Herulian settlements in Byzantium under emperors Anastasius and Justinian

The aim of this article is to draw attention to the need to intensify historical research on Herulian settlements in Byzantium under Emperors Anastasius and Justinian based on the analysis of written sources. The starting point for studying the history of the Heruli in Late Antiquity should be a historical analysis of the excursus devoted to them by Procopius of Caesarea in the book VI Wars. As a result of a historical analysis based on literal interpretation and critical examination, taking into account legal circumstances and the historical context, it can greatly contribute to our knowledge of Herulian history. To sum up the results of the conducted research, it is possible to give quite a precise description of the relations between the empire and the Heruli based on an analysis of the accounts of Procopius of Caesarea and Marcellinus Comes. In 512, Emperor Anastasius settled the tribe on the empire’s lands. Taking advantage of their diffi cult situation, he probably forced them into full subordination. It seems that the Heruli, deprived of their tribal organisation and striving to keep their independence, rebelled and attacked the Romans at the fi rst opportunity, i.e. ca. 514. The imperial army managed to defeat them as early as 515 or 516, and Anastasius refused to give them the status of allies, i.e. improve their position. In this situation it seems most likely that the empire completely broke its ties with the Heruli and the tribe left the empire’s lands. At this stage of the analysis it is diffi cult to determine to what extent Procopius was aware of the nuances of Anastasius’ policy, as his account of the Herulian migration in search of new lands is very brief and schematic. All the details he provides, apart from the information about the Heruli crossing the Danube River on their own initiative, are in complete agreement with the reconstruction of events based on Marcellinus Comes’ mention. Only after completing the analysis of Procopius’ whole account on the Heruli will it be possible to formulate conclusions about its reliability and the sources he used

Indicators of landscape diversity derived from remote sensing based land cover maps – spatial and thematic aspects

Landscape is heterogeneous part of the Earth surface, forming mosaic of various habitats organized at different scales and levels (Johnson et al. 1992). The landscape pattern has important impact on ecological processes; hence its analysis through quantitative measures is essential for environmental studies. There are many indicators characterizing spatial structure of landscape at different level of detail; they enable analysis of landscape fragmentation at patch level, through studies at habitat level up to complex analyses at landscape level. Seven indicators, which are related to various levels of detail, were selected at the presented work. The following indicators have been studied: Patch Density, Edge Density, Patch Richness, Simpson Diversity Index, Natural Patch Richness, Percentage of Natural Landscape, Mean Natural Patch Area (McGarigal & Marks 1995). First two indicators were used for analysis of landscape fragmentation at patch level, next two at land cover level, while the last three were applied for studies of natural and semi-natural classes at both levels. The studies were performed at six test areas located in different regions of Europe (France, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Spain and Italy), using two different land cover maps. First map was based on Very High Resolution (VHR) Kompsat satellite images (4 m spatial resolution); it included 8 land cover categories with 0.25 ha Minimum Mapping Unit (MMU). CORINE Land Cover (CLC) map 2006 (25 ha MMU) was the second map used for analyses. Number of land cover classes in case of CLC map varied from 9 for Poland till 14 for France. All above mentioned indicators were calculated for grids with 100, 200, 500 and 1000 meter cell size, corresponding to 1, 4, 25 and 100 ha, respectively. The obtained results reveal high usefulness of land cover maps based on VHR satellite images for analysis of landscape fragmentation, even for grids with 100 m cell size. It was found that at patch level these materials are superior to CLC classifications, irrespective of cell area. In case of land cover level VHR data are better while using 100 and 200 m grid cells, whereas for larger cell sizes – 500 and 1000 m – results are not so evident, depending on degree of landscape fragmentation and spatial structure characteristic for individual land cover classes

Conflicts over Sirmium during the decline of the Ostrogothic Kingdom (526-535)

Little is known about Sirmium in the period from the death of Theodoric the Great (526) to Justinian’s war against the Ostrogoths (535). So far the simplest and most obvious method of analysing the surviving written sources, i.e. literal interpretation, has not been used for reconstructing the history of this city. Instead, for unclear reasons, it is almost commonly accepted that in 530 the city was attacked by the Gepids. The Ostrogoths supposedly repelled the enemy and their future king, Vitiges, distinguished himself in the battle. However, on the basis of the written sources (Cassiodorus and Procopius of Caesarea), a completely different reconstruction of the events is possible. It is more likely that there were two wars for Sirmium between the Gepids and the Ostrogoths: the first one in 526-527 and the second in 533-534. An examination of the historical context confirms that these two conflicts could have been consistent with other events and, just as importantly, enables us to explain the Ostrogoths’ complete inactivity in the face of the Frankish invasion

Justynian i początki Słowian. Uwagi na temat teorii Florina Curty

JUSTINIAN AND THE EARLY DAYS OF THE SLAVS. REMARKS ON FLORIN CURTA’S THEORY Carried out by Florin Curta in his work The Making of the Slavs and repeated in subsequent publications, the entire reconstruction of the historical situation in the Balkans under the rule of Justinian I does not reflect the reality of the period. Overestimating the role of barbarian invasions and the lack of a critical analysis of thed scription presented in the 4thbook of De Aedificiis by Procopius of Caesarea resulted in an artificial depiction of the situation on the imperial territories in the first half of the 6thcentury. Drawing on an episode connected with Chilbudius’s expeditions to the north bank of the Danube and an excerpt from Justinian’s 11thNovella devoted to Aquis, Curta „discovered” Justinian’s political activities that the ruler never actually undertook, i.e. the aggressive policy towards barbarians or burdening bishops with land security responsibilities. The analysis of historical sources present in Curta’s works is merely a tool since it is used only to prove the thesis that the beginnings of the Slavs by the Danube were an outcome of Justinian’s building activitie

The fortress of Asemus in the 5th-6th centuries

Theophylact Simocatta’s account of the conflict between the soldiers and citizens of the city of Asemus with the Roman general Peter, the commander of the imperial army, frequently appears in scholarly literature, however, it is inappropriately used to describe the situation in the territories on the Danube during the reign of Emperor Maurice. This is due to lack of a comprehensive analysis of this account as well as to the reflections on the history of this city in the 5th-6th centuries. So far, historians have not exploited the potential of comparing the functioning of the garrison in Asemus in the late 6th century with the attested solutions used in the defence of Thermopylae in connection with Justinian I’s military reforms. A garrison was stationed in Asemus by an imperial privilege, and it could be used outside the city only on the Emperor’s order. The general had no right to include these soldiers in his army without the appropriate imperial document. Peter’s unlawful actions were resisted by the local soldiers and citizens alike. The bishop’s role in this conflict should not be overestimated, since he played an important role only as far as the possible violation of the right to asylum in a church was concerned. The appearance of a garrison of professional soldiers in Asemus and the fact that the city was a bishopric seem to indicate that it experienced a revival in the 6th century, during the restoration of the Empire’s rule over the territories on the Danube after the death of Emperor Anastasius

Herulian Settlements in Byzantium under Emperors Anastasius and Justinian

The aim of this article is to draw attention to the need to intensify historical research on Herulian settlements in Byzantium under Emperors Anastasius and Justinian based on the analysis of written sources. The starting point for studying the history of the Heruli in Late Antiquity should be a historical analysis of the excursus devoted to them by Procopius of Caesarea in the book VI Wars. As a result of a historical analysis based on literal interpretation and critical examination, taking into account legal circumstances and the historical context, it can greatly contribute to our knowledge of Herulian history. To sum up the results of the conducted research, it is possible to give quite a precise description of the relations between the empire and the Heruli based on an analysis of the accounts of Procopius of Caesarea and Marcellinus Comes. In 512, Emperor Anastasius settled the tribe on the empire’s lands. Taking advantage of their diffi cult situation, he probably forced them into full subordination. It seems that the Heruli, deprived of their tribal organisation and striving to keep their independence, rebelled and attacked the Romans at the fi rst opportunity, i.e. ca. 514. The imperial army managed to defeat them as early as 515 or 516, and Anastasius refused to give them the status of allies, i.e. improve their position. In this situation it seems most likely that the empire completely broke its ties with the Heruli and the tribe left the empire’s lands. At this stage of the analysis it is diffi cult to determine to what extent Procopius was aware of the nuances of Anastasius’ policy, as his account of the Herulian migration in search of new lands is very brief and schematic. All the details he provides, apart from the information about the Heruli crossing the Danube River on their own initiative, are in complete agreement with the reconstruction of events based on Marcellinus Comes’ mention. Only after completing the analysis of Procopius’ whole account on the Heruli will it be possible to formulate conclusions about its reliability and the sources he used

Prevalence and morphological variability of torus palatanus and torus mandibularis

Background: The oral tori are non-pathological and benign exostosis of the cortical and limited amount of bone marrow, covered with a thin and poorly vascularized mucosa. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of torus palatanus (TP) and torus mandibularis (TM) and to define morphological variability in relation to age and gender in the population of Shtip region, Macedonia FYR. Methods and materials: The study comprised of 467 patients, 242 females and 225 males, from 20 years old and onwards who were examined by clinical examination and analysis of the plaster casts. Results: Torus palatinus was found in 10.9% subjects and torus mandibularis in 9.6% of the subjects. The torus palatinus was well developed in 48.4 % of the individuals, nodular form and its more frequent location was in the middle palate. The most frequent type of torus mandibularis was bilateral solitary torus mandibularis (32.4%). The results of this study show significantly higher prevalence of torus palatinus and torus mandibularis in the male subjects. Conclusion: The results of this study show significantly relationship between the occurrence of tori and gender and although not significant, there is a trend towards higher prevalence of TP and TM with increasing age

Diverse sequence types of Klebsiella pneumoniae contribute to the dissemination of bla NDM-1 in India, Sweden, and the United Kingdom

Clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae producing NDM-1 carbapenemase from India (n = 22), the United Kingdom (n = 13), and Sweden (n = 4) were subjected to multilocus sequence typing (MLST), automated repetitive sequence-based PCR (rep-PCR), serotyping, virulence gene screening, and plasmid replicon typing. The most frequently detected MLST sequence types (STs) were ST14 (n = 13; all serotype K2), ST11, ST149, ST231, and ST147. The correlation between MLST and automated rep-PCR was excellent. IncA/C was the most frequently detected plasmid replicon type (n = 14). ST14, ST11, and other successful clones may be important for the dissemination of bla . Copyrigh