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7 - Ravenna and Other Early Rivals of Venice

Comparative Urban and Economic Development in the Upper Adriatic c.751–1050

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2021

By
Thomas S. Brown
Edited by
Magdalena Skoblar
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Summary

This study focuses on Ravenna during the period from its fall into the hands of the Lombards in 751 to the decline of Byzantine power in the West from the mid-eleventh century. It argues that Ravenna shared common features with a number of other cities in the upper Adriatic, for example Comacchio, Venice and Zadar. The city maintained its earlier economic and artistic ties with Istria and Dalmatia, but also with Constantinople. The ties to Byzantium were based on admiration, nostalgia or identity and were used as part of strategy of resistance to threatening outside forces. However, the increasing dominance of local landowning elite led to the local autonomy and the strongest Byzantine influence remained the social and cultural cachet of the empire.

Keywords

ByzantiumComacchioDalmatiaexarchateIstriamerchantssolidustradeVeniceZadar
Type
Chapter
Information
Byzantium, Venice and the Medieval Adriatic
Spheres of Maritime Power and Influence, c. 700-1453
 , pp. 173 - 187
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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