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Melias
Melias ( el, Μελίας) or Mleh ( hy, Մլեհ, often ''Mleh-mec'', "Mleh the Great" in Armenian sources) was an Armenian prince who entered Byzantine service and became a distinguished general, founding the theme of Lykandos and participating in the campaigns of John Kourkouas against the Arabs. Origin and early career Melias was a member of the lower '' naxarar'' nobility, possibly from the Varazhnuni clan; he was possibly a grandson of Mliah, the prince of Varazhnunik, who was killed by the Arabs in 853. Melias first appears in historical sources as a vassal of Ashot the Long-armed, an Armenian prince (possibly a Bagratid from Taron) who entered Byzantine imperial service in circa 890. As part of Ashot's Armenian contingent, he fought on the Byzantine side at the disastrous Battle of Bulgarophygon against the Bulgarians. Ashot himself perished in this battle, along with the larger part of the Byzantine force.. Melias escaped death and returned to his service at the Byza ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lykandos
Lykandos or Lycandus ( el, Λυκανδός), known as Djahan in Armenian, was the name of a Byzantine fortress and military-civilian province (or " theme"), known as the Theme of Lykandos (θέμα Λυκανδοῦ), in the 10th–11th centuries. History Origin and early history The fortress of Lykandos was located in the area of modern Elbistan in southeastern Turkey, on the Antitaurus Mountains.. It emerged as a major fortified military centre on the eastern Byzantine frontier under Emperor Leo VI the Wise (), through the actions of the Armenian leader Mleh ( Melias in Greek sources), who settled there in 903, establishing a quasi-autonomous lordship. The area was of critical strategic importance, lying directly on the frontier zone between the Byzantines and the Muslim border emirates of Syria and Upper Mesopotamia, and commanding one of the principal routes through the mountains into Byzantine Anatolia. In 905, however, Melias was expelled from the Byzantine Empire (along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Kourkouas
John Kourkouas ( gr, Ἰωάννης Κουρκούας, Ioannes Kourkouas, ), also transliterated as Kurkuas or Curcuas, was one of the most important generals of the Byzantine Empire. His success in battles against the Muslim states in the East reversed the course of the centuries-long Arab–Byzantine wars and set the stage for Byzantium's eastern conquests later in the century. Kourkouas belonged to a family of Armenian descent that produced several notable Byzantine generals. As commander of an imperial bodyguard regiment, Kourkouas was among the chief supporters of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos () and facilitated the latter's rise to the throne. In 923, Kourkouas was appointed commander-in-chief of the Byzantine armies along the eastern frontier, facing the Abbasid Caliphate and the semi-autonomous Muslim border emirates. He kept this post for more than twenty years, overseeing decisive Byzantine military successes that altered the strategic balance in the region. During ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eustathios Argyros (general Under Leo VI)
Eustathios Argyros ( el, Εὐστάθιος Ἀργυρός; died ca. 910) was a Byzantine aristocrat and one of the most prominent generals under Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912). The first member of the Argyros family to rise to high posts, he fought with distinction against the Arabs in the east, before being disgraced ca. 907, possibly in connection with the flight of Andronikos Doukas to the Arabs. Rehabilitated soon after, he was appointed as ''strategos'' of Charsianon, from which post he oversaw the settlement of Armenian lords as march-wardens along the Empire's eastern frontier. Promoted to commander of the imperial bodyguard in late 908, he again fell into disgrace shortly after and died of poison (apparently a suicide) on his way to his estates. Life Eustathios Argyros was the son of the ''tourmarches'' Leo Argyros, the founder of the noble Argyros family. Nothing is known of his life or prior to the turn of the 10th century, although he may have been in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rustam Ibn Baradu
Rustam ibn Baradu () or Rustum ibn Bardu, surnamed al-Farghani ("from Farghana"), was a military commander for the Abbasid Caliphate and the governor (''wali'') of Tarsus from August 905 to 912/3. Life Rustam was appointed to the post of governor of Tarsus and of the Cilician border zone () with the Byzantine Empire on 20 August 905. In this capacity he supervised a prisoner exchange with the Byzantines on the Lamos River soon after. The exchange had already been arranged by his predecessor, Abu'l-Asa'ir Ahmad ibn Nasr, and began on 27 September, but was interrupted after four days after only about 1,200 Arab prisoners had been exchanged, with the Arabs blaming the Byzantines for violating the truce terms. In late October 906, he accompanied the general Ahmad ibn Kayghalagh in an invasion of Byzantine territory. The Abbasid army captured the town of Salandu (Selinus) and advanced even up to the Halys River, where they met and defeated a Byzantine force, capturing 5,000 prison ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akritai
The ''Akritai'' ( el, , singular: ''Akritēs'', ) is a term used in the Byzantine Empire in the 9th–11th centuries to denote the frontier soldiers guarding the Empire's eastern border, facing the Muslim states of the Middle East. Their exploits, embellished, inspired the Byzantine "national epic" of '' Digenes Akritas'' and the cycle of the Acritic songs. The term is derived from the Greek word ''akron''/''akra'', meaning border; similar border guards, the '' limitanei'', were employed in the late Roman and early Byzantine armies to guard the frontiers (''limes''). In official Byzantine use, the term is non-technical, and used in a descriptive manner, being generally applied to the defenders as well as the inhabitants of the eastern frontier zone, including their Muslim counterparts. The popular image of the ''Akritoi'' has been heavily influenced by their portrayal in the Acritic songs, and refers to the military troops stationed along the Empire's border. In reality, the Byzan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tzamandos
Melikgazi, in Byzantine times known as Tzamandos, is a metropolitan district of Kayseri in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. History In 1065, the town was given among other lands in the region to the Armenian king Gagik II as exchange for him renouncing the kingdom of Armenia.See Vryonis, Speros (1971), ''The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the eleventh through the Fifteenth Century''. Los Angeles pp. 54-55. Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan was born in Melikgazi, in the town of Ağırnas around 1488. Political structure Along with the neighboring Kocasinan Kocasinan is a metropolitan district of the city of Kayseri in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. The name comes from Mimar Sinan, the Great, famous Ottoman architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the constru ... district, it was historically the core of Kayseri city, until additional districts were joined into the metropolitan ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantine Doukas (usurper)
Constantine Doukas (or Doux) ( gr, Κωνσταντίνος Δούκας/Δούξ; died 913) was a prominent Byzantine general. In 904, he stopped the influential eunuch court official Samonas from defecting to the Arabs. In return, Samonas manipulated his father, Andronikos Doukas, into rebelling and fleeing to the Abbasid court in 906/7. Constantine followed his father to Baghdad, but soon escaped and returned to Byzantium, where he was restored by Leo VI the Wise to favour and entrusted with high military offices. Upon the death of the Emperor Alexander, Constantine with the support of several aristocrats unsuccessfully tried to usurp the throne from the young Constantine VII, but was killed in a clash with supporters of the legitimate emperor. Life Early life and career Constantine Doukas was the son of Andronikos Doukas, a prominent general under Emperor Leo VI the Wise () and the first prominent member of the Doukas family. Constantine first appears in the sources in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hadath
Al-Ḥadath al-Ḥamrā' (Arabic for "Hadath the Red") or Adata ( el, ) was a town and fortress near the Taurus Mountains (modern southeastern Turkey), which played an important role in the Byzantine–Arab Wars. Location The town was located at ca. 1000 m altitude on the southern feet of the Taurus- Antitaurus range, near the upper course of the Aksu River in the Gölbaşı district. Its exact location has been lost, and it has been variously identified with locations north or south of Inekli lake.Ory (1971), pp. 19–20Houtsma (1987), p. 187 History Hadath became important in the early Middle Ages due to its strategic location: it was located in the fortified frontier zone, the ''Thughūr'', that separated the Umayyad and Abbasid empires from the Byzantine Empire. The town lay to the southwest of the important Pass of Hadath/Adata (''darb al-Ḥadath'') which led over the Taurus into Byzantine Anatolia, but was also situated between the two major frontier strongholds ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kleisoura (Byzantine District)
In the Byzantine Empire, a ''kleisoura'' ( el, κλεισούρα, "enclosure, defile") was a term traditionally applied to a fortified mountain pass and the military district protecting it.; . By the late 7th century, it came to be applied to more extensive frontier districts, distinct from the larger '' themata'', chiefly along the Empire's eastern border with the Caliphate along the line of the Taurus-Anti-Taurus mountains (in the West, only Strymon was in its early days termed a ''kleisoura''). A ''kleisoura'' or ''kleisourarchia'' was an autonomous command, under a ''kleisourarches'' (Greek: κλεισουράρχης). Eventually, most ''kleisourai'' were raised to full ''themata'', and the term fell out of use after the 10th century (in late Byzantine times, ''droungos'' had a similar meaning). Its Islamic counterpart in Cilicia and Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sebasteia (theme)
The Theme of Sebasteia ( el, θέμα Σεβαστείας) was a military-civilian province (''thema'' or theme) of the Byzantine Empire located in northeastern Cappadocia and Armenia Minor, in modern Turkey. It was established as a theme in 911 and endured until its fall to the Seljuk Turks in the aftermath of the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. History The theme was formed around the city of Sebasteia (modern Sivas). The region formed part of the Armeniac Theme from the mid-7th century.. The theme is not mentioned in any source prior to the 10th century. In 908, Sebasteia appears for the first time as a distinct fortified frontier district ('' kleisoura''), and by 911 it had been raised to the status of a full theme. As a ''kleisoura'', it was probably subordinate of the newly established theme of Charsianon. The theme comprised the entirety of the Byzantine frontier regions along the middle course of the northern Euphrates. With the expansion of the Byzantine frontier, it was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tourma
A ''turma'' (Latin for "swarm, squadron", plural ''turmae''), (Greek: τούρμα) was a cavalry unit in the Roman army of the Republic and Empire. In the Byzantine Empire, it became applied to the larger, regiment-sized military-administrative divisions of a '' thema''. The word is often translated as " squadron" but so is the term '' ala'', a unit that was made up of several ''turmae''. Roman army Republic In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, the time of the Punic Wars and Rome's expansion into Spain and Greece, the core of the Roman army was formed by citizens, augmented by contingents from Rome's allies (''socii''). The organization of the Roman legion of the period is described by the Greek historian Polybius (cf. the so-called " Polybian army"), who writes that each 4,200-strong infantry legion was accompanied by 300 citizen cavalry (''equites''). This contingent was divided into ten ''turmae''.. According to Polybius, the squadron members would elect as their officers three '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
