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Arabic Lists of the Byzantine Themes Author(S): E Arabic Lists of the Byzantine Themes Author(s): E. W. Brooks Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 21 (1901), pp. 67-77 Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/623866 . Accessed: 17/01/2014 10:37 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Hellenic Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 66.77.17.54 on Fri, 17 Jan 2014 10:37:28 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ARABIC LISTS OF THE BYZANTINE THEMES.' OF the themes of the Byzantine Empire there exists in Greek only one systematic account, the confused and discursive work of Constantine Porphyrogennetos, from which little trustworthy information as to the history of the themes before the accession of the Macedonian dynasty can be gathered.2 The same author has also preserved a table of precedence drawn up by Philotheos the protospatharios in the year 899,3 which includes the generals of the various themes existing at that time; and he has himself given us a record of the salaries paid, to the generals in the time of Leo VI.U This lack of information may, however, be in part supplied from the Arab geographers, who provide us with five catalogues of the themes, the earliest of which, that of Ibn Khurdadhbah,5 is fifty years earlier than the list of Philotheos and about one hundred years earlier than Constantine's work. With this catalogue that of Al Idrisi (1154)6 is practically identical. The other three are that of Ibn Al Fakih' Al Hamadhani (circ. 902), preserved in the Geographical Dictionary of Yakut' (1224), that of Kudama 8 (circ. 930), and that contained in the Khitab Al Tanbih wal Ishraf (Book of celebration and observation) of Al Mas'udi (956). Of these descriptions those of Ibn Khurdadhbah and Kudanma have been translated into French by Prof. De Goeje, and that of Al Mas'udi by M. Carra de Vaux; of that of Ibn Al Fakih I give a. translation below. The first four, though each contains matter not found in the others, closely resemble one another and are clearly ' The following article was already written Geog. Arab. vi. p. 77 if.). The date was prob- before I saw the admirable work of Prof. Gelzer, ably 845-8 (id. p. xix. if.). 1 Die Genesis d. Byz. Themenverfassung in the Transl. Jaubert ii. p. 299 if. The full Abhandl. d. IKn. Sdchs. Gesellsch. d. TVissen- Arabic text remains unpublished. Al Idrisi schcften, xli. No. V. which in part covers the gives onliythe Asiatic themes. 7 same ground. But, though it has enabled me Ed. Wiistenfeld, ii. p. 863 if. The descrip. to make a few corrections and additions, it by tion of Macedonia is also in iv. pp. 602, 603, no means makes my article superfluous, since where it is cited as from ' Ibn Al Fakih in the the author makes no use of Ibn Al Fakih and account of the districts of the Romans.' An very little of Al Mas'udi. epitome of Ibn Al Fakih's work has been edited 2 There are also some notices relating to the by De Goeje (op. cit. pars v.), but it does not themes in the De Adum. Imp. (Const. Porph. contain the account of the themes. iii. pp. 220-231). 8 Edited and translated by De Goeje (op. cit. 3 De Caer. 2, 52 (ed. Bonn. i. pp. 713-715, vi. p. 197, ff.). 9 727, 728). Edited by De Goeje (op. cit. viii. p. _76, 4 Op. cit. 2. 50. ff.) ; translated by Carra de Vaux (Paris 1896). 6 Edited and translated by De Goeje (Bibl. F 2 This content downloaded from 66.77.17.54 on Fri, 17 Jan 2014 10:37:28 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions % r S7"H7"HRAC CpompeiOU ;nope THR"rCH ot. .i %Q1.. QP . MGAOmasejia... 0 ~??I-?III6aS~Yaaseia t % ~ P M NI * K a * , 1 Se at . •% J ', Nia? m'% An4C'tio A oNikopolisz 4- ryd- """i aTH. AWE e TiekMIA oft I TH.Con ANATOLIKOIvAn ebaste ie Get- h.ra. onN0 aftik ~ AI.dAIONa qaQr$jmos*-l4 ;I 4%b j Gej. akd ,OY *Ar2rrnorio C H Aos Azanrz REIr"•jn td ~ZlerrA0$ "•.i•• P~ ,o -aAkroi'non ..••" Iqr~~i•, 01. 3 PELAG TH. AIVATOLIK0 K\s1 Me\\,~~ C oAntioch d A V\ S? A L CPAeZsI r' L I *Ziba Ouctsa p7So Z'Z PAT1G * da -Ikonion % ll0' on" )?S~Ou ' tL I)(? a- 'I~e - qbd a?'I%5n&) ';, - . dS":d s 3)Iisge gfeo!4;?L, '~jI~blet- CL -dessa n ctttr 1 1L~ J s 0 oQr(I 0 0 mtltwIt''677loS t m' 600 p Antio eta. oo Chalk-iS irtrnst d ~ ~~~~Chetid~imor MIAP OF THE BYZANTINE THEMES IN THE NINTH CENTURY A.D. This content downloaded from 66.77.17.54 on Fri, 17 Jan 2014 10:37:28 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ARABIC LISTS OF THE BYZANTINE THEMES. 69 derived friom the same source. Al Mas'udi also seems to have used this source, but his description differs so widely from the others that he must be assumed to have used some other authority also. The three earlier authors give an identical list of fourteen themes, which in Kudama and Ibn Al Fakih are arranged as follows: 1 Talaya (Kud. Tayala), 2 Thrace, 3 Macedonia, 4 Paphlagonia, 5 Optimatoi, 6 Opsikion, 7 Thrakesioi, 8 Anato- likoi, 9 Seleukeia, 10 Cappadocia, 11 Charsianon, 12 Buccellarii, 13 Armenia, 14 Chaldia. In Ibn Khurdadhbah the first theme is called Tafla or Talaka, and Seleukeia and Cappadocia are placed at the end. As will be seen, and as is expressly stated by the authors, three of these are in Europe and eleven in Asia. Al Mas'udi also gives fourteen names; but of these five are in Europe and nine in Asia, his list being as follows: 1 Anatolikoi,' 2 Opsikion, 3 Thrakesioi, 4 Kibyrrhaiotai (?),2 5 Cappadocia, 6 Buccellarii, 7 Optimatoi, 8 Armneniakoi,9 Paphlagonia, 10 Tayala, 11 Thrace, 12 Macedonia, 13 Peloponnesos, 14 Thessalonike. Besides these he mentions Seleukeia, Charsianon, and Koloneia as regions in the themes of Kibyrrhaiotai, Armeniakoi, and Paphlagonia respectively.3 He differs from the other authors by adding Pcloponnesos4 and Thessalonike to the European themes and Kibyrrhaiotai and Koloneia to the Asiatic themes and omitting Chaldia His description can, however, scarcely represent the state of affairs in his own time, since he takes no account of the themes of Mesopotamia and Lykandos, which were added by Leo VI.,5 and Seleukeia, which was raised to the rank of a a-7pa-rTyli1 by Romanus I," is called by him a 'region,' by which a XcheLto-opais no doubt meant. Otherwise, when we compare his list with Constantine's (which with the inclusion of Cappadocia and Charsianon, mentioned under Armeniakoi, contains thirty-one names,7) if we set aside the European themes, where we cannot expect accuracy, and the island 1 'Al Anti Mati [Optimatoi],...and that is time of Michael III. is insufficientto prove the army of Al Natalik [Anatolikoi].' The this. The omission of European themes can- Optimates are however mentioned later, and the not however be used to fix the dates of the description here following is clearly that of the Arabiclists, since all omit Hellas,which existed Anatolikoi. in 695 (Theoph. A M 6187). This passageis 2 ' Nantiliya (v. 1.' Nantuliliya.'), and that neglectedby Gelzer,who ascribesthe institution is Dakabuli [Dekapolis].' De Goeje supposes of this theme also to the time of Michael this to stand for Pamphylia ; but it seems III. rather to represent Anatolikoi, though the de- 5 Coiist. Porphl. iii. pp. 31, 32. Lykandos scription can hardly apply to any other theme however was not made a ao'parqyls till the than Kibyrrhaiotai. regency of Zoe (912-919); id. p. 228. : The last clearly by error, since lie says him- ( Const.Porph. iii. p. 36. self that the Armeniac theme reached to the 7 The list iii De Caer. 2. 50. differs from that sea. As to Seleukeia see Gelzer, p. 93, note, and in De Them.by omittingOptimatoi and Cyprus below, p.71, note 10. and adding Leontokomis and Dalmatia. As 4 The theme of Poloponnesos existed in 811 this list gives the salaries of the generals, the (Anon. de Leon. Arm. in Bonn. Corpus, xxx. p. oiissioi of Optimatoiis no donbt due to its 336), and a seal of a rrpanrtyo'sis ascribed by being under a 56o0rleTCOS. The three lists in Schlumberger (Sigillographie de V' Empire By- De Caer. 2. 52 include the BouE'o-TIcos ,riv zantin, p. 179) to the eighth century. The pas- OVrTILaWvIv,but omit Mesopotamia,Sebasteia, sage adduced by Gelzer from Const. De Adm. Lykandos, Seleukeia, Leontokomis, and Lonm- Imp. (ed. Bonn, iii. p. 221, 1. 3-10) to show bardy, probably because they were under officers that Peloponnesos was made a theme in the of lower rank.
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