Hellas (Byzantine theme)

The theme of Hellas ( Greek  θέμα Ἑλλάδος ) was a Byzantine theme that was found in southeastern Greece . The subject covered areas in central Greece , Thessaly and, until around 800, the Peloponnese . It was established in the late 7th century and lasted until the 12th century.

history

Hellas was already in use as a term in the 6th century to describe southern Greece in administrative terms, e.g. B. It is used in the Synekdemos as an alternative name for the Roman province of Achaea . In the 7th century, the collapse of the Danube Limes allowed the Slavs to plunder and colonize almost the entire Balkan Peninsula . Slavic associations were able to settle in Greece undisturbed because the Byzantine Empire was busy defending against Islamic expansion in the east. Much of the Greek population fled to fortified retreats or to Italy .

The origin of the Hellas theme is dated between 687 and 695, during the reign of Emperor Justinian II (ruled 685–695 and 705–711). It is probably a result of his campaign against the Slavs in 688/689. The first strategos of Hellas is documented in 695: Leontios, former strategos of Anatolicon , who fell out of favor with the emperor after the battle of Sebastopolis . Although contemporary sources prior to the 8th century use the term strategia (“generality”) rather than “subject” for Hellas, it is very likely that Hellas, like all other areas of the empire, was organized around a subject that was the territory of the the old Roman province of Achaea, as far as it was still under Byzantine control. The original extent of the topic is controversial, but is likely to have been limited to the Byzantine east coast of central Greece and parts of Thessaly , possibly also the eastern Peloponnese , as well as some Aegean islands such as Skyros and Kea . It is unclear whether Athens or Thebes was the original capital of the subject; Thebes seems more likely, which certainly fulfilled this role in the 10th century. In the second half of the 10th century, the seat of the Strategos was moved to Larissa.

Since the topic lacked a spacious hinterland , it was originally geared towards the maritime sector. Emperor Justinian II settled a few thousand marada there, which provided some local garrisons. The number of land units likely remained small throughout the existence of the subject. The Hellas fleet played an important role in the anti- iconoclastic revolt of 726/727 under the counter-emperor Kosmas . In the course of the 8th century Byzantine control gradually expanded again over the mainland. The resident Slavs were Christianized and subjected to Byzantine control, but often retained their own archons . This process was interrupted but not stopped by another wave of Slavic settlements in the 740s. The campaign of Staurakios in the year 783 restored the imperial sovereignty in the Peloponnese and in northern Greece. This led to the Peloponnese splitting off and forming its own theme around the year 800 .

During the 9th and early 10th centuries, Hellas suffered from Saracen pirates, especially after the conquest of Crete by the Arabs in the 820s (see Emirate of Crete ), and from repeated Bulgarian raids under Tsar Simeon I (ruled 893-927), which even reached the Peloponnese. Nevertheless, like the rest of Greece, Hellas shows signs of greater prosperity from the 9th century, such as the founding of new cities and the introduction of new branches of production (the silk industry in Thebes is best known ). The Bulgarian threat renewed itself under Tsar Samuil , who occupied Thessaly in 987 and undertook several raids into central Greece and the Peloponnese until he was defeated in the Battle of Spercheios in 997. After that Hellas experienced a period of prolonged peace, only interrupted by looting in the course of the uprising of Peter Deljan (1040-1041) and the unsuccessful Norman attacks on Thessaly 1082-1083.

During the 10th and 11th centuries, Hellas and the Peloponnese were mostly commanded by a single strategos , and as the importance of civil administration increased, the same was true in this area, so that a Protonotarios , Praetor and Krites for both subjects was appointed. Thessaly seems to have been added to the theme of Thessalonica between the early 11th and 12th centuries . Towards the end of the 11th century, the combined subjects of Hellas-Peloponnese came under the command of Megas Doux , Grand Admiral of the Byzantine Fleet . Since he did not reside in the topic, the local administration remained with the Praetor . The area of ​​Hellas remained under Byzantine control until 1204 when, as a result of the Fourth Crusade, it came under the rule of the Latin kingdoms of Thessalonica and Athens .

literature

• Alexander Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . 3 volumes. Oxford / New York 1991.
• Johannes Koder , Friedrich Hild (Ed.): Tabula Imperii Byzantini . Volume 1: Hellas and Thessalia. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1976, ISBN 3-7001-0182-1
• Paul Magdalino: The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180. Cambridge 2002 (reprinted 1993).
• John W. Nesbitt, Nicolas Oikonomides (Ed.): Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art. Volume 2: South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington DC 1994, ISBN 0-88402-226-9 .
• A. Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome 1952.
• Warren T. Treadgold: Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1995, ISBN 0-8047-3163-2 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Kazhdan: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1991, p. 911.
2. ↑ Koder, Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1976, p. 52.
3. ↑ Koder, Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1976, pp. 54-56.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Koder, Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1976, p. 57.
5. ↑ Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. 1952, p. 170.
6. ^ ^{A b} Nesbitt, Oikonomides: Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art. 1994, p. 22.
7. ↑ Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. 1952, p. 171.
8. ↑ Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. 1952, p. 172.
9. ^ Treadgold: Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081. 1995, pp. 26, 66-69, 72.
10. ↑ Nesbitt, Oikonomides: Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art. 1994, pp. 22-24; Koder, Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1976, pp. 57-58.
11. ↑ Koder, Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1976, pp. 58-59.
12. ↑ Koder, Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1976, p. 59.
13. ↑ Koder, Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1976, pp. 60-61.
14. ↑ Koder, Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1976, p. 61.
15. ↑ ^{a b} Koder, Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1976, p. 63.
16. ^ ^{A b} Nesbitt, Oikonomides: Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art. 1994, pp. 22, 62.
17. ↑ Koder, Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1976, pp. 61, 66.
18. ↑ Koder, Hild: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. 1976, pp. 62, 66.
19. ↑ Magdalino: The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180. 2002, p. 234.