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Justinian s program of fortification responded. The quote, however is truncated: «These measures were not taken in
response to any major threat, for Roman troops were still in control of the left bank of the Danube, possibly through
bridge-heads such as those of Turnu Severin (Drobeta) and Celei. This is shown by the edict 13, issued in 538, which
clearly stated that troops were still sent (if only as a form of punishment) north of the Danube river, in order to watch at
the frontier of that place ». By truncating the quote, Ivanov has altered its meaning in order to adapt it to his own line of
arguments. He thus attributed to me statements that I have never made.
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Commentarii
These remarkably diverse and stimulating contributions make one thing crystal clear. Histori-
ans of the early Middle Ages in Eastern Europe are entering a new era in which new concepts, new
data, and new approaches will foster new insights and correct old ones, so long as we are attentive
to when and where the evidence is coming from, to the complexity, chronology and context of the
data. The hope indirectly expressed in the Making of the Slavs that the model of analysis proposed
there could be brought to bear on the great question of early medieval ethnicity, to test and
improve our understanding of later periods, is becoming reality far more swiftly and broadly than
I would have ever dared to imagine.
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