Romanyan Dastivia

Provincia Dastivia ἐπαρχία Δαστιβια
Province of the Romanyan Empire
325–515 CE
Romanyan Dastivia highlighted
Capital	Dastivus
History
History
• Septarban Kingdom secedes from Romanyan Vaktria	325
• Dastivia revolts against the Romanyan Empire	515 CE
Preceded by Succeeded by Romanyan Vaktria Ragasan Kingdom
Today part of	Terranihil

Romanyan Dastivia was a province of the Romanyan Empire from 325 to 515 CE. The province was previously part of Romanyan Vaktria until the revolt and secession of the Septarban Kingdom in the north, after which the southern part of the province remaining under Romanyan control was renamed Dastivia after its capital of Dastivus. Dastivia itself broke away from the Empire 190 years after to form the Ragasan Kingdom. Dastivia under Romanyan rule saw the rapid spread of Vaktrian Christianity and separation of the Vaktrian Orthodox Church from the Great Church in 451. Use of the Iberic script also increased, and Romanyanization of Vaktrian first emerged.

History

The revolts in Vaktria that began in 308 were mainly by Astrian peasants in the northern province. Minor revolts occured in and around Dastivus, but the Romanyan Empire was able to suppress these. In addition, Christian Vaktrians sided with the Romanyans. The north united under the leadership of Septarbus and managed to beat back Romanyan forces by 325. Septarbus also ordered the expulsion of all Christians from his new kingdom. The approximately one third of the province still under Romanyan control was redesignated as Dastivia.

The Christian population significantly increased, with it becoming the majority religion by the beginning of the 6th century. The Vaktrian Orthodox Church is traditionally held to have been established in 268. It developed a rite that used the Vaktrian language and alphabet. Most Vaktrian Christians rejected the ruling of the Council of Chalcedon and split off with the other Miaphysite Orthodox Churches in 451. The following persecution of Vaktrian Christians contributed to the discontent that later led to the secession of Dastivia.

Dastivia and the Septarban Kingdom engaged in conflicts from 397 to 460 with little territorial change.

In the late 5th century, conflict began to brew among several factions. Astrians wanted to end Christian state domination as the Septarbans had. Most Vaktrian Christians also wanted autonomy and an end to the persecution of miaphysites, but some still remained loyal to the Romanyan Empire. Civil war broke out between these groups in 503 when Astrians and Christians began detroying rival places of worship. The Romanyan attempts at intervention angered all Vaktrian factions. A general named Ragas rallied the support of the Vaktrian Church and took control of Dastivus in 511. He was then able to gain control of the northern half of Dastivia by 515, while Romanya held the south.

The church of the Vaktrian Christians in the Romanyan south split from the Vaktrian Orthodox Church in 547 and rejoined full communion with the Romanyan Church. It still exists as the Vaktrian Catholic Church.

Language

Vaktrian continued to be the common language of the native Dastivians. Vaktrian began to diverge into the northern and southern branches. The southern branch of Vaktrian began to develop around 200 and was influenced by Romanyan. The first Romanyanized Vaktrian alphabets appeared in the 5th century. The Vaktrian alphabet continued to be used for liturgical purposes, but common use of Iberic was increasing.