Neokastra
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Neokastra (, "new fortresses", formally θέμα Νεοκάστρων; in Latin sources ''Neocastri'' or ''Neochastron'') was a
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
province (
theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software. * Theme (linguistics), topic * Theme ( ...
) of the 12th–13th centuries in north-western
Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
(modern
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
). Its origin and extent are obscure. According to
Niketas Choniates Niketas or Nicetas Choniates (; – 1217), whose actual surname was Akominatos (), was a Byzantine Greek historian and politician. He accompanied his brother Michael Akominatos to Constantinople from their birthplace Chonae (from which came h ...
, the theme was founded by
Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history o ...
(r. 1143–1180) between 1162 and 1173. Manuel I scoured the region around three cities—Chliara (mod.
Kırkağaç Kırkağaç () is a municipality and district of Manisa Province, Turkey. Its area is 541 km2, and its population is 37,645 (2022). The town lies at an elevation of . Features Kırkağaç is an agricultural district and known for its vari ...
),
Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; ), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north s ...
and
Adramyttion Adramyttium ( ''Adramyttion'', Ἀδραμύττειον ''Adramytteion'', or Ἀτραμύττιον ''Atramyttion'') was an ancient city and bishopric in Aeolis, in modern-day Turkey. It was originally located at the head of the Gulf of Adramy ...
—from the Turkish bands that raided it, rebuilt and refortified the cities and established forts in the countryside and made them into a separate province under a governor titled ''harmostes'' ("supervisor") by the archaizing Choniates, but whose actual title in all probability must have been '' doux''.Ahrweiler (1965), p. 133Kazhdan (1991), p. 1454 The imperial
chrysobull A golden bull or chrysobull was a decree issued by Byzantine emperors and monarchs in Europe during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Description A golden bull was a decree issued by Byzantine Emperors. It was later used by monarchs in Europe ...
of 1198 to the Venetians on the other hand mentions Adramyttion apart from the Neokastra, and the ''
Partitio Romaniae The ''Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae'' (Latin for "Partition of the lands of the empire of ''Romania'' .e., the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire, or ''Partitio regni Graeci'' ("Partition of the kingdom of the Greeks"), was a treaty signed a ...
'' of 1204 mentions the province of Neokastra as being entirely separate from all three cities. The Byzantinist
Helene Ahrweiler Helene or Hélène may refer to: People * Helene (name), and Hélène, a female given name, including a list of people with the name * Hélène (singer) (Hélène Rollès, born 1966), French actress and singer * Helen of Troy, a figure in Greek ...
interpreted the evidence to suggest that Neokastra did indeed originally encompass the three cities, but that in 1198 Adramyttion may have formed a separate district, and that the separation between the cities and the province evidenced in the ''Partitio'' was the result of a copyist's error. The theme survived the destruction of the Byzantine Empire by the
Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...
, and was retained by the
Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea (), also known as the Nicene Empire, was the largest of the three Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by Walter Abel Heurtley, W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C ...
, where it constituted, along with the
Thracesian Theme The Thracesian Theme (, ''Thrakēsion thema''), more properly known as the Theme of the Thracesians (, ''thema Thrakēsiōn'', often simply , ''Thrakēsioi''), was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) in western Asia Minor (modern Tu ...
to the south, the most important provinces.Ahrweiler (1965), p. 163 The boundaries of the Nicaean province were different, however: Adramyttion was lost to the new
Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzantin ...
, and Pergamon was abandoned and fell in ruins. The account of
George Akropolites George Akropolites ( Latinized as Acropolites or Acropolita; , ''Georgios Akropolites''; 1217 or 1220 – 1282) was a Byzantine Greek historian and statesman born at Constantinople. Life In his sixteenth year he was sent by his father, the logo ...
, reflecting the new situation, mentions Neokastra apart from Chliara and Pergamon, and records the village of Kalamos (mod. Gelenbe) as the northernmost point of the theme, at the Nicaean frontier zone with the Latins. On the basis of Akropolites' passage, the scholar
Ruth Macrides Ruth Iouliani (Juliana) Macrides (1 October 1949 – 27 April 2019) was a UK-based historian of the Byzantine Empire. At the time of her death, she was Reader in Byzantine Studies at the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Greek Studies at the Uni ...
suggested an alternative reading of Choniates' passage, which would place the original theme of Neokastra immediately to the east of the three cities.Macrides (2007), p. 152 (Note #15) Ahrweiler also suggested that the Nicaean-era province of Neokastra extended as far south as Magnesia or
Sardis Sardis ( ) or Sardes ( ; Lydian language, Lydian: , romanized: ; ; ) was an ancient city best known as the capital of the Lydian Empire. After the fall of the Lydian Empire, it became the capital of the Achaemenid Empire, Persian Lydia (satrapy) ...
, but this is conjectural. A handful of governors of the theme are known: Manuel Kalampakes ca. 1284, a certain Libadarios, who was involved in the revolt of
Alexios Philanthropenos Alexios Doukas Philanthropenos () was a Byzantine nobleman and notable general. A relative of the ruling Palaiologos dynasty, he was appointed commander-in-chief in Asia Minor in 1293 and for a time re-established the Byzantine position there, ...
in 1296, and the ''
parakoimomenos The ''parakoimōmenos'' (, literally "the one who sleeps beside
he emperor's chamber He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...
) was a Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy, court position, usually reserved for eunuch (court official), eunuchs. The position' ...
'' Constantine Doukas Nestongos, active in 1303/4, whom Ahrweiler identifies as the theme's last known ''doux''. The region fell shortly thereafter to the
Anatolian beyliks Anatolian beyliks (, Ottoman Turkish: ''Tavâif-i mülûk'', ''Beylik''; ) were Turkish principalities (or petty kingdoms) in Anatolia governed by ''beys'', the first of which were founded at the end of the 11th century. A second and more exte ...
of
Karasi Karasi may refer to: * Kärasi Kärasi is a village in Mustvee Parish, Jõgeva County in northeastern Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland ac ...
and Sarukhan.Ahrweiler (1965), pp. 164–165


References


Sources

* * * {{citation , last=Macrides , first=Ruth , title=George Akropolites: The History – Introduction, translation and commentary , publisher=Oxford University Press , year=2007 , isbn=978-0-19-921067-1 States and territories established in the 12th century Byzantine Anatolia Themes of the Byzantine Empire