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514 BYZANTINE EMPIRE East ; yet the yearly tribute was raised by At- tila from 700 pounds of gold to 2,100, and a dis- trict to the southward of the Danube was ceded to him. Pulcheria died in 453, and Marcian reigned four years after her death. Leo I., a Thracian of obscure origin, was appointed em- peror (457-474). His expedition against the Vandals was unsuccessful. His coronation by the patriarch of Constantinople is said to be the earliest example of a coronation by the Christian clergy. Leo helped the Romans against the Vandals, and enjoyed great popu- larity and influence at Rome, which extended even to nominating their rulers. His grand- child, Leo II., aged three years, was his suc- cessor, but died shortly afterward. Zeno the Isaurian (474-491) succeeded him. Basiliscus drove him away from his capital shortly after his accession and made himself emperor. At this period a fire took place which consumed the library of Constantinople, containing 120,- 000 manuscripts, the treasures of classical liter- ature. By the help of his fellow provincials, Zeno soon regained the throne. In his reign serious and bloody disputes arose about the nature of Christ between the Monophysites and the orthodox. Zeno sided temperately with the latter, and issued the Henoticon (482), which restored outward harmony to the church. lie protected his empire against Theo- doric and his Goths hy presents and by per- suading them to march upon Italy. At his death his widow Ariadne married and raised to the throne the minister Anastasius (491-518). A new enemy appeared in the Bulgarians, against whom he protected the peninsula in which Constantinople lies hy building across it the celebrated "long walls." His favorable disposition toward the Monophysites caused formidable insurrections against his rule. Af- ter his death Justin I., a Thracian and com- mander of the body guard, was nominated em- peror by the soldiers (518-527). He adopted his nephew Justinian as his heir. He perse- cuted the Monophysites, and received the pow- erful support of the orthodox clergy. Justin- ian I. succeeded him (527-565). Under him the Byzantine empire attained the summit of its glory. His general Belisarius overthrew the empire of the Vandals and acquired the whole of northern Africa, repelled the Persians at the Euphrates, conquered Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic isles, and defended Con- stantinople against the Bulgarians. Narses followed up the victories of Belisarius, de- stroyed the Ostrogothic power in Italy in 555, and restored Italy and Sicily to the sceptre of Byzantium. Italy was governed by a Greek exarch, whose residence was Ravenna, the last capital of the former emperors of the West. Industry flourished, the silk culture was intro- duced into Europe, civilization advanced, and intellect developed itself, in the long reign of Justinian. The code of civil law then drawn up has been ever since a leading authority among the jurists of all civilised nations. The race-course factions of blues, greens, reds, and whites now acquired a dangerous license. As the emperor sided with the blues, the greens rose in tumult, and were only put down after committing fearful ravages in the capital. The Monophysite quarrel also agitated the empire. The consular government of the capital was abolished, and the last schools of the pagan philosophers in Athens were shut up by im- perial command. Justinian's successor was the nnfortunate Justinus II. (565-578). The Lombards wrested from the Byzantines a largo part of Italy (568) ; Justinus was unsuccessful against the Persians, and the Avars plundered the provinces on the Danube. The Byzantine government in this reign allied itself for the first time with the Turks beyond the Caspian sea against their common enemy, the Persians, and received an ambassador from their khan. Tiberius II. (578-582) purchased peace from the Avars, and was fortunate against Chosroes I., king of the Persians. His general, Mauri- cius, who gained his victories for him, was appointed his successor, or the Cresar, and reigned from 582 to 602. Mauricius reinstated Chosroes II., who had been driven away by his subjects, upon the throne of Persia, and made an advantageous peace with him. His army mutinied as he was marching against the Avars, who had increased the tribute payable to them by treaty. The soldiery elected Phocas as his successor (602-610), and the "green" faction of the metropolis rose and murdered Mauricius and his sons. The people, growing weary of the tyrannical rule of Phocas, called to their aid the governor of the imperial pre- fecture of Africa. The governor sent his son Heraclius, who took Constantinople. Phocas was torn in pieces by the multitude, and He- raclius made emperor (610-641). The Persians conquered from him Syria, Palestine, and Asia Minor, and pressed him so hard that he thought of leaving Constantinople for ever, and mak- ing Carthage his capital. From this step he was dissuaded hy the patriarch, and between 622 and 627 he recovered all the booty, in- cluding the holy cross, which Siroes, the mon- arch of Persia, had taken from Jerusalem. In 626 the Avars made an unsuccessful attack upon Constantinople. From this time forth we hear nothing more of the wars between the Byzantine empire and the Persian mon- archy. The Arabs, under Mohammed and his successors, now appear as the most formidable foe of the Greeks. They conquered the coun- try bordering on the Euphrates, Syria, Judea, and all the Byzantine possessions in Africa, (536-641. The Byzantines were weakened by their intestine religious controversy about Mo- nothelitism, or the one will of Christ. On the Danube a number of Slavic kingdoms arose, which soon threw off all dependence upon the empire. Constantino III., son of the preced- ing, died in 641 ; his stepbrother, Heracleonas, lost the throne by an insurrection, and was banished. Constans II. became emperor (641-