Cibyrrhaeot Theme
Encyclopedia
The Cibyrrhaeot Theme, more properly the Theme of the Cibyrrhaeots , was a Byzantine
theme encompassing the southern coast of Asia Minor
from the early 8th to the late 12th centuries. As the Byzantine Empire's first and most important naval theme (Greek: θέμα ναυτικόν), it served chiefly to provide ships and troops for the Byzantine navy
.
or Cibyrrha the Lesser in Pamphylia
). The command first appears in 698, when a "droungarios of the Cibyrrhaeots" is attested as commanding the men from Korykos: Apsimar, who at the head of a fleet revolt became emperor as Tiberios III
(r. 698–705). At the time, the Cibyrrhaeots were subordinate to the naval corps of the Karabisianoi
.
After the Karabisianoi were disbanded (the exact date is disputed between ca. 719/720 and ca. 727), the Cibyrrhaeots were constituted as a regular theme, with its strategos
first attested in 731/732. Until the 9th century, when the themes of the Aegean Sea
and Samos
were elevated from droungarios-level commands, the Cibyrrhaeot Theme was the only dedicated naval theme of the Empire.
The theme comprised the southern coast of Asia Minor
(modern Turkey
), from south of Miletus
(which belonged to the Thracesian Theme
) to the borders of Arab-held Cilicia
, including the old Roman province
s of Caria
, Lycia
, Pamphylia
and parts of Isauria
, as well as the Dodecanese
. Its geographical position made it the "front-line" theme facing the attacks of the Muslim fleets of the Levant
and Egypt
, and it played a major role in the naval aspect of the Byzantine–Arab Wars. The land, which was known for its fertility, suffered from the frequent and devastating Arab raids, which largely depopulated the countryside except for the fortified cities and naval bases.
The seat of the strategos was most probably Attaleia. He drew an annual salary of 10 pounds of gold, and his overall rank in the imperial hierarchy was relatively low, but still senior to any other naval commander: twenty-fifth in the Taktikon Uspensky
of 842/843, dropping to fifty-fifth in the Escorial Taktikon
of 971–975. The theme was divided into droungoi
and tourmai, and possessed the full array of typical thematic administrative positions. Among the most important subordinates of the strategos were the imperial ek prosopou at Syllaion, the droungarioi of Attaleia and Kos
and the katepano
who commanded the theme's Mardaites
. These were the descendants of several thousand people transplanted from the area of Lebanon
and settled there by Emperor Justinian II (r. 685–695 and 705–711) in the 680s to provide crews and marines. In the early 9th century, the thematic fleet of the Cibyrrhaeots comprised 70 ships; and in the Cretan
expedition of 911, the Cibyrrhaeot theme sent 31 warships – 15 large dromon
s and 16 middle-sized pamphyloi – with 6,000 oarsmen and 760 marines.
Around the mid-11th century, as the Muslim naval threat subsided, the Byzantine provincial fleets began a precipitate decline: the fleet of the Cibyrrhaeots is last mentioned in the repulsion of a Rus' raid in 1043, and the theme became a purely civil province, headed by a krites and later by a doux
. Most of its territory was lost to the Seljuk Turks after 1071, but partly recovered under Alexios I Komnenos
(r. 1081–1118). What remained of the theme was finally abolished by Manuel I Komnenos
(r. 1143–1180), and the remaining territory in Caria subordinated to the theme Mylasa and Melanoudion
.
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
theme encompassing the southern coast of Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
from the early 8th to the late 12th centuries. As the Byzantine Empire's first and most important naval theme (Greek: θέμα ναυτικόν), it served chiefly to provide ships and troops for the Byzantine navy
Byzantine navy
The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. Like the empire it served, it was a direct continuation from its imperial Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defense and survival of the state then its earlier iterations...
.
History
The Cibyrrhaeots derive their name from the city of Cibyrrha (it is unclear whether this is Cibyrrha the Great in CariaCaria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...
or Cibyrrha the Lesser in Pamphylia
Pamphylia
In ancient geography, Pamphylia was the region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus . It was bounded on the north by Pisidia and was therefore a country of small extent, having a coast-line of only about 75 miles with a breadth of...
). The command first appears in 698, when a "droungarios of the Cibyrrhaeots" is attested as commanding the men from Korykos: Apsimar, who at the head of a fleet revolt became emperor as Tiberios III
Tiberios III
Tiberios III was Byzantine emperor from 698 to 21 August 705. Although his rule was considered generally successful, especially in containing the Arab threat to the east, he was overthrown by the former emperor Justinian II and subsequently executed.-Rise to power:Tiberius was a Germanic naval...
(r. 698–705). At the time, the Cibyrrhaeots were subordinate to the naval corps of the Karabisianoi
Karabisianoi
The Karabisianoi , sometimes anglicized as the Carabisians, were the mainstay of the Byzantine navy from the mid-7th century until the early 8th century. The name derives from the Greek karabos or karabis for "ship", and literally means "people of the ships, sea-men"...
.
After the Karabisianoi were disbanded (the exact date is disputed between ca. 719/720 and ca. 727), the Cibyrrhaeots were constituted as a regular theme, with its strategos
Strategos
Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...
first attested in 731/732. Until the 9th century, when the themes of the Aegean Sea
Aegean Sea (theme)
The Theme of the Aegean Sea was a Byzantine province in the northern Aegean Sea, established in the mid-9th century. As one of the Byzantine Empire's three dedicated naval themes , it served chiefly to provide ships and troops for the Byzantine navy, but also served as a civil administrative...
and Samos
Samos (theme)
The Theme of Samos was a Byzantine military-civilian province, located in the eastern Aegean Sea, established in the late 9th century. As one of the Byzantine Empire's three dedicated naval themes , it served chiefly to provide ships and troops for the Byzantine navy.-History:The dates of...
were elevated from droungarios-level commands, the Cibyrrhaeot Theme was the only dedicated naval theme of the Empire.
The theme comprised the southern coast of Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
(modern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
), from south of Miletus
Miletus
Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...
(which belonged to the Thracesian Theme
Thracesian Theme
The Thracesian Theme , more properly known as the Theme of the Thracesians , was a Byzantine theme in western Asia Minor , comprising the ancient regions of Ionia, Lydia and parts of Phrygia and Caria....
) to the borders of Arab-held Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
, including the old Roman province
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
s of Caria
Caria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...
, Lycia
Lycia
Lycia Lycian: Trm̃mis; ) was a region in Anatolia in what are now the provinces of Antalya and Muğla on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a province of the Roman Empire...
, Pamphylia
Pamphylia
In ancient geography, Pamphylia was the region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus . It was bounded on the north by Pisidia and was therefore a country of small extent, having a coast-line of only about 75 miles with a breadth of...
and parts of Isauria
Isauria
Isauria , in ancient geography, is a rugged isolated district in the interior of South Asia Minor, of very different extent at different periods, but generally covering what is now the district of Bozkır and its surroundings in the Konya province of Turkey, or the core of the Taurus Mountains. In...
, as well as the Dodecanese
Dodecanese
The Dodecanese are a group of 12 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, of which 26 are inhabited. Τhis island group generally defines the eastern limit of the Sea of Crete. They belong to the Southern Sporades island group...
. Its geographical position made it the "front-line" theme facing the attacks of the Muslim fleets of the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, and it played a major role in the naval aspect of the Byzantine–Arab Wars. The land, which was known for its fertility, suffered from the frequent and devastating Arab raids, which largely depopulated the countryside except for the fortified cities and naval bases.
The seat of the strategos was most probably Attaleia. He drew an annual salary of 10 pounds of gold, and his overall rank in the imperial hierarchy was relatively low, but still senior to any other naval commander: twenty-fifth in the Taktikon Uspensky
Taktikon Uspensky
The Taktikon Uspensky or Uspenskij is the conventional name of a mid-9th century Greek list of the civil, military and ecclesiastical offices of the Byzantine Empire and their precedence at the imperial court. Nicolas Oikonomides has dated it to 842/843, making it the first of a series of such...
of 842/843, dropping to fifty-fifth in the Escorial Taktikon
Escorial Taktikon
The Escorial Taktikon , also known as the Taktikon Oikonomides after Nicolas Oikonomides who first edited it, is a list of Byzantine offices, dignities, and titles composed in Constantinople during the 970s...
of 971–975. The theme was divided into droungoi
Droungos
Droungos or drungus is a late Roman and Byzantine term for a battalion-sized military unit, and later for a local command guarding mountain districts. Its commander was a droungarios or drungarius.-History and functions:...
and tourmai, and possessed the full array of typical thematic administrative positions. Among the most important subordinates of the strategos were the imperial ek prosopou at Syllaion, the droungarioi of Attaleia and Kos
Kos
Kos or Cos is a Greek island in the south Sporades group of the Dodecanese, next to the Gulf of Gökova/Cos. It measures by , and is from the coast of Bodrum, Turkey and the ancient region of Caria. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Kos peripheral unit, which is...
and the katepano
Katepano
The katepánō was a senior Byzantine military rank and office. The word was Latinized as capetanus/catepan, and its meaning seems to have merged with that of the Italian "capitaneus"...
who commanded the theme's Mardaites
Mardaites
The Mardaites inhabited the highland regions of southern Anatolia, Isauria, Syria, and Lebanon. Their origins are little known, but they may have been of Armenian origin...
. These were the descendants of several thousand people transplanted from the area of Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
and settled there by Emperor Justinian II (r. 685–695 and 705–711) in the 680s to provide crews and marines. In the early 9th century, the thematic fleet of the Cibyrrhaeots comprised 70 ships; and in the Cretan
Emirate of Crete
The Emirate of Crete was a Muslim state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to the Byzantine reconquest of the island in 961....
expedition of 911, the Cibyrrhaeot theme sent 31 warships – 15 large dromon
Dromon
The dromon was a type of galley and the most important warship of the Byzantine navy from the 6th to 12th centuries AD...
s and 16 middle-sized pamphyloi – with 6,000 oarsmen and 760 marines.
Around the mid-11th century, as the Muslim naval threat subsided, the Byzantine provincial fleets began a precipitate decline: the fleet of the Cibyrrhaeots is last mentioned in the repulsion of a Rus' raid in 1043, and the theme became a purely civil province, headed by a krites and later by a doux
Doux
Doux may refer to:* Doux, Ardennes, a French commune in the Ardennes department* Doux, Deux-Sèvres, a French commune in the Deux-Sèvres department* Doux River, a river in France* A kind of sparkling wine, for which the °Bx is greater than 5....
. Most of its territory was lost to the Seljuk Turks after 1071, but partly recovered under Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
(r. 1081–1118). What remained of the theme was finally abolished by Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos was a Byzantine Emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean....
(r. 1143–1180), and the remaining territory in Caria subordinated to the theme Mylasa and Melanoudion
Mylasa and Melanoudion
The Theme of Mylasa and Melanoudion was a Byzantine province in southwestern Asia Minor in the 12th and 13th centuries....
.