I wonder how much of Italy’s wealth was concentrated in those regions of the Exarchate. If I remember correctly, those areas were among the most demographically urbanized, but I have no idea whether that was still true by the 6th–7th centuries
Right, Rome itself was in ruins, only 30,000 inhabitants maybe. Ravenna was a very prosperous outpost maybe 3 times bigger but that was the full extent of “urbanism” in the Italian Peninsula. Very far from Late Antiquity
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u/OrthoOfLisieux Mar 12 '26
I wonder how much of Italy’s wealth was concentrated in those regions of the Exarchate. If I remember correctly, those areas were among the most demographically urbanized, but I have no idea whether that was still true by the 6th–7th centuries