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University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation Formatting Template ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE BYZANTINE THEME SYSTEM By SEAN PLATZER A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2013 © 2013 Sean Platzer For everybody who has ever educated me ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee, Dr. Curta, Dr. Kapparis, and Dr. Sterk. I would also like to thank Anna Lankina, Ralph Patrello, Kat Klos, Chris Bonura, Chris Wooley, and Chris Borglum. Without the help of most of the medieval history graduate students, this paper would never have been written. Finally I would like to thank my parents. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................6 ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................8 2 MODERN HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE CREATION OF THE “THEME SYSTEM” ...............................................................................................................................11 3 PROVIDING FOR SOLDIERS AND THE QUESTION OF MILITARY LANDS .............20 4 ICONOCLASM, THE REVOLT OF ARTAVASDOS, CONSTANTINE V, AND THE DIVISION OF THE OPSIKION THEME .............................................................................25 5 CHANGE OVER TIME REPRESENTED BY NUMBERS .................................................29 6 CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................33 LIST OF REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................36 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .........................................................................................................38 5 LIST OF TABLES Table page 5-1 List of themes. ....................................................................................................................29 6 Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE BYZANTINE THEME SYSTEM By Sean Platzer December 2013 Chair: Florin Curta Major: History This paper will illustrate the fact that the Byzantine theme system was not a single reform created by a single person, but rather a long, organic process by which system of military districts were created to defend against the nascent Arab Empire. They were eventually crafted after a series of changes into an effective defense system. As a case study, the theme of Opsikion will be used as an example of how internal, as well as external forces caused this change. Also the fluctuating numbers of the themes from the seventh to the tenth centuries will illustrate just how much of an evolutionary process the themes went through. 7 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In the seventh century, the Byzantine Empire faced a series of existential threats. In 602 the Byzantine-Sassanian War began and would last twenty-six more years. This would see the fall of two emperors by coup and end with the extended reign of Heraclius. In 634 the Arabs invaded and by 639, the empire had lost Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. By that point, the Sassanid Empire was nearly gone and the Byzantine Empire was following suit, but at some point in the mid sixth century a series of reforms were undertaken in order to preserve what was left of the empire. The empire was in a state of shock and its defense led to the creation of the “theme system.” The earliest themes were Opsikion, Armeniakon, Anatolikon, Thrakesian, and Kibyrrhaiotai, although this would change.1 The implementation of the theme system was far more of a series of experiments that took centuries rather than a single reform with all the qualities of what we consider the “themes” today. The word “theme” itself, while of murky etymology, arguably referred to a military unit before it ever referred to a geographical location.2 In keeping with the theme of flexibility and changes over time, this is important. Some historians argue that originally a “theme” was a land military unit, eventually someone, possibly Heraclius, Constans II, Constantine IV, or some nameless general, placed themes on land and eventually they gave their name to those lands with their own capitals and their own borders. Eventually there were even naval themes established, giving a name for a unit of land forces to a base for ships with minimal land support. The word 1 Warren Treadgold. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997), 321. Sicily was technically ruled as a part of the Exarchate of Ravenna, until the Exarchate’s ultimate demise. 2 Warren Treadgold. Byzantium and its Army, 284-1081. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995), 23; John Haldon. Byzantium in the Seventh Century. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 215; Mark Whittow. The Making of Byzantium 600-1025. (Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996), 165; Walter Kaegi disagrees, which will be addressed in a separate chapter. 8 “theme” thus would have changed over about a century to encompass something very different from what it originally meant. It is also possible that the word “theme” has its etymological roots in relation to borders, and gained a more martial connotation as time went on. With this in mind not only did the word’s meaning change, but what it didn’t really settle into an established concept for even longer. The signifier “theme” represented a shifting signified theme. The reasoning behind this seems simple: the Byzantine Empire, in a state of self-preservation, experimented with a new system of self-defense in the seventh century and continued until at least the tenth century. Modern historians cannot even agree on when or how the theme system was established, but there are theories that make more sense than others. The very lack of a mention by historians from the middle ages about the establishment of the theme system would make more sense if it was the product of a long process of experimentation, rather than a one- time reform that sprang fully formed from the forehead of Heraclius. To this end, the purpose of this short study is to establish what a “theme” was at various points of time, as well as how historians have interpreted what they were at various points in the twentieth century. To that end, it will be important to see how modern historians view the establishment of the theme system. From there, a look at some of the intricacies of the themes, how they operated, the ubiquitous “military lands” that certain modern historians write about, and other things will be studied. Finally there will be a case study of the Opsikion theme, a theme whose very existence seemed suicidal in the early days of implementing the system and nearly ended the reign of Constantine V. As a result, the theme was decimated, the threat removed, and it became demonstrative of the experimental qualities of the system as a whole. This is an example of how internal forces, in addition to the threat of outside enemies, were responsible for crafting the theme system. This illustrates how internal pressures were 9 responsible for shaping the theme system in addition to outside forces. Finally, there will be a short look at three Taktika that illustrate numerically just how the system as a whole changed over time. By the tenth century, as the empire was recovering, the fluctuating numbers of themes show how the government integrated new land and appropriated old land as it needed. This represents a process the system underwent which ultimately turned rather disappointing military districts into an effective defense system over the course of around 300 years. 10 CHAPTER 2 MODERN HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE CREATION OF THE “THEME SYSTEM” The question of when or why the Byzantine Empire decided to replace the old Roman provinces with the so-called “theme system” has been asked often over the past century. During that time, a few discernible schools of thought have formed around different answers to that question, although their ideologies can generally be summed up as either static or gradualist. Either the themes were set up in a very short period of time under one or two emperors, or they were the result of years, decades, or even centuries of slow development. One of the first studies of the theme system is Charles Diehl’s “L’origine du régime des themes dans l’Empire Byzantin.”1 In this article, Diehl asserts that the creation of the themes was the logical conclusion of the process that began with the creation of Maurice’s exarchates, which he asserts were basically themes themselves. He also believed firmly, as would most historians during the first half of the twentieth century, that the theme system was put into place during the reign of Heraclius, although pointing out that the move toward the theme system had its origins in the reign of Justinian.2 Despite the fact that many historians who have written since this article was published have disagreed with that assertion, some of whom will be addressed in this section, it still has its defenders
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