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Koloneia (theme)

Province of the Byzantine Empire

Summary

Province of the Byzantine Empire

Field	Value
native_name	Κολωνεία, θέμα Κολωνείας
conventional_long_name	Theme of Koloneia
common_name	Koloneia
subdivision	Theme
nation	the Byzantine Empire
era	Middle Ages
image_map	Theme-koloneia 1000ad.png
image_map_caption	Map of the Theme of Koloneia within the Byzantine Empire in 1000.
life_span	before 863 – 1070s
year_start	before 863
year_end	1070s
event_end	Fall to the Seljuks.
today	Turkey

The Theme of Koloneia () was a small military-civilian province (thema or theme) of the Byzantine Empire located in northern Cappadocia and the southern Pontus, in modern Turkey. It was founded sometime in the mid-9th century and survived until it was conquered by the Seljuk Turks soon after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.

History

Originally part of the Armeniac Theme, the theme was formed around the city of Koloneia on the river Lykos (modern Şebinkarahisar). The theme is attested for the first time in 863, but it apparently existed as a separate district earlier: Nicolas Oikonomides interprets a reference by the Arab geographer al-Masudi to mean that it constituted first a kleisoura (a fortified frontier district). In addition, a version of the Life of the 42 Martyrs of Amorium mentions that Emperor Theophilos (r. 829–842) appointed a certain spatharios Kallistos as its doux in circa 842, making it the likely date of its elevation to a full theme (alongside neighbouring Chaldia).

Koloneia's remote location preserved it from the worst of the Arab raids, except for a major raid by Sayf al-Dawla in 939/940. In 1057, the local regiment, under Katakalon Kekaumenos, supported the uprising of Isaac I Komnenos. In 1069, the theme was occupied by the rebel Norman mercenary Robert Crispin. The region fell to the Seljuk Turks soon after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.

Location

In the De Thematibus, Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 913–959) describes the theme as a small circumscription, encompassing, aside from Koloneia, Neocaesarea in the east, Arabraca, Mount Phalakros (probably modern Karaçam Dağı), Nicopolis and Tephrike. It also comprised sixteen unnamed fortresses. Porphyrogennetos also records that his father, Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912), separated the tourma of Kamacha from Koloneia to form (along with Keltzene) the new theme of Mesopotamia.

References

Sources

References

{{harvnb. ODB
{{harvnb. Oikonomides. 1972
{{harvnb. Pertusi. 1952
{{harvnb. Bryer. Winfield. 1985
{{harvnb. Bryer. Winfield. 1985
{{harvnb. ODB

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

states-and-territories-established-in-the-9th-century themes-of-the-byzantine-empire byzantine-cappadocia

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