Ravenna

Inhabited by the Umbrians and probably colonized by the Etruscans, Ravenna was already in existence several centuries before Christianity. On this point ancient writers are as much in agreement as modern scholars. But by the second century B.C., along with the whole of the Po Valley north of Rimini, Ravenna had fallen to the Romans, who changed the city into a commercial center of great strategic importance. In his colossal military and political reorganization of the Roman Empire, the Emperor Augustus fortified the rear of the city with a system of canals which bound it to the Po; he built the large port of Classis and made it the base of one of the best-equipped fleets of the Empire. At this time the praetorian fleet of Classis comprised an impressive number of warships; the naval command of Ravenna controlled the Adriatic trade routes and was responsible for keeping the peace in the Eastern Provinces. A period of continuous growth began for Ravenna which reached its zenith in the fifth century when, under the force of exceptional circumstances, the Adriatic city was designated by command of the Emperor Honorius to replace Milan as capital of the Christian and Roman Empire of the West. In the widespread fragmentation of the Roman Empire, brought about by successive invasions of barbarian tribes and the constant threat of military insurrection, Ravenna, protected in the rear by its ring of canals and marshes which made it virtually impregnable, and defended on the seaward side by its strategically placed port, enjoyed peculiar advantages. However, none of this could prevent the rapid crumbling of the Empire; in 476 the power of Rome came to an end with the overthrow of Romulus Augustulus, and the barbarian Odoacre assumed the title King of Italy. He in turn was soon ousted, in 493, by the Ostrogoth Theodoric.