Thessalonike (Byzantine theme)

The Thessalonike theme ( Greek  θέμα Θεσσαλονίκης ) was a Byzantine theme in the southern Balkans , which included parts of central and western Macedonia . Its capital was Thessalonike , the second most important city of the Byzantine Empire.

history

In late antiquity , Thessalonike was the seat of the Roman province of Macedonia and the diocese of Macedonia , as well as the seat of the Praetorian prefect of Illyricum. With the loss of large parts of the Balkans to the Slavs in the 7th century, the prefect's territory (Greek Eparchos , " Eparch ") was limited to the city and its immediate surroundings. The Eparches ruled Thessalonica until the early 9th century when he was ousted by a strategos at the head of the new theme of Thessalonica.

The Strategos of Thessalonike is first mentioned in 836, but a letter from Michael III. (reigned 820–829) to the Frankish king Ludwig the Pious (reigned 814–840) suggests the existence of the subject as early as 824. The subject was probably founded in 809 during the campaigns of Emperor Nikephorus I (ruled 802-811) against the Slavs. To the east, the theme extended to the River Strymon and the theme of the same name . To the south it bordered on the subject of Hellas somewhere in Thessaly . The western and southern borders changed constantly with the luck of the Byzantines battles against the southern Slavs and Bulgarians .

Under Emperor Johannes I. Tzimiskes (ruled 969-976) a Doux was stationed in the city, who had professional Tagmatic troops. He co-existed with the strategos of the subject for a while , after which the strategos office was abolished. In the 11th century, the Doukaton of Thessalonica was of such importance that it was often held by members of the imperial family. The city and much of Macedonia were conquered by the Latins after the Fourth Crusade , after which the Kingdom of Thessaloniki was founded, which in turn was conquered by the despotate of Epirus in 1224 . After the city and Macedonia fell to the Nikaia Empire in 1246 , the theme was restored and survived until the city was conquered by the Ottomans in 1392 . Byzantium regained the city in 1402 and a despotate was established here until the city was voluntarily ceded to Venice in 1423 . In 1430 the Ottomans conquered the city again.

literature

• Alexander Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . 3 volumes. Oxford / New York 1991.
• John W. Nesbitt, Nicolas Oikonomides (Ed.): Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art. Volume 1: Italy, North of the Balkans, North of the Black Sea. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington 1991.
• Nicolas Oikonomides: Les Listes de Préséance Byzantines des IXe et Xe Siècles. Paris 1972.
• A. Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome 1952.
• Warren T. Treadgold: Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1995, ISBN 0-8047-3163-2 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kazhdan: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1991, p. 2071; Nesbitt, Oikonomides: Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art. 1991, p. 50.
2. ↑ Oikonomides: Les Listes de Préséance Byzantines des IXe et Xe Siècles. 1972, p. 352.
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Kazhdan: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1991, p. 2073.
4. ^ Treadgold: Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081. 1995, p. 29.
5. ↑ Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. 1952, pp. 168-169.
6. ^ Nesbitt, Oikonomides: Catalog of Byzantine Seals at Dumbarton Oaks and in the Fogg Museum of Art. 1991, p. 51; Treadgold: Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081. 1995, pp. 36, 114.
7. ↑ Kazhdan: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 1991, pp. 2072-2073.