Melias (Lycandus)

Melias (Mleh) the Great († 934 ) was an Armenian general who entered Byzantine service and founded the Lykandos theme . In 927 he besieged Melitene with the Byzantine domestikos ton scholon Johannes Kurkuas (Gurgen) , who fell in the same year. In 930 Melias attacked Samosata , but was defeated by the Arab general Nedschim. Melias died in 934.

Life

Melias was an Armenian nobleman ( naxarar ), perhaps from the Varažnuni family , who moved with many of his compatriots under Prince Aschot the Long-armed from Armenia to Byzantium around 890 and joined the Byzantine army. Under Ashot, the Armenians fought against the Bulgarians in the Battle of Bulgarophygon in 896. In this battle the Byzantine army was wiped out and Ashot was killed. Melias himself was able to escape and now accepted service on the Byzantine eastern border, where he fought against the Arabs, especially the emirate of Melitene (Malatya). With some of his compatriots he established a semi-autonomous principality in the hills west of the city, but in 906 Melias and his followers had to seek refuge in Melitene after supporting the failed uprising of General Andronikos Dukas . They did not return until 908 when Emperor Leo VI. she pardoned. Melias has now been appointed tourmarches (division commander) in Trypia near the Euphrates , before he advanced to kleisourarches (roughly analogous to the margrave) of Lykandos. Lykandos was an old fortress that Melias and his followers rebuilt. The area was settled by many Armenians and played an important role in the Arab-Byzantine wars in the east in the decades that followed .

The border zone between Byzantium and the Arabs, where Melias spent most of his career

As Emperor Constantine VII reports in his works De Thematibus and De Administrando Imperio , Melias soon began to expand his territory, occupying the districts of Tzamandos and Symposion. Melias' activities posed a serious threat to Melitene. In 909 or 912 the Arabs attacked Lykandos with great force but were repulsed. In 915 Melias even went on a raid into enemy territory that reached as far as Germanikeia ( Kahramanmaraş ). Constantine VII reports that around this time he was made patrikios and then magistros for his services and that Lykandos was elevated to full subject status.

In 917 Melias and his men took part in another Byzantine campaign against Bulgaria, which ended in the catastrophic battle of Anchialos . His life in the following years is unknown until he appears at the side of Johannes Kurkuas in 927 , who led a sustained major offensive against the Arabs for the next 20 years. Kurkuas and Melias besieged Melitene and forced the residents to surrender, according to which the city became an ally of the emperor. It wasn't long before Melitene broke the agreement and the city was again besieged by the Byzantines. Arab sources report that Melias and his troops tried to take the city by a ruse by disguising his men as artisans, but his plan failed. Nevertheless, the Arabs soon had to recognize Byzantine suzerainty again and allow a Byzantine garrison to enter their city. In 930 Melias led a raid in the area of Samosata . But there he was defeated by General Nedschim. One of his sons fell into Arab captivity and was taken to Baghdad . Nothing is known about him until his death in 934.

But his descendants remained active in the Byzantine service. Another Melias is mentioned under the emperors Nikephorus II. And Johannes Tzimiskes , who was captured in a battle against the Arabs around 973. Some researchers believe that Melias appears in the character of the apelates Melementzes in the heroic epic Digenis Akritas .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Kazhdan 1991, p. 1334
2. ↑ Whittow 1996, pp. 315-316
3. ↑ ^{a b} Whittow 1996, p. 316
4. ↑ Kazhdan 1991, pp. 1258, 1334
5. ↑ Treadgold 1997, p. 474
6. ↑ Treadgold 1997, p. 479
7. ↑ Runciman 1988, p. 136
8. ↑ Treadgold 1997, p. 480
9. ↑ Runciman 1988, pp. 138-139
10. ↑ Runciman 1988, p. 139
11. ↑ Whittow 1996, p. 356

literature

• Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 .
• Steven Runciman : The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and His Reign. A Study of Tenth-Century Byzantium. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1988, ISBN 0-521-35722-5 .
• Warren Treadgold : A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 .
• Mark Whittow: The Making of Byzantium, 600-1025. University of California Press, Berkeley CA 1996, ISBN 0-520-20496-4 .