Seleukeia (Byzantine theme)

The theme of Seleukeia ( Greek  θέμα Σελευκείας , theme Seleukeias ) was a Byzantine theme on the southeast coast of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey ), the capital of which was Seleukeia (modern day Silifke ).

history

In late antiquity , the port of Seleukia on Kalykadnos was the main port of the province of Isauria and the seat of the Comes Isauriae . In the 8th century, a tour march and later a droungarios on the subject of the Kibyrrhaoten were stationed here. In the early 9th century, Seleukeia appears as Kleisoura (a frontier commando) that was off the great Byzantine themes of the Kibyrrhaotes, the theme of Anatolia , the theme of Cappadocia and the Mediterranean, and was directly adjacent to the Abbasid caliphate in Cilicia . The Arab geographer Qudamah ibn Ja'far and Ibn Chordadhbeh included the kleisoura of Seleukeia in the 9th century and had more than 5,000 soldiers, 500 of whom were mounted.

The kleisoura was raised to a full topic under the reign of Romanos I (ruled 920-944), probably between 927 and 934. According to the work De Thematibus of Emperor Constantine VII (ruled 913-959), the topic was in two districts split, one on the coast and one in the hinterland.

After the Battle of Manzikert , the region fell into the hands of the Seljuks . At that time, the interior of the subject was mainly populated by Armenians who had been settled there in the previous century. In 1099/1100 the Byzantines recaptured the region and strongly fortified Seleukeia and Korykos . Seleukeia became the seat of a ( Doux ). It remained a Byzantine province until shortly after 1180 when it was conquered by the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia .

literature

• Alexander Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . 3 volumes. Oxford / New York 1991.
• Friedrich Hild , Hansgerd Hellenkemper : Tabula Imperii Byzantini . Volume 5: Cilicia and Isauria. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1990, ISBN 3-7001-1811-2 .
• Nicolas Oikonomides: Les Listes de Préséance Byzantines des IXe et Xe Siècles. Editions du Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris 1972.
• A. Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome 1952.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Kazhdan: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1991, p. 1866.
2. ↑ Hild, Hellenkemper: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. Volume 5: Cilicia and Isauria. 1990, pp. 45, 47, 403.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Hild, Hellenkemper: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. Volume 5: Cilicia and Isauria. 1990, p. 403.
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. 1952, pp. 147-148.
5. ↑ Oikonomides: Les Listes de Préséance Byzantines des IXe et Xe Siècles. 1972, p. 250.
6. ↑ Hild, Hellenkemper: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. Volume 5: Cilicia and Isauria. 1990, pp. 62, 403.
7. ↑ Hild, Hellenkemper: Tabula Imperii Byzantini. Volume 5: Cilicia and Isauria. 1990, pp. 67-74, 403.