The events around the demise of the Exarchate of Ravenna only involved the Venetians marginally. It is nevertheless important to the history of Venice.
The Liber Pontificalis for Gregory II (715–731), recounts in great detail the conflicts between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Papacy, with repeated attempts at the life of the pope.
The lagoon was settled in Antiquity, and in the 600s, there were numerous known towns, and several important cities. Venice, however, was not one of them.