Samos (theme)

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Province of the Byzantine Empire

title: "Samos (theme)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["themes-of-the-byzantine-empire", "medieval-aegean-sea", "byzantine-navy", "states-and-territories-established-in-the-9th-century", "history-of-samos"] description: "Province of the Byzantine Empire" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samos_(theme)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Province of the Byzantine Empire ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox Former Subdivision"]

Field	Value
native_name	θέμα Σάμου
conventional_long_name	Theme of Samos
common_name	Samos
subdivision	Theme
nation	the Byzantine Empire
era	Middle Ages
image_map	Byzantine Greece ca 900 AD.svg
image_map_caption	Map of Byzantine Greece c. 900, with the themes and major settlements.
life_span	before 899 – 1204
year_start	before 899
event_start	Establishment as a theme
date_event1	late 11th century
event1	Conversion to regular theme
year_end	1204
event_end	Fourth Crusade
today	Greece
Turkey
::

|native_name = θέμα Σάμου |conventional_long_name = Theme of Samos |common_name = Samos |subdivision = Theme |nation = the Byzantine Empire |era = Middle Ages |capital = |image_map = Byzantine Greece ca 900 AD.svg |image_map_caption = Map of Byzantine Greece c. 900, with the themes and major settlements. |life_span = before 899 – 1204 |year_start = before 899 |event_start = Establishment as a theme |date_event1 = late 11th century |event1 = Conversion to regular theme |year_end = 1204 |event_end = Fourth Crusade |today = Greece Turkey The Theme of Samos (, thema Samou) was a Byzantine military-civilian province, located in the eastern Aegean Sea, established in the late 9th century. As one of the Byzantine Empire's three dedicated naval themes (Greek: θέματα ναυτικᾶ, themata nautika), it served chiefly to provide ships and troops for the Byzantine navy.

Origins

The dates of establishment and the territorial reach of the various Byzantine naval commands in the 7th–9th centuries are mostly unclear. After the unitary navy of the Karabisianoi was split up in the early 8th century, regional naval commands were established, of which the naval theme of the Cibyrrhaeots is the first known and most important. Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos () records that "at the time the Empire was divided into themes", Samos became the seat of the "theme of the sailors" (); the meaning of this passage is unclear. The historian Warren Treadgold interprets this to mean that Samos was the first seat of the Karabisianoi fleet, until their disbandment . Alternatively, it could imply a command that formed part of the Karabisianoi and was abolished with them, or a later, short-lived successor, perhaps even identical with the Cibyrrhaeots. The existence of a "strategos of Samos" in the 8th century is attested through a surviving seal of a strategos named Theodore.

In the late 8th century, the southern Aegean appears to have come under the jurisdiction of the "droungarios of the Dodekanesos", whose post some scholars, following Hélène Ahrweiler's suggestion, came to identify with that of the "droungarios of Kos", later appearing as the "droungarios of the Gulf (Kolpos)", as the latter features in the mid-9th century Taktikon Uspensky. This command or at the very least the eastern part of it seems to have evolved into the theme of Samos.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Seal_of_Constantine_Argyropoulos,magistros_and_strategos_of_Samos(Schlumberger,_1891).png" caption="Seal of Constantine Argyropoulos, ''[[magistros]]'' and ''[[strategos]]'' of Samos"] ::

The theme of Samos, with its governing strategos, is first documented in Philotheos's Kletorologion of 899. It included the islands of the eastern Aegean, as well as the western coast of Asia Minor between Adramyttion and Ephesos (also known as Theologos at the time). The seat of the theme was at Smyrna, while subordinate tourmarchai (vice-admirals) had their seats at Adramyttion and Ephesos.

In 911, the forces of the naval theme of Samos are recorded as being 3,980 oarsmen and 600 marines, with a fleet of 22 warships. The mainland portion of the theme, however, is also explicitly mentioned as belonging to the Thracesian Theme, which had a special tourmarches in charge of defending the coast. This, along with a lack of mention of civil officials attached to the naval theme, most probably reflects a division of tasks: the strategos of Samos and his officials were responsible for furnishing the ships and crews of the thematic fleet as well as defending the islands, while the mainland coast, with its cities and population, came under the control of the Thracesian strategos and his officials, who were responsible for their taxation and defence. Samos seems to have remained a purely military formation until the late 11th century, when its fleet was disbanded and it was converted into a regular theme with its own civil officials.

Strategoi

Theodore (8th/9th century)
Constantine Paspalas (c.888)
Nikephoros (9th/10th century)
Theodore (10th century)
Epiphanios (10th century)
Nicholas (10th century)
Theognostos (10th century)
Leo (10th century)
Theotimos (10th century)
Romanos Lekapenos (911-912)
George (10th/11th century)
Bakur (after 1001- before 1009)
Basil Argyros (1009-1010)
David (c.1024)
George Theodorokanos (before 1026- after 1028)
Christodoulos (Late 10th/ mid 11th century
Niketas Xylinites the Younger (1050s)
Theophylaktos Hagiozacharites (Mid 11th century)
Michael Tornikes (Early/ Middle 11th century)
Constantine Argyropolos (Mid/late 11th century)

Notes

References

Sources

References

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