The Theme of Cappadocia ( el, θέμα Καππαδοκίας) was a
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
theme
Theme or themes may refer to:
* Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work
* Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos
* Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...
(a military-civilian province) encompassing the southern portion of the
namesake region from the early 9th to the late 11th centuries.
Location
The theme comprised most of the
late antique Roman province of
Cappadocia Secunda
Cappadocia was a province of the Roman Empire in Anatolia (modern central-eastern Turkey), with its capital at Caesarea. It was established in 17 AD by the Emperor Tiberius (ruled 14–37 AD), following the death of Cappadocia's last king, Arc ...
and parts of
Cappadocia Prima
Cappadocia was a province of the Roman Empire in Anatolia (modern central-eastern Turkey), with its capital at Caesarea. It was established in 17 AD by the Emperor Tiberius (ruled 14–37 AD), following the death of Cappadocia's last king, Arc ...
. By the early 10th century, it was bounded to the northwest by the
Bucellarian Theme
The Bucellarian Theme ( el, Βουκελλάριον θέμα, ''Boukellarion thema''), more properly known as the Theme of the Bucellarians ( el, θέμα Βουκελλαρίων, ''thema Boukellariōn'') was a Byzantine theme (a military-civili ...
, roughly along the line of the
Lake Tatta
Lake Tuz ( tr, Tuz Gölü meaning 'Salt Lake'; anciently Tatta — grc, ἡ Τάττα, la, Tatta Lacus) was the second largest lake in Turkey with its
surface area and one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world. It is located in the C ...
and
Mocissus; the
Armeniac Theme
The Armeniac Theme ( el, , ''Armeniakoi hema'), more properly the Theme of the Armeniacs (Greek: , ''thema Armeniakōi'') was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) located in northeastern Asia Minor (modern Turkey).
History
The Arme ...
and later
Charsianon
Charsianon ( el, Χαρσιανόν) was the name of a Byzantine fortress and the corresponding theme (a military-civilian province) in the region of Cappadocia in central Anatolia (modern Turkey).
History
The fortress of Charsianon (Greek: Χαρ ...
to the north, across the river
Halys, and to the northeast near
Caesarea
Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...
and the fortress of Rodentos; to the south by the
Taurus Mountains
The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdi ...
and the border with the
Caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
's lands and the ''
Thughur'' frontier zone in
Cilicia; and to the east with the
Anatolic Theme, the boundary stretching across
Lycaonia
Lycaonia (; el, Λυκαονία, ''Lykaonia''; tr, Likaonya) was a large region in the interior of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), north of the Taurus Mountains. It was bounded on the east by Cappadocia, on the north by Galatia, on the west b ...
from the area of
Heraclea Cybistra to Tatta.
[.]
History
Lying directly north of the
Cilician Gates
The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass is a pass through the Taurus Mountains connecting the low plains of Cilicia to the Anatolian Plateau, by way of the narrow gorge of the Gökoluk River. Its highest elevation is about 1000m.
The Cilician Gates ha ...
, the
Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, No ...
' major invasion route into
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, the region of Cappadocia suffered greatly from their repeated raids, with its towns and fortresses regularly sacked and the country widely devastated and depopulated.
The cities of Tyana, Heraclea Cybistra and
Faustinopolis
Faustinopolis ( grc, Φαυστινόπολις), also Colonia Faustinopolis and Halala, was an ancient city in the south of Cappadocia, about 20 km south of Tyana. It was named after the empress Faustina, the wife of Marcus Aurelius, who died th ...
had all been razed by the Arabs in the early 9th century, and although Cybistra was rebuilt, the populations of the other two cities fled to the fortresses of
Nigde and
Loulon
Loulon ( el, Λοῦλον), in Arabic known as Lu'lu'a ( ar, لولوة), was a fortress near the modern village of Hasangazi in Turkey.
The site was of strategic importance as it controlled the northern exit of the Cilician Gates. In the 8th– ...
respectively.
Initially, the later theme was a ''
tourma
A ''turma'' (Latin for "swarm, squadron", plural ''turmae''), (Greek: τούρμα) was a cavalry unit in the Roman army of the Republic and Empire. In the Byzantine Empire, it became applied to the larger, regiment-sized military-administrative di ...
'' (division) of the
Anatolic Theme. To counter the Arab threat, it was detached as a separate frontier march (a ''
kleisoura'') and eventually raised to a full theme. It is first attested as such in 830.
[.] According to the
Muslim geographers
Ibn Khordadbeh
Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh ( ar, ابوالقاسم عبیدالله ابن خرداذبه; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking Persian bureaucrat and ...
and
Ibn al-Faqih
Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Faqih al-Hamadani ( fa, احمد بن محمد ابن الفقيه الهمذانی) ( fl. 902) was a 10th-century Persian historian and geographer, famous for his ''Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan'' ("Concise Book of Lan ...
, the province was heavily fortified with over twenty towns and fortresses, and had a garrison of 4,000 men in the 9th century.
The theme was also the site of no less than three imperial ''
aplekta'', large camps that served as assembly points for the thematic armies during campaigns:
Koloneia, Caesarea, and
Bathys Ryax
Bathys Rhyax, possibly also called Krya Pege, was a town of ancient Pontus on the road from Berissa to Sebasteia, inhabited during Byzantine times. Anna Komnene
Anna Komnene ( gr, Ἄννα Κομνηνή, Ánna Komnēnḗ; 1 December 1083 � ...
. Its ''
strategos
''Strategos'', plural ''strategoi'', Latinized ''strategus'', ( el, στρατηγός, pl. στρατηγοί; Doric Greek: στραταγός, ''stratagos''; meaning "army leader") is used in Greek to mean military general. In the Hellenisti ...
'', whose seat was probably the fortress of
Koron (modern Çömlekçi), and perhaps
Tyana
Tyana ( grc, Τύανα), earlier known as Tuwana (Hieroglyphic Luwian: ; Akkadian: ) and Tuwanuwa ( Hittite: ) was an ancient city in the Anatolian region of Cappadocia, in modern Kemerhisar, Niğde Province, Central Anatolia, Turkey. It ...
at a later stage, drew an annual salary of 20 pounds of gold, and usually held the rank of ''
protospatharios
''Prōtospatharios'' ( el, πρωτοσπαθάριος) was one of the highest court dignities of the middle Byzantine period (8th to 12th centuries), awarded to senior generals and provincial governors, as well as to foreign princes.
History
Th ...
'', with a few rising as far as ''
patrikios''.
The Arab raids remained frequent in the 9th century, and an Arab army occupied Loulon, one of the key fortresses guarding the northern exit of the Cilician Gates, in 833–879. From the great Byzantine victory at the
Battle of Lalakaon
The Battle of Lalakaon ( gr, Μάχη τοῦ Λαλακάοντος), or Battle of Poson or Porson (), was fought in 863 between the Byzantine Empire and an invading Arab army in Paphlagonia (modern northern Turkey). The Byzantine army was led ...
in 863, and the destruction of the
Paulician state at
Tephrike in 872 (or 878) onwards the security situation improved considerably, but the area remained a target of Arab raids. In 897, an Arab raid even sacked the thematic capital, Koron.
Under Emperor
Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912), some of its eastern territory, the ''
bandon'' of
Nyssa, in which Caesarea lay, as well as the ''
tourma
A ''turma'' (Latin for "swarm, squadron", plural ''turmae''), (Greek: τούρμα) was a cavalry unit in the Roman army of the Republic and Empire. In the Byzantine Empire, it became applied to the larger, regiment-sized military-administrative di ...
'' of Kase were given to the
Charsianon
Charsianon ( el, Χαρσιανόν) was the name of a Byzantine fortress and the corresponding theme (a military-civilian province) in the region of Cappadocia in central Anatolia (modern Turkey).
History
The fortress of Charsianon (Greek: Χαρ ...
theme. In turn, the theme of Cappadocia was expanded to the northwest to the area of the
Salt Lake with territory from the Anatolic and Bucellarian themes, forming the seven ''banda'' of the new ''tourma'' of
Kommata.
The fall of
Melitene in 934 and the conquests of
John Kourkouas
John Kourkouas ( gr, Ἰωάννης Κουρκούας, Ioannes Kourkouas, ), also transliterated as Kurkuas or Curcuas, was one of the most important generals of the Byzantine Empire. His success in battles against the Muslim states in the Ea ...
removed the immediate threat to the theme. In the 10th century, the depopulated region was settled by
Armenians and
Syriac Christians
Syriac Christianity ( syr, ܡܫܝܚܝܘܬܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܬܐ / ''Mšiḥoyuṯo Suryoyto'' or ''Mšiḥāyūṯā Suryāytā'') is a distinctive branch of Eastern Christianity, whose formative theological writings and traditional liturgies are expr ...
. Cappadocia as a whole also became a major power base of the Anatolian military aristocracy – in particular the
Phokas and
Maleinos Maleinos ( el, Μαλεΐνος) was the surname of a Byzantine Greek family, first attested in the 9th century, which rose to be amongst the most important and powerful members of the Anatolian aristocracy (the ''dynatoi'') in the 10th century, pr ...
clans – whose extensive estates, large wealth and military prestige posed a serious challenge to the central imperial government and led to successive revolts in the second half of the 10th century. The magnates' power was broken through the confiscation of their estates under Emperor
Basil II
Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar ...
(r. 976–1025).
Extensive Armenian settlement occurred in the first half of the 11th century, and the first
Seljuk raids in the area began c. 1050 and intensified over the next two decades. After the
Battle of Manzikert
The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, theme of Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and t ...
in 1071, most of Cappadocia was lost to the Seljuks. A "''
toparches
''Toparchēs'' ( el, τοπάρχης, "place-ruler"), anglicized as toparch, is a Greek term for a governor or ruler of a district and was later applied to the territory where the toparch exercised his authority. In Byzantine times the term came t ...
'' of Cappadocia and
Choma", however, appears as late as 1081 either implying continued Byzantine control in parts of western Cappadocia or simply the survival of the title.
See also
*
Rock churches of Cappadocia
References
Sources
*
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4.1
Chapter 4.2
Chapter 4.3
Chapter 5
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
States and territories established in the 9th century
Byzantine Cappadocia
Themes of the Byzantine Empire