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Cappadocia (theme)

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Theme of Cappadocia
Καππαδοκία, θέμα Καππαδοκίας, θέμα Καππαδοκῶν
Themeof theByzantine Empire
c. 830–1073

The Asian themes of the Byzantine Empire c. 842.
CapitalKoron
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Establishment as a theme
c. 830
• Fall to theSeljuks.
1073
Today part ofTurkey

TheTheme of Cappadocia(Greek:θέμα Καππαδοκίας) was aByzantinetheme(a military-civilian province) encompassing the southern portion of thenamesake regionfrom the early 9th to the late 11th centuries.

Location[edit]

The theme comprised most of thelate antiqueRoman provinceofCappadocia Secundaand parts ofCappadocia Prima.By the early 10th century, it was bounded to the northwest by theBucellarian Theme,roughly along the line of theLake TattaandMocissus;theArmeniac Themeand laterCharsianonto the north, across the riverHalys,and to the northeast nearCaesareaand the fortress of Rodentos; to the south by theTaurus Mountainsand the border with theCaliphate's lands and theThughurfrontier zone inCilicia;and to the east with theAnatolic Theme,the boundary stretching acrossLycaoniafrom the area ofHeraclea Cybistrato Tatta.[1][2][3]

History[edit]

Lying directly north of theCilician Gates,theArabs' major invasion route intoAsia Minor,the region of Cappadocia suffered greatly from their repeated raids, with its towns and fortresses regularly sacked and the country widely devastated and depopulated.[1][4]The cities of Tyana, Heraclea Cybistra andFaustinopolishad all been razed by the Arabs in the early 9th century, and although Cybistra was rebuilt, the populations of the other two cities fled to the fortresses ofNigdeandLoulonrespectively.[5]

Initially, the later theme was atourma(division) of theAnatolic Theme.To counter the Arab threat, it was detached as a separate frontier march (akleisoura) and eventually raised to a full theme. It is first attested as such in 830.[1][6][7]According to theMuslimgeographersIbn KhordadbehandIbn al-Faqih,the province was heavily fortified with over twenty towns and fortresses, and had a garrison of 4,000 men in the 9th century.[1][8]The theme was also the site of no less than three imperialaplekta,large camps that served as assembly points for the thematic armies during campaigns:Koloneia,Caesarea, andBathys Ryax.[9]Itsstrategos,whose seat was probably the fortress ofKoron(modern Çömlekçi),[10]and perhapsTyanaat a later stage, drew an annual salary of 20 pounds of gold, and usually held the rank ofprotospatharios,with a few rising as far aspatrikios.[11][12]

The Arab raids remained frequent in the 9th century, and an Arab army occupied Loulon, one of the key fortresses guarding the northern exit of the Cilician Gates, in 833–879. From the great Byzantine victory at theBattle of Lalakaonin 863, and the destruction of thePaulicianstate atTephrikein 872 (or 878) onwards the security situation improved considerably, but the area remained a target of Arab raids. In 897, an Arab raid even sacked the thematic capital, Koron.[5][13]

Under EmperorLeo VI the Wise(r. 886–912), some of its eastern territory, thebandonofNyssa,in which Caesarea lay, as well as thetourmaof Kase were given to theCharsianontheme. In turn, the theme of Cappadocia was expanded to the northwest to the area of theSalt Lakewith territory from the Anatolic and Bucellarian themes, forming the sevenbandaof the newtourmaofKommata.[1][14][15]

The fall ofMelitenein 934 and the conquests ofJohn Kourkouasremoved the immediate threat to the theme. In the 10th century, the depopulated region was settled byArmeniansandSyriac Christians.Cappadocia as a whole also became a major power base of the Anatolian military aristocracy – in particular thePhokasandMaleinosclans – whose extensive estates, large wealth and military prestige posed a serious challenge to the central imperial government and led to successive revolts in the second half of the 10th century. The magnates' power was broken through the confiscation of their estates under EmperorBasil II(r. 976–1025).[1]

Extensive Armenian settlement occurred in the first half of the 11th century, and the firstSeljukraids in the area began c. 1050 and intensified over the next two decades. After theBattle of Manzikertin 1071, most of Cappadocia was lost to the Seljuks. A "toparchesof Cappadocia andChoma",however, appears as late as 1081 either implying continued Byzantine control in parts of western Cappadocia or simply the survival of the title.[1]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefgODB,"Cappadocia" (C. Foss), pp. 378–379.
  2. ^Pertusi 1952,p. 121.
  3. ^Gyftopoulou 2003,Chapter 2.
  4. ^Treadgold 1995,p. 209.
  5. ^abGyftopoulou 2003,Chapter 4.2.
  6. ^McGeer, Nesbitt & Oikonomides 2001,p. 116.
  7. ^Treadgold 1995,pp. 32, 65.
  8. ^Pertusi 1952,pp. 120–121;Treadgold 1995,pp. 67, 130, 134.
  9. ^Gyftopoulou 2003,Chapter 4.1.
  10. ^Mitchell et al. 2012.
  11. ^Pertusi 1952,p. 122.
  12. ^Gyftopoulou 2003,Chapter 3.
  13. ^Gyftopoulou 2003,Chapter 5.
  14. ^Treadgold 1995,p. 77
  15. ^Gyftopoulou 2003,Chapter 4.3.

Sources[edit]

  • Gyftopoulou, Sofia (July 8, 2003)."Καππαδοκίας Θέμα".Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World: Asia Minor.Athens, Greece: Foundation of the Hellenic World.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-06-03.Retrieved2021-06-03.
  • Kazhdan, Alexander,ed. (1991).The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-504652-8.
  • Leveniotis, Georgios Athanasios (2007).Η πολιτική κατάρρευση του Βυζαντίου στην Ανατολή: το ανατολικό σύνορο και η κεντρική Μικρά Ασία κατά το β' ήμισυ του 11ου αι[The Political Collapse of Byzantium in the East: The Eastern Frontier and Central Asia Minor During the Second Half of the 11th Century] (PhD thesis) (in Greek). Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.doi:10.12681/eadd/19246.hdl:10442/hedi/19246.
  • McGeer, Eric; Nesbitt, John;Oikonomides, Nicolas,eds. (2001).Catalogue of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 4: The East.Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.ISBN0-88402-282-X.
  • Mitchell, S.; Talbert, R.; Elliott, T.; Gillies, S. (2012)."[Koron]: a Pleiades place resource".Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places.Retrieved2012-12-28.
  • Pertusi, A. (1952).Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus(in Italian). Rome, Italy: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
  • Treadgold, Warren T. (1995).Byzantium and Its Army, 284–1081.Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.ISBN0-8047-3163-2.
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