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43-462: As with the other themes, the exact date of foundation is unclear. The Thracesians are first securely attested in 711, when a " tourmarchēs of the Thracesians" named Christopher was dispatched against Cherson by Emperor Justinian II , while a governing stratēgos is only attested as late as 741. It is hence traditionally assumed that the Thracesians were initially a tourma (division) of

86-670: A Ghaznavid army, and after a successful siege of Isfahan by Tughril in 1050/51, established the Great Seljuk Empire . The Seljuks mixed with the local population and adopted the Persian culture and Persian language in the following decades. After arriving in Persia , the Seljuks adopted the Persian culture and used the Persian language as the official language of the government, and played an important role in

129-585: A bulwark against their raids. By the early 14th century, however, it had been restricted to the area around Smyrna , until that city also fell to the Beylik of Aydın in 1330. The theme of the Thracesians comprised the ancient regions of Ionia (the late Roman province Asia ), Lydia , the northern half of Caria , and part of Phrygia Pacatiana . The theme was bordered on the west by the Aegean Sea , with its coastline stretching from Ephesus to Adramyttion ,

172-550: A certain George was tourmarchēs of the Armeniac Theme . The tourmarchēs was usually based in a fortress town. Aside from his military responsibilities, he exercised fiscal and judicial duties in the area under his control. In the lists of offices ( taktika ) and seals, tourmarchai usually hold the ranks of spatharokandidatos , spatharios or kandidatos . In function and rank, the tourmarchēs corresponded with

215-669: A decree of 687, and that consequently the Thracesian theme was one of the original themes established in Asia Minor. The name of the theme derives from the fact that the themes were formed in the mid-7th century, following the Muslim conquests , as military encampment areas for the remnants of the old field armies of the East Roman army ; in the case of the Thracesians, the field army of the magister militum per Thracias . This

258-610: Is further supported by the fact that units that are known to have been part of the latter in the 4th/5th centuries, the vexillatio palatina of the Equites Theodosiaci Iuniores and the auxilium palatinum of the Victores , are attested again as the thematic tourmai of the Theodosiakoi and Viktores in the 10th century. This provides the Thracesian theme with the distinction of fielding some of

301-462: The topotērētēs of the professional imperial tagmata regiments. The tourmarchai were paid according to the importance of their thema : those of the more prestigious Anatolian themes received 216 gold nomismata annually, while those of the European themes received 144 nomismata , the same amount paid to the droungarioi and the other senior officers of the thema . In some sources,

344-459: The tourmarchēs of the Theodosiakoi , the tourmarchēs of the Viktores , the tourmarchēs of the seacoast ( tēs paraliou ), and a meriarchēs . The coast was also under the parallel authority of the stratēgos of the naval theme of Samos , who drew crews and ships from there. Tourmarches A turma (from Latin  'swarm, squadron'; plural turmae ; Greek : τούρμα )

387-536: The Anatolic Theme , and that they were raised to a full theme some time after 695, probably in the early years of the 8th century, but the phrasing of the sources does not make clear whether that had been done by 711. Some modern scholars, like Ralph-Johannes Lilie and John Haldon, however, have argued that the Thracesian army is to be identified with the Thracianus exercitus (" Thracian army") mentioned in

430-632: The Kazakh Steppe of Turkestan . During the 10th century, Oghuz had come into close contact with Muslim cities. When Seljuk , the leader of the Seljuk clan, had a falling out with Yabghu , the supreme chieftain of the Oghuz, he split his clan from the bulk of the Oghuz Turks and set up camp on the west bank of the lower Syr Darya . Around 985, Seljuk converted to Islam. In the 11th century,

473-607: The Opsician Theme George Peganes tried to oppose the growing power of Basil the Macedonian , Michael III's protégé who eventually usurped the throne from him. In the 10th century, as the threat of Arab raids subsided, the soldiers of the Thracesians appear to have been used more and more in overseas expeditions, such as those sent against the Emirate of Crete in 911, 949 and 960. The same process saw

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516-678: The Opsician Theme in the north, probably along the valley of the river Caicus ), the Anatolic Theme in the east (somewhere east of Chonae and Laodicea on the Lycus ), and the Cibyrrhaeot Theme in the south. The theme contained some 20 cities, although most of them were much reduced from their late antique status. Smyrna and Ephesus (known as "Theologos" at the time) were probably the largest among them. The Persian geographer Ibn Khordadbeh , who wrote c. 847, mentions Ephesus as

559-606: The Optimatoi ) was divided into two to four tourmai , and each tourma further into a number of moirai (μοίραι) or droungoi ( δροῦγγοι ), which in turn were composed of several banda (singular: bandon , βάνδον, from Latin : bandum , " banner "). This division was carried through to the territorial administration of each thema : tourmai and banda (but not the moirai / droungoi ) were identified with clearly defined districts which served as their garrison and recruitment areas. In his Taktika , Emperor Leo VI

602-763: The Seljuk Empire (1037–1194), the Sultanate of Kermân (1041–1186) and the Sultanate of Rum (1074–1308), which stretched from Iran to Anatolia and were the prime targets of the First Crusade . The Seljuks originated from the Kinik branch of the Oghuz Turks , who in the 8th century lived on the periphery of the Muslim world; north of the Caspian Sea and Aral Sea in their Oghuz Yabgu State in

645-432: The chora of Pyrgion and Kaloe in the upper Kaystros valley. Basil Chrysomalles is the first known governor after 1204, and the list of governors from 1233 until 1260 is almost complete. The theme of Maeander , with its seat at Antioch-on-the-Maeander, was subordinated to it. The Thracesian Theme was one of the last Byzantine territories in Asia Minor to fall to the various Turkish beyliks , and played an important role as

688-511: The cohors equitata quingenaria , with an infantry cohort of 480 men and 4 turmae of cavalry, and the reinforced cohors equitata milliaria , with 800 infantry and 8 turmae . Likewise, the purely cavalry alae contained either 16 ( ala quingenaria ) or 24 turmae ( ala milliaria ). Individual turmae of camel-riders ( dromedarii ) also appear among cohortes equitatae in the Middle East, and Emperor Trajan (r. 98–117) established

731-471: The reorganization of the army under Emperor Augustus (r. 27 BC – 14 AD) and his successors, the turma became the basic sub-unit of the cavalry, the rough equivalent of the infantry centuria , both in the auxiliaries , who formed the bulk of the Roman cavalry, and in the legionary cavalry detachments. The auxiliary cohors equitata was a mixed unit combining infantry and cavalry, and existed in two types:

774-459: The tourma was divided directly into five to seven banda , each of 50–100 cavalry or 200–400 infantry. The term tourma itself fell gradually into disuse in the 11th century, but survived at least until the end of the 12th century as an administrative term. Tourmarchai are still attested in the first half of the 11th century, but the title seems to have fallen out of use thereafter. Seljuk Turks Great Seljuk : 1194 – Toghrul III

817-465: The tourmarchēs attached to the governing stratēgos of each thema and residing at the thematic capital. In the mid-10th century, the average size of most units fell. In the case of the tourma , it dropped from 2–3000 men to 1000 men and less, in essence to the level of the earlier droungos , although larger tourmai are still recorded. It is probably no coincidence that the term " droungos " disappears from use at around that time. Consequently,

860-624: The Seljuks migrated from their ancestral homelands into mainland Persia , in the province of Khurasan , where they encountered the Ghaznavids . The Seljuks defeated the Ghaznavids at the Battle of Nasa Plains in 1035. Seljuk's grandsons, Tughril and Chaghri, received the insignias of governor, grants of land, and were given the title of dehqan . At the Battle of Dandanaqan , they defeated

903-561: The Wise ( r.  886–912 ) presents an idealized thema as consisting of three tourmai , each divided into three droungoi , etc. This picture, however, is misleading, as the sources do not support any degree of uniformity in size or number of subdivisions in the different themata , nor indeed an exact correspondence of the territorial with the tactical divisions: depending on the tactical exigencies, smaller administrative tourmai could be joined on campaign and larger ones broken up. Since

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946-452: The capital, but this is not certain; it may instead have been at Chonae. The theme's governing stratēgos ranked in the first tier of thematic governors and received an annual salary of 40 pounds of gold. The Arab geographer Qudama ibn Ja'far , who wrote c. 930, gives the troops under his command as 6,000, while Ibn al-Faqih , who wrote a generation earlier, puts them as high as 10,000. In 949, its senior-most officers were, in order of rank,

989-528: 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,

1032-470: The development of the Turko-Persian tradition which features "Persian culture patronized by Turkic rulers". Today, they are remembered as great patrons of Persian culture , art , literature , and language . The "Great Seljuks" were heads of the family; in theory their authority extended over all the other Seljuk lines, although in practice this often was not the case. Turkic custom called for

1075-417: The earlier term merarchēs (μεράρχης, "commander of a meros , division"), which occupied a similar hierarchical position in the 6th–7th centuries, is used interchangeably with tourmarchēs . In the 9th–10th centuries, it is often found in the variant form meriarchēs (μεριάρχης). It has, however, also been suggested by scholars like J. B. Bury and John Haldon that the latter was a distinct post, held by

1118-507: The elementary unit, the bandon , could itself number between 200 and 400 men, the tourma too could reach up to 6000 men, although 2–5000 seems to have been the norm between the seventh and early tenth centuries. Each tourma was usually headed by a tourmarchēs (τουρμάρχης, "commander of a tourma "). In some cases, however, an ek prosōpou , a temporary representative of the governing stratēgos of each thema , could be appointed instead. The title first appears in circa 626, when

1161-469: The first all-camel cavalry unit, the Ala I Ulpia dromedariorum Palmyrenorum . The turma was still commanded by a decurio , aided by two subaltern principales (under-officers), a sesquiplicarius (soldier with one-and-a-half times pay) and a duplicarius (soldier with double pay), as well as a signifer or vexillarius (a standard-bearer, cf. vexillum ). These ranks corresponded respectively with

1204-550: The infantry's tesserarius (officer of the watch), optio , and signifer . The exact size of the turma under the Principate , however, is unclear: 30 men was the norm in the Republican army and apparently in the cohortes equitatae , but not for the alae . The De Munitionibus Castrorum , for instance, records that a cohors equitata milliaria numbered exactly 240 troopers, i.e. 30 men per turma , but also gives

1247-530: The late 1090s. John II Komnenos (r. 1118–1143) re-established the theme as an administrative unit, albeit with a reduced size, under a doux based at Philadelphia . The southern portion of the old theme became part of the new theme of Mylasa and Melanoudion . It was reconstituted under the Nicaean Empire , and by this time consisted of the katepanikia of Smyrna and Anaia along the Aegean coast, and

1290-425: The legionary turmae were classed as supernumerarii and although their men were included in the legionary cohort lists, they camped separately from them. In the late Roman army , the turma and its structure were retained, with changes in titulature only: the turma was still headed by a decurio , who also led the first ten-strong file, while the other two files were led by subaltern catafractarii , in essence

1333-410: The legions, during the Principate , each had a cavalry contingent organized in four turmae . A legionary turma was led by a centurion , assisted by an optio and a vexillarius as senior principales . Each of them led a file of ten troopers, for a grand total of 132 horsemen in each legion. Their status was distinctly inferior to that of the legionary infantry: the centurions and principales of

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1376-413: The number of horses for the ala milliaria , composed of 24 turmae , at 1000. If one subtracts the extra horses of the officers (two for a decurio , one for each of the two subaltern under-officers), one is left with 832 horses, which does not divide evenly with 24. At the same time, Arrian explicitly says that the ala quingenaria counted 512 men, suggesting a size of 32 men for each turma . As for

1419-525: The oldest known units of the Byzantine army . This origin is reflected in the mythical story narrated by Emperor Constantine VII (reigned 913–959) in his De Thematibus , whereby the region was named after some Thracians settled there in the early 6th century BC by Alyattes of Lydia . The first known stratēgos of the Thracesians, a certain Sisinnios, supported Constantine V (r. 740–775) against

1462-667: The senior member of the family to be the Great Seljuk, although usually the position was associated with the ruler of western Persia. The rulers of western Persia, who maintained a very loose grip on the Abbasids of Baghdad . Several Turkic emirs gained a strong level of influence in the region, such as the Eldiguzids . In 1194, Toghrul III was killed in battle with the Khwarezm Shah , who annexed Hamadan. Kerman

1505-426: The squadron members would elect as their officers three decuriones ("leaders of 10 men"), of whom the first to be chosen would act as the squadron's commander and the other two as his deputies. As in earlier times, these men were drawn from among the 18 centuriae of the equestrian order , the wealthiest classes of the Roman people, who could afford to provide for the horse and its equipment themselves. With

1548-490: The successors of the early Empire's duplicarii and sesquiplicarii . Traces of this structure also apparently survived in the 6th-century East Roman army : in the late-6th-century Strategikon of Maurice , the cavalry files are led by a dekarchos ( Greek : δέκαρχος , "leader of ten"). In the 7th century, as a result of the crisis caused by the early Muslim conquests , the Byzantine military and administrative system

1591-462: The theme gradually becoming a peaceful backwater; when the formidable general Constantine Diogenes was named its stratēgos in 1029, the appointment was seen as a demotion, intended to curb his suspected designs on the throne. The theme was briefly conquered by the Seljuk Turks in the late 1070s, but most of its territory was recovered by John Doukas with the help of the First Crusade in

1634-586: The theme include Bardanes Tourkos , who was its stratēgos in the 790s and rebelled against Nikephoros I (r. 803–811) in 803; Constantine Kontomytes , who defeated the Cretan Saracens at Mount Latros in 841 and married into the imperial family; Petronas , the uncle of Michael III (r. 842–867) and the Empire's leading general, in 856–863; and Symbatios the Armenian , who along with the governor of

1677-529: The usurper Artabasdos (r. 741–742), but was himself later blinded by the emperor on suspicion of conspiracy. Constantine took care to appoint a series of governors loyal to him and his policies, the most prominent among them being the ardent iconoclast Michael Lachanodrakon . Lachanodrakon launched a brutal persecution of iconophiles , especially the monks, so that by 772, in the words of historian Warren Treadgold, he seems to have succeeded in "eradicating monasticism within his theme". Other notable governors of

1720-608: 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 . In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, the time of the Punic Wars and Rome's expansion into Spain and Greece ,

1763-693: Was a province in southern Persia. Between 1053 and 1154, the territory also included Umman . or 1074 (before Sultan Shah) Muhammad abandoned Kerman, which fell into the hands of the Oghuz chief Malik Dinar . Kerman was eventually annexed by the Khwarezmid Empire in 1196. To the Artuqids Sultans / Emirs of Damascus : Damascus seized by the Burid Toghtekin The Seljuk line, already having been deprived of any significant power, effectively ended in

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1806-588: Was killed in battle with Tekish The Seljuk dynasty , or Seljukids ( / ˈ s ɛ l dʒ ʊ k / SEL -juuk ; Persian : سلجوقیان Saljuqian , alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), Seljuqs , also known as Seljuk Turks , Seljuk Turkomans or the Saljuqids , was an Oghuz Turkic , Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture in West Asia and Central Asia . The Seljuks established

1849-467: Was reformed: the old late Roman division between military and civil administration was abandoned, and the remains of the East Roman army's field armies were settled in great districts, the themata , that were named after them. The term turma , in its Greek transcription tourma (τούρμα or τοῦρμα ), reappears at that time as the major subdivision of a thema . The army of each thema (except for

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