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 venality of the Roman officials and the turbulence of the Gothic nobles were sternly repressed. Marshes were drained, harbours formed, the burden of the taxes lightened, and the state of agriculture so much improved that Italy, from a corn-importing, became a corn-exporting country. Moreover Theodoric, though adhering to the Arian creed of his forefathers, was during the greater part of his reign so conspicuously impartial in religious matters that a legend which afterwards became current represented him as actually putting to death a Catholic deacon who had turned Arian in order to win his favour. At the time of the contested papal election between Symmachus and Laurentius (496–502), Theodoric’s mediation was welcomed by both contending parties. Unfortunately, at the very close of his reign (524), the Emperor Justin’s persecution of the Arians led him into a policy of reprisals. He forced Pope John to undertake a mission to Constantinople to plead for toleration, and on his return threw him into prison, where he died. Above all, he sullied his fame by the execution of Boetius and Symmachus (see ). It should be observed, however, that the motive for these acts of violence was probably political rather than religious—jealousy of intrigues with the imperial court rather than zeal on behalf of the Arian confession. Theodoric’s death, which is said to have been hastened by remorse for the execution of Symmachus, occurred on the 30th of August 526. He was buried in the mausoleum which is still one of the marvels of (q.v.), and his grandson Athalaric, a boy of ten years, succeeded him, under the regency of his mother Amalasuntha.

Genealogy of Theodoric. EB1911 - Theodoric.png

THEODORUS, FLAVIUS MALLIUS, Roman consul 399, author of an extant treatise on metres, one of the best of its kind (H. Keil, Grammatici Latini, vi.). He also studied philosophy, astronomy and geometry, and wrote works on those subjects, which, together with his consulship, formed the subject of a panegyric by Claudian.

THEODORUS STUDĪTA ( 750–826), Greek theological writer, abbot of the monastery of Studium, was born at Constantinople. In 794 he succeeded his uncle Plato, who had persuaded him to become a monk some ten years before, as head of the monastery of Saccudium in Bithynia. Soon afterwards he was banished to Thessalonica for having excommunicated Constantine VI., who had divorced his wife Maria in order to marry Theodotē. After the emperor’s death in 797 he was recalled with every mark of favour, and removed with his monks to the monastery of Studium in Constantinople, where he carried on a vigorous campaign in favour of asceticism and monastic reform. In 809 he was again banished in consequence of his refusal to hold communion with the patriarch Nicephorus, who had pardoned the priest Joseph for his part in the marriage of Constantine and Theodotē. In 811 he was recalled by Michael Rhangabes, and again banished in 814 for his resistance to the edict of Leo the Armenian, which forbade the worship of images. Liberated in 821 by the Emperor Michael the Stammerer (Balbus), he soon got into trouble again. In 824 he violently attacked Michael for showing too great leniency towards the iconoclasts and even favoured an insurrection against him. When the attempt failed, Theodoras found it prudent to leave Constantinople. He lived at various monasteries in Bithynia, on Chalcitis (one of the Princes’ Islands) and on the peninsula of Tryphon, near the promontory of Acrita, where he died on the 11th of November 826. He was buried at Chalcitis, but his body was afterwards (26th of January 844) removed to Studium. He subsequently received the honours of canonization. Of his extant works the following are the most important: —Letters, which are of considerable value as giving an insight into the life and character of the writer, and throwing light upon the ecclesiastical disputes in which he was involved; Catecheses (divided into Magna and Parva), two collections of addresses to his monks on various subjects connected with the spiritual life; funeral orations on his mother and his uncle Plato; various polemical discourses connected with the question of image-worship. He was also the author of epigrams on various subjects, which show considerable originality, and of some church hymns. Like all the monks of Studium, Theodore was famous for his calligraphy and industry in copying MSS.

THEODOSIA, formerly, a seaport and watering-place of South Russia, on the east coast of the Crimea, 66 m. E.N.E. of Simferopol and 72 m. by a branch line from the Sebastopol-Ekaterinoslav railway. It has an excellent modern harbour, and its roadstead, which is never frozen, is well protected from east and west winds, and partly also from the south, but its depth is only 11 to 14 ft., reaching 35 ft. in the middle. The population was 10,800 in 1881, and 27,236 in 1897. Among the motley population of Russians, Tatars, Armenians, Germans and Greeks are several hundred Qaraite Jews. Few remains of its former importance exist, the chief being the Citadel built by the Genoese and still showing Latin inscriptions on some of its towers, the one or two detached towers left when the town walls were pulled down, and two or three mosques, formerly Genoese churches. The town also possesses a museum of antiquities and a picture gallery containing the works of the marine painter Ayvazovsky. Theodosia is an episcopal see of the Orthodox Greek Church. Gardening is one of the leading industries; fishing, a few manufactures, and agriculture are