Question

In which of the following cities would people have found the center of the Byzantine government in Italy?
Rome

Antioch

Córdoba

Ravenna

Answer 1

Oddly enough, it wasn't Rome. Nor was it Antioch or Cordoba (both of those cities aren't even in Italy).

When the Byzantine empire expanded its borders under Justinian, it reclaimed much of what used to be part of the Roman Empire throughout the Mediterranean. But when they took Italy, they made Ravenna a provincial capital - not Rome. Later, it would eventually become the capital of a Byzantine Exarchate.