Ravenna: Encyclopedia II - Ravenna - Early history

Ravenna - Early history

The origins of Ravenna are uncertain. The first settlement is variously attributed to the Tyrrhenians, the Thessalians, or the Umbrians. Ravenna consisted of houses built on piles on a series of small islands in a marshy lagoon - a situation similar to Venice several centuries later. The Romans ignored it during their conquest of the Po River Delta, but later accepted it as a federated town into the Roman Empire in 89 BC. In 49 BC, it was the location where Julius Caesar gathered his forces before crossing the Rubicon. Later, after his battle against Mark Anthony in 45 BC, Emperor Augustus founded the military harbor of Classe. This harbor, protected at first by its own walls was an important station of the Roman imperial fleet. Nowadays the city is landlocked, but Ravenna remained an important seaport on the Adriatic until the early Middle Ages. During the German campaigns, Thusnelda, widow of Arminius, and Marbod, King of the Marcomanni, were confined at Ravenna.

Ravenna greatly prospered under Roman rule. Emperor Trajan built a 70 kilometer long aquaduct at the beginning of the 2nd century. In 402, Emperor Honorius tranferred the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Milan to Ravenna. The transfer was made primarily for defensive purposes: Ravenna was surrounded by swamps and marshes and had ease of access to Imperial forces of the Eastern Roman Empire. However, in 409, King Alaric of the Visigoths simply bypassed Ravenna, and went on to sack Rome and to take Galla Placidia, daughter of Emperor Theodosius I, hostage. After many vissitudes, Galla Placidia returned to Ravenna with her son, Emperor Valentinian III and the support of her uncle Theodosius II. Ravenna enjoyed a period of unprecedented peace, during which time the Christian religon flourished, and the city gained its most famous monuments, both secular (demolished) and Christian (largely preserved).

In 476, the Western Roman Empire fell. Eastern Emperor Zeno sent Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great to re-take the Italian peninsula. After the Battle of Verona, Odoacer retreated to Ravenna, where he withstood a siege of three years by Theodoric, until the taking of Rimini deprived Ravenna of supplies. After Theodoric slew Odoacer, Ravenna was the capital of the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy. After 493, Theodoric employed Roman architects for secular and religious structures, including the lost palace near San Apollinare Nuovo; the "Palazzo di Teodorico" was an outbuilding. Theodoric and his followers were Arians, but co-existed peacefully with the Latins. Theodoric died in 526 and was succeeded by his daughter Amalasunta, who was killed in 535.

However, Byzantine Emperor Justinian I was fanatically orthodox, and opposed both Ostrogoth rule and the Arian cult. In 535 AD he invaded Italy and in 540 conquered Ravenna. Ravenna became the seat of Byzantine government in Italy.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Early history", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki