View source for Venetikà

{{Short description|District of the Exarchate of Ravenna}}
[[File:Venetikà.gif|thumb|Territories of the [[Lombards]], the [[Exarchate of Ravenna|Exarchate]], and Venetikà]]
The '''Venetikà''' ({{langx|el|Βενετικὰ}}, {{langx|la|Venetia}}) was a district of the [[Exarchate of Ravenna]] founded in 584 by [[List of Byzantine emperors|Byzantine emperor]] [[Maurice (emperor)|Mauritius]], divided from the previous Roman [[eparchy]]. In 697 the district was raised to the [[Duchy of Venice]].<ref name="Veneto">{{cite book|author=Linda Cottino |author2=Francesca Filippi |author3=Sara Fiorillo |author4=Andrea Formenti |author5=Marco Patrioli |author6=Rossana Rando |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ig3FDAAAQBAJ|title=Veneto|publisher=EDT|year=2018|isbn=978-88-592-3246-9}}</ref><ref name="zorza">{{cite book|author=Zorzi, Alvise|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtuHB63WL2EC|title=Venezia, repubblica di terra e di mare|page=63|publisher=[[Touring Club Italiano]]|year=2002|isbn=978-88-365-2549-2}}</ref>
==History and territory==
The creation of the district took place in the context of a more general reorganization of the Byzantine imperial possessions in Italy following the disastrous invasion of the [[Lombards]], which having started in 568, quickly caused the expulsion of the Byzantines from much of northern and central Italy. However, the lombards were not able to take the Venetian coastal area.<ref name="Veneto"/>
The Mauritian reform came just four years after the previous reorganization wanted by [[Tiberius II]], resulting in a fragmentation of the provinces that were actually smaller and more self-sufficient from a defensive point of view.{{cn|date=October 2021}}
The ''Venetikà'' then extended only to the Adriatic coast, with the new lagoon centers arising as a result of the invasions, and a few Roman cities, including [[Padua]], [[Monselice]], [[Oderzo|Opitergio]] and [[Quarto d'Altino|Altino]]. The latter were however soon removed from the Byzantines by Lombard pressure, forcing them to retreat to the lagoons.<ref name="perloni"/>
Even the patriarch, the highest ecclesiastical authority, moved from [[Aquileia]] to [[Grado, Friuli-Venezia Giulia|Grado]].<ref name="perloni">{{cite book|author=Mario Galloni |author2=Elena Percivaldi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8dduDwAAQBAJ|title=Alla scoperta dei luoghi segreti del Medioevo|page=297|publisher=[[Newton Compton Editori]]|year=2018|isbn=978-88-227-2516-5}}</ref> In the face of the relentless decline of imperial control over Italy and the growing weakness of Exarchate, threatened in its own capital, [[Ravenna]], around 697 the Venetia was, like many other Italic possessions, assigned to the government of a duke.{{cn|date=October 2021}}
As imperial control weakened, the new duchy acquired more and more independence until it became the [[Republic of Venice]].{{cn|date=October 2021}}
The ''Venétikoi'', the inhabitants of the ''Venetikà'', through ingenuity and hard work, were able to turn a poor and unappealing land into a conglomerate of industrious islands.<ref name="treccani enciclopedia">{{cite web|title=Dai Romani ai Longobardi|last=Bosio|first=Luciano|url=https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/dai-romani-ai-longobardi-vie-di-comunicazione-e-paesaggio-agrario_%28Storia-di-Venezia%29/|publisher=[[Enciclopedia Italiana]]|access-date=8 September 2021}}</ref> They are the ancestors of the modern Venetians.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:History of Venice]]
[[Category:History of Veneto]]
[[Category:Provinces of the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:584 establishments]]