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The Military Organization of the Danube Region 1. the Theme

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The Military Organization of the Danube Region 1. the Theme CHAPTER TWO THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION OF THE DANUBE REGION 1. The Theme of Dristra (later, Paradunavon) More than 700 lead seals dated from 971 to 986, 1000 to 1050, and 1060 to 1088 have been found in a single building in Preslav. Most of them were attached to messages dispatched to military commanders and officials in that town, while others accompanied copies of letters sent from Preslav, which were preserved in the archive stored in that building. The number of lead seals from Preslav is so large, that it may be used to clarify the prosopography and administrative evolution of the territories conquered by the Byzantine Empire in Bulgaria. The Preslav archive includes lead seals of the following strategoi of Ioannoupolis that could be dated from 971 to 986, the latter being the date on which the city was conquered by the revived Bulgarian state of Samuel: – Leo Sarakinopoulos (Ioannoupolis and Dorostolon); – Theophanes (Thrace and Ioannoupolis); – Staurakios (Thrace and Ioannoupolis); – Peter (Ioannoupolis); – Katakalon (Ioannoupolis).1 All of them had the rank of basilikos protospatharios. Besides the chief commanders of the theme, we know the name of an officer, Adrian, who also had the rank of basilikos protospatharios, but served as a simple tur- march of Preslav. His seal is dated after the moment the city reverted to its old name.2 A deputy of the commander (ek prosopou) of the theme 1 Jordanov 1982 b, 35–39; Jordanov 1987 a, 89–92; Jordanov 1993, 19, 128–137; Oikonomides 1998, 583–584; Stephenson 2000, 56; Frankopan 2001, 75–97; Jordanov 2003 a, 100–102, nr. 35 B. 15–18, 105, nr. 38. 1, 106, nr. 38. 2, A. 3; Božilov 2008, 93, 95; Yotov 2008 a, 348; Krsmanović 2008, 138; Jordanov 2009, 437–438, nr. 1261–1266, 443–444, nr. 1283–1290; Jordanov 2011 a, 81, nr. 4–23; Jordanov 2011 b, 201. Stoimenov 1996, 84 believes that the residence of strategos Katakalon was Helioupolis (Emesa in Syria), which received its name in 975. 2 Nesbitt, Oikonomides 1991, 153–154, nr. 69.2. 60 chapter two Thrace and Ioannoupolis, named Adralestos Spanopoulos, is known from a seal from Preslav.3 Nikephoros Xiphias, who appears on two Preslav seals, was the strat- egos of Thrace and Ioannoupolis, but not before 986, since he must have been too young at that time. As Valery Yotov has noted, his title of strat- egos title should be linked with the war of 1000,4 but unlike Yotov, I see Nikephoros Xiphias only as the commander of the theme of Thrace, who moved with his army to Ioannoupolis. The bone of contention here is the date at which Ioannoupolis got back its initial name, Preslav. The first strategos of Dristra appointed after katepano Sisinios was Leo Sarakinopoulos. He appears on many of his seals with the rank of impe- rial protospatharios and the title of strategos of Dorostolon, but most such seals are from an earlier period of his career. He succeeded Nikephoros Xiphias as strategos of Thrace, Ioannoupolis and Dorostolon, most prob- ably in 972. After a while, his authority appears to have been limited to Ioannoupolis and Dorostolon alone. The change reflected the departure to Thrace of the troops displaced from that theme. Their commander remained in Ioannoupolis.5 Leo Sarakinopoulos was sometimes mistaken for another Leo. Vitalien Laurent has demonstrated in 1967 that the initial reading of a fragmentary seal found near Călăraşi,6 Λέοντ[ι] στρατ(ηγῷ) [Ἰ]στριην(ῷ), was wrong. Laurent’s alternative reading, Λέοντ[ι] (βασιλικῷ) στράτορι καὶ τριβυνῷ, has meanwhile accepted as much better, even if some still persist in the old error.7 The seal is nevertheless important for the military history of the area around Dristra because, being dated to the 10th century, it could be related to John Tzimiskes’ campaign. The strator (shield-bearer) was a member of the imperial escort, a kind of bodyguard, 3 Jordanov 1993, 144, nr. 290; Jordanov 2003 a, 102, nr. 35 B 19; Jordanov 2009, 439, nr. 1269. 4 Jordanov 1993, 131–132, nr. 250; Jordanov 2003 a, 101, nr. 35B18; Jordanov 2006, 310, nr. 526; Yotov 2008 a, 351–352; Jordanov 2009, 438–439, nr. 1267–1268. 5 Jordanov 1982 a, 12–23; Diaconu 1986, 173–177; Jordanov 1987 a, 91; Jordanov 1993, 136– 137, nr. 259–277, 232, nr. 271 a; Frankopan 2001, 88; Jordanov 2002, 82, nr. 3, 85, nr. 12; Jordanov 2006, 360–362, nr. 604–630; Yotov 2008 a, 346–347; Božilov 2008, 93; Jordanov 2009, 414–415, nr. 1164–1165, 436–437, nr. 1250–1260, 445, nr. 12929–1310; Jordanov 2011 a, 81, nr. 2–23. 6 Mititelu, Barnea 1966, 46–48; Barnea, Ştefănescu 1971, 75. 7 Tăpkova-Zaimova 1973, 91–92; Jordanov 2009, 259, nr. 709. For persistence in the old error, see Mărculeţ 2005, 27–28; Mărculeţ 2005–2006, 306; Mărculeţ 2008, 177–181; Mărculeţ 2010 a, 203–207. Moreover, Mărculeţ reproduces Ion Barnea’s wrong idea about the owner of the seal being an “Istrian strategos” and identifies him with the strategos Leo Chalko tubes mentioned in 1036 (for whom, see below)..
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