1. Theme of Chaldia The of Chaldia was originally a in the northeastern part of the theme of Armeniakon. It is not clear when it was officially established. The first mention of a of Chaldia in the sources dates back to 842/11 and the establishment of the theme is placed around the third decade of the 9th century,2 or even earlier, if the mention of a duchy of Chaldia in 824 in a letter (the latin copy survives) of the emperor Michael II to the Frank emperor Louis I, the successor of Charlemagne, refers to a strategos of Chaldia and if the mention of someone with authority of strategos in the life of St. George of Amastris (+825), written by Ignatios Deacon,3 is not merely an anachronism.4 The theme is recorded in the eighth place among the themes of Asia Minor by Constantine Porphyrogennetos in his work De thematibus (On themes),5 but no further information can be elicited, since the scholar emperor is not very analytical. He just mentions that the capital of the theme, Trebizond, was an ancient greek colony and tries to etymologize the name Chaldia by associating it with the biblical Chaldea of Mesopotamia.6 Some further evidence can be found in other works of Porphyrogennetos. In De administrando imperii, there is information about the activities of the officials of the region,7 while in De cerimoniis (Book of Ceremonies), it is mentioned that the strategos of the theme was paid ten litres of gold by the state and received another ten from the ,8 information indicative of the nature of the region's economy, based both on its own production and on transit trade.9 Some further information about the military capabilities of the theme and the number of its fortresses can be found in the works of Arab historians.10 Finally, a significant number of officials are known from seals and other indirect references.11 2. Capital and communication At the time of the writing of De thematibus, the theme of Chaldia bordered with the theme of Armeniakon in the west, the themes of Colonea and Mesopotamia in the south and Armenia in the west. It coincided basically with the of Pontos Polemoniakos, as recorded in the .12 Its capital and metropolitan see13 was Trebizond. It is known that the city had been an important hub of transport and commerce with the inland of Asia Minor, as well as a forward base of operations in the distant provinces of the East, since it was the only safe harbor on the northern shore of Pontos. It was also the starting point of the main road towards the inland of Asia Minor, to Theodosioupolis (Erzerum).14 3. Relationship with the central authority The region of the theme of Chaldia was the theater of operations of the conflicts between the Byzantines and the Arabs during the 8th and the 9th century. That was one of the reasons why it was organized into a theme, at the same time, more or less, of the establishment of the themes of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia, to confront, that is, the arab threat on the eastern border.15 That administrative reform, however, caused much more problems, since the powerful local families had loose ties to distant Constantinople and their rebellious intentions were obvious. Some of the most important rebellions in the regions were those of John the Chaldian in 867-868 against the emperor Basil I,16 Bardas Boilas, Hadrian the Chaldian and Tatzates the Armenian against the emperor Romanos Lekapenos,17Theodore Gabras in 1091-1095 and Gregory Gabras in 1103/1106 against Alexios I Komnenos.18 The son of Gregory Gabras, Constantine, also rebelled in 1123 against John II Komnenos and was defeated many years later, in 1140. At the time of Manuel II, the imperial authority was finally established. Nikephoros Palaiologos was appointed the last doux of Chaldia some time between 1165 and 1170. Forty years later, in 1204, he handed his authority over to Alexios and David Grand Komnenoi, the establishers of the empire of Trebizond. The core of the new empire was the theme of Chaldia.19 |
1. Oikonomides, N., Les listes de preseance byzantines des IXe et Xe siecles (Paris 1972), p. 49. 2. Lemerle, P., “Thomas le slave”, Travaux et memoires 1 (1965), pp. 255-256, 286. 3. Vasilievsky, V. G. (ed.), Zitija sv. Georgija Amastridskago, (St. Petersburg 1893), p. 42. 4. On the problems of the research see Βλυσίδου, Β. – Κουντούρα Ε. – Λαμπάκης Σ. – Λουγγής Τ. – Σαββίδης Α., Η Μικρά Ασία των θεμάτων (Athens 1998), p. 288. 5. Pertusi, A. (ed.), Costantino Porfirogenito de thematibus (Vatican City 1952), p. 73. 6. The name actually refers to Chaldis, a deity of the Urartu or Chaldini (=the worshippers of Chaldis) people: Baumstark, A., entry “Chaldaioi”, in Realencyclopadie der classischen Alterumswissenschaft III.2 (Stuttgart 1899), 2062. It survives in the armenian name of the fortress Haltoyaric Klesuraw (modern Kaghdarig: Honigmann, E., Die Ostgrenze des byzantinischen Reiches von 363 bis 10741, Brussels 1935, 540), and in the mountainous regions Halt of modern Pontos, meaning “ο άνθρωπος πίσω από τα βουνά”: Bryer, A., “Greeks and Turkmens: The Pontic exception”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 29 (1975), p. 116; Bryer, A. – Winfield, D., The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington D.C. 1985), p. 300. 7. Moravcsik, G. – Jenkins, R. (eds), Constantinus Porphyrogenitus De administrando imperio (Washington 1967), pp. 190, 206, 218. 8. Reiske, I. (ed.), Constantini Porphyrogeniti imperatoris de cerimoniis aulae Byzantinae (Bonn 1829), 697; see also Οικονομίδης, Ν., Πόλεις-commercia στην Μικερά Ασία του 10ου αιώνα, Η Βυζαντινή Μικρά Ασία, 6ος-12ος αι. (Athens 1998), pp. 67-72. 9. Bryer, A. – Winfield, D., The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington D.C. 1985), p. 301. 10. Brooks, E. W., “Arabic Lists of the Byzantine Themes”, Journal of Hellenic Studies 21 (1901), pp. 67-77; Pertusi, A. (ed.), Costantino Porfirogenito de thematibus (Vatican City 1952), p. 138; Savvides, A. G. C., “The Frontier-zone themes (Chaldia-Coloneia) to the Seljuk beginnings”, Αρχείον Πόντου 48 (1998-99), pp. 224-225; Βλυσίδου, Β. – Κουντούρα Ε. – Λαμπάκης Σ. – Λουγγής Τ. – Σαββίδης Α., Η Μικρά Ασία των θεμάτων (Athens 1998), pp. 291-292. 11. Lists are included in Bryer, A. – Winfield, D., The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington D.C. 1985), pp. 316-318; see also Βλυσίδου, Β. – Κουντούρα Ε. – Λαμπάκης Σ. – Λουγγής Τ. – Σαββίδης Α., Η Μικρά Ασία των θεμάτων (Athens 1998), pp. 459-468. 12. Pertusi, A. (ed.), Costantino Porfirogenito de thematibus (Vatican City 1952), p. 138. 13. See Φιλιππίδης, Χρύσανθος, μητροπολίτης Τραπεζούντος, “Η Εκκλησία Τραπεζούντος”, Αρχείον Πόντου 4-5 (1933), pp. 153-154. 14. Stratil-Sauer G., “Verkehrsgeographische Bemerkungen zur Stadt Trapezunt im ostpontischen Gebiet”, Αρχείον Πόντου 29 (1968-69), pp. 294-331; Bryer, A. – Winfield, D., The Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington D.C. 1985), pp. 48-53; Brandes, W., Die Stadte Kleinasiens im 7. und 8. Jahrhundert (Berlin 1989), pp. 129-130. 15. Lemerle, P., “Thomas le slave”, Travaux et memoires 1 (1965), pp. 265, 272. 16. Βλυσίδου, Β., Εξωτερική πολιτική και εσωτερικές αντιδράσεις την εποχή του Βασιλείου Α. Έρευνες για τον εντοπισμό των αντιπολιτευτικών τάσεων στα χρόνια 867-886 (Athens 1991), pp. 35-36. 17. Runciman, S., The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and his Reign (Cambridge 1963), pp. 70-71. 18. Cheynet, J.-Cl., Pouvoir et contestations a Byzance (963-1210) (Paris 1990), pp. 92-93, 404-405. 19. Σαββίδης, Α. Γ. Κ., “Παρατηρήσεις για τα βυζαντινά θέματα Παφλαγονίας και Χαλδίας κατά τη μεταγενέστερη περίοδο της ιστορίας τους (τέλη 11ου-αρχές 13ου αιώνα)”, Πρακτικά Γ Πανελληνίου Συνεδρίου για τον Ελληνισμό της Μικράς Ασίας (Thessaloniki 1996), pp. 33-42 [reprint in the volume Από το Βυζάντιο στην Τουρκοκρατία (Athens 1997), pp. 389-398]. |