The growth of Venice dates from this Lombard conquest, when the victims took refuge in the islands and lagoons at the head of the Adriatic Sea, where a town had been founded by fugitives from the Huns.
THE EMPIRE OVERRUN BY
PERSIANS AND GREEKS
The flourishing period of the Eastern Empire closes for a long time with Heraclius, who died in A.D. 641. The Persians and the Turks (Mongolians from Asia), with their kinsmen the Avars attacked the empire with formidable strength. Between 611 and 615 the Persians overran Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor, remaining encamped for ten years within sight of Constantinople. Heraclius, between 620 and 628, recovered the Persian conquests.
DECLINE OF THE EASTERN
EMPIRE AND CONQUEST BY THE TURKS
For the next four hundred years the Empire enjoyed a period of comparative prosperity, marked by successful defense against Saracens and Bulgarians. From 1204 to 1261 it fell under the sway of the French and Venetians, who jointly established the so-called Latin dynasty. From this period on for almost a hundred years its decline was steady, and, in 1453, the empire was brought to a close with the capture of Constantinople by Mohammed II.
MOSQUE NEAR BAGDAD, THE EASTERN CAPITAL OF THE SARACEN EMPIRE
THE SARACEN EMPIRE: ITS FANATICISM, ART AND LEARNING
Saracen (Arab. Sharkiin, the eastern people, from Sharq, the East), is a term applied to the first followers of Mohammed or Mahomet who within forty years after his death, 632 A.D., had subdued a part of Asia and Africa. The Saracens conquered Spain in 711 and following, but were defeated at Tours, France, by Charles Martel in 732. Under Abd-el-rahman they established the caliphate of Cordova in 755, which gave way to the Moors in 1237. The empire of the Saracens closed with the capture of Bagdad by the Tartars, 1258.