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Roads Lead to Constantinople Matthew Larnach The Medieval and Early Modern Centre The University of Sydney, 2016 All roads lead to Constantinople: Exploring the Via Militaris in the medieval Balkans, 600-1204 A thesis submitted to The Medieval and Early Modern Centre in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, at the University of Sydney, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. All roads lead to Constantinople Declaration This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge, the content of this thesis is my own work. This thesis has not been submitted for any degree or other purposes. I certify that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work and that all the assistance received in preparing this thesis and sources has been acknowledged. 2 All roads lead to Constantinople Abstract The aim of this thesis is to provide an accurate depiction of the route and condition of the Via Militaris, the grand military highway that linked Belgrade and Constantinople, as it existed from the seventh century till the beginning of the thirteenth. It will consider the development of Roman roads in this region and how these changed, over time, into Byzantine roads. Further, the urban landscape of the Balkan Peninsula will be explored, from the changes wrought by the establishment of Roman authority, the impact of the Slav and Avar incursions, to what sort of settlements, if any, emerged afterwards. Finally the material effect this turmoil had on the administration and maintenance of the Via Militaris, and to what extent was the road restored after the Byzantine reconquest of the Balkans by Emperor Basil II, will be discussed. This thesis draws upon a wide variety of sources, not only medieval texts, but those pertaining to the Roman and Ottoman periods as well, and marries these with material sources, such as archaeological investigations of the road and accompanying road stations, numismatic and sigillographic sources, as well as observations in the field of contemporary remains along its route. It also discusses how the contribution of new technologies, in particular the use of Geographical Information Systems and topographical data, can further enhance our understanding of historical landscapes and communication networks. Finally, through considering the passage of the German contingent of the Third Crusade as a case study, this thesis demonstrates how a greater awareness of the physical condition of the route can provide a context whereby such events might be more adequately critiqued. Perhaps the most significant conclusion drawn by this thesis is the influence of topography on both the choice of route of the Via Militaris, and its subsequent prominence in the crusading period. The mountain passes through which the road travels are far less steep than might be assumed for a region that is largely defined by its rugged terrain, and over its entire course the road never attains the sort of gradients that would have rendered the use of wheeled vehicles impractical, if not outright impossible. This stands in stark contrast to the route of the Via Egnatia, which is far more precipitous, and this is one of the main reasons, it is argued, why the Via Militaris emerges as the primary road taken by those participants of the Second and Third Crusades who took the overland route to the Holy Land. It also argues that the quality of the road was far from uniform during this period, and in particular from the mid-eleventh century onwards there is convincing evidence that the Byzantine state deliberately abandoned a long stretch of this road, between the Danube River and the city of Naissus, through a region known as the ‘Bulgarian Forest’, in order to create on its frontier a logistically 3 All roads lead to Constantinople challenging ‘no man’s land’. The road which subsequently emerged in this region likely bore little resemblance to that of a well-travelled highway. However despite its stated aim, this thesis has been unable to provide as clear a representation of the road at a local level as was hoped, and concludes that no such depiction is currently possible owing to a fundamental lack of research, in particular of verified archaeological remains, along much of its route. This is compounded by the fact that the sources make clear that a number of alternate routes not only existed, but were actively used, in the medieval era, and it is difficult to determine which road was being utilised at any given point in time. Instead of a single road, this thesis argues that the medieval Via Militaris instead more likely existed as a network of roads, as the decayed remains of the Roman highway, as well as lesser known secondary routes, were used in conjunction. The confusion which subsequently emerges in modern depictions of the route of the Via Militaris is evidenced by the sometimes vast differences which exist between them, and seldom are two maps of the route of the road alike. It is argued that without further research to ascertain the quality and route of the road at a local level, the medieval Via Militaris cannot be described except in the most general of terms, and owing to this confusion the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman identities of the road have become irrevocably entwined. What is required, therefore, is a new emphasis on how the route of the road was influenced by, and in turn influenced, the development of unique local geographies, and from these geographies build a broader conception of the road as a whole. That is, rather than top down analysis of the road, our understanding of it, and its importance to the medieval Balkans, needs to be reconsidered from the bottom up. 4 All roads lead to Constantinople Acknowledgements The author is indebted to the contributions made to this thesis by Professor Vrasidas Karalis, Associate Professor John Pryor, and the Medieval and Early Modern Centre at the University of Sydney for its ongoing assistance. I would also like to thank the American Research Center in Sofia for allowing me to access their library archives, and Dr Ivan Vasilev for providing me with unpublished material and GPS co-ordinates directing me to unrecorded surviving segments of the Via Militaris within Bulgaria. I would also like to thank Barry O’Rourke for his invaluable aid in proof-reading and editing this thesis. Finally I would like to thank my family for their ongoing support and infinite patience in my peculiar obsession with a strange road located on the other side of the world. A note on transliterations For the sake of consistency, I have endeavoured to use Latinised forms of Byzantine names of people and places wherever possible, whilst technical terms and titles have been transliterated from their Greek or Latin forms with as few changes as possible. 5 All roads lead to Constantinople Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ 5 Preface .................................................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 12 Chapter 2: The Geography of the Balkan Peninsula ........................................................................... 18 Chapter 3: Sources................................................................................................................................ 25 3.1: Archaeological Sources ............................................................................................................. 27 3.2: Itineraria .................................................................................................................................... 28 3.3: Literary Sources ......................................................................................................................... 40 3.4: Taktika ....................................................................................................................................... 42 3.5: Byzantine Sources ..................................................................................................................... 43 3.6: Crusader Sources ....................................................................................................................... 44 3.7: Early Modern Sources ............................................................................................................... 50 3.8: Contemporary Sources .............................................................................................................. 53 Chapter 4: Historiography .................................................................................................................... 57 Chapter 5: Methodology ...................................................................................................................... 62 Chapter 6: Roman Roads ...................................................................................................................... 67 6.1: Construction .............................................................................................................................. 69 6.2: Stations .....................................................................................................................................
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