Cibyrrhaeot Theme

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Theme of the Cibyrrhaeots
Κιβυρραιῶται, θέμα Κιβυρραιωτῶν
Attaleia
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Established
ca. 720/727
• Abolition by Manuel I
after 1150
Today part ofGreece
Turkey

The Cibyrrhaeot Theme, more properly the Theme of the Cibyrrhaeots (

Asia Minor from the early 8th to the late 12th centuries. As the Byzantine Empire's first and most important naval theme (θέμα ναυτικόν, thema nautikon), it served chiefly to provide ships and troops for the Byzantine navy
.

History

The Cibyrrhaeots (

Tiberios III (r. 698–705). At the time, the Cibyrrhaeots were subordinate to the great naval corps of the Karabisianoi.[1][2][3][4]

After the Karabisianoi were disbanded (the exact date is disputed between c. 719/720 and c. 727), the Cibyrrhaeots were constituted as a regular theme, with its governing strategos first attested in 731/732.[1][3][5][6] Until the 9th century, when the themes of the Aegean Sea and Samos were elevated from droungarios-level commands, the Cibyrrhaeot Theme was the only dedicated naval theme of the Empire.[7][8]

The theme encompassed the southern coast of

Byzantine–Arab Wars.[11] The land, which was known for its fertility,[1] suffered from the frequent and devastating Arab raids, which largely depopulated the countryside except for the fortified cities and naval bases.[2]

10th/11th-century seal of Niketas, spatharokandidatos and chartoularios of the Cibyrrhaeots

The seat of the strategos was most probably

Syllaion, the droungarioi of Attaleia and Kos and the katepano who commanded the theme's Mardaites.[2][14] These were the descendants of several thousand people transplanted from the area of Lebanon and settled there by Emperor Justinian II (r. 685–695, 705–711) in the 680s to provide crews and marines for the fleet.[15] In the early 9th century, the thematic fleet of the Cibyrrhaeots comprised 70 ships;[16] and in the Cretan expedition of 911, the Cibyrrhaeot theme sent 31 warships – 15 large dromons and 16 middle-sized pamphyloi – with 6,000 oarsmen and 760 marines.[17]

Around the mid-11th century, as the Muslim naval threat subsided, the Byzantine provincial fleets began a precipitate decline:

Seljuk Turks after the 1071 Battle of Manzikert, but recovered under Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118). The rump theme was finally abolished by Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180), and the territory in Caria subordinated to the theme Mylasa and Melanoudion.[2][20][21]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Nesbitt & Oikonomides 1994, p. 151.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g ODB, "Kibyrrhaiotai" (C. Foss), p. 1127.
  3. ^ a b Pertusi 1952, p. 149.
  4. ^ Pryor & Jeffreys 2006, p. 28.
  5. ^ Ahrweiler 1966, pp. 26, 50–51.
  6. ^ Pryor & Jeffreys 2006, p. 32.
  7. ^ Ahrweiler 1966, pp. 64, 81, 83, 109.
  8. ^ Pryor & Jeffreys 2006, p. 267.
  9. ^ Ahrweiler 1966, pp. 80, 135.
  10. ^ a b Pertusi 1952, p. 150.
  11. ^ Pryor & Jeffreys 2006, pp. 46ff..
  12. ^ Ahrweiler 1966, p. 82.
  13. ^ Pryor & Jeffreys 2006, pp. 390–391.
  14. ^ Ahrweiler 1966, pp. 82–83.
  15. ^ Ahrweiler 1966, pp. 399.
  16. ^ Ahrweiler 1966, pp. 91–92.
  17. ^ Pryor & Jeffreys 2006, p. 549.
  18. ^ Pryor & Jeffreys 2006, p. 88.
  19. ^ Ahrweiler 1966, pp. 131–135.
  20. ^ ODB, "Mylasa and Melanoudion" (C. Foss), p. 1428.
  21. ^ Ahrweiler 1966, p. 273.

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
    .
  • Pertusi, A. (1952). Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus (in Italian). Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.
  • Pryor, John H.;
    ISBN 978-90-04-15197-0
    .
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