The Early Medieval History of Greece - 8-10-2026 130

The year is 396 AD. The Roman Empire has just been divided into East and West. Greece falls under the eastern Roman empire which was later known as Byzantium. Byzantium stretches from the Danube river to the Red sea and from Albania to Armenia. The capital, Constantinouple, sits on two continents. Athens, Patras, and Thessaloniki sit on the iconic Greek lands as the water of the Mediterranean sea splashes the cities of Ephesus, Tarsos, and Caeserea Martimina. The city of Aleppo sits deeper inland. The city of Alexandria in northern Egypt is a major trading hub on the Mediteranean sea. The city of Berenice sits lonely to the side. The Visigothic peoples settle in from the north for refuge from the invading Huns. The Visigoths faught with them due to them not supplying them with food and eventually, the exausted Byantines let their leader get a military title. The Vandals, the Ostrogoths, and the Heruli  were not obeying the commandments of the pope, and the Byzantine emperor had declared himself the pope's protector. The pope ordered that their people would be gotten rid of. In 534 AD, Byzantium conquered the Vandals. In 536 AD, the Byzantines conquered Dalmatia, Sicily, and southern Italy from the Ostrogoths. In 537 AD, the Byzantines pushed slightly deeper. In 538 AD, the Byzantines had conquered Rome. In 541 AD, the Ostrogoths reconquered Rome. In 551 AD, the Byzantines reconquered Rome and all the land around the Adriatic sea. In 553 AD, the Byzantine Empire conquered some of the southern land of the Visigoths. In 554 AD, Byzantium conquered the Ostrogoths. In 556 AD, Byzantium conquered the southwestern territory of the Visigoths. In 566 AD, Byzantium conquered Armenia from Sassanid but lost a small territory to the Visigoths. In 569 AD, the Lombard people began an invasion of Byzantine Italy. In 571 AD, Sassanid reconquered Armenia. In 573 AD, the Lombard people conquered Tuscany from Byzantium and two Lombard generals invaded too so deep into the Byzantine empire that they founded two separate sovereign states, Spoleto, and Benevento. By 585 AD, the Visigoths had conquered most of their land back. In 602 AD, the Lombard people conquered Venice and the surrounding Veneto. In 603 AD, Sassanid conquered through Byzantium to the Mediterranean sea. In 608 AD, Sassanid conquered most of Byzantine Anatolia. In 614 AD, Sassanid conquered Israel from Byzantium. In 616 AD, the Visigoths made a small invasion toward the Mediterranean sea against the Byzantines. In 618 AD, Sassanid conquered Egypt from Byzantium. In 624 AD, the Visigoths reconquered all of their land and the Byzantine empire reconquered Anatolia. In 628 AD, the Byzantine empire reconquered Egypt, Israel, and Armenia from Sassanid. In 638 AD, the new Muslim caliphate conquered Israel from Byzantium. In 639 AD, the caliphate conquered northern Mesopotamia from Byzantium. In 642 AD, the caliphate conquered the Negev desert in southern Israel. In 643 AD, the caliphate conquered Egypt from Byzantium. In 646 AD, the caliphate conquered most of eastern Anatolia from Byzantium. In 656 AD, the caliphate conquered Cyprus from Byzantium. In 670 AD, the caliphate, now known as Umayyad, conquered Byzantine north Africa and surrounded Utica. In 681 AD, the Bulgarians moved into Byzantium from the north and set up a kingdom in Byzantine territory. In 691 AD, Benevento conquered deeper into Byzantine territory. In 699 AD, Umayyad conquered Utica. In 720 AD, Umayyad conquered Sardinia from Byzantium. In 728 AD, the Lombard people conquered slightly deeper into Byzantine territory. In 751 AD, the Lombard people conquered Ravenna, while the Byzantines reconquered a small part of their Anatolian lands. In 752 AD, the Lombard people conquered Rome and Spoleto. In 789 AD, the empress Irene of Byzantine refused to let her son marry king Charlemagne's daughter and the Franks and Byzantium went to war. the Franks ended up conquered the Istria peninsula. In 803 AD, the Franks conquered Dalmatia from Byzantium. In 812 AD, Bulgaria conquered modern-day northern Bulgaria from Byzantium and Byzantium conquered a small part of Illyria from the Franks. In 827 AD, Umayyad, now called Abbasid, conquered Crete from Byzantium and instated the Islamic state of Crete. In 828 AD, Abbasid began their invasion of Byzantine Sicily. In 832 AD, Abbasid conquered to the north from their Sicilian lands in Sicily. By 844 AD, Abbasid conquered most of Sicily. In 851 AD, Serbia was founded in Byzantine territory. In 856 AD, war was going on between Byzantium and Bulgaria was going better for Byzantium on the west and worse on the east. In 874 AD, Byzantium conquered most of Benevento. In 879 AD, Abbasid conquered the rest of Sicily. In 895 AD, Bulgaria had conquered most of modern-day Bulgaria from Byzantium. In 903 AD, the emirate of Cordoba conquered the Balearic islands from Byzantium. In 905 AD, Bulgaria conquered Albania from Byzantium. In 918 AD, Bulgaria conquered most of Greece from Byzantium. In 921 AD, Croatia conquered Byzantine Illyria. In 962 AD, Byzantium conquered Crete. In 963 AD, Byzantium conquered Sicily from Fatimid. In 964 AD, Fatimid reconquered it. In 965 AD, Byzantium conquered some of Aleppo. In 966 AD, Byzantium conquered Cyprus from Aleppo. In 970 AD, Byzantium conquered Aleppo's coastline to the Mediterranean sea. In 980 AD, Byzantium abandoned Crimea. For more history of Byzantium, see the next paragraph! -- Written by Vikenait Productions