it was never reunited. Theodosius also made Christianity the sole religion of the empire, and Constantinople assumed preeminence over other Christian centres in the East as Rome did in the West. The fall of Rome to the Ostrogoths in 476 marked the end of the western half of the Roman Empire. The eastern half continued as the Byzantine Empire, with Constantinople as its capital. The eastern realm differed from the western in many respects. It was heir to the Hellenistic civilization, a blending of Greek and Middle Eastern elements dating back to the conquests of Alexander the Great. It was more commercial, more urban, and richer than the West, and its emperors, who in the Hellenistic tradition combined political and religious functions, had firmer control over all classes of society. They were also more skillful in fending off invaders, through both warfare and diplomacy. With these advantages, the Byzantine emperors, who still considered themselves Romans, long nourished the dream of subduing the barbarian kingdoms of the West and reuniting the empire. The greatest of these emperors was Justinian I (reigned 527565), who with his able wife Theodora prepared for the reconquest by defeating the Persians on the eastern frontier and extirpating various heresies that had alienated the Roman Catholic church. He sponsored a compilation and recodification of Roman law and built the magnificent Hagia Sophia cathedral. Justinian's reconquests of North Africa and Italy were short-lived. The later years of his reign were marred by renewed war with the Persians and incursions by Bulgar and Slavic tribes, which created severe shortages of manpower and revenue. The weakened empire, preoccupied with internal problems, grew less and less concerned with the West. Although its rulers continued to style themselves Roman long after the death of Justinian, the term Byzantine more accurately describes the very different medieval empire. Perhaps the most significant cultural feature of the Byzantine Empire was the type of Christianity developed there. More mystical and more liturgical than Roman Christianity, it was also less unified because of age-old ethnic hostilities in the region, the survival of various heresies among the clergy in Syria, Egypt, and other provinces, and the early use of the demotic (vernacular) languages in religious services. This disunity partly caused the sweeping success of the Arab invasions that began after Muhammad's death in 632. Within 10 years Syria and Palestine, Egypt and North Africa were under Muslim Arab control. Religious disunity continued to weaken the empire throughout the Iconoclastic Controversy (a dispute over the use of religious images, or icons) of the 8th and early 9th centuries, which left the Eastern Orthodox church split into factions and further alienated from Rome. A formal schism between Eastern and Western churches was mutually agreed to in 1054. By that time the Eastern Orthodox church had been revitalized by successful missions among the Russians, Bulgars, and Slavs, some of them directed by the monks Cyril and Methodius, whose invention of Slavonic alphabets (still called Cyrillic) made possible the translation of the Bible and the spread of literacy along with Christianity in Slavic lands. Although the empire had lost much territory to the Arabs and to the independent kingdoms established in the Balkan Peninsula, its remnants were strengthened by a number of institutional reforms. A new administrative unit, the theme, was introduced along with a system of military land grants and hereditary service that ensured an adequate supply of soldiers. It also laid the foundation for the emergence of great landed families who in later centuries would wage dynastic struggles for the imperial throne. The Byzantine economy was actually strengthened by the loss of territory, as the shrinking empire allowed greater freedom to merchants and agricultural labour. All of these developments led to a golden age marked by a literary renaissance and brief resurgence of military and naval power under the Macedonian dynasty, whose founder, a peasant adventurer named Basil, murdered his way to the throne in 867. The Macedonian emperors supervised the Hellenization of the Code of Justinian, into which they wrote the principle of imperial absolutism tempered only by the spiritual authority of the church. They also reversed for a time the military defeats of their predecessors and reconquered large areas from the Arabs and Bulgars. No matter how centralized their administration or how absolute their power on paper, the emperors were unable to stop the feudalization of the empire and the concentration of land and wealth in a few great families. The rivalry between rural and urban aristocracies led each faction to nominate its own imperial candidates. While they were engaged in civil disputes, new enemies, the Normans and the Seljuq Turks, increased their power around the eastern Mediterranean. In the late 11th century, Emperor Alexius I reluctantly sought help from the outside. He appealed to Venice, to whom he gave the first of the commercial concessions that helped make it a great maritime power, and to the pope, who in turn appealed to the feudal rulers of the West, many of them, ironically, Normans. These doubtful allies rapidly turned the ensuing Crusades into a series of plundering expeditions not only against the Turks but also against the heart of the Byzantine Empire. The Fourth Crusade resulted in the fall of Constantinople to Venetians and crusaders in 1204 and the establishment of a line of Latin emperors. The empire was recaptured by Byzantine exiles in 1261, but under the final Palaeologus dynasty it was little more than a large city-state besieged from all sides. In the 14th century the Ottoman Turks replaced the Seljuqs as the major enemy in the east. Almost the entire Balkan Peninsula fell to them, but their siege of Constantinople, begun in 1395, was prolonged by the city's near-impregnable strategic position and by Turkish factionalism. It ended in 1453, when the last emperor, also named Constantine, died fighting on the walls and the Turks took the city. The final stronghold of Greek power, Trapezus (modern Trabzon, Turkey), fell to the Turks in 1461. the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which survived for a thousand years after the western half had crumbled into various feudal kingdoms and which finally fell to Ottoman Turkish onslaughts in 1453. The very name Byzantine illustrates the misconceptions to which the empire's history has often been subject, for its inhabitants would hardly have considered the term appropriate to themselves or to their state. Theirs was, in their view, none other than the Roman Empire, founded shortly before the beginning of the Christian Era by God's grace to unify his people in preparation for the coming of his Son. Proud of that Christian and Roman heritage, convinced that their earthly empire so nearly resembled the heavenly pattern that it could never change, they called themselves Romaioi, or Romans. Modern historians agree with them only in part. The term East Rome accurately described the political unit embracing the Eastern provinces of the old Roman Empire until 476, while there were yet two emperors. The same term may even be used until the last half of the 6th century, as long as men continued to act and think according to patterns not unlike those prevailing in an earlier Roman Empire. During these same centuries, nonetheless, there were changes so profound in their cumulative effect that after the 7th century state and society in the East differed markedly from their earlier forms. In an effort to recognize that distinction, historians traditionally have described the medieval empire as Byzantine. The latter term is derived from the name Byzantium, borne by a colony of ancient Greek foundation on the European side of the Bosporus, midway between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea; the city was, by virtue of its location, a natural transit point between Europe and Asia Minor (Anatolia). Refounded as the new Rome by the emperor Constantine in 330, it was endowed by him with the name Constantinople, the city of Constantine. The derivation from Byzantium is suggestive in that it emphasizes a central aspect of Byzantine civilization: the degree to which the empire's administrative and intellectual life found a focus at Constantinople from 330 to 1453, the year of the city's last and unsuccessful defense under the 11th (or 12th) Constantine. The circumstances of the last defense are suggestive, too, for in 1453 the ancient, medieval, and modern worlds seemed briefly to meet. The last Constantine fell in defense of the new Rome built by the first Constantine. Walls that had held firm in the early Middle Ages against German, Hun, Avar, Slav, and Arab were breached finally by modern artillery, in the mysteries of which European technicians had instructed the most successful of the Central Asian invaders: the Ottoman Turks. The fortunes of the empire thus were intimately entwined with those of peoples whose achievements and failures constitute the medieval history of both Europe and Asia. Nor did hostility always characterize the relations between Byzantines and those whom they considered barbarian. Even though the Byzantine intellectual firmly believed that civilization ended with the boundaries of his world, he opened it to the barbarian, provided that the latter (with his kin) would accept Baptism and render loyalty to the emperor. Thanks to the settlements that resulted from such policies, many a name, seemingly Greek, disguises another of different origin: Slavic, perhaps, or Turkish. Barbarian illiteracy, in consequence, obscures the early generations of more than one family destined to rise to prominence in the empire's military or civil service. Byzantium was a melting-pot society, characterized during its earlier centuries by a degree of social mobility that belies the stereotype, often applied to it, of an immobile, caste-ridden society. A source of strength in the early Middle Ages, Byzantium's central geographical position served it ill after the 10th century. The conquests of that age presented new problems of organization and assimilation, and these the emperors had to confront at precisely the time when older questions of economic and social policy pressed for answers in a new and acute form. Satisfactory solutions were never found. Bitter ethnic and religious hostility marked the history of the empire's later centuries, weakening Byzantium in the face of new enemies descending upon it from east and west. The empire finally collapsed when its administrative structures could no longer support the burden of leadership thrust upon it by military conquests. Additional reading General works Alexander P. Kazhdan (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3 vol. (1991), treats all aspects of Byzantine studies. Donald M. Nicol, A Biographical Dictionary of the Byzantine Empire (1991), is a useful reference work. The geography of the Byzantine Empire is treated in Alfred Philippson, Das byzantinische Reich als geographische Erscheinung (1939); and its church and theology in Hans-Georg Beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich, 2nd ed. (1977); and John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology, 2nd ed. (1979, reissued 1987). Useful collections of translated extracts from primary sources are Ernest Barker, Social and Political Thought in Byzantium: From Justinian I to the Last Palaeologus (1957, reissued 1961); and Deno John Geanakoplos (compiler), Byzantium: Church, Society, and Civilization Seen Through Contemporary Eyes (1984).The following surveys and analyses provide brief introductions to Byzantine history and civilization: Norman H. Baynes and H.St.L.B. Moss (eds.), Byzantium: An Introduction to East Roman Civilization (1948, reissued 1969); J.M. Hussey, The Byzantine World, 4th ed. (1970); and Philip Whitting (ed.), Byzantium: An Introduction, new ed. (1981). Deeper study of Byzantine history should begin with George Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State, rev. ed. (1969, reissued 1980; originally published in German, 3rd ed., 1963); The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 4, The Byzantine Empire, 2nd ed., 2 parts (196667), which contains extensive bibliographies; and John Julius Norwich, Byzantium, 3 vol. (198895). Various aspects of Byzantine history and civilization are discussed in Norman H. Baynes, Byzantine Studies and Other Essays (1955, reprinted 1974); Robert Browning, The Byzantine Empire, rev. ed. (1992); Franz Dlger, Byzanz und die europische Staatenwelt (1953, reprinted 1976); H.W. Haussig, A History of Byzantine Civilization (1971; originally published in German, 1959); Alexander Kazhdan and Giles Constable, People and Power in Byzantium: An Introduction to Modern Byzantine Studies (1982); Cyril Mango, Byzantium, the Empire of New Rome (1980); and Steven Runciman, Byzantine Civilisation (1933, reissued 1994), and The Byzantine Theocracy (1977). A.A. Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire, 3241453, 2nd ed. rev. (1952, reissued 1980; originally published in Russian in different eds., 191725), is still of interest, although now somewhat out-of-date.Ongoing research is found in these periodicals: Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (annual), published in Birmingham; Byzantinische Zeitschrift (semiannual), published in Munich; Byzantion (semiannual), published in Brussels; Byzantinoslavica (semiannual), published in Prague; Dumbarton Oaks Papers (annual), published in Washington, D.C.; Jahrbuch der sterreichischen Byzantinistik (annual), published in Vienna; Revue des tudes Byzantines (annual), published in Paris; Travaux et Mmoires (irregular), published in Paris by the Centre de Recherche d'Histoire et Civilisation Byzantines; and Vizantiiskii Vremennik (annual), published in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The empire to 867 The Roman and Christian background H.St.L.B. Moss, The Formation of the East Roman Empire, 330717, in The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 4, part 1, 2nd ed. (1966), pp. 141, is an introduction to the problems discussed in this section. Further reading might include A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, 284602: A Social, Economic, and Administrative Survey, 3 vol. (1964, reprinted in 2 vol., 1986); Norman H. Baynes, Constantine the Great and the Christian Church (1930, reprinted 1975); Gilbert Dagron, Naissance d'une capitale: Constantinople et ses institutions de 330 451, 2nd ed. (1984); and the survey by Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity, AD 150750 (1971, reissued 1989; also published as The World of Late Antiquity: From Marcus Aurelius to Muhammad, 1971). The 5th and 6th centuries J.B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I. to the Death of Justinian (AD 395 to AD 565), 2 vol. (1923, reprinted 1963); and Ernst Stein, Histoire du Bas-Empire, 2 vol. in 3, ed. by Jean-Remy Palanque (194959, reprinted 1968; vol. 1 originally published in German, 1928), give extensive and well-documented coverage of the whole period. Other works on the period are Averil Cameron, The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity, AD 395600 (1993); John W. Barker, Justinian and the Later Roman Empire (1966, reissued 1977); and Robert Browning, Justinian and Theodora, rev. ed. (1987). The role of the demes and factions is analyzed by Alan Cameron, Circus Factions: Blues and Greens at Rome and Byzantium (1976). The 7th century and the Heraclian reforms A readable survey of this and the following three centuries is Romilly Jenkins, Byzantium: The Imperial Centuries, A.D. 6101071 (1966, reissued 1993). A general overview of the 7th century is found in the essays collected in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, vol. 13 (1959, reprinted 1967). Additional studies are John F. Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture (1990); and Warren Treadgold, The Byzantine Revival, 780842 (1988). Works on the foundation of the themes and on agrarian problems are Johannes Karayannopulos, Die Entstehung der byzantinischen Themenordnung (1959); and Paul Lemerle, The Agrarian History of Byzantium from the Origins to the Twelfth Century, trans. from French (1979). Byzantium's relations with eastern Europe are discussed in Dimitri Obolensky, The Empire and Its Northern Neighbours, 5651018, The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 4, part 1, 2nd ed. (1966), pp. 473518, and in his The Byzantine Commonwealth (1971, reprinted 1982). The age of iconoclasm (717867) The standard survey remains J.B. Bury, A History of the Eastern Roman Empire from the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil I, A.D. 802867 (1912, reissued 1965). A good history of Iconoclasm is Edward James Martin, A History of the Iconoclastic Controversy (1930, reprinted 1978); and various aspects of the matter are treated in Anthony Bryer and Judith Herrin (eds.), Iconoclasm (1977). Of particular importance are the works of F. Dvornik: Les Lgendes de Constantin et de Mthode vues de Byzance, 2nd ed. (1969), Les Slaves, Byzance et Rome au IXe sicle (1926, reprinted 1970), The Photian Schism: History and Legend (1948, reprinted 1970), and Byzantine Missions Among the Slavs (1970). H. Grgoire, The Amorians and Macedonians, 8421025, in The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 4, part 1, 2nd ed. (1966), pp. 105192, is also useful. Relations between Byzantium and the Arabs are discussed in A.A. Vasiliev, Vizantiia i araby, vol. 1, Politicheskiia otnosheniia Vizantii i arabov za vremia Amoriiskoi dinastii (1900), available also in a French translation, Byzance et les Arabes, vol. 1 (1935). From 867 to the Ottoman conquest The Macedonian era (8671025) Works covering this period include Robert Browning, Byzantium and Bulgaria (1975); J.B. Bury, The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century (1911, reprinted 1970); J.M. Hussey, Church & Learning in the Byzantine Empire, 8671185 (1937, reissued 1963); Steven Runciman, A History of the First Bulgarian Empire (1930), The Eastern Schism (1955, reprinted 1983), and The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and His Reign (1929, reissued 1988); Gustave Schlumberger, L'Epope byzantine la fin du dixime sicle, 3 vol. (18961905, reprinted 1969); A.A. Vasiliev, Vizantiia i araby, vol. 2, Politicheskiia otnosheniia Vizantii i arabov za vremia Makedonskoi dinastii (1902), available also in a French translation, Byzance et les Arabes, vol. 2 (1935); Albert Vogt, Basile Ier, empereur de Byzance (867886) et la civilisation byzantine la fin du IXe sicle (1908, reprinted 1973); and Arnold Toynbee, Constantine Porphyrogenitus and His World (1973). Byzantine decline and subjection to Western influences (10251260) The period of decline and renewal (10251180) is discussed in Michael Angold, The Byzantine Empire 10251204 (1984); Ferdinand Chalandon, Essai sur le rgne d'Alexis Ier Comnne (10811118) (1900, reissued 1971), and Jean II Comnne, 11181143, et Manuel I Comnne, 11431180 (1912, reissued in 2 vol., 1971); Michael Angold, Church and Society in Byzantium Under the Comneni, 10811261 (1995); Paul Magdalino, The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 11431180 (1993); and Demetrios I. Polemis, The Doukai: A Contribution to Byzantine Prosopography (1968). Works on Byzantium and the Crusades are Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, 3 vol. (195154, reprinted 1987); Kenneth M. Setton (ed.), A History of the Crusades, vol. 13 (195575); Ralph-Johannes Lilie, Byzantium and the Crusader States, 10961204 (1993; originally published in German, 1981); and Oktawiesz Jurewicz, Andronikos I. Komnenos (1970; originally published in Polish, 1962).Studies of Byzantine subjection to Western influence (11801261) include Michael Angold, A Byzantine Government in Exile: Government and Society Under the Laskarids of Nicaea, 12041261 (1975); Charles M. Brand, Byzantium Confronts the West, 11801204 (1968, reissued 1992); Alice Gardner, The Lascarids of Nicaea (1912, reissued 1967); John Godfrey, 1204, the Unholy Crusade (1980); and Donald E. Queller, The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople, 12011204 (1977). The empire under the Palaeologi (12611453) A survey of the political and ecclesiastical history of the period is given by Donald M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 12611453, 2nd ed. (1993). Other works on particular periods and topics include Franz Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, 2nd ed. (1992; originally published in German, 1953); John W. Barker, Manuel II Palaeologus (13911425): A Study in Late Byzantine Statesmanship (1969); Ursula Victoria Bosch, Kaiser Andronikos III. Palaiologos (1965); Deno John Geanakoplos, Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 12581282 (1959, reissued 1973); Herbert Adams Gibbons, The Foundation of the Ottoman Empire (1916, reissued 1968); Joseph Gill, The Council of Florence (1959, reprinted 1982), and Byzantium and the Papacy, 11981400 (1979); Oskar Halecki, Un Empereur de Byzance Rome (1930, reprinted 1972); Angeliki E. Laiou, Constantinople and the Latins: The Foreign Policy of Andronicus II, 12821328 (1972); Jean Longnon, L'Empire latin de Constantinople et la principaut de More (1949); John Meyendorff, Byzantium and the Rise of Russia (1981); William Miller, The Latins in the Levant: A History of Frankish Greece, 12041566 (1908, reprinted 1979), and Trebizond, the Last Greek Empire (1926, reprinted 1969); Donald M. Nicol, The Byzantine Family of Kantakouzenos (Cantacuzenus) ca. 11001460 (1968), Church and Society in the Last Centuries of Byzantium (1979), Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural Relations (1988, reissued 1992), The Despotate of Epiros, 12671479 (1984), and The Immortal Emperor: The Life and Legend of Constantine Palaiologos, Last Emperor of the Romans (1992); Erich Trapp, Rainer Walther, and Hans-Veit Beyer (eds.), Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit, 12 vol. (197695); Steven Runciman, The Sicilian Vespers: A History of the Mediterranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century (1958, reissued 1992), The Fall of Constantinople, 1453 (1965, reissued 1990), The Great Church in Captivity (1968, reissued 1985), and The Last Byzantine Renaissance (1970); Kenneth M. Setton, "The Byzantine Background to the Italian Renaissance, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 100:176 (1956), and The Papacy and the Levant, 12041571, vol. 12 (197678); Speros Vryonis, Jr., The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh Through the Fifteenth Century (1971, reissued 1986); Ernst Werner, Die Geburt einer Grossmacht, die Osmanen (13001481), 4th rev. ed. (1985); Paul Wittek, The Rise of the Ottoman Empire (1938, reprinted 1971); Denis A. Zakythinos, Le Despotat grec de More, 2 vol., rev. ed. (1975); and John J. Yiannias (ed.), The Byzantine Tradition After the Fall of Constantinople (1991). Donald MacGillivray Nicol From 867 to the Ottoman conquest The Macedonian era: 8671025 Under the Macedonians, at least until the death of Basil II in 1025, the empire enjoyed a golden age. Its armies regained the initiative against the Arabs in the East, and its missionaries evangelized the Slavs, extending Byzantine influence in Russia and the Balkans. And, despite the rough military character of many of the emperors, there was a renaissance in Byzantine letters and important developments in law and administration. At the same time there were signs of decay: resources were squandered at an alarming rate; there was growing estrangement from the West; and a social revolution in Anatolia was to undermine the economic and military strength of the empire. The empire was in theory an elective monarchy with no law of succession. But the desire to found and perpetuate a dynasty was strong, and it was often encouraged by popular sentiment. This was especially true in relation to the Macedonian dynasty, the founder, Basil I, having murdered his way to the throne in 867. Probably of Armenian descent, though they had settled in Macedonia, Basil's family was far from distinguished and can hardly have expected to produce a line of emperors that lasted through six generations and 189 years. But, having acquired the imperial crown, Basil tried to make sure that his family would not lose it and nominated three of his sons as coemperors. Though he was his least favourite, through the scholarly Leo VI, who succeeded him in 886, the succession was at least secure. Even the three soldier-emperors who usurped the throne during the Macedonian era were conscious, in varying degrees, that they were protecting the rights of a legitimate heir during a minority: Romanus I Lecapenus for Constantine VII, the son of Leo VI; and Nicephorus Phocas and John Tzimisces for Basil II, the grandson of Constantine VII. Military revival A reassertion of Byzantine military and naval power in the East began with victories over the Arabs by Michael III's general Petronas in 856. From 863 the initiative lay with the Byzantines. The struggle with the Arabs, which had long been a struggle for survival, became a mounting offensive that reached its brilliant climax in the 10th century. By 867 a well-defined boundary existed between the Byzantine Empire and the territory of the 'Abbasid caliphate. Its weakest point was in the Taurus Mountains above Syria and Antioch. Basil I directed his operations against this point, recovered Cyprus for a while, and campaigned against the Paulicians, a heretical Christian sect whose anti-imperial propaganda was effective in Anatolia. But the conflict with Islam was one that concerned the whole empire, in the West as well as in the East, and by sea as well as by land. In 902 the Arabs completed the conquest of Sicily, but they were kept out of the Byzantine province of South Italy, for whose defense Basil I had even made some effort to cooperate with the Western emperor Louis II. The worst damage, however, was done by Arab pirates who had taken over the island of Crete. In 904 they plundered Thessalonica, carrying off quantities of loot and prisoners. Leo VI sent a naval expedition to Crete in 911, but the Muslims drove it off and humiliated the Byzantine navy off Chios in 912. On the eastern frontier, the Byzantine offensive was sustained with great success during the reign of Romanus I Lecapenus by an Armenian general John Curcuas (Gurgen), who captured Melitene (934) and then Edessa (943), advancing across the Euphrates into the caliph's territory. It was Curcuas who paved the way for the campaigns of the two soldier-emperors of the next generation. In 961 Nicephorus Phocas, then domestic (commander) of the armies in the West, reconquered Crete and destroyed the Arab fleet that had terrorized the Aegean for 150 years; he thereby restored Byzantine naval supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean. In 962 his strategy achieved unexpected triumphs all along the eastern frontier and culminated in the capture of Aleppo in Syria. When he was proclaimed emperor in March 963, Nicephorus appointed another Armenian general, John Tzimisces, as domestic of the East, though he retained personal command of operations against the Arabs. By 965 he had driven them out of Cyprus and was poised for the reconquest of Syria. The revived morale and confidence of Byzantium in the East showed itself in the crusading zeal of Nicephorus Phocas and John Tzimisces for the reconquest of Syria and the Holy Land. The ground lost to Islam in the 7th century was thus fast being regained; and, although Jerusalem was never reached, the important Christian city of Antioch, seat of one of the patriarchs, was recaptured in 969. These victories were achieved largely by the new cavalry force built up by Nicephorus Phocas. In the areas recovered from the Arabs, land was distributed in military holdings with the interests of the cavalry in mind. But the victories were achieved at the expense of the western provinces, and an attempt to recover Sicily ended in failure in 965. The campaigns of John Tzimisces, who usurped the throne in 969, were directed against the Emir of Mosul on the Tigris and against the new Fatimid caliph of Egypt, who had designs on Syria. By 975 almost all of Syria and Palestine, from Caesarea to Antioch, as well as a large part of Mesopotamia far to the east of the Euphrates, was in Byzantine control. The way seemed open for Tzimisces to advance to the 'Abbasid capital of Baghdad on the one hand and to Jerusalem and Egypt on the other. But he died in 976 and his successor, Basil II, the legitimate heir of the Macedonian house, concentrated most of his resources on overcoming the Bulgars in Europe, though he did not abandon the idea of further reconquest in the East. The Kingdom of Georgia (Iberia) was incorporated into the empire by treaty. Part of Armenia was annexed, with the rest of it to pass to Byzantium on the death of its king. Basil II personally led two punitive expeditions against the Fatimids in Syria, but otherwise his eastern policy was to hold and to consolidate what had already been gained. The gains can be measured by the number of new themes (provinces) created by the early 11th century in the area between Vaspurakan in the Caucasus and Antioch in Syria. The annexation of Armenia, the homeland of many of the great Byzantine emperors and soldiers, helped to solidify the eastern wall of the Byzantine Empire for nearly a century.