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AEGEAN SEA  extensively to the diffi culties of navigating the Aegean. Th ese epics, and subsequent events, confi rm that the peoples of the islands acted as independent political units equal or greater in importance to the settlements on the Greek and Anatolian mainland. In the fateful fi fth century b.c.e. , however, the Persian Wars, followed by the Peloponne- sian Wars, changed the balance of power. Th e mainland Greek states, especially Athens and Sparta, seized the opportunity off ered by alliances in opposition to the Persians to take control of the islands and their resources. Under Alexander the Great and his Macedonian successors, these islands became little more than territory to be fought over. Th e islands never again fi gured as independent and important units. Th e spread of the Roman Empire saw the Aegean Sea’s role diminish to that of a transit region for goods from the Eastern Mediterranean westward towards the Italian emporia cargo ships with huge amounts of grain from the Black Sea passed through on their way to markets in Rome and central Italy. Pirates found the vessels easy targets among the islands of the Aegean, although not in such number as to discourage or change the Roman grain- transit activities. Christianity arrived in the Aegean region during the fi rst few decades after the life of Christ. Th e islands sent a bishop to the Council of Chalcedon in  c.e. to sign the condemnation of Monophysitism. As the route for ships heading to “New Rome” (Con- stantinople) from the old Rome, the Aegean Sea remained at the center of the empire. Th e takeover of the Western Roman Empire by Germanic tribes confi rmed the status of the sea as the main conduit for trade for the Eastern, or Byzantine, Empire. During the Roman and Medieval periods, this trade route involved international goods moving to and from the European ends of the Silk Road. Th e Romans, or Byzantines, expressed their infl uence over the islands of the Aegean for the next thousand years through the many beautiful churches they built. Th e fi rst period of building and relations between the islands and emperor ended in the eighth century, when the islanders unsuccessfully supported an iconodule pretender to the Byzantine throne against the emperor, who wished to remove all icons from churches. Th e emperor’s punishment paled in com- parison to the contemporary wave of plague that carried off a huge part of the region’s population. Th is was followed in the th century by the fi rst major Muslim raids on the islands. Soon, the clash of religions was regularly played out in the waters of the Aegean. Meanwhile, the Iconoclastic Controversy subsided, the population rebounded, prosper- ity returned, and the Byzantine emperors once more returned to building churches on the islands. Th ey also relied on the islanders to supply the greater part of the manpower for their fl eets. Th e Fourth Crusade, in , brought about the next great change for the Aegean region. Th is action, which turned European Crusaders against the Christian city of Constantinople, fractured the governance of the Aegean region. Th e Venetians and Cru- saders divided control over the Aegean amongst themselves most of the islands were not assigned. Th e Venetians were anxious to keep control of trade routes and to keep the ports out of the hands of their commercial rivals, such as the Genoese and Catalans. Th e