Byzantium in the Balkans (800–1100)

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chapter 15 Byzantium in the Balkans (800–1100)

Between ca. 620 and ca. 800, the Balkans were outside the direct control of the Byzantine Empire, except the coastal regions in eastern and northern Greece and in present-day Albania.1 According to the much later Chronicle of Monemvasia, Emperor Nicephorus I (802–811) settled colonists from various parts of the empire—“Kapheroi, Thrakesians, Armenians, and others from dif- ferent places and cities”—in the Peloponnese (the southern part of Greece)2 However, a reoccupation of Patras (the city in northwestern Peloponnese specifically mentioned in the chronicle) shortly after 800 is not confirmed ar- chaeologically (Fig. 15.1).3 There were, however, troops from Constantinople stationed in Corinth after a new theme of Peloponnesus was created, in the aftermath of the 783 campaign of the logothete of the Swift Course, Staurakios, “against the Sklavinian tribes” in southern Greece.4 More themes came into being in northern Greece to meet the military threats from Bulgaria: Macedonia shortly before 802, Strymon shortly before 809, and Thessalonike at

1 For the withdrawal of Byzantium from the Balkans, the continuing presence of the imperial power in the coastal region, and the demographic collapse of the 7th century, see Curta, “The beginning.” 2 Kislinger, Regionalgeschichte, p. 203. Thrakesians and Armenians were inhabitants of the Anatolian themes of Thrakesion and Armeniakon, respectively. The Kapheroi were most likely former Muslims from the eastern provinces of the Empire who had accepted baptism (Curta, The Edinburgh History, pp. 136–37). For the Chronicle of Monemvasia, which was writ- ten in the second half of the 10th century, see Turlej, The Chronicle; Madgearu, “Studiu”; Marín Riveros, La crónica; Vasilikopoulou-Ioannidou, “To Chronikon”; Anagnostakis and Kaldellis, “The textual sources,” pp. 106–15. 3 The available archaeological record and the historical information suggest that the reoccupation of some of the late antique sites in the region cannot be dated before the middle of the 9th century. For Patras in the 9th century, see Georgopoulou-Verra, “He prote oikodomike phase”; Komatina, “Osnivanje”; Giannopoulos, “He Patra.” For Argos, see Oikonomou- Laniadou, “To Argos.” For the absence of any Byzantine coin finds from the Peloponnese that could be dated to the first three decades of the 9th century, see Curta, “Coins and burials,” p. 61. 4 Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, pp. 456–57. See Olajos, “Une source”; Oikonomides, “A note.” According to Živković, “The date,” the theme was created shortly after Staurakios’ expedition. The presence of troops in Corinth is betrayed by the great number of copper coins, with a sudden surge under Emperor Theophilus (829–842) (Metcalf, “Monetary reces- sion,” p. 114). Coins struck for Theophilos appear also in the Peloponnese, for example at Sparta and at Naupaktos, but are rare in the rest of Greece (Curta, The Edinburgh History, pp. 138 and 158 n. 11).

figure 15.1 Principal sites mentioned in the text (medieval names in italics) some point between 796 and 811.5 The latter explains the large number of seals of military governors (strategoi) of Thessalonike as well as the fortification of the city and its environs during the last years of Michael III’s reign (842–867) in response to Arab raids in the northern Aegean.6 However, after ca. 870, a flourishing trade with neighboring Bulgaria turned Thessaloniki into a major

5 Stavridou-Zaphraka, “Ta themata tou Makedonikou chorou. To thema Strymonos,” “Ta themata tou Makedonikou chorou. To thema Thessalonikes,” “The development,” and “Thessalonike”; Kyriazopoulos, “‘Makedonia’”; Dapergolas, “Problems”; Wassiliou-Seibt, “Reconstruction.” 6 For the seals of strategoi, see Koltsida-Makri, “He byzantine Thessalonike,” pp. 245 and 251. The fortress of Vardar was restored in 861/862, as attested by an inscription mentioning the imperial protospatharios Marinos (perhaps the strategos of Thessalonike). See Kiourtzian, “Note prosopographique.” For Arab attacks on the western coast of Greece, see Kaponis, “He arabike poliorkia.”