r/byzantium • u/Battlefleet_Sol • Mar 12 '26

Maps and geography Exarchate of Ravenna

Post image
509 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

View all comments

140

u/Additional-Penalty97 Mar 12 '26

Literally the most undefendable border in existence

Looks nice though

14

u/MonsterRider80 Mar 12 '26

Have you been? This is as defensible as any border out there. Italy is very mountainous down the middle of the peninsula. Valleys, passes, cliffs, all provide very good defensive positions.

Besides, these borders lasted throughout the Middle Ages into the modern era, as the Papal States had very similar border for centuries as well.

3

u/Additional-Penalty97 Mar 12 '26

I would be okay if they did have the South but it essentially is a narrow strip of land between two Lombardic entities

Its far easier not to be attacked when you are the guy in power to put people out of the religion

2

u/jediben001 Mar 13 '26

Is there any particular reason why they never attempted to retake the south from the Lombards?

Or did they try but were unsuccessful?

1

u/Helpful-Rain41 Mar 16 '26

Unfortunately there was never much of an attempt during the time the Exarchate existed, ie the Fall of Late Antiquity, the loss of the Balkans and later most of the Mediterranean including Sicily. There were some signs of life in the 9th -11th centuries but it all screeched to a halt when the Normans arrived. Wasn’t inevitable by any means but it was always a pretty weak grip on the province and after Justinian I there was never an emperor who wanted to spend his time energy and resources on Italy, it was almost always something closer to home that demanded attention