Complex sentence: In 709 the Byzantine Emperor Justinian II sent an expedition under the command of the patrician Theodore against the city of Ravenna, possibly in retaliation for the participation of the city's population in the rebellion of 695.
Split into simpler sentences: In 709 the Byzantine Emperor Justinian II sent an expedition under the command of the patrician Theodore against the city of Ravenna. His motives are not entirely clear, although the campaign may have been ordered as revenge for the participation of the city's population in the rebellion of 695.