Slavs in Peloponnesus
akritas
no earlier than the 6th century. Throughout this century, beginning
with the reign of Justinian, Slavs repeatedly invaded the Balkan
possessions of the Byzantine Empire. Not until the reign of Maurice,
however, did any Slavs settle in these territories. Between the years
579-587 there took place the irruption of several barbarian waves led
by the Avars, but consisting mostlyof Slavs. The latter came in great
numbers, and, as the troops of the Empire were engaged in the war with
Persia, they roamed the country at will.
Slavs devastated Illyricum and Thrace, penetrated deep into Greece and
the Peloponnesus, helped the Avars to take numerous cities, including
Singidunum, Viminacium (Kostolac), Durostorum (Silistria),
Marcianopolis, Anchialus, and Corinth, and in 586 laid siege to the
city of Thessalonica, the first of a series of great sieges which that
city was destined to undergo at their handss What is more, they came
to stay.
"The Slavonians," wrote John of Ephesus in 584, "still encamp and
dwell in the Roman territories and live in peace there, free from
anxiety and fear, and lead captives and slay and burn." The counter
offensive launched by Maurice after 591, following the successful
termination of the Persian war, had the effect, on the whole, of
checking the repeated incursions of the Avars, who then seem to have
transferred their operations farther west beyond the limits of
Byzantine territory. The treaty of peace which the Empire concluded
with them in possibly in 601, fixed the Danube as the boundary line
between the two powers, but left the way open for the Byzantines to
cross that river and chastise any Slavs that might appear dangerous.80
There is no indication, however, that the Slavs who had penetrated
into the Empire were forced to retire beyond the Danube, or that they
did so of their own accord.
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