Kleisoura

A Kleisoura ( Greek  κλεισούρα , "boundary, hermitage ") referred to a fortified mountain pass and the military border district protecting it in the Byzantine Empire . From the 7th century the term was used more generally for the districts on the borders of the Themata , especially along the Byzantine eastern border to the Islamic Caliphate along the Taurus Mountains - Antitaurus Line (in the west only the theme of Strymon was initially a Kleisoura ). A Kleisoura or Kleisourarchia was an independent commando under the command of a Kleisourarch (Greek: κλεισουράρχης). Gradually, almost all Kleisourai were raised to the status of Themata , so that the term was out of use from the 10th century (in late Byzantine times, Droungos had a similar meaning). The Islamic counterpart to the Kleisourai in Syria and Mesopotamia was the al-Thughūr .

literature

• Hélène Glykatzi-Ahrweiler : Recherches sur l'administration de l'empire byzantin aux IX-XIème siècles . In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique . 84, No. 1, 1960, pp. 1-111. doi : 10.3406 / bch.1960.1551 .
• Alexander Petrovich Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York, New York and Oxford, United Kingdom 1991, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6 , p. 1132. OCLC 22733550