Gymnesian Islands "Baliarides". After the whole archipelago (the "Pityuses" and "Gymnesians") came under Roman rule, the islands gained the overall Latin name "Insulae Baliares" or "Baleares Insulae"; the collective concept has continued in use in modern languages, hence ultimately the English name "Balearic Islands". Gymnesian Islands The Gymnesians ( , ), or Gymnesic Islands (), is a collective name given to the two largest (and easternmost) Balearic islands, Majorca and Menorca, distinguishing them from the Pityuses (Catalan: "Illes Pitiüses"; Spanish: "Pitiusas"), or Pine Islands, Ibiza and Formentera. The word "Gymnesian" (from the Greek γυμνήτες "gymnetes") means "naked". The Ancient Greeks recruited the
Balearic Islands at 30,000. The part of the Mediterranean east of Spain, around the Balearic Isles, was called "Mare Balearicum", or "Sinus Balearicus". The Vandals under Genseric conquered the Islands sometime between 461 and 468 during their war on the Roman Empire. However, in late 533 or early 534, following the Battle of Ad Decimum, the troops of Belisarius reestablished control of the islands for the Byzantine Empire. Imperial power receded precipitately in the western Mediterranean after the fall of Carthage and the Exarchate of Africa to the Umayyad Caliphate in 698, and in 707 the islands submitted to the terms of