On the Question of the Hellenization of Sicily and Southern Italy During the Middle Ages
Author(s): Peter Charanis
Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Oct., 1946), pp. 74-86
Published by: American Historical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1845070
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On the Question of the Hellenizationof
Sicily and SouthernItaly during the
MiddleAges
PETER CHARANIS*
IN the Middle Ages, at least to the end of the eleventh century, important
regions of Sicily and southern Italy, notably the eastern portions of the former
and the territories known as Calabriaand terrad'Otrantoof the latter, were
Greek in language. In southern Italy, indeed, Greek survived the Middle
Ages, and there are even now, both in Calabria and the terra d'Otranto, a
number of communities where Greek is the language of the population.1
When and under what circumstancesdid Sicily and southern Italy become
Greek in language? The earliest answer given to this question was that the
prevalence of Greek in Sicily and southern Italy during the Middle Ages was
a linguistic survival of Magna Grecia.This view prevailed down to and beyond
the middle of the last century when it was challenged by the Italian philologist
G. Morosi. Morosi was the first to study systematically and scientifically the
Greek in southern Italy in the nineteenth century. He studied both the Greek
spoken in terra d'Otrantoand that spoken in Calabria. With regard to the
former he came to the conclusion that it was the popular idiom of the tenth
century, and, accordingly, he placed the origin of the Greek colonies in the
terrad'Otrantoat the end of the ninth century, during the reign of Basil I or
that of Leo VI.2The origin of the Calabriancolonies, however, he placed later
than the ninth century, in the period between the middle of the eleventh
century and the end of the twelfth. The reasonfor this was that in the Greek
dialect spoken in Calabriahe thought he had found many Arabic and Turkish
influences.3Morosi, therefore, rejected the earlier view which considered the
prevalence of Greek in Sicily and southern Italy during the Middle Ages as a
linguistic survival of Magna Grecia.
The ideas developed by Morosi became generally accepted and remained
unchallenged for a considerabletime.4In the meantime, however, the accumulation of archaeologicaland epigraphical evidence tended to show that the
ancient Greek element in Sicily and southern Italy had not been completely
*The author is associateprofessorof history in RutgersUniversity.
1 M. A. Triantaphyllides,NEOEAXTrlmdFQa,attTLXi, I (Athens, 1938), 296.
G. Morosi, Suidi suti dialetti greci della Terra d'Otranto (Lecce, I870), p. I89.
3 "II dialetto romaico di Bova di Calabria," Archivio Glottologico lialiano, IV (Torino,
I878), 72 ff.
4 See, for instance, H. F. Tozer, "The Greek-speakingPopulation of Southern Italy," journal
of Hellenic Studies, X (London, 1889), 11-42.
2
74
The Hellenization of Sicilyand SouthernItaly
75
Thisevidencewasfinallysiftedand
Latinized
by thelongRomandomination.
studiedsystematicallyby G. Rohlfs,who offeredhis resultsin a doctoraldissertation,whichhe laterrevisedand enlarged.5Rohlfs'bookmarksa reaction
to the ideaswhichhadbeendevelopedby Morosi,forRohlfsreturnedto the
works.Theconof Morosi's
beforethe publication
viewwhichhadprevailed
of eastwasthatthebasicelementof thepopulation
clusionwhichhe reached
the
Greek-speaking
throughout
ern Sicilywasnot Latinizedbut remained
no breakin the Greektraditionin
Romandomination;
therewas,therefore,
SicilyandsouthernItaly.'Rohlfs'opinionshave foundfavoramongmany
scholars.7
Rohlfs himself,however,was carefulto point out that the positionof
Greekin Sicilyhadgreatlydeteriorated
underthe RomanEmpireandhadit
not beenstimulated
it wouldhavediedout.8Thusthe
byanoutsideinfluence
in degree.
difference
betweenthe ideasof MorosiandRohlfsis a difference
Morosiheld that the Greekof MagnaGreciahadcompletelydisappeared;
butitspositionhadgreatlydeterioaccording
to Rohlfsit hadnotdisappeared,
either
caseitsrevivalin theMiddleAgesneededanoutsidestimulus.
rated.In
The problem,therefore,of determining
the natureof this influencestill
remains.
In the meantime,betweenthe publication
of the worksby Morosiand
thatof Rohlfs,whenMorosi's
hadcomideathattheGreekof MagnaGrecia
several
wasgenerally
accepted,
pletelydiedoutduringtheRomandomination
forthe
the factorswhichwereresponsible
attemptsweremadeto determine
revivalof Greekin SicilyandsouthernItalyduringthe earlyMiddleAges.
Theexplanation
acceptedwasthatthisrevivalwasthe resultof an
generally
influxintoSicilyandsouthern
Greek-speaking
element,
Italyof a considerable
buttherealproblemwasto determine
thedateandtheplaceof originof this
andthe circumstances
underwhichit wasbroughtabout.Morosi's
migration
opinionthat the earliestGreekcoloniesin southernItalywereestablished
towardthe endof the ninthcenturywasnot foundsatisfactory.
Forbesides
the factthattheevidencefortheestablishment
of Greekcoloniesin southern
Italyat the endof the ninthcenturyis veryslight,9it waswellknownthat
5 G. Rohlfs, Scavi linguistici
nella AMagna
Grecia (Rome, I933).
6Ibid., pp. 129-I 3 1.
7 J. Vendryes' review of Rohlfs' book in Revuiedes etudes grecques, XLVIII (Paris, 1935),
I85 if.
8 Rohlfs, pp. 134 if.
9 There are two references in the Bvzantine writers concerning the establishmentof Greek
colonists in Italy toward the end of the ninth century. According to a note found in the manuscript C of the chronicle of Cedrenus (Bonn, 2:225C)
the city of Gallipopoli was reconstructed
and settled during the reign of Basil I with colonists brought from Heraclea Pontica. The second
reference comes from Theophanes Continuatus (Bonn, 321) who says that Basil settled in the
theme of Longobardia three thousand former slaves from the Peloponnesus.
Peter Charanis
76
Sicily and southernItaly had becomeHellenizedlong beforethe reign of
BasilI.
Not long after the appearanceof Morosi'swork, FranqoisLenormant
publishedhis historyof MagnaGreciain whichhe offeredanotherexplanation
of the Hellenizationof SicilyandsouthernItaly. Thisexplanationhadalready
been suggestedby others, but Lenormantgave it force and expressionand
madeit his own. Lenormant's
explanationconsistedof this, that in the eighth
century, during the iconoclasticcontroversy,many Greek-speaking
monks
fled to Sicily and Italy in orderto escapethe persecutions
of the iconoclastic
emperorsandthat thesemonkswereresponsiblefor the Hellenizationof these
regions.10
This explanationsoundedplausibleand won someacceptance,11
but
furtherinvestigationshowedthat it wasopen to seriousobjections.The document upon which Lenormanthad basedhis contentionthat the numberof
monkswho fled to Italywaslargewasshownto be a forgeryof the eighteenth
century.'2This wasa seriousobjection,but still moreseriouswasthe fact that
by the beginningof the iconoclasticcontroversythe Hellenizationof Sicily
was complete.Lynn White has shown that whereasabout 6oo A.D. Sicily
"containeda considerable
Latinelement,"by 650 it "hadbecomecompletely
Greek in language,rite and culture."'3Besides,as Batiffol remarked,"a
country could not be peopled by monks, gens aeternain qua nemo nascitur."'
Lenormant'sexplanationis no longerseriouslyheld.
Thosewho have studiedthe historyof Romeand of Italy in the seventh
and eighth centurieshave been struckby the fact that out of the thirteen
popes who from 678 to 752 occupied the pontificalthrone eleven were
orientals,i.e., Greek speaking.This fact called for an explanation.Several
explanationshave beenofferedand they are all relatedto the questionof the
growthof Hellenismin Italy.
CharlesDiehl in his remarkable
study on the exarchateof Ravennaattributedthe predominance
of orientalpopesin the periodfrom678 to 752 to the
policyof the imperialgovernment.His contentionis that duringandafterthe
reignof Justinianthe imperialgovernmentmadeit a pointto fill the important
administrativepositionsin Italy with orientalsbecauseit was believedthat
they wouldmorefaithfullycarryout its policies.Henceit promotedthem to
importantpositions,particularlyin the church,and by applyingpressure
succeededin vestingthemwith the papaldignityitself.Theseorientaladmin10
F. Lenormant,La Grande-Grece(Paris, I88I), II, 380 fif.
11For example, Tozer, loc. cit., X, 38.
12 P. Batiffol, L'abbayede Rossano
(Paris, I89I), p. v.
13 Lynn White, Latin Monasticismin Norman Sicily (Cambridge, Mass., 1938), p. 17. The
third chapter of this book, which is entitled "The Byzantinizationof Sicily," appearedin a more
extensive form under the same title in the American Historical Review, XLII (I936), i-2I.
14 Batiffol, p. v.
The Hellenization of Sicily and Southern Italy
77
istrativeofficialsandecclesiastics,
aidedby orientalmerchants
whowerein
Italy,becametheagentsforthe Hellenization
of Italy,whichwasoneof the
objectivesof theimperial
government."5
The influenceof the orientalmerchants
in the Hellenization
of Italy,
whichwasonlytoucheduponby Diehl,wasdevelopedandelaborated
upon
by LouisBrehier."
Brehierwasalsostruckby the predominance
of orientals
amongthe popesof the seventhandeighthcenturies.
He agreedwithDiehl
thattherewasa politicalreasonfortheelevationof so manyorientals
to the
papalsee, but he felt that thisexplanation
wasnot enough.Brehierargues
that the electionof so manyorientalsto the pontifical
see couldhavebeen
madepossibleonly if thereexistedamongthe Romanclergyan "eliteof
orientalscapableof acceptingthe burdenof the pontificalpower"and the
"factthatit wasmadepossibleis proofof the existenceof suchan elite of
orientalclergy.""7
Theexistenceof thiseliteof orientalclergy"isoneof the
principal
indications
of thesocialinfluence
thatthe Greeksandtheorientals
exercised"
in Rome.TheseGreeksandSyrianscameto Italyaspilgrims
and
exilcs,butprimarily
asmerchants.
Thatthereweremanyorientalmerchants
in Italythroughout
thesixthcenturywasshownby Brehierto be a fact.18
ThusbothDiehlandBrehierplacethebeginnings
of thespreadof Hellenismin Italyin thesixthcenturyandattributeit to theinfluence
of theorientalswhosettledin Italyas administrative
bothlay andecclesiastic,
officials,
andas merchants.19
Diehl,however,is carefulto warnagainstanyexaggeration.""Despitethelargeplace,"he writes,"thattheorientalelementheldin
the Romansociety,andalthoughRomemayhavebeenin the seventhcento a statement
tury,according
of M. di Rossi,a cityhalfByzantine,
theLatin
tradition
andlanguage
keptsogreata forcethatmanyamongthenewlyarrived
foreigners
becamefusedwiththe indigenous
population."
Thisstatementof
cautioncastsdoubtsuponthe entiretheorythatthe spreadof Hellenismin
Italywasthe workof administrative
officials
andmerchants.
Forif in Rome
wheretheseofficials
andmerchants
werestronganddoubtless
constituted
the
upperstratumof Romansociety,theirinfluence,as a Hellenizingagent,
remained
superficial
andhardlytouchedthe coreof Romansociety,in the
provinces
wheretheyweremuchlessstrongtheirinfluencemusthavebeen
considerably
less,no doubtwithoutthe powerto changethe languageand
culturaltradition
ofa wholeregion.But,asthelanguage
andculturaltradition
15
Ch. Diehl, Ettudes sur l'adninistration byzantine dans l'exarchat de Ravenne (568-751)
(Paris, 1888),
pp. 241-88.
16 Louis Brehier,"Les colonies d'orientauxau commencementdu Moyen-Age,"Byzantinische
Zeitsc/hrift, XII (Leipzig, 1903), I-39.
17 Ibid., XII,
18 Ibid., XII, 5 ff.
4.
19 But see also Paolo Orsi, "Byzantina Siciiae," ibid., XIX (19I0),
475.
2 Diehl, p. 283.
Peter Charanis
78
affected,theagentthatdid
Italywereseriously
of Sicilyandpartsof southern
of
the orientalofficialsand
have
been
other
than
the
influence
this must
it mustbe notedthatDiehl
But besidesthisgeneralobservation,
merchants.
reallydid not produceany concreteevidencein supportof his thesis.His
were
contentionthatthe orientalpopesof the seventhandeighthcenturies
the
exerted
by
imperial
elevatedto the pontificalthronethroughpressure
of such
is by no meanswellfounded.Gayhasfoundnoevidences
government
pressure,
andhasfurtherpointedout thatthesepopeswerenot particularly
forthepredominance
wishes.Gayhimselfaccounts
to theimperial
subservient
on the
of the orientals
amongthe popesof the seventhandeighthcenturies
and
controversy
in viewof theMonotheletic
groundthattheywereessential,
becausetheywerewellversedin
the troublescausedby the Arabicinvasions,
Besides,the mostimportantregionsunderthe
the traditions
of the East.2"
of the papacyin the seventhcenturyandthe firstpartof the
jurisdiction
andCreteeighth-southernItaly,Sicily,Greece,includingThessalonica
rejectedtheviewthattheHellenization
Gay,therefore,
wereGreekspeaking.
influence
of
of SicilyandsouthernItalywasbroughtaboutby the increasing
the Byzantineadministration
and of the Greekelementthat wasalready
of Sicilyandsouththere.Inhisopinionwhatbrought
abouttheHellenization
elements
ernItalywastheinfluxof a considerable
numberof Greek-speaking
fromthe Eastas a resultof the Arabicconquests.22
Theexplanation
offeredby Gayis nowgenerally
accepted.It didnot,of
by
him
at length.Batiffol,23
withhim,norwasit developed
course,originate
andtwelveyearslaterK. Lake24
writingin 189I, offeredthesameexplanation,
thesameview.InrecentyearsLynnWhitehasbecomeitsoutspoken
expressed
exponent.
is verymeager.Already
But the evidencein supportof thisexplanation
on the
beforethepublication
of White'sstudyRohlfsrejectedthisexplanation
Whitehimselfis very muchawareof this
evidence.25
groundof insufficient
he writes,
movements,"
of thesewestward
"Thedocumentation
insufficiency.
themaregreat."26
"isasyet mostinadequate
oferrorregarding
andthechances
21
J. Gay, "Quelques remarques sur les papes grecs et syriens avant la querelles des
I, 40-54.
22 Gay, "Notes sur la crise du monde chretien apres les Conquetes Arabes,"Ecole franfaise
de Rome: MWlanges
d'archeologieet d'histoire, XLV (Paris, 1928), 2.
23 Batiffol, pp. vi ff.
24 K. Lake, "The Greek
Monasteries in South Italy," Jouirnalof Theological Studies, IV
Iconoclastes,"
Melanges ofierts a Al. Gustave Schlmberger (Paris, 1924),
(1903),
350.
Lakeattributesthe Hellenization
of Sicilyto two causes:(i)
"to the expeditionof
Constans II and the occupation by Greek soldiers and settlers to which it gave rise, and (2) to
the immigration of Greeks, lay and monastic alike, who fled from the troubles which were
depopulating the Levant generally." See also A. Vaccari, "La Grecia nell' Italia meridionale,"
OrientaliaChristiana,III (Rome, 1925), 274-75. To the expedition of ConstansII was attributed
by Lancia di Brolo the introduction of the Greek rite in Sicily. Lancia di Brolo, Storia della
chiesa in Sicilia nei primi dieci secoli del Christianesimo,II (Palermo,I884), 22 f.
25 Rohlfs, pp. I46-47.
26 White, in Am. Hist. Rev., XLII, 7.
The Hellenization of Sicilyand SouthernItaly
79
Indeed,asRohlfsremarked,
thisdocumentation
reduces
itselfto a fewisolated
instances
of persons
of orientaloriginfindingthemselves
in NorthAfricaand
Sicilyduringthe periodof the PersianandArabicinvasions.
Of the alleged
immigration
of orientals
to theOccidentduringthePersianinvasion
of Syria,
Palestine,andEgyptonlyone person,the monkJohnMoschus,is citedas
havingreachedRome.27
This beliefof a massemigration
fromthe Orient
duringthe Persianinvasionsis reallybasedon a deduction.Whereverthe
Persians
wentthey favoredthe Jacobites
andpersecuted
the Chalcedonians
whowerecomposed
chieflyof Greek-speaking
elements
andwerevastlyin the
minority.Therefore,
considerable
elementsof the Greekminoritymusthave
emigrated.28
But the factis thatno definiteevidencehasbeenproduced
to
showthat,asa resultof the Persianpersecutions,
emigrants
fromthe Orient
reachedItalyin anyappreciable
numbers.
A pieceof evidenceofferedasproofof theexistencein Italyof a considerablenumber
of orientalelementstowardtheendof thefirsthalfof theseventh
centuryis the composition
of the Romansynodof 649 whichcondemned
Monotheletism.
It wasobservedthat thissynodwascontrolledby oriental
monks,andfromthisit wasdeducedthatthesemonksmusthavecomefrom
the Orientbecauseof the Monotheletic
policyof Heraclius.
The contention
is thatHeraclius'
policysplittheChalcedonians,
manyamongwhomchoseto
abandon
theirhomeratherthanacceptthe religious
policyof the emperor.29
But the fact thatsomemonksfledto Romein orderto fightthe religious
policyof Constantinople
offersno proofof a substantial
movement
of Greeks
fromtheOrientto theOccident.Thearrivalof ecclesiastics
in Romein order
to combatsomeparticular
policyof the emperors
of Constantinople
wasa
commonoccurrence
in the earlyhistoryof the church.In thefinalanalysis,
therefore,the argumentof the establishment
of Greekemigrants
fromthe
Orientin Italyasa resultof thePersianinvasions
of theorientalprovinces
of
theempireis basedon theinstability
of conditions
in the East,bothpolitical
andreligious.
Concreteevidenceof suchan emigration
doesnot exist.
Thereremains
nowto be considered
theargument
adducedin favorof an
emigration
of Greeksfromthe Orientandtheirestablishment
in Italyas a
resultof the Arabicinvasionsof the seventhcentury.WhenAlexandria
capitulated
to the Arabsin 642,a considerable
partof the Greekpopulation
departed
withtheirgoods.Thisfactwasseizeduponby Whiteasevidencein
supportof histhesis.Hewrites,"Itseemsprobable
thatsomeof themreached
Ibid., XLII, 8.
"All this [the persecutionof the Chalcedoniansby the Persians]," writes White, "would
doubtless stimulate emigration by the Greek minority." Ibid., XLII, 9. But the point is to show
that a great many of these emigrants went to Sicily or Italy.
29 Ibid., XLII, 9
f.
27
28
80
Peter Charanis
"
onthepoint."'
thewest,"buthehastensto addthat"thereisnoclearevidence
Indeedthe evidenceto whichWhiterefersis not onlyobscurebut virtually
in SantaMariaAntiqua
nonexistent.
Whitecitestworeferences:
the frescoes
in Rome;andthe oldestMSof the Alexandrian
Liturgyof St. Mark,which
comesfromMessina.
Inthechurchof SantaMariaAntiquatherearefivelayers
of frescoes,
thesecondof whichisHellenistic
instyleandwaspaintedsometime
before650.MyrtillaAvery,whostudiedthislayer,cameto the conclusion
that its iconography
is Alexandrian
and this,plusthe fact that its style is
Hellenistic,
ledherto the furtherconclusion
thatit musthavebeenpainted
by Alexandrian
artists.3"
WhiteseizeduponMissAvery'sopinionas constitut-
ingan"admirable
evidenceof thearrivalin Romebefore650ofeasternimmigrants,"although,becauseof the chronology,
he doesnot thinkit probable
Nowboththesereferences
thattheycameasa resultof theArabicinvasions.32
in realityyieldnoevidenceof aneasternimmigration
to Italy.TheMSof the
Alexandrian
Liturgy,like other manuscripts,
may have been broughtto
Sicily,as Vaccarisuggests,by orientalmonks,33
but the fact that oriental
monksbroughtbooksto Sicilydoesnotprovethattherewasa massimmigrationthereof Greekscomingfromthe Orient.Thesameobjectionappliesto
the inferencedrawnfromthe frescoesof SantaMariaAntiqua.Besidesthe
pointthatit is by no meanscertainthatthe iconography
of thesefrescoes
is
Alexandrian-there
is indeedconsiderable
doubtwhethertherewassucha
thingas a specificAlexandrian
iconographyor a specificAlexandrian
style34-
themerepresence
of Alexandrian
in Romeis no indication
painters
of a mass
movement
of population
fromAlexandria
to Italy.
It isknownfromGreekandMohammedan
sources
relatingto theconquest
of SyriaandPalestine
by theArabsthatmanyGreeksabandoned
theirhomes
andsoughtshelterelsewhere.
This,too,wasseizeduponas possibleevidence
thattherewasa Greekmigration
to Sicilyduringthistime.Thefactis, however,thatnowherein thesesourcesis it saidthatthosewhoabandoned
their
homeswentto Sicilyor Italy.35
Mostlikelytheyallwentto AsiaMinor.The
80Ibid., XLII, In.
81 Myrtilla Avery, "The Alexandrian Style at Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome," Art Bulletin
of the College Art Associationof America, VII (New York, 1925), I31-49.
32 White, in Am. Hist. Rev., XLII, I0, n. 48.
-33"I monaci greci, che popolaronola Sicilia e poi le Calabrienell' alto medio evo, ci venivano
dalla Palestina e dall' Egitto; portavano seco, qual sacro tesoro, le divine Scritture,e allo sttudio
di esse continuaronosempre a consacrarsicon ardore, non solo per la santificazionedelle anime
loro, ma anche per istruzione e utilita'dei posteri." Vaccari,loc. cit., llI, 303.
34 Ernst Kitzinger, R&mischeMalerci voni Beginn des 7. bis zur Mitte des 8. Jahrhutnderts
(Munich, 1934), p. I2. See in addition M. Schapiro'sreview of C. R. Morey's, Early Christian
Art, in Review of Religion, January, 1944, pp. 170, i8i.
35 White (Am. Hist. Re'., XLII, Ii, n. 49) refers to Philip Khuri Hitti, Origins of the
Islamic State (New York, I9I6). I have checked the referencesand here is what I have found.
"In the year 49 the Greeks left for the sea-coast"(p. I8o). They (the Greeks of Tripoli) "wrote
to the king of the Greeks asking for relief through reinforcementor ships on which they might
The Hellenization of Sicily and Southern Italy
8I
socialand militarytransformation
of AsiaMinorduringthe seventhcentury
is usuallyexplainedby the settlementof refugeesfromthe orientalprovinces
and barbarians,
chieflySlavs,fromthe Balkanpeninsula.38
SomeemigrantsfromSyria,Palestine,and Egypt areknownto havelived
in North Africaabout 64I, and a few amongthem crossedover into Sicily
two yearslater.37But, to repeatRohlfs'statement,this is an isolatedinstance
of no greatimportance,for theseorientalswerefew in numberandpractically
all monks. And what was said by Batiffolin his criticismof Lenormant's
thesis,that monksfleeingfromthe persecutionsof the iconoclast,wereresponsiblefor the Hellenizationof SicilyandsouthernItaly, appliesequallywell to
this case:"A countrycouldnot be peopledby monks,gensaeternain quanemo
nascitur."
Theseareall the piecesof evidenceofferedin supportof the thesisthat an
emigrationfrom the orientalprovincesof the ByzantineEmpireof considerable proportiontook placeduringthe Persianand Arabicinvasionsand that
the Greek-speakingpeople involved settled in Sicily and southernItaly, a
settlementwhich had the effect of bringingabout a metamorphosis
in the
language,rite, and cultureof these regions.It must be admittedthat this
evidenceis meagerand in no way doesit justify the thesisthat has beenbuilt
uponit. Indeedthisthesisseemsto havebeenarrivedat by somesuchreasoning
as this: By the middleof the seventhcenturySicily had gone througha linguisticand culturaltransformation;
this transformation
wasbroughtaboutby
animmigrationof considerable
importance;aboutthe time thistransformation
took placethe Eastwasin the midstof a politicalandculturalconvulsion,the
resultof the Persianand Arabicconquests;therefore,the peopleinvolvedin
this immigrationmusthave comefromthe East. "From614 onward,"writes
escape an(l flee to him. Accordingly, the king sent them many ships which they boarded in the
night-time and fled away" (p. 194). "He [a certain Greek patrician] made his way togetherwith
his followers to the land of the Greeks" (p. 195). "The fact is that when Damascus was taken
possessionof, a great number of its inhabitantsfled to Heracliuswho was then at Antioch, leaving
many vacant dwellings behind that were later occupied by the Moslems" (p. i89). "At last they
[the people and soldiers of Antioch] capitulated, agreeing to pay poll tax or evacuate the place.
Some of them did leave; but others remained, and to the latter abu-Ubaidahguaranteed safety,
assessing one dinlir and one jarib (of wheat) on every adult" (p. 227). "When the Moslem
armies reached these towns [Greek towns in Syria], their inhabitants capitulated, agreeing to
pay poll-tax or evacuate the places. Most of them left for the Byzantine empire" (p. 232).
Alexandria: "Some of its Greek inhabitants left to join the Greeks somewhere else" (p. 348). It
must be said, however, in fairness to White, that he does not claim that his source actually says
that the Greeks who left the Orient went to Italy. The implication of his statement is, however,
that he believes that some of these refugees went to Sicily. That some of these refugees may have
gone to Sicily is, of course, possible, but the mere possibility that this may have happened does
not justify the belief that it did happen.
86 George Ostrogorsky,"AgrarianConditions in the Byzantine Empire in the Middle Ages,"
Canmbridge
Economic History, I (London, 1941), 197. see also my article, "On the Social Structure of the Later Roman Empire," Byzantion, XVII.
a7 White, in Am. Hist. Rev., XLII, I i f.
Peter Charanis
82
White, "the Levantsuffereda seriesof fearfulconvulsionsany one of which
The samethought
wouldhave forcedthousandsof refugeesacrossthe sea."38
formsthe basisof Gay'sarticle,"Notessur la crisedu mondechretienapres
les conquetesArabes."39
The seriesof convulsionswhich the Levantsufferedduringthe first hialf
of the seventhcenturywereindeedfearful,and doubtlessthousandsof refugees were forcedacrossthe seas,some of whom may have possiblyreached
Sicily. But theseconvulsionswerenot restrictedto the orientalprovincesof
the empire.The agony that the Balkanpeninsulasufferedwas perhapsmore
dreadfulthananythingthat happenedin the East. Bulgars,Cotrigurs,Avars,
Particularly
Slavs-all thesepeoplerivaledeachotherin theirdestructiveness.
Slavs
during
severeand devastatingwas the greatinvasionof the Avarsand
the earlyyearsof the reignof Maurice(582-602). Followingis a description
of this invasionby a contemporary.
Thatsameyear,beingthe thirdafterthedeathof kingJustin,wasfamousalso
whooverranthewholeof
people,calledSlavonians,
for theinvasionof an accursed
and all Thrace,and capturedthe
Greece,and the countryof the Thessalonians,
andburnt,andreducedthe people
cities,andtooknumerousforts,anddevastated
mastersof the wholecountry,andsettledin it by
to slavery,andmadethemselves
mainforce,anddweltin it as thoughit hadbeentheirownwithoutfear.Andfour
yearshavenow elapsed,andstill,becausethe kingis engagedin the warwiththe
Persians,andhassentall his forcesto the East,theylive at theireasein theland,
and dwellin it, andspreadthemselvesfarand wideas faras Godpermitsthem,
and ravageandburnandtakecaptives.Andto suchan extentdo theycarrytheir
ravages,thatthey haveevenriddenup to the outerwallof the city,and driven
in number,andwhateverelse
awayall the king'sherdsof horses,manythousands
theycouldfind.And evento this day,beingthe year895 [A.D. 584], they still
free from
encampand dwell there,and live in peacein the Romanterritories,
anxietyandfear,andleadcaptivesandslayandbuirn.40
This invasionwas only one of a seriesof invasionswhich left the Balkan
peninsulaprostratedand changedits ethnic composition,giving riseto problemsthe solutionof whichstill defiesthe abilityof the worldstatesmen.These
invasionsbeganbeforethe deathof Justinian,grewin intensityin the fourth
quarterof the sixthcentury,andcontinuedwellinto the seventhcentury.And
what was said of the Levantmay also be said of the Balkanpeninsula,that
from 558 onwardit "suffereda seriesof fearfulconvulsionsany one of which
wouldhaveforcedthousandsof refugeesacrossthe sea."Yet it hasoccurredto
no one amongthosewho havedealtwith the questionof the Hellenizationof
58
40
Ibid., XLII, 7.
B9 See note 22 above.
John, Bishop of Ephesus, The Third Part of the EcclesiastictilHistory of John, Bishop of
Ephestis, tr. from the Syriac by R. Payne Smith (OxIord, i86o), p. 432. The other contemporary
sources are: Evagrius, Ecclesiastical History, ed. by Bidez and Parmentier (London, 1898),
p. 228; Menander in C. Miiller, Fragmenta Historicor-timGraecoritm,IV (Paris, 1851), 252;
John of Biclar in Mon. Germn.Hist., ChIronicaMinora (1893), V.11,ed. by Momrnsen.
The Hellenization of Sicilyand SouthernItaly
83
Sicily and southern Italy that the immigrants responsible for this Hellenization might have come from the Balkan peninsula, particularly Greece.
As a matter of fact the impulse, in the form of an immigration, which
strengthened the Greek element in Sicily and southern Italy, thereby bringing
about the linguistic and cultural transformationof these regions, came from
Greece in the eighties of the sixth century and as a result of the devastating
invasion of the Avarsand Slavs a contemporarydescriptionof which was given
above. The information about this immigration has been available since 1749,
but no one among those who have dealt with the question of the Hellenization
of Sicily and southern Italy appears to have known it, while those who have
referred to it in connection with the question of the Slavonic settlements in
Greece in the sixth century usuallydiscardedit. This was becausethis information is given by an anonymous chronicle, known as the Chronicleof Monemvasia and thought to have been written in the sixteenth century, hence about
a thousand years later than the events which it describes.4"But recent studies
have shown that this chroniclewas actually written toward the end of the tenth
century or the beginning of the eleventh, and that its author drew his information from a first-ratehistoricalsource, now lost, which was written before 932.42
This conclusion was made possible by the publication in I9I2 of a scholium
of Arethasof Caesarea,an outstanding Byzantine scholarof the late ninth and
early tenth centuries, a pupil of the great Photios, written in 932, which confirms, as far as it goes, almost word for word what the chronicle has to say.43
Since the publication of Arethas' scholium there remains virtually nothing in
the chronicle that cannot be confirmedby other sources.Therefore, it can now
be affirmed in unmistakable and unambiguous terms that the Chronicleof
Monemnvasia
is absolutely trustworthy and constitutes one of the most precious
sources of the Avar and Slav penetration of Greece and the dispersionof the
Greeks during the early years of the reign of Maurice (582-602).
Here is what the Chronicleof Monemvasia says about the great Avar
41 This chronicle was first published in 1749 by JosephPasinus and his collaboratorsin their
catalogue of the manuscripts of the royal library of Turin from a manuscript written in the
sixteenth century: Codices manuscripti bibliothecaeregii TautrinensisAthenaei, I (Turin, I749),
417 f. Pasinus' edition was the only edition available until I884 when S. P. Lamprosreissuedit,
together with two other versions which he found in two manuscripts,the one belonging to the
monastery of Koutloumousion, the other to that of the Iberikon, both monasteries of Mount
Athos. According to Lampros the manuscript of the Iberikon was written in the sixteenth century, that of Koutloumousion probably in the sixteenth, although there are some indications
which point to the seventeenth.S. P. Lampros,'IOTOQLXC MXTI81'lgaTa (Athens, I884), pp. 97528. In 19o9 these three versions were reprinted by N. A. Bees with some corrections: "Ta
,,JtEQt TTl; Y.T[GEM5
I (Athens, 1909), 37-105.
MovE[t3acta,,, XQovtxc6v,"BVtavt'C
42 S. Kougeas, "'E-d TOU XtXOVttEVov 7QOVLXOU II E 1i T5
XTYEG); T1
MOVtA6CVYtaol,,N" io; 'E? .vvojsvI'jgt, IX (Athens, I9I2),
473-80. I have studied the Chronicle
in detail and my results will be published in the fifth volume of the Dumbarton
of Monenmvasia
Oaks Papers.
43 Kougeas, loc. cit., IX, 474-75.
84
Peter Charanis
invasionof the eightiesof the sixthcentury,the sameinvasionthatis described
by the contemporarypassagequotedabove:
In anotherinvasion they [the Avars] subjugatedall of Thessaly and Greece,
Old Epirus, Attica and Euboea.They made also an incursioninto the Peloponnesus,conqueredit by war, and, destroyingand drivingout the nobleand Hellenic
nations,they settledin it themselves.Those among the former [the Greeks] who
succeededin escaping from their blood-stainedhands dispersedthemselveshere
and there. The city of Patrasemigratedto the territoryof Rhegium in Calabria;
the Argives to the island called Orobe;and the Corinthiansto the island called
Aegina. The Laconestoo abandonedtheir native soil at that time. Some sailed to
the island of Sicily and they are still there in a place called Demena, call themselves Demenitae instead of Lacedaemonitaeand preservetheir own Laconian
dialect.
This passageoffers unmistakableevidence of an immigration to Sicily and
southern Italy toward the end of the sixth century, but the immigrants involved came not from the oriental provinces of the Byzantine Empire but
from Greece itself. And this immigration was of considerableproportion. The
entire city of Patras moved to Calabriaand the Lacedaemonianswho went to
Sicily were numerous enough to found a city to which apparently they gave
their name.44 And although documentation is lacking, it is not improbable
that, in view of the general situation, other Greeks besides the people of
Patras and the Lacedaemonians,Greeks from Epirus, central Greece, and the
western parts of the Peloponnesus in general, went to Sicily or Italy at that
time. As the Slavs occupied virtually all the western part of the Peloponnesus,
the Peloponnesianswho managedto flee could find no nearerhaven than Sicily
or Italy.
Therefore, it must now be admitted that the outside impulse needed to
strengthen the Hellenic element in Sicily and southern Italy and to enable it to
regain its predominant position came from Greece, particularly from the
Peloponnesus, during, and as a result of, the great Avar and Slav invasions of
the late sixth century. It is, of course, entirely possible that this element was
further strengt]henedby refugees from the Orient during the Persian and
Arabicinvasions, but of these refugeesnothing definite can be affirmedbecause
documentation is lacking. It is not impossible either that Greek-speaking
44 On Demena see Michele Amari, Storia dei Mustlrnani di Sicilia (2d ed.; Catania, 1933),
I, 6o0 ff. Also, Sac. Luigi Vasi, "Notizie Storiche e Geographichedella citta e valle di Demona,"
Archivio Storico Siciliano, nuova serie, anno X (Palermo, I885), I-I5. The etymology of Demena
is not certain. Amari (I, 609 f.) thinks that it was named after the inhabitants.If this opinion is
correct then the name Demena may have been derived from Demenitae, the name by which,
according to the Chronicle of Monemvasia,the Lacedaemonianswho settled in Sicily came to be
known. And the term-Demenitae is a corruptionof Lacedemonitaeas the Chronicleof Monemvasia calls the Lacedaemonians. What probably happened was the dropping of the first two
syllables from Lacedaemonitae and the simplification of the spelling of what remainedDemenitae instead of Daemonitae. The form Demona instead of Demena occurs several times
in the sources.
The Helleni,ation of Sicily and Southern Italy
85
refugeesfrom central Italy settled in Calabria,after the conquestof the
exarchateof Ravennaby the Lombards,but for this, too, thereis no definite
documentation.45
The movementof populationfrom Greece to Sicily and
southernItaly towardthe end of the sixth century is the only movementfor
whichdefinitedocumentationexists.Tt is to this movement,therefore,that
the ultimateHellenizationof Sicilyand southernItaly must be attributed.
Relatedto this Greekemigrationis the questionof the establishmentof
Slavonicsettlementsin Greece.That Slavssettledin Greeceduringthe Middle
Agesno scholarhaseverdenied,46
but it hasbeendenied,especiallyby modern
Greekscholars,that they settledthereas earlyas the end of the sixtlhcentury.
Thiswasbecausethe Chronicle
of Mlonemvasia
wasignored,whilethe contemporaryaccountsof Ml\enander,
Evagrius,and Johnof Ephesusweregiven an
interpretationof suclha broadnessas to makethem inapplicableto Greece.47
But with the Chronicle
of MWonenvasia
confirmedby the scholiumof Arethas
therecanno longerbe any doubtthat Slayssettledin the Peloponnesus
in the
sixth century,duringthe reign of MIaurice,
and that, in settlingthere,they
exterminatedpart of the ancientpopulationand forcedanotherpart to disperseand emigrate.But it by no meansfollowsthat the Greekelementcompletely disappearedfrom the Peloponniesus
and that the modernGreeksare
Christiansof SlavonicdesCentin wlhoseveins there is "not a singledrop of
real pure Hellenic blood."48
For the easternpart of the Peloponnesusfrom
Corinthto Mfalearemainedin Greekhands,and when, begrinning
with the
ninth century, the Slavs of the Peloponnesuswere subdued,parts of the
countryweresettledwith new Greek-speaking
elements,someof whichwere
pure Greek, otlhersnot so pure, but dotubtlessHellenized.49
Slavonictribes
45 C.
Cecchelli, "Squardo Generale all' ArchitetturaBizantina in Italia," Studi Bizantini e
Neoellenici, IV (Rome, 1935), 21.
46 On the Slavs in Greecesee A. A. Vasiliev, "The Slays in Greece" (in Russian), Vizantiiskij
Yremennik, V (St. Petersburg, I898), 404-38, 626-70. Vasiliev's work, although written forty-
eight years ago, is still fundamental.I read it with the aid of Mrs. Nathalie Scheifer.The German
Max Vasmer, a scholar of Slavic philology, published during the war (I94I), in the Proceedings
of the Prussian Academy, a long work (350 pages), based principally on the study of place
niamesin Greece, on the question of the Slavic settlementsin Greece. 'Thiswork was not available
to me, but I had access to the long review by C. Amantos, "Ol 2XXO4l
CL; T17'V 'EXJtadtb,"
Byzantinisch-Neugriechischelahrbiicher, XVII (Athens, 1944), 2IO-2I. The question has been
more recently treated in an excellent monograph by D. Zakythinos, Gi 2M(4otL.v 'EXU68
(Athens, 1945). About this book see the post scriptum to my article "NicephorusI, the Savior
of Greecefrom the Slavs,"Byzantina-Metabyzantina,
I (New York, 1946).
47 As late as 1939
the Greek scholar Amantos wrote, "By Hellas the archaist Menander
means the Byzantine regions up to the Danube, including modern Bulgaria." In the same way
he explained the passage of Evagrius. Constantine I. Amantos, 'IaroQLa ToV BvuaVtvoV
KQ'toV,; (Athens, I939), I, 281 ff. See also my review of this book in Byzantion, XV, 472.
48 Fallmerayer, Geschichte der Halbinsel Morea wdhrend des Alittelarlters
(Stuttgart, I 830),
I, iii-xiv, as quoted by A. Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire (Madison, 1928), I, 213-14.
49 The Chronical of Monemvasia, Bees's edition,
pp. 68-69; the scholiuim of Arethas, in
Kougeas, loc. cit., IX, 474-75. See also C. Hopf, Geschichte Griechenlands torn Beginn des
Mittelaltersbis atuf unsere Zeit, in Ersch and Gruber.Allgeineine Encyclopddieder Wissenschaften
tind Kiinste, LXXXV (Leipzig, I867), 98-99.
86
Peter Charanis
continuedto exist;someof themwerestill therein the fourteenth
century,
but theirstrengthhaddeclinedat the beginning
of the ninthcenturywhen
they weredefeatedat Patrasandthatcity wasagainresettledwithGreeks,
descendants
of thosewhohademigrated
to Calabria
in the sixthcentury.50
TheSlavsindeedcontinued
to resist,buttheirlongdomination
of thewestern
Peloponnesus
wasover;eventuallytheysuccumbed
andbecamecompletely
absorbed
bytheGreekrace.TheyleftbehindthemsomeSlavonic
placenames,
but theirlongdomination
failedto affectmaterially
the Greeklanguage.
60
The Chronicle of Monemrvasia,p. 69; the scholium of Arethas, Kougeas, loc. cit., IX, 474.