De thematibus A treatise by Emperor Constantine, son of Leo, concerning the themes belonging to the empire of the Romans. From where they got their names and what their appellations mean and that some of them are ancient while others have acquired a new appellation. [First then of the so-called Anatolic, if you please, let us make mention; here are the themes of the East, that is, of Asia Minor. prologue.1 First theme, the so-called Anatolic The naming of the themes did not come about according to the opinion of the many, as it appears to me. For it is not an ancient one, nor did any of those who wrote history make mention of such a naming, as they are called now; but formerly and in the beginning there were certain tagmata and legions enrolled by nation, such as the legion of the forty martyrs [it was called Keravnovolos] and another of the Marmaritai and another Pisidian and another Thessalian and another named otherwise, being under a doux and a hegemon and often also a praepositus. And when was this? When the emperors campaigned with the people and imposed the yoke of Roman servitude on those who resisted and, so to speak, besieged the entire inhabited world when it was disorderly and disobedient, like Julius Caesar, like the admirable Augustus, like that renowned Trajan, like the great among emperors Constantine and Theodosius and those after them who embraced Christianity and the worship of God. For it was not likely, with the emperor present in the camp, for a strategos to be appointed; for they served under hegemons and taxiarchs and all matters of war depended on the emperor's will; and all the people looked to one and only the emperor. But when the emperors ceased to campaign, then they also appointed strategoi and themes. And to this the rule of the Romans has come down to this day. But now that the Roman empire has been straitened in both east and west and mutilated since the reign of Heraclius the Libyan, those who ruled after him, not having where or how to use their own authority, cut their own rule and the regiments of soldiers into certain small parts, especially Hellenizing and abandoning their ancestral Roman tongue. For they used to call the chiliarchs Longinoi, and the hecatontarchs centuriones, and those who are now strategoi, comites. For the very name of the theme is Greek and not Roman, being named from its placement. First then of the so-called Anatolic, if you please, let us make mention; here are the themes of the East, that is, of Asia Minor. A. First theme, the so-called Anatolic The theme is called Anatolic, then, not because it is of the upper and first east, from where the sun rises, but because in relation to us who inhabit Byzantium and the land of Europe it is called eastern. But in relation to those who inhabit the Mesopotamia of Syria and great Asia, in which Indians and Ethiopians and Egyptians dwell, it is called the middle west and Asia Minor; for the East, as we have said, belongs to the Indians and Ethiopians and Egyptians and the rest of those who inhabit the East. However, so that we may not be long-winded and seem to some to be telling fantastic tales about the naming of the themes, we shall speak more concisely as the truth itself holds. The Anatolic theme, then, as it is now named, has had its entire habitation from five nations. For its beginning is made from the town named Meros, and it is called Phrygia Salutaria as far as Iconium. The parts neighboring the Isaurians towards the Taurus are called Lycaonia. The parts towards the sea and the south and the so-called Cold mountains and as far as Attaleia itself are called Pamphylia. The upper and inland parts are called Pisidia. The parts from Acroinum and up to Amorium are called Phrygia Capatiana. The parts towards
De thematibus Φιλοπόνημα Κωνσταντίνου βασιλέως υἱοῦ Λέοντος περὶ τῶν θεμάτων τῶν ἀνηκόντων τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν Ῥωμαίων Πόθεν ἔσχον τὰς ὀνομασίας καὶ τί σημαίνουσιν αἱ τούτων προσηγορίαι καὶ ὅτι τὰ μὲν αὐτῶν ἀρχαΐζουσι τὰ δὲ νέαν ἐκτήσαντο τὴν προσηγορίαν [Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν τοῦ καλουμένου Ἀνατολικοῦ, εἰ δοκεῖ, μνημονεύσωμεν· ἐνταῦθα τῆς Ἀνατολῆς θέματα ἤγουν τῆς μικρᾶς Ἀσίας. προλογ.1 Πρῶτον θέμα τὸ καλούμενον Ἀνατολικόν Οὐ κατὰ τὴν τῶν πολλῶν ὑπόληψιν, ὡς ἐμοὶ καταφαίνεται, ἡ τῶν θεμάτων ἐγένετο προσηγορία. Οὐδὲ γὰρ παλαιά τίς ἐστιν, οὐδέ τις τῶν ἱστορίας γραψάντων ἐμνήσθη τῆς τοιαύτης ὀνομασίας, ὡς λέγονται νῦν· ἀλλὰ πρῴην καὶ κατ' ἀρχὰς τάγματά τινα καὶ λεγεῶνες ὑπῆρχον ἀναγεγραμμέναι κατ' ἔθνος, ὡς ἡ λεγεὼν ἡ τῶν τεσσαράκοντα μαρτύρων [ἐλέγετο Κεραυνοβόλος] καὶ ἄλλη Μαρμαριτῶν καὶ ἄλλη Πισιδικὴ καὶ ἑτέρα Θετταλικὴ καὶ ἄλλη ἄλλως ὠνομασμένη, ὑπὸ δοῦκα καὶ ἡγεμόνα τυγχάνουσαι πολλάκις δὲ καὶ πραιπόσιτον. Καὶ ταῦτα πότε; Ὅτε οἱ βασιλεῖς μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ ἐπεστράτευον καὶ τοῖς ἀνταίρουσι τὸν τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς δουλείας ζυγὸν ἐπετίθεσαν καὶ μικροῦ δεῖν πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπολιόρκουν ἀτακτοῦσαν καὶ ἀντιλέγουσαν, ὡς ὁ Καῖσαρ Ἰούλιος, ὡς ὁ θαυμαστὸς Αὔγουστος, ὡς ὁ Τραϊανὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ περιβόητος, ὡς ὁ μέγας ἐν βασιλεῦσι Κων σταντῖνος καὶ Θεοδόσιος καὶ οἱ μετ' ἐκείνους τὸν χριστιανισμὸν καὶ τὴν θεοσέβειαν ἀσπασάμενοι. Οὐκ ἦν γὰρ εἰκός, βασιλέως ἐπὶ στρατοπέδου παρόντος, στρατηγὸν διατάττεσθαι· ὑφ' ἡγεμόνας γὰρ καὶ ταξιάρχας ἐτέλουν καὶ ὅλα τὰ τῶν πολέμων πράγματα ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ βασιλέως βουλῇ ἀπεκρέμαντο· καὶ πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἕνα καὶ μόνον τὸν βασιλέα ἑώρα. Ὅτε δὲ τοῦ στρατεύειν οἱ βασιλεῖς ἀπεπαύσαντο, τότε καὶ στρατηγοὺς καὶ θέματα διωρίσαντο. Καὶ εἰς τοῦτο κατέληξεν ἡ τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴ μέχρι τῆς σήμερον. Νυνὶ δὲ στενωθείσης κατά τε ἀνατολὰς καὶ δυσμὰς τῆς Ῥωμαϊκῆς βασιλείας καὶ ἀκρωτηριασθείσης ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς Ἡρακλείου τοῦ Λίβυος, οἱ ἀπ' ἐκείνου κρατήσαντες οὐκ ἔχοντες ὅποι καὶ ὅπως καταχρήσονται τῇ αὑτῶν ἐξουσίᾳ, εἰς μικρά τινα μέρη κατέτεμον τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὰ τῶν στρατιωτῶν τάγματα, μάλιστα ἑλληνίζοντες καὶ τὴν πάτριον καὶ ῥωμαϊκὴν γλῶτταν ἀποβαλόντες. Λογγίνους γὰρ ἔλεγον τοὺς χιλιάρχους καὶ κεντουρίωνας τοὺς ἑκατοντάρχους καὶ κόμητας τοὺς νυνὶ στρατηγούς. Αὐτὸ γὰρ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θέματος ἑλληνικόν ἐστι καὶ οὐ ῥωμαϊκόν, ἀπὸ τῆς θέσεως ὀνομαζόμενον. Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν τοῦ καλουμένου Ἀνατολικοῦ, εἰ δοκεῖ, μνημονεύσωμεν· ἐνταῦθα τῆς Ἀνατολῆς θέματα ἤγουν τῆς μικρᾶς Ἀσίας. ˉˉΑ. Πρῶτον θέμα τὸ καλούμενον Ἀνατολικόν Ἀνατολικὸν τοίνυν τὸ θέμα καλεῖται, οὐχ ὅτι τῆς ἄνω καὶ πρώτης ἀνατολῆς ἐστιν, ὅθεν ἀνίσχει ὁ ἥλιος, ἀλλ' ὅτι πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὸ Βυζάντιον καὶ τὴν τῆς Εὐρώπης γῆν λέγεται ἀνατολικόν. Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν Συρίας καὶ τὴν μεγάλην Ἀσίαν, ἐν ᾗ κατοικοῦσιν Ἰνδοὶ καὶ Αἰθίοπες καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι, λέγεται δυτικὸν μέσον καὶ Ἀσία μικρά· ἡ γὰρ Ἀνατολή, καθώσπερ ἔφημεν, Ἰνδῶν ἐστι καὶ Αἰθιόπων καὶ Αἰγυπτίων καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν τῶν Ἀνατολὴν κατοικούντων. Ὅμως ἵνα μὴ μακρολογῶμεν καὶ δοκῶμέν τισι τερατεύεσθαι περὶ τῆς τῶν θεμάτων ὀνομασίας, συντομώτερον ἐροῦμεν ὡς ἔχει αὐτὴ ἡ ἀλήθεια. Τὸ τοίνυν Ἀνατολικὸν θέμα, ὡς νῦν ὀνομάζεται, ἐκ πέντε ἐθνῶν τὴν ὅλην κατοικίαν ἔσχηκεν. Ἀρχὴν γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῆς κωμοπόλεως τῆς ὀνομαζομένης Μηροῦ πεποίηται, καὶ λέγεται Φρυγία Σαλουταρία ἕως τοῦ Ἰκονίου. Τὰ δὲ πρόσοικα τῶν Ἰσαύρων τὰ πρὸς τὸν Ταῦρον καλεῖται Λυκαονία. Τὰ δὲ πρὸς θάλασσαν καὶ τὸν νότον καὶ τὰ τοῦ καλουμένου Ψυχροῦ ὄρη καὶ ἕως αὐτῆς Ἀτταλείας καλεῖται Παμφυλία. Τὰ δὲ ἄνω καὶ μεσόγαια καλεῖται Πισιδία. Τὰ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀκροϊνοῦ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ Ἀμωρίου καλεῖται Φρυγία Καπατιανή. Τὰ δὲ πρὸς