Staurakios Platys () 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 ...

officer who served as the ''

katepano The ''katepánō'' (, ) was a senior Byzantine military rank and office. The word was Latinized as ''capetanus/catepan'', and its meaning seems to have merged with that of the Italian "capitaneus" (which derives from the Latin word "caput", mean ...

'' of the

Mardaites The Mardaites () or al-Jarajima (; /ALA-LC: ''al-Jarājimah'') were early Christians following Chalcedonian Christianity in the Nur Mountains. Little is known about their ethnicity, but it has been speculated that they might have been Persians ( ...

in the

Cibyrrhaeot Theme The Cibyrrhaeot Theme, more properly the Theme of the Cibyrrhaeots (), was a Byzantine theme encompassing the southern coast of Asia Minor from the early 8th to the late 12th centuries. As the Byzantine Empire's first and most important naval them ...

in ca. 910. Staurakios Platys is only mentioned by the ''

De Administrando Imperio (; ) is a Greek-language work written by the 10th-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII. It is a domestic and foreign policy manual for the use of Constantine's son and successor, the Emperor Romanos II. It is a prominent example of Byz ...

'', a work compiled in the middle of the 10th century by

Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, and ...

. According to it, in approximately 909/910, he was the commander (''

'') of the

in the

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

in southern

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 ...

. He clashed with Eustathios, the ''

ek prosopou EK, Ek or ek may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Eastern Kentucky Railway (with reporting mark EK), now-defunct railway * Eastman Kodak (formerly with NYSE ticker symbol EK), US-based photography company, formerly * Ek Commando Knife C ...

'' (or possibly the ''

strategos ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek language, Greek term to mean 'military General officer, general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also use ...

'') of the theme, over jurisdictional matters, although both were proteges of the powerful ''

logothetes tou dromou The (), in English usually rendered as Logothete of the Course/Drome/ or Postal Logothete, was the head of the department of the Public Post (, , or simply , ), and one of the most senior fiscal ministers (logothetes) of the Byzantine Empire. H ...

'', Himerios. Eustathios wrote to the emperor

Leo VI the Wise Leo VI, also known as Leo the Wise (; 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well read, leading to his epithet. During ...

with various accusations against Staurakios, and succeeded in having the latter recalled and his authority transferred to himself. If he had not been dismissed by that time, it is possible that Staurakios is the nameless ''katepano'' of the Mardaites who was charged with providing crews and funds for Himerios' great naval expedition in 911, directed against the

Emirate of Crete The Emirate of Crete ( or , ; ) was an Arab Islamic state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to Siege of Chandax, the reconquest of the island by the Byzantine Empire in 961. Although the emirate recognized the ...

or the coasts of

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. 5,087 Mardaites from the Cibyrrhaeot Theme were reportedly involved.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Platys, Staurakios 10th-century Byzantine people Byzantine generals Byzantine people of the Arab–Byzantine wars