Kedouktos ( el, Κηδούκτος) or Kedoktos (Κηδόκτος), also Akedoukton (Ἀκεδοῦκτον) and ta Kidoktou (τὰ Κιδόκτου), was a plain near Herakleia Perinthos in

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 ...

times. The location of Kedouktos has not been identified with any certainty, but it lay near the river Halmyros (modern Kalivri Dere), and between the towns of Daneion (modern Kınalıköprü) and Herakleia (modern

Marmara Ereğlisi Marmara Ereğlisi (also spelled Marmaraereğlisi) () is a town, located in a district bearing the same name, in Tekirdağ Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. The mayor, , is Hikmet Ata (DSP). Facts Ereğli is 30 km east of the tow ...

). The name is evidently a hellenization of the Latin ''aquaeductus'' and refers to a local aqueduct; despite its vicinity with it, it was probably not part of the great system that supplied the Byzantine capital,

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. The site is first mentioned in 813 as ''Akedoukton'' or ''ta Kidoktou'', when

Michael I Rhangabe Michael I Rhangabe ( gr, Μιχαὴλ Ῥαγγαβέ; ''c''. 770 – 11 January 844) was Byzantine emperor from 811 to 813. Michael was the son of the patrician Theophylact Rhangabe, the admiral of the Aegean fleet. He married Prokopia, the ...

campaigned against the

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region during the 7th century. They became known as nomad ...

, and was escorted by his wife

Prokopia Prokopia (Greek: Προκοπία; c. 770 – after 813) was the Empress consort of Michael I Rhangabe of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a daughter of Nikephoros I. The name of her mother is not known. Her only known sibling is Staurakios. M ...

. Her presence was unwelcome to the troops, who rioted. In October or November 822, the plain was the site of the decisive battle in the rebellion of Thomas the Slav, between the rebel forces and the Bulgars under Omurtag, who was allied to Emperor

Michael II the Amorian Michael II ( gr, Μιχαὴλ, , translit=Michaēl; 770–829), called the Amorian ( gr, ὁ ἐξ Ἀμορίου, ho ex Amoríou) and the Stammerer (, ''ho Travlós'' or , ''ho Psellós''), reigned as Byzantine Emperor from 25 December 820 to ...

. The battle was costly for both sides and resulted in no clear winner, but weakened Thomas, leading to the collapse of his rebellion in spring 823. The site appears again during the rebellion of Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder against

Nikephoros III Botaneiates Nikephoros III Botaneiates, Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates ( el, Νικηφόρος Βοτανειάτης, 1002–1081), was Byzantine emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He was born in 1002, and became a general du ...

in 1078. Shortly before the

Battle of Kalavrye The Battle of Kalavrye (also Kalavryai or Kalavryta) was fought in 1078 between the Byzantine imperial forces of general (and future emperor) Alexios Komnenos and the rebellious governor of Dyrrhachium, Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder. Bryennio ...

, where Bryennios was defeated by Botaneiates' general

Alexios Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...

, the rebel army had camped at Kedouktos. In a ''praktikon'' of 1104, it is listed among the possessions of the

Iviron Monastery The Monastery of Iviron ( ka, ქართველთა მონასტერი, tr; el, Μονή Ιβήρων, Monḗ Ivirōn) is an Eastern Orthodox monastery in the monastic community of Mount Athos in northern Greece. History The monas ...

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...

. At the turn of the 13th century it formed an imperial ''

episkepsis An ''episkepsis'' ( el, , pl. ''episkepseis'', ) was a fiscal district in the middle Byzantine Empire (10th–13th centuries). In its strict technical sense, it refers to a domain or other property, in some cases including entire villages or towns, ...

'', and was recorded in the ''

Partitio Romaniae The ''Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae'' (Latin for "Partition of the lands of the empire of ''Romania'' .e., the Byzantine Empire, or ''Partitio regni Graeci'' ("Partition of the kingdom of the Greeks"), was a treaty signed among the crusader ...

'' ("''pertinentia Cedocti''") as one of the areas allotted to the individual Crusader knights.

References

Sources

* *{{cite book, last=Treadgold, first=Warren T., title=The Byzantine Revival, 780–842, location=Stanford, California, publisher=Stanford University Press, year=1988, isbn=0-8047-1462-2, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TysAAAAIAAJ Geography of medieval Thrace Geography of Tekirdağ Province