Description

Among the many myths surrounding Venice's origins is the legend that it was founded by refugees fleeing to the lagoon to escape barbarians. Early Medieval Venice draws on written sources and archaeological evidence to deconstruct the myths and provide a thorough history of the birth of one of the world's most famous cities.

During the sixth to eighth centuries, the Venetian duchy developed slowly from Byzantine military structures and fought to assert its autonomy against the powers of the Lombard kingdom and Carolingian empire on the Italian mainland, as well as the threat from the Slavs and the Saracens in the east. A political community slowly formed, which, during the ninth and tenth centuries, laid the foundations for the extraordinary commercial growth of the Venetian duchy. In this latter period, the city of Venice was born in Rialto, winning out over many other centres in the lagoon, including Metamauco, Equilo, Torcello, and Cittanova.

An important part of this account is the material face of the new city of Venice: the houses, churches, and the Doge's Palace, in a city made almost entirely of wood and grappling with problems such as water supply. Although new, Venice sought to build its identity by establishing a relationship with antiquity, both through its links with Byzantium as the heir to Rome and through spolia, thereby recycling materials from older structures into new ones.