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Exarchate of Ravenna

584 CE – 751 CE (approx.) · capital Ravenna

Byzantine province ruling what remained of imperial Italy from Ravenna, under an exarch combining military and civil power, until the Lombards took Ravenna in 751.

Origins

After the Lombard invasion of 568 broke Byzantine Italy into scattered territories, Emperor Maurice concentrated civil and military authority in a single governor, the exarch, based at Ravenna. The office is first attested in 584. It was a new form of government designed for a frontier under constant attack.

Rule and society

The exarch governed Ravenna, the Pentapolis, the Duchy of Rome, Naples, Venetia and other fragments, commanding local garrisons whose officers became a landed aristocracy. Relations with the popes were often tense, especially over Monothelitism and Iconoclasm. Several exarchs rebelled, among them Eleutherius in 619 and Olympius in 649. Ravenna remained a centre of Greek-Latin culture, its churches adorned with mosaics.

Decline and legacy

Lombard pressure grew in the 8th century; King Aistulf captured Ravenna in 751, killing or expelling the last exarch, Eutychius. When Pepin the Short defeated Aistulf, he gave the exarchate's lands to the pope in 756, forming the core of the Papal States.

Connections (4)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Exarchate of Ravenna. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/exarchate-of-ravenna
MLA
“Exarchate of Ravenna.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/exarchate-of-ravenna. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Exarchate of Ravenna.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/exarchate-of-ravenna.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Exarchate of Ravenna’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/exarchate-of-ravenna (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻