Slavs of Asia Minor

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The South Slavic tribal associations that were resettled from the Balkans to Anatolia by the Byzantine Empire are called Slavs of Asia Minor .

history

After the Balkan campaigns of Maurikios (582–602), large units of Slavs were forcibly relocated to Asia Minor in order to secure the border with the Umayyad Caliphate.

The city of Gordoservon (Serbian Srbograd, Гордосервон ; Middle Greek Γορδόσερβον ) in Bithynia was a Byzantine city that was inhabited by Serbs . The name is derived from the Serbs, who were resettled to Asia Minor around 649 (or 667) by the Byzantine Emperor Constans II . Isidore, the bishop of Gordoservon, is mentioned in 680/681. The fact that this village was the seat of a bishop suggests that it was home to a large Serbian population. A Byzantine army of 30,000 Slavs (mostly Serbs) was defeated by the Umayyads in 692 at the Battle of Sebastopolis because of the widespread Serb desertion. They had been persuaded to flee by Muhammad ibn Marwan , who reminded them of their forcible uprooting and bad treatment by the emperor. Around the year 1200 the city is called Servochoria ("Serbian village").

In 658 and 688/9 the Byzantine Slavs settled in Bithynia . Justinian II (685-695) also resettled many Slavs, whom he had captured in Thrace , to Asia Minor in order to increase the strength of the team there. Most of the Slavs deserted to the Arabs in the first battle. During the reign of Constantine V (741–775), many Slavs were resettled from northern Greece to Asia Minor because of constant pressure from the Bulgarians.

The best known of the Slavs of Asia Minor was Thomas the Slav , a military commander who was able to get a good part of the empire behind him during the ultimately unsuccessful revolt against Emperor Michael II in the 820s. Although the 10th century chronicler Joseph Genesios calls him "Thomas of Lake Gouzourou, of Armenian descent", most modern historians consider him a Slav and suspect his birthplace at Gaziura in the Pontus .

The Slavs of the theme of Opsikion ( Sklabesianoi ) existed as an independent group as late as the 10th century, where they served as marine infantry in the Byzantine fleet .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Zvonimir Kostelski: The Yugoslavs. The history of the Yugoslavs and their states to the creation of Yugoslavia. Philosophical Library, New York 1952, p. 349.
  2. ↑ Marinel Mandres: Serbian Place Names Around the World. In: Serbian Studies. Volume 9, 1995, pp. 151–159, here p. 154 ( PDF, 14.7 MB ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original - and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / serbianstudies.org
  3. ↑ a b A. P. Vlasto: The entry of the Slavs into Christendom. Cambridge 1970, p. 9.
  4. ^ Warren T. Treadgold : Byzantium and its Army. Stanford 1998, p. 26.
  5. ^ Paul Lemerle: Thomas le slave. In: Center de Recherche d'Histoire et Civilization Byzantines. Travaux et mémoires. Volume 1, 1965, pp. 264, 270, 284.

literature

  • Paul Lemerle: Thomas le slave. In: Center de Recherche d'Histoire et Civilization Byzantines. Travaux et mémoires. Volume 1, 1965, pp. 255-297.
  • Lubor Niederle : Slovanske starozhitnosti. Part II, Volume 2, Prague 1934, pp. 389-399, 444-446.
  • Georg Ostrogorsky : Bizantisko-Juzhnoslovenski odnosi. In: Enciklopedija Jugoslavije . Volume 1, Zagreb 1955, pp. 591-599.
  • WM Ramsay: The Historical Geography of Asia Minor. London 1890, pp. 183, 210.
  • Warren T. Treadgold : Byzantium and its Army, 284-1081. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1998, ISBN 0-8047-3163-2 .
  • AP Vlasto: The entry of the Slavs into Christendom. An introduction to the medieval history of the Slavs. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1970, ISBN 0-521-07459-2 .