PAULICIO ANAFESTO, THE FIRST DOGE

The figure of the first Venetian doge, Paulicio Anafesto is shrouded in legend. The information concerning him is scarce, lacking certain historical documents, sometimes contradictory but they are still important because they transmit decisive aspects of an era, that between 700 and 800, where the official Byzantine power had to confront the pressures of the Lombards, the church and the territorial claims of the first Venetians. Among the certainties, the etymology: doge comes from dux, duke.

History or legend, Paulicius is however remembered as a balanced governor, promoter of a peace treaty with the Longobard king Liutprando in which the boundaries between the constituency of Venice and the Lombard territories were defined.

It also seems that Paulicio had some differences with the Patriarch of Grado, but the reasons are unknown.

According to other scholars, the first doge elected by the Venetians was the Bear (which according to tradition is the third doge after Paulicius and Marcellus) came to power in 726 after a revolt against the then emperor of Byzantium Leo III. According to this reconstruction Paul would be the contraction of Paulus patricius, or the noble Paul, the exarch of Ravenna.