Kibyrrhaiotai

The Kibyrrhaiotische topic or theme of Kibyrrhaioten ( Greek  θέμα Κιβυρραιωτῶν ) was a Byzantine theme that the southern coast of Asia Minor included between the early 8th century and the 12th century. As the first and most important naval theme (Greek: θέμα ναυτικόν) it mainly served the position of ships and troops for the Byzantine fleet .

history

The Kibyrrhaoten ( Greek  Κιβυρραιῶται , "Men of Kibyrrha") get their name from the ancient city of Kibyrrha (either the Kibyrrha in Caria or Kibyrrha in Pamphylia ). The subject is mentioned for the first time in the expedition against Carthage in 698, when a " Droungarios of the Kibyrrhaoten" is mentioned as commander of the men of Korykos : Apsimar, who at the head of the revolting fleet to the emperor Tiberios III. rise. At that time, the Kibyrrhaoten were under the command of the Karabisianoi fleet .

After the command of the Karabisianoi had been dissolved (between 719/720 and approx. 727), the armed forces of the Kibyrrhaoten were summarized in a regular topic , the commanding Strategos of which is mentioned for the first time in 731/732. Until the 9th century, when the themes of the Aegean and Samos were created from former Droungarios commandos, the Kibyrrhaot theme was the only purely maritime theme of the Byzantine Empire.

The theme covered the south coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey ) from Miletus (which belonged to the theme of the Thrakesians ) to the border with the Islamic caliphate in Cilicia , thereby encompassing the ancient Roman provinces of Caria , Lycia , Pamphylia and parts of Isauria as well as today's Dodecanese . Its geographical location made it the first target of the Arab fleets from the Levant and Egypt , so that the Kibyrrhaot played a major role in the Byzantine-Arab wars. The subject, known for its fertility, suffered from frequent Arab attacks that depopulated rural areas except for a few fortresses.

The seat of the strategos of the subject was probably Attaleia . He received an annual salary of 10 pounds of gold. His position in the Byzantine hierarchy was relatively low, yet he was the highest in command of the Byzantine fleet. Like all themes, the Kibyrrhaoten theme was divided into Droungoi and Turmai . Among the main servants of the strategos were the imperial ek prosopou in Syllaion , the droungarios of Attaleia and Kos and the katepano , who commanded the Mardaites of the subject. These were the descendants of a few thousand people who had been relocated from Lebanon by Emperor Justinian II to Asia Minor in the 680s to provide marines and rowers. In the early 9th century, the Kibyrrhaoten theme included about 70 ships. In the expedition against the emirate of Crete in 911, the subject dispatched 31 warships - 15 large dromons and 16 medium-sized pamphyloi - with around 6,000 rowers and 760 marines.

In the middle of the 11th century, when the Muslim threat at sea subsided, the Byzantine provincial fleets began their long decline. The Kibyrrhaoten fleet is last mentioned in 1043 when fighting a Rus fleet . After that the subject became a purely civil province, which was headed by a Krites and later a Doux . Most of the topic fell to the Seljuks after 1071 , but was partially recaptured by Alexios I Komnenus . The subject was finally resolved by Manuel I. Komnenos and the remaining area in Caria was subordinated to the subject of Mylasa and Melanoudion .

swell

• Helene Ahrweiler: Byzance et la Mer: La Marine de Guerre, la Politique et les Institutiones Maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe – XVe Siècles . Presses universitaires de France, Paris 1966 ( online ).
• Alexander Kazhdan : The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford 1991, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6 .
• John W. Nesbitt, Nicolas Oikonomides: Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art . tape 2 : South of the Balkans, the Islands, South of Asia Minor. . Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington 1994, ISBN 0-88402-226-9 ( online ).
• A. Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus . Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome 1952.
• John H. Pryor, Elizabeth M. Jeffreys: The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy approx. 500-1204 . Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden, The Netherlands and Boston, Massachusetts 2006, ISBN 978-90-04-15197-0 ( online ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Nesbitt, Oikonomides: Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art. 1994, p. 151.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Kazhdan: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1991, p. 1127.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. 1952, p. 149.
4. ^ Pryor, Jeffreys: The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy approx. 500-1204. 2006, p. 28.
5. ^ Ahrweiler: Byzance et la Mer: La Marine de Guerre, la Politique et les Institutiones Maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe – XVe Siècles. 1966, pp. 26, 50-51.
6. ^ Pryor, Jeffreys: The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy approx. 500-1204. 2006, p. 32.
7. ^ Ahrweiler: Byzance et la Mer: La Marine de Guerre, la Politique et les Institutiones Maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe – XVe Siècles. 1966, pp. 64, 81, 83, 109; Pryor, Jeffreys: The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy approx. 500-1204. 2006, p. 267.
8. ^ Ahrweiler: Byzance et la Mer: La Marine de Guerre, la Politique et les Institutiones Maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe – XVe Siècles. 1966, pp. 80, 135.
9. ↑ ^{a b} Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. 1952, p. 150.
10. ^ Pryor, Jeffreys: The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy approx. 500-1204. 2006, p. 46 ff.
11. ^ Ahrweiler: Byzance et la Mer: La Marine de Guerre, la Politique et les Institutiones Maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe – XVe Siècles. 1966, p. 82.
12. ^ Ahrweiler: Byzance et la Mer: La Marine de Guerre, la Politique et les Institutiones Maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe – XVe Siècles. 1966, pp. 82-83.
13. ^ Ahrweiler: Byzance et la Mer: La Marine de Guerre, la Politique et les Institutiones Maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe – XVe Siècles. 1966, p. 399.
14. ^ Ahrweiler: Byzance et la Mer: La Marine de Guerre, la Politique et les Institutiones Maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe – XVe Siècles. 1966, pp. 91-92.
15. ^ Pryor, Jeffreys: The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy approx. 500-1204. 2006, p. 549.
16. ^ Pryor, Jeffreys: The Age of the ΔΡΟΜΩΝ: The Byzantine Navy approx. 500-1204. 2006, p. 88.
17. ^ Ahrweiler: Byzance et la Mer: La Marine de Guerre, la Politique et les Institutiones Maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe – XVe Siècles. 1966, pp. 131-135.
18. ↑ Kazhdan: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1991, pp. 1127, 2048; Ahrweiler: Byzance et la Mer: La Marine de Guerre, la Politique et les Institutiones Maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe – XVe Siècles. 1966, p. 273.