Fema Thrace ( Greek θέμα Θρᾴκης or θέμα Θρᾳκῷον ) is a military-administrative unit of the Byzantine Empire, located in the southeastern Balkans and including various parts of the same geographical region throughout its history.
History
It is traditionally believed that a theme (primarily military command) was formed around 680 in response to the Bulgarian threat [1] [2] [3] . This opinion is based on the mention of a certain patrician Theodore, the commitee of Opsicius and the hypostrategy of Thrace in 680/681. However, it is unclear whether Thrace is meant to exist as a separate region with two Theodore at the same time at the head, or whether Thrace was administratively united with Opsykius. In fact, there are no references to separate Thrace stratigi in literary sources until 742, while the first known seals of the stratig dates back to the 8th century [3] [4] . It is likely that the original capital of the theme was Adrianople .
Under Empress Irina, at the end of the VIII century, the theme was divided by forming a separate theme of Macedonia in the western part. Since then, the theme capital has been in Arcadiopolis with subordinate tourarchs in Visa and Sozopolis . In addition, the Tharchy tourmarch, who may have been the deputy stratig in Arkadiopol, was witnessed [2] . Arab geographers of the 9th and 10th centuries Ibn Khordadbeh and Ibn al-Fakih placed the theme “from the long wall [Anastasiev walls] to the theme of Macedonia and north to the country of the Bulgars, there were 10 fortified places and 5 thousand troops” [5] . Indeed, the boundaries of the Themes changed along with the northern border of Byzantium during the Byzantine-Bulgarian wars . Initially, the theme included the territory of the ancient Thracian diocese with the exception of lands on the Danube captured by the Bulgarians, but after the conquests of Krum , Omurtag and Simeon, the border gradually moved south of the Balkan Mountains to about the line of the modern Bulgarian border with Greece and Turkey. Thus, at the turn of the 10th century, the theme included essentially the eastern part of modern East Thrace and was extended northward up to Anchial , which was part of it [6] .
Since the eleventh century, Thrace and Macedonia seem to have usually united, as evidenced by the numerous stratigos and judges whose jurisdiction extended to both themes [2] [7] . Theme Thrace disappeared during the reign of the Paleologists .
Notes
- ↑ Haldon, 1997 , p. 216.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Nesbitt & Oikonomides, 1991 , p. 155.
- ↑ 1 2 Pertusi, 1952 , p. 156.
- ↑ Kazhdan, 1991 , pp. 2079–2080.
- ↑ Pertusi, 1952 , p. 157.
- ↑ Pertusi, 1952 , pp. 157-158.
- ↑ Kazhdan, 1991 , p. 2080.
Literature
- Haldon, John F. Byzantium in the Seventh Century: The Transformation of a Culture . - Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1997 .-- ISBN 978-0-521-31917-1 .
- Kazhdan, Alexander Petrovich. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . - New York, New York and Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 1991 .-- ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6 .
- Nesbitt, John W. & Oikonomides, Nicolas (1991), Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art, Volume 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea , Washington, District of Columbia: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, ISBN 0-88402-194-7 , < https://books.google.com/books?id=cUJmAAAAMAAJ >
- Pertusi, A. Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus: [] . - Rome, Italy: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1952.