Katepano

Map of the administrative structure of the Byzantine Empire in 1025. The regional eastern commands, variously underdoukesorkatepano,are outlined. Southern Italy was under the authority of thekatepanoof Italy, while Bulgaria, Serbia andParistrionwere often under the authority of a singlekatepano.

Thekatepánō(Greek:κατεπάνω;lit. '[the one] placed at the top',orlit. 'the topmost') was a seniorByzantinemilitary rank and office.The word wasLatinizedascapetanus/catepan,and its meaning seems to have merged with that of the Italian "capitaneus" (which derives from the Latin word "caput", meaning head). This hybridized term gave rise to theEnglish languagetermcaptainand its equivalents in other languages (Capitan,Kapitan,Kapitän,el Capitán, il Capitano,Kapudan Pashaetc.)

History

Thekatepánofirst appears in the 9th century, when it was used in the generic sense of "the one in charge" by two officials: the head of thebasilikoi anthrōpoi( "imperial men" ), a class of low-level court functionaries, and the head of theMardaitesmarine detachments of theByzantine navaltheme of theCibyrrhaeotsin southernAsia Minor.On the eve of the great eastern conquests of the 960s, however, the title acquired a more specific meaning.

The reconquered frontier zones were divided into smallerthemata,and grouped together to form large regional commands, headed either by adoux( "duke" ) or akatepanō.These were the ducates/katepanatesofAntioch,covering the south-eastern frontier in northernSyria,ofMesopotamiain the east around theEuphrates,and ofChaldiain the north-east.During the reign of EmperorBasil II(r. 976–1025), the eastern border was further expanded, and the katepanate ofIberiawas established in 1022.

In the West, the most famous katepanate, that ofsouthern Italy,is attested in theEscorial Taktikon,a list of offices compiled circa 971–975, and after the successful conclusion of theByzantine–Bulgarian Wars,akatepanōofBulgariais also attested.ASerbian catepanateis also attested, which was known as the"katepanoof Ras".

With the catastrophic territorial losses suffered during the 11th century, the office disappears in the sense of the overall military commander, but is retained in a more local level: during theKomnenianandPalaiologanperiods, the termkatepanikionthus comes to denote low-level administrative areas, both in Asia Minor (including theEmpire of Trebizond) andEurope.

These were small subdivisions of the earlierthemata,and consisted of little more than a fortified capital (thekastron) and its surrounding territory. In the Palaiologan era, thekatepanikionwas governed by akephalē(Greek: κεφαλή, "head" ), who had supreme civil and military authority within its bounds.Like many other Byzantine institutions, thekatepanikionas an administrative subdivision was also adopted in theSecond Bulgarian Empire.

See also

• Capitan (disambiguation)
• Captain (disambiguation)
• El Capitan (disambiguation)
• Catepanate of Serbia

Sources

• Bartusis, Mark C. (1997).The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society 1204–1453.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.ISBN0-8122-1620-2.
• Haldon, John(1999).Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565–1204.London: UCL Press.ISBN1-85728-495-X.
• Holmes, Catherine (2005).Basil II and the Governance of Empire (976–1025).Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-927968-5.
• Kazhdan, Alexander,ed. (1991).The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-504652-8.
• Krsmanović, Bojana (2008).The Byzantine Province in Change: On the Threshold Between the 10th and the 11th Century.Belgrade: Institute for Byzantine Studies.ISBN9789603710608.
• Ostrogorsky, George(1956).History of the Byzantine State.Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• Runciman, Steven(1988) [1929].The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and His Reign: A Study of Tenth-Century Byzantium.Cambridge University Press.ISBN9780521357227.

Further reading

• Glykatzi-Ahrweiler, Hélène(1960). "Recherches sur l'administration de l'empire byzantin aux IX-XIème siècles".Bulletin de correspondance hellénique(in French).84(1): 1–111.doi:10.3406/bch.1960.1551.