Classicism in the Eighth Century? The Homily of Patriarch Germanos on the Deliverance of Constantinople

Firstly, it has been shown that in 626 the Avar khagan’s boats manned with Slavs reached Constantinople by land and not by the River Danube and the Black Sea.3 Secondly, Germanos proves that the naval attack in the Golden Horn occurred because Constantinople [210] had no sea walls facing the Horn and the khagan thus expected to capture the city without a fight.4