Note 554 — Chapter II · THE ROMAN EMPIRE UNDER ANASTASIUS: THE INHERITANCE OF JUSTINIAN

Neither the north-eastern nor the north-western boundaries can now be precisely defined. According to Theodoret, the north-eastern verge of the Empire was Pityus, about seventy miles farther north; Hist. Eccles., v, 34. After the reign of Trajan the Euxine was virtually a Roman lake, and a garrisoned fort was kept at Sebastopol, considerably north of the Phasis, Bosphorus (Crimea) under its Greek kings being still allowed a nominal autonomy; Arrian, Periplus Pont. Euxin. After 250, however, under Gallienus, etc., these regions were overrun by the Goths. In 275 Trajan’s great province of Dacia was abandoned by Aurelian, but he preserved the remembrance of it by forming a small province with the same name south of the Danube; Hist. Aug., Aurelian, 39, etc.