Aegean Sea (theme)
| Theme of the Aegean Sea Αἰγαῖον Πελάγος, θέμα τοῦ Αἰγαίου Πελάγους | |
|---|---|
Theme of the Byzantine Empire | |
| 843–1204 | |
 Map of Byzantine Greece c. 900 AD, with the themes and major settlements. | |
| Historical era | Middle Ages |
• Established | 843 |
| 1204 | |
| Today part of | Greece Turkey |
The Theme of the Aegean Sea (Greek: θέμα τοῦ Αἰγαίου Πελάγους, thema tou Aigaiou Pelagous) was a Byzantine province in the northern Aegean Sea, established in the mid-9th century. As one of the Byzantine Empire's three dedicated naval themes (Greek: θέματα ναυτικᾶ), it served chiefly to provide ships and troops for the Byzantine navy, but also served as a civil administrative circumscription.
Origins
The theme has its origins in the
History
The theme of the Aegean Sea must have been created in 843: its governing strategos does not appear in the Taktikon Uspensky of 842/843, which still lists the droungarios, but he is elsewhere attested as being active at Lesbos in 843.[4]
The theme of the Aegean Sea was a regularly organized theme, subdivided into
According to Emperor
The province survived until the late 10th/early 11th century, when it became progressively split up into smaller commands. As the Cyclades and Sporades, Chios and the region of Abydos acquired their own strategoi, the theme of the Aegean became a purely civil province comprising only the coasts of the Propontis and the region around Constantinople.[11] By the late 11th century, what remained of the old thematic fleet was incorporated into the unified imperial navy at Constantinople, under the command of the megas doux.[12] Thereafter, some time in the 12th century, the theme of the Aegean seems to have been fused with the Opsician theme into a single province, as attested in the Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae in 1204.[13] The theme ceased to exist after the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire by the Fourth Crusade in 1204.
References
- ^ a b Nesbitt & Oikonomides 1994, pp. 110–112.
- ^ a b ODB, "Aegean Sea" (T. E. Gregory), pp. 26–27.
- ^ Ahrweiler 1966, pp. 76–81.
- ^ Oikonomides 1972, pp. 46–47.
- ^ Nesbitt & Oikonomides 1994, pp. 109, 112.
- ^ Ahrweiler 1966, p. 402.
- ^ Ahrweiler 1966, pp. 76–79, 132–133 (note #5).
- ^ Nesbitt & Oikonomides 1994, pp. 123, 139, 141.
- ^ Ahrweiler 1966, p. 108.
- ^ Treadgold 1995, pp. 67, 76.
- ^ Ahrweiler 1966, pp. 132–133.
- ^ Nesbitt & Oikonomides 1994, p. 112.
- ^ Ahrweiler 1966, p. 79.
Sources
- Ahrweiler, Hélène (1966). Byzance et la mer. La marine de guerre, la politique et les institutions maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe-XVe siècles (in French). Paris: Presses universitaires de France.
- ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
- Nesbitt, John; ISBN 0-88402-226-9.
- Oikonomides, Nicolas (1972). Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles(in French). Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.
- Treadgold, Warren T. (1995). Byzantium and Its Army, 284–1081. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3163-2.
