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114-621: Dušan conquered a large part of southeast Europe, becoming one of the most powerful monarchs of the era. Under Dušan's rule, Serbia was the most powerful state in Southeast Europe and one of the most powerful European states. It was an Eastern Orthodox , multi-ethnic, and multilingual empire that stretched from the Danube in the north to the Gulf of Corinth in the south, with its capital in Skopje . He enacted

228-570: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

342-592: A church and monastery in Jerusalem. At the time, there was one Serbian monastery in Jerusalem, dedicated to Archangel Michael (believed to be founded by King Milutin), and a number of Serbian monks at the Sinai Peninsula . His greatest endowment was the Saint Archangels Monastery , located near the town of Prizren , in which he was originally buried. Dušan gave many possessions to this monastery, including

456-674: A crusade against the Turks, he suddenly died on 20 December 1355. He was buried in his foundation , the Monastery of the Holy Archangels near Prizren . His empire slowly crumbled. His son and successor Stefan Uroš V could not keep the integrity of the Empire intact for long, as several feudal families immensely increased their power, though nominally acknowledging Uroš V as Emperor. Simeon Uroš , Dušan's half-brother, had proclaimed himself Emperor after

570-403: A distant relative of Dušan, sparked a rebellion against the new ruler, but he was soon captured and died in prison. In 1350, Dušan attacked Bosnia, seeking to regain the previously lost land of Hum and stop raids on his tributaries at Konavle. Venice sought a settlement between the two, but failed. In October, he invaded Hum, with an army said to be of 80,000 men, and successfully occupied part of

684-552: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in

798-556: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

912-531: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near

1026-488: A light cavalry composed of 15,000 Albanians, armed with spears and swords. The Serbian expansion in the former territory of the Byzantine Empire proceeded without a single major battle, as it was based on besieging Greek fortifications. The army Dušan used to conquer northern Greece consisted primarily of Albanians; German mercenaries were also used. He was crowned Young King as heir apparent on 6 January 1322 but he

1140-483: A long legal tradition in Serbia. Dušan explained the purpose of his Code in one of his charters; he intimated that its aims were spiritual and that the code would help his people to save themselves for the afterlife. The Code was proclaimed on 21 May 1349 in Skopje , and contained 155 clauses, while 66 further clauses were added at Serres in 1353 or 1354. The authors of the code are not known, but they were probably members of

1254-565: A military crusade against the Turks. Dušan's plans were welcomed, however such plans never materialized due to his death in 1355. With the raising of the Serbian Archbishopric to a Patriarchate, serious changes in the organization of the church followed. Joanikije II became Patriarch. Bishoprics (Eparchies) were raised to Metropolitanates, and new territories of the Ochrid Archbishopric and Ecumenical Constantinople were added to

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1368-535: A rare leader full of dynamism, quick intelligence, and strength, bearing "a kingly presence". According to contemporary depictions, he had dark hair and brown eyes; in adult age he grew a beard and longer hair. Serbia made some raids into the Macedonia region in late 1331, but a planned major attack on Byzantium was delayed as Dušan had to suppress revolts in Zeta in 1332. Dušan's ingratitude toward those who had aided his rise –

1482-524: A result, the Hungarians lost Mačva and Belgrade in 1335. Dušan then focused his attention on the internal affairs of his country, writing, in 1349, the first statute book of the Serbs. Dušan exploited the civil war in the Byzantine Empire between the regent of the minor Emperor John V Palaiologos , Anna of Savoy , and his father's general John Kantakouzenos . Dušan and Ivan Alexander picked opposite sides in

1596-604: A small army and took the Chalcidic peninsula , then Veria and Voden . Veria was the richest town in the Bottiaea region. Dušan had earlier replaced many Greeks with Serbs, including a Serb garrison. However, the remaining locals were able to open the gates for Kantakouzenos in 1350. Voden resisted Kantakouzenos but was taken by assault. Kantakouzenos then marched toward Thessaly, but was stopped at Servia by Caesar Preljub and his army of 500 men. The Byzantine force retired to Veria, and

1710-404: A soldier and a conqueror, Dušan also proved to be very able but nonetheless feared ruler. His empire however, slowly crumbled at the hands of his son, as regional aristocrats distanced from the central rule. Southeast Europe This is an accepted version of this page Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe ( SEE ) is a geographical sub-region of Europe , consisting primarily of

1824-523: A whole, or grant charters and privileges to monasteries, noblemen, or merchant and miner communities. Dušan eventually decided to introduce a more general code, culminating in the introduction of Dušan Code in 1349. For the purposes of Dušan Code, a wealth of charters were published, and some great foreign works of law were translated to Serbian; however, the third section of the Code was new and distinctively Serbian, albeit with Byzantine influence and attention to

1938-766: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout

2052-742: Is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system

2166-474: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During

2280-941: Is classified outside of main Europe. In the CIA World Factbook , the description of each country includes information about "Location" under the heading "Geography", where the country is classified into a region. The following countries are included in their classification "Southeast Europe": In this classification, Moldova is included in Eastern Europe and Greece is included in Southern Europe . Hungary and Slovenia are included in Central Europe . Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ )

2394-510: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to

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2508-622: Is regarded with the same reverence as the Bulgarians feel for Tsar Simeon I , the Poles for Sigismund I the Old , and the Czechs for Charles IV . According to Steven Runciman, he was "perhaps the most powerful ruler in Europe" during the 14th century. His state was a rival to the regional powers of Byzantium and Hungary, and it encompassed a large territory, which would also be his empire's greatest weakness. By nature

2622-518: Is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around

2736-758: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

2850-630: Is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with

2964-486: Is the first recorded code of Serbian public law, and Dušan hoped that its introduction would bring uniformity in Serbian territories, which were the only portions of his empire where the code actually applied. Dušan appointed Serbs to the highest military and civil positions within the empire for a number of reasons; not only did it allow him to maintain order by having loyal subjects hold positions of power, but it also appeased

3078-477: The 1990s onwards, in part due to the negative historical and political connotations of the term Balkans , especially since the military conflicts of the 1990s in Yugoslavia in the western half of the region, the term Southeast Europe is becoming increasingly popular. The German Ständige Ausschuss für geographische Namen (Standing Committee on Geographical Names), which develops and recommends rules for

3192-758: The Bulgarian Patriarch Simeon, and various religious leaders of Mount Athos . The assembly and clerics agreed upon, and then ceremonially performed, the raising of the autocephalous Serbian Archbishopric to the status of Serbian Patriarchate . The Archbishop from then on was titled Serbian Patriarch , although some documents called him Patriarch of Serbs and Romans , with the seat at the Monastery of Peć . The first Serbian Patriarch Joanikije II solemnly crowned Dušan as " Emperor and autocrat of Serbs and Romans " ( Greek Bασιλεὺς καὶ αὐτoκράτωρ Σερβίας καὶ Pωμανίας ). Dušan had his son Uroš crowned King of Serbs and Greeks , giving him nominal rule over

3306-562: The Byzantine Empire during his stay in its capital, learning cultural customs and the Greek language . He was interested in the arts of war; in his youth he fought exceptionally in two battles, defeating Bosnian forces in 1329 during the War of Hum , and the Bulgarian emperor Michael III Shishman in the 1330 Battle of Velbužd . Dečanski appointed his nephew Ivan Stephen (through Anna Neda ) to

3420-486: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It

3534-510: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

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3648-509: The Ottoman Turks , whom they brought into Europe for the first time. In 1343, Dušan added "of Romans (Greeks)" to his self-styled title "King of Serbia, Albania and the coast". In another instance, in a charter issued to the fortified city of Krujë , Dušan referred to himself as "King of the Bulgarians". In 1345 he began calling himself tsar , equivalent of Emperor, as attested in charters to two athonite monasteries, one from November 1345 and

3762-513: The Pelješac peninsula and the coastland between Ston and Dubrovnik for eight thousand perpers and an annual tribute of five hundred perpers, the so-called tribute of Ston . Ragusa also had to guarantee freedom of worship for Orthodox believers in this territory. Dušan began campaigning against the Byzantine Empire in 1333. In late 1333, a leading Byzantine general Syrgiannes revolted against Andronikos III and sought Dušan's help. In spring of 1334,

3876-621: The Serbian lands , and although Dušan was governing the whole state, he had special responsibility for the Eastern Roman lands. A further increase in the Byzantinization of the Serbian court followed, particularly in court ceremonial and titles. As Emperor, Dušan could grant titles only possible as an Emperor. In the years that followed, Dušan's half-brother Symeon Uroš and brother-in-law Jovan Asen became despotes . Jovan Oliver already had

3990-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in

4104-437: The region of the Balkans , as well as adjacent regions and archipelagos . There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of the region, due to political, economic, historical, cultural, and geographical considerations. Sovereign states and territories that may be included in the region are Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Croatia (alternatively placed in Central Europe ), Greece (alternatively placed in

4218-484: The "young king" and ruler in Zeta and Zahumlje . From that fact and the "Old Serbian genealogies and annals" , in recent works, some Serbian historians write that Dušan was 14 years old probably in March, or April 1326, and that he was born in 1312, not around 1308. In the meantime, Vladislav II mobilized local support from Rudnik , the former appanage of his father, Stefan Dragutin . Vladislav proclaimed himself king, and he

4332-465: The 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into

4446-515: The East precluded this. In 1335, Pope Clement VI demanded that Dušan stop the persecution of Catholics and return monasteries, churches, islands and villages taken by his predecessors to the bishop of Kotor , responsible for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trebinje . In 1354, Dušan was attacked by the Hungarians. They occupied part of northern Serbia. At this point, Dušan began corresponding with

4560-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

4674-900: The Greek eparchies under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , while the Archbishopric of Ohrid remained autocephalous. For those acts he was excommunicated by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1350. In 1347, Dušan conquered Epirus , Aetolia and Acarnania , appointing his half-brother, despot Simeon Uroš as governor of those provinces. In 1348, Dušan also conquered Thessaly , appointing Preljub as governor. In eastern regions of Macedonia , he appointed Vojihna as governor of Drama . Once Dušan conquered Byzantine possessions in western regions, he sought to obtain Constantinople. To acquire

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4788-425: The Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than

4902-491: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

5016-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow

5130-661: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community

5244-450: The Greeks to retain much of the landed property they held under the existing laws prior to Dušan's conquest, Dušan was able to maintain order in the Greek territories and gain the loyalty of its inhabitants. In conquered Greek towns, local Greeks were given official administrative positions to better manage the settlement without upsetting the local populace, but a Serb governor would preside over

5358-534: The Imperial red ink. He was the first to publish prostagma , a kind of Byzantine document, characteristic for Byzantine rulers. In his royal title, Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks , his claim as Eastern Roman (Byzantine) successor is clear. He also gave Byzantine court titles to his nobility, something that would continue into the 16th century. Dušan's empire was multinational, with the three most important groups being Serbs, Greeks and Albanians. Different laws applied in

5472-635: The Serb nobility, which demanded rewards such as land and positions of authority. This extended to the Church, in which Serbs were appointed to the highest episcopal positions, thereby replacing the Greeks. Serbian tactics favored wedge shaped heavy cavalry attacks with horse archers on the flanks. Many foreign mercenaries were in the Serbian army in the 14th century, mostly German knights and Catalan halberdiers. Dušan had his personal mercenary guard on his disposal, consisting of German knights led by Palman , commander of

5586-539: The Serbian " Alemannic Guard ", who upon crossing Serbia to Jerusalem in 1331, became the leader of all mercenaries in the Serbian army. The main strength of the Serbian army were their heavy cavalry, feared for their ferocious charge and staying power. The imperial army of Stefan Dušan was built on existing military administration of Byzantium. Although the Vlach cavalry of Thessaly was disbanded, his army included Serbian feudal forces, Albanians and Greeks . Dušan recruited

5700-603: The Serbian Empire in 1371, it was used in all the successor provinces. It was officially used in the successor state, Serbian Despotate , until its annexation by the Ottoman Empire in 1459. It was used as a reference for Serbian communities under Turkish rule, which exercised considerable legal autonomy in civil cases. It was also used in the Serbian autonomical areas under the Republic of Venice, like Grbalj and Paštrovići . It

5814-519: The Serbian and Greek territories under Dušan's control, but the Albanians were largely left to manage their lands under the leadership of their chiefs. His policies soon changed, and the laws against the Albanians became harsher with Albanian Catholics being forcibly converted into Orthodoxy and their churches were converted as well, while some of them migrated towards Greece , leaving empty villages behind, which were then taken by Slavic settlers. By allowing

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5928-407: The Serbian church, founded by Saint Sava , Dušan's ancestor) came at the front of the ecclesiastical community. In his codex, Dušan accentuates his role as a protector of Christianity and points out the independence of the church. From the codex we can also see care that the parishes are equally arranged both in cities and villages. He also took care of the few churches and monasteries from Bari in

6042-521: The Serbs launched an attack on Byzantine Macedonia, benefiting greatly due to Syrgiannes' strategic abilities, knowledge of Byzantine position and his allies that surrendered fortresses to the Serbs. Peace with the Byzantines was concluded on 26 August 1334, with Byzantines recognizing Serbian gains in Ohrid , Prilep , Strumitsa , Siderokastron, Chermen and Prosek. The Hungarians, knowing of Dušan's involvement in

6156-510: The Venetians would have gained privileges. But Venice chose to avoid a military alliance. While Dušan sought Venetian aid against Byzantium, the Venetians sought Serbian support in the struggle against the Hungarians over Dalmatia. Sensing that Serbian aid would result in a Venetian obligation to Serbia, Venice politely turned down Dušan's offers of help. While Dušan launched the Bosnian campaign (with

6270-504: The Zetan nobility may have been neglected their promised reward and greater influence – may have been the cause of the rebellion, which was suppressed in the course of the same year. The struggle between Dušan and Stefan Dečanski prevented Serbian intervention in Bulgaria on behalf of Anna and Ivan Stephen and they were overthrown by Ivan Alexander in March 1331, however Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria

6384-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

6498-446: The administration and command over a Serb garrison to ensure that the locals could not resist Dušan's orders. As such, existing Byzantine laws continued to exist in the Greek territories, supplemented by specific edicts or charters issued by Dušan himself. Similarly, Dušan did not transform the Serbian and Albanian territories under his control by introducing a Byzantine administrative system. In Serbia itself, Dušan had initially retained

6612-545: The aiding Turk contingent went off plundering, reaching Skopje. Once the news of the Byzantine campaign reached Dušan in Hum, he quickly reassembled his forces from Bosnia and Hum and marched for Thessaly. When Stefan Dušan reached Macedonia, the Byzantine forces withdrew to Thrace. Dušan retook Voden after a short siege, soon retaking Veria and other territories that Kantakouzenos had taken. Dušan evidently wanted to expand his rule over

6726-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of

6840-411: The army ravaged Skadar , but Dušan had crossed the Bojana river . A brief period of anarchy took place in parts of Serbia before father and son concluded peace in April 1331. Three months later, Dečanski ordered Dušan to meet him. Dušan feared for his life and his advisors persuaded him to resist, so Dušan marched from Skadar to Nerodimlje , where he besieged his father. Dečanski fled, and Dušan captured

6954-601: The broader region of Southern Europe ), Kosovo , Montenegro , North Macedonia , Romania (alternatively placed in Eastern Europe ), Serbia , and the European part of Turkey (alternatively placed in the broader region of Southern Europe, also in Western Asia with the rest of the country). Sometimes, Cyprus (most often placed in West Asia ), Hungary (most often placed in Central Europe), Moldova (most often placed in Eastern Europe) and Slovenia (most often placed in Central Europe) are also included due to cultural or historical factors and affiliation. The largest cities of

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7068-528: The city, he needed a fleet. Knowing that fleets of southern Serbian Dalmatian towns were not strong enough to overcome Constantinople, he opened negotiations with Venice, with which he maintained fairly good relations. Venice feared a reduction of privileges in the Empire if Serbs became the masters of Constantinople over the weakened Byzantines. But had the Venetians allied with Serbia, Dušan would have examined existing privileges. Once he became master of all Byzantine lands (especially Thessalonika and Constantinople)

7182-427: The conflict but remained at peace with each other, taking advantage of the Byzantine civil war to secure gains for themselves. Dušan's systematic offensive began in 1342, and in the end he conquered all Byzantine territories in the western Balkans as far as Kavala , except for the Peloponnesus and Thessaloniki , which he could not besiege due to his small fleet. There has been speculation that Dušan's ultimate goal

7296-482: The constitution of the Serbian Empire , known as Dušan Code , perhaps the most important literary work of medieval Serbia . Dušan promoted the Serbian Church from an archbishopric to a patriarchate , finished the construction of the Visoki Dečani Monastery (now a UNESCO site ), and founded the monastery of the Holy Archangels , among others. Under his rule, Serbia reached its territorial, political, economic, and cultural peak. After Dušan's sudden death in 1355,

7410-437: The correspondence with the pope. Peace with Lois I of Hungary was concluded in May of 1355. Dušan had grand intentions to capture Constantinople, and to place himself at the head of a grand crusading army to drive the Muslim Turks from Europe. His premature death created a large power vacuum in the Balkans, that ultimately enabled Turkish invasion and their dominance over the Balkans until the early 20th century . While mounting

7524-452: The countryside. With one army they reached Duvno and Cetina ; a second army reached Krka , on which lay Knin (modern Croatia ); and a third army took Imotski and Novi , where they left garrisons and entered Hum. From this position of strength, Dušan tried to negotiate peace with the Ban, sealing it by the marriage of Dušan's son Uroš with Stephen's daughter Elizabeth , who would receive Hum as her dowry – restoring it to Serbia. The Ban

7638-427: The court who specialised in law. The Code proclaims on subjects both secular and ecclesiastic, the more so because Serbia had recently achieved full ecclesiastic autonomy as an independent Orthodox Church under a Patriarchate. The first 38 clauses relate to the church and they deal with issues that the Medieval Serbian Church faced, while the next 25 clauses relate to the nobility. Civil law is largely excluded, since it

7752-409: The death of Dušan, ruling a large area of Thessaly and Epirus, which he had received from Dušan. Today Dušan's remains are located in the Church of Saint Mark in Belgrade. Dušan is the only monarch of the Nemanjić dynasty who has not been canonised as a saint . Much like his ancestors, Dušan was very active in renovating churches and monasteries, and also in founding new ones. First, he cared for

7866-462: The despot title, granted to him by Andronikos III. His brother-in-law Dejan Dragaš and Branko Mladenović were granted the title of sebastocrator . The military commanders ( voivodes ) Preljub and Vojihna received the title of caesar . The raising of the Serbian Patriarch resulted in the same spirit as bishoprics became metropolitans, as for example the Metropolitanate of Skopje . The Serbian Patriarchate took over sovereignty on Mt. Athos and

7980-520: The disputed territory. According to Orbini , Dušan had secretly been in contact with various Bosnian nobles, offering them bribes for support. Many nobles, chiefly of Hum, were ready to betray the Ban, such as the Nikolić family , which was kin to the Nemanjić dynasty . The Ban avoided any major confrontation and did not meet Dušan in battle; he instead retired to the mountains and made small hit-and-run actions. Most of Bosnia's fortresses held out, but some nobles submitted to Dušan. The Serbs ravaged much of

8094-404: The early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of

8208-512: The empire began to weaken. With the death of Dušan's successor, emperor Stefan Uroš V , the Serbian Empire was definitively divided into a large number of independent Serbian states, among which the Serbian Despotate will stand out as the most prominent under the rule of Lazarević dynasty . In 1314, Serbian King Stefan Milutin quarreled with his son, Stefan Uroš III . Milutin sent Dečanski to Constantinople to have him blinded, though he

8322-602: The epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute

8436-408: The existing tax system and legal structure. Prior to Dušan's reign, the Serbian state had functioned under its customary law. This customary law was supplemented by Saint Sava in the early 13th century, in which he added a Church canon law code that covered many matters of civil and family law. Aside from these standard laws, Serbian rulers could also issue edicts for a specific region or the nation as

8550-452: The following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in

8664-490: The forest of Prizren which was supposed to be a special property of the monastery where all precious goods and relics were to be stored. His son, Stefan Uroš V, did not make peace with the Constantinopolitan Patriarch. The first initiative was made by despot Uglješa Mrnjavčević in 1368, which resulted in the areas under his rule being restored to Constantinople. The final initiative for reconciliation between

8778-453: The goal of Emperor Dušan was to establish a new, Serbian-Greek Empire, replacing the Byzantine Empire. Ćirković considered his initial ideology as that of the previous Bulgarian emperors , who had envisioned co-rulership. However, starting in 1347, relations with John VI Kantakouzenos worsened, Dušan allied himself with rival John V Palaiologos . Dušan was the first Serbian monarch who wrote most of his letters in Greek , also signing with

8892-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn

9006-649: The influence of the church. Dušan rejected Constantinople's claims to authority over the Serbian Orthodox Church and contemplated a religious union with the Latin Church . In 1354, Dušan reached out to the Papal States , offering to recognise Pope Innocent VI as the "father of all Christians" and to solidify a union between the Catholic and Serbian Orthodox Church, in exchange for supporting Dušan in his plans for

9120-487: The jurisdiction of the Serbian church. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople had Dušan excommunicated in 1350, although this did not affect the religious organization. Under Serbian jurisdiction came one of the foremost centers of spirituality – Mount Athos . As of November 1345, Athonite monks accepted his supreme rule, and Dušan guaranteed autonomy, also giving a row of economic privileges, with tremendous gifts and endowments. The monks of Chilandar (the cradle of

9234-463: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

9348-621: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek

9462-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and

9576-484: The monasteries in which his parents were buried. Both the Banjska monastery , built by King Milutin, where his mother was buried, and the monastery of Visoki Dečani , an endowment of his father, were generously looked after. The monastery was built for eight years and it is certain that Dušan's role in the building process was huge. Between 1337 and 1339, Dušan became ill, and he gave his word that if he survived, he would build

9690-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks

9804-463: The objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It

9918-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

10032-585: The other from January 1346, and around Christmas 1345 at a council meeting in Serres , which had been conquered on 25 September 1345, he proclaimed himself "Tsar of the Serbs and Romans" ( Romans is equivalent to Greeks in Serbian documents). On 16 April 1346 (Easter), Dušan convoked a huge assembly at Skopje , attended by the Serbian Archbishop Joanikije II , the Archbishop of Ochrid Nikolas I ,

10146-494: The pope, stating that he was ready to recognize papal supremacy. Since there is no other evidence that Dušan was seriously attracted to Catholicism, this was most likely a diplomatic action to improve relations with papacy while Serbia was endangered by Hungary. Dušan successfully repelled the Hungarian invasion, preserving or even extending his original borders in the north. When the Hungarians retreated from Serbia, he did not continue

10260-507: The provinces that had earlier been in the hands of Serbia, such as Hum , which was annexed by Bosnian Ban Stephen II Kotromanić in 1326. In 1329, the Ban launched an attack on Lord Vitomir, who held Travunia and Konavle . The Bosnian army was defeated at Pribojska Banja by Dušan, still Young King . The Ban soon took over Nevesinje and the rest of Bosnia. Petar Toljenović, the Lord of "seaside Hum" and

10374-626: The region are Istanbul , Athens , Bucharest , Sofia , and Belgrade . The first known use of the term "Southeast Europe" was by Austrian researcher Johann Georg von Hahn (1811–1869) as a broader term than the traditional Balkans , a concept based on the boundaries of the Balkan Peninsula. Countries described in 2004 by Istituto Geografico De Agostini as being entirely within the Balkan region, are: Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Montenegro , and North Macedonia . However from

10488-401: The south, were mobilizing to attack Serbia from the north. Not expecting any serious Serbian resistance, they penetrated deep into Serbia, reaching neighborhood of Žiča monastery. They had received military support from Stephen II of Bosnia . When Dušan marched north to face them, the Hungarians quickly withdrew their armies to avoid his army. Charles I was wounded by an arrow but survived. As

10602-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

10716-577: The throne of Bulgaria in August 1330. Dečanski's decision not to attack the Byzantines after the victory at Velbazhd, when he had an opportunity, resulted in the alienation of many nobles, who sought to expand to the south. By January or February 1331, Dušan was quarreling with his father, perhaps pressured by the nobility. According to contemporary pro-Dušan sources, advisors turned Dečanski against his son, and he decided to seize and exclude Dušan from his inheritance. Dečanski sent an army into Zeta against his son;

10830-409: The treasury and family. He then pursued his father, catching up with him at Petrich . On 21 August 1331 Dečanski surrendered, and on the advice or insistence of Dušan's advisors, he was imprisoned. Dušan was crowned King of All Serbian and Maritime lands in the first week of September. Contemporary writers described Dušan as unusually tall and strong, "the tallest man of his time", very handsome, and

10944-710: The troops previously based in Macedonia and Thessaly), Kantakouzenos tried to regain lands Byzantium had lost. In his support, the Constantinopolitan patriarch Kallistos excommunicated Dušan to discourage the Greek population in Dušan's Greek provinces from supporting the Serbian administration and thereby assist the Kantakouzenos campaign. The excommunication did not stop Dušan's relations with Mount Athos, which still addressed him as Emperor, though rather as Emperor of Serbs than Emperor of Serbs and Greeks . Kantakouzenos raised

11058-469: The two churches came from Prince Lazar in 1375. There is no evidence of an existing cult of Emperor Dušan in the decades after his death. His charter to Ragusa (Dubrovnik) served as a statute in the future trade between Serbia and Ragusa, and its regulations were deemed inviolable. His legacy was esteemed in Ragusa. Later folk tradition in Serbia included various attitudes toward Dušan, mostly negative, made under

11172-413: The uniform use of geographical names, proposes two sets of boundaries. The first follows international borders of current countries. The second subdivides and includes some countries based on cultural criteria. The following countries are included in their classification "Southeastern Europe": In this classification, Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia are included in Central Europe , while Turkey (East Thrace)

11286-548: The west to Jerusalem in the east. Besides Orthodox Christians, there were many Catholics in the Empire, mostly in the coastal cities of Cattaro , Alessio (modern Lezhë) etc. Catholics were also present on his court (servants from Cattaro and Ragusa , mercenaries, guests etc.). In the central parts, Saxons were present in areas active in mining and trading. Serbia under Dušan claimed its identity through Orthodoxy and opposition to Catholicism. Catholics were persecuted, especially Catholic Albanians. Some historians consider that

11400-568: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

11514-549: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of

11628-546: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

11742-446: Was aware of future danger from Serbia and immediately sought peace with Dušan. The two rulers concluded peace and formed an alliance, sealed with Dušan's marriage to Ivan Alexander's sister Helen of Bulgaria . Good relations with Bulgaria continued during Dušan's reign and though Bulgaria was weaker then Serbia, it did not suffer any legal dependence. In 1333 after negotiations with Ragusa , Dušan sold Ston and its envisions, including

11856-472: Was covered in earlier documents, namely Saint Sava 's Nomokamon and in Corpus Juris Civilis . The Code originally dealt with criminal law, with heavy emphasis on the concept of lawfulness, which was mostly taken directly from Byzantine law. The original manuscript of the Code has not survived. The Code remained a de facto constitution under the rule of Dušan's son, Stefan Uroš V, and after the fall of

11970-679: Was crowned Emperor of Serbs and Greeks . This title was soon enlarged into " Emperor and Autocrat of the Serbs and Greeks, the Bulgarians and Albanians ". His epithet Silni (Силни) is translated into the Mighty , but also the Great , the Powerful or the Strong . Stefan Dušan was the most powerful Serbian ruler in the Middle Ages and remains a folk hero to Serbs. Dušan, a contemporary of England's Edward III,

12084-457: Was crowned king. Civil war erupted immediately, as Dečanski and his cousin, Stefan Vladislav II , claimed the throne. Konstantin refused to submit to Dečanski, who then invaded Zeta, defeating and killing Konstantin. Dečanski was crowned king on 6 January 1322 by Nicodemus, and his son, Stefan Dušan, was crowned "young king". Dečanski later granted Zeta to Dušan, indicating him as the intended heir. Since April 1326 Dušan appears in written sources as

12198-518: Was defeated in battle in late 1324 and fled to Hungary, leaving the Serbian throne to Dečanski as undisputed "king of All Serbian and Maritime lands". Dušan was the eldest son of King Stefan Dečanski and Theodora Smilets , the daughter of emperor Smilets of Bulgaria . He was born c.  1308 , or in 1312, in Serbia. In 1314 Dušan's father was exiled, and the family lived in Constantinople until his recall in 1320. Dušan became acquainted with

12312-474: Was never totally blinded. Dečanski wrote to Danilo, the bishop of Hum, asking him to intervene with his father. Danilo wrote to Archbishop Nicodemus of Serbia , who spoke with Milutin and persuaded him to recall his son. In 1320 Dečanski was permitted to return to Serbia and was given the appanage of 'Budimlje' (modern Berane ), while his half-brother, Stefan Konstantin , held the province of Zeta . Milutin became ill and died on 29 October 1321, and Konstantin

12426-405: Was no less than to conquer Constantinople and replace the declining Byzantine Empire with a united Orthodox Greco-Serbian Empire under his control. In May 1344, his commander Preljub was stopped at Stephaniana by a Turkic force of 3,100. The Turks won the battle, but the victory was not enough to thwart the Serbian conquest of Macedonia. Faced with Dušan's aggression, the Byzantines sought allies in

12540-576: Was not willing to consider this proposal. Dušan may have also launched the campaign to aid his sister, Jelena, who married Mladen III Šubić of Klis , Omiš and Skradin , in 1347. Mladen died from Black Death (bubonic plague) in 1348, and Jelena sought to maintain the rule of the cities for herself and her son. She was challenged by Hungary and Venice, so the dispatch of Serbian troops to western Hum and Croatia may have been for her aid, as operations in this region were unlikely to help Dušan conquer Hum. If Dušan had intended to aid Jelena, rising trouble in

12654-417: Was supported by the Hungarians, consolidating control over his lands and preparing for battle with Dečanski. As was the case with their fathers, Serbia was divided by the two independent rulers; in 1322 and 1323 Ragusan merchants freely visited both lands. In 1323, war broke out between Dečanski and Vladislav. Rudnik had fallen to Dečanski by the end of 1323, and Vladislav appeared to have fled north. Vladislav

12768-536: Was too young to really rule with his father 1322. and later in April 1326 Dušan appears as the co-ruler in Zeta and Zahumlje. He was entitled the rule of Zeta ; thus he ruled as "King of Zeta". In 1331 he succeeded his father as "King of all Serbian and Maritime Lands". In 1343 his title was "King of Serbia, Greeks, Albania and the coast". In 1345 he began calling himself tsar , Emperor, and in 1345 he proclaimed himself "Emperor of Serbs and Eastern Romans". On 16 April 1346 he

12882-566: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

12996-653: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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