Koloneia
The Theme of Koloneia (Vorlage:Lang-el) was a small province (thema or theme) of the Byzantine Empire in northern Cappadocia and the southern Pontus, in modern Turkey. It was founded sometime in the mid-9th century and survived until conquered by the Seljuk Turks soon after 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, Mt Phalakros (probably modern Karaçam Dağı), Nicopolis and Tephrike. It also comprised sixteen unnamed fortresses.[1][2]
History
Originally part of the Armeniac Theme, the theme was formed around the city of Koloneia on the river Lykos (modern Şebinkarahisar).[3] The theme is attested for the first time in 863,[3][4][1] 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).[2][4] In addition, a version of the Life of the 42 Martyrs of Amorium mentions that Emperor Theophilos appointed a certain spatharios Kallistos as its doux in ca. 842, making it the likely date of its elevation to a full theme (alongside neighbouring Chaldia).[3][1][2]
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.[3][5]
References
Sources
- Anthony Bryer, David Winfield: Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos, Volume 1. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1985, ISBN 0-88402-122-X.
- Alexander Kazhdan (Hrsg.): [[Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium]]. Oxford University Press, 1991, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
- Vorlage:Fr icon Nicolas Oikonomides: Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles. Paris 1972 (google.com).
- Vorlage:It icon A. Pertusi: Constantino Porfirogenito: De Thematibus. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome 1952.