Symposium22

In: Avar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Life and Society in the Ancient Near East 3/1 (2024): 107-129.

Soaps, Detergents, Oleochemicals and Personal Care Products, 2004

Ниш и Византија XXII, ур. М. Ракоција, Ниш 2024. / Niš and Byzantium XXII, ed. M. Rakocija, Niš 2024.

The paper is based on an analysis of sigillographic and other source material suggesting that the restoration of Byzantine rule in the Balkans under Emperor John I Tzimiskes encompassed a much broader territory than the one covered in the contents of the well-known Escorial Taktikon. More recent research confirms the presence of Byzantine administration in the territory of Serbia and the Danube River basin (the cities of Ras, Morava, and possibly Sirmium), as well as the establishment of nominal Byzantine rule in the territory of Croatia. Connecting Byzantine possessions in the east of the Balkan Peninsula with those command centers in the central Balkans must have gone through the Niš area, consequently leading to the hypothesis that Byzantium established control over communication routes in this region already during Tzimiskes’ reign. The paper highlights the significance of the information contained in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, which reports that, after the end of Tzimiskes’ war against the Rus’ and his conquest of the Bulgarian capital, the Byzantine army split from the emperor, set out westward, and took Ras. The text then concludes that the Byzantine penetration toward Ras went via Sardica and Niš. That is suggested by the fact that the westernmost point in the Bulgarian heartlands that Tzimiskes conquered was the fortress of Beroe (modern Stara Zagora), where the emperor installed a garrison headed by a strategos. At that spot, some of the troops could have split from the bulk of the army, continuing westward via Sardica to the Morava valley and on to Ras. The Byzantines’ westward push through the Sardica area could have been one of the reasons for a new move of the Bulgarian patriarch/archbishop, who had taken refuge there. Just like he was forced to leave Dristra/Dorostolon shortly before the Byzantine conquest of the city, he probably had to flee Triaditza (Sardica) when it found itself in the path of the Byzantine army. Byzantine control of the routes that led from Sardica via Niš to Morava (and Sirmium) or, on the other side, to Ras lasted just a few years. These corridors were soon cut off by Samuel in his conquests. Communication was probably cut off in the mid-980s and certainly before 986, resulting in the first large-scale Byzantine offensive against the rebels. Three decades of hostilities of fluctuating intensity ensued, in which Byzantium finally regained control of the Niš area. The available information is insufficient to propose a more precise time when that might have happened. The Byzantine rule established in the region of Niš lasted, with minor interruptions, almost two centuries – until ca. 1200. Inadequate recruiting potential was probably why the Byzantines did not – either under Tzimiskes or under Basil II – form a separate military command in Niš. Instead, after the final restoration of Byzantine control, the city and the surrounding area fell under the command of the doux of Bulgaria, whose seat was in Skopje. With no strategos and the attendant administration in place, the principal institution that connected Constantinople and the local population was the new (restored on the foundations of a late antique) diocesan cathedra of Niš. Neither Niš nor the neighboring regions of Lipljan and Velbazhd had a Byzantine command center, suggesting that the newly formed episcopal sees were established precisely to compensate for the lack of military and civilian administration. The role of the Church in the integration of conquered or reoccupied territories and non-Byzantine peoples can be traced centuries back, especially from the second half of the 9th century when so-called ethnic dioceses were formed. Yet, the efforts of the clergy did not, in the absence of other military and civilian institutions, result in the full integration of the local population, as attested by the well-known reports that the inhabitants of Niš supported the uprisings of Peter Delyan and Constantine Bodin. After the Hungarian and then Bodin’s conquest of Niš in 1072, Constantinople finally realized that it would have to establish a strategis in this area and later, at the turn of the 11th to the 12th century, that it needed to be transformed into a doukate. Consequently, it deployed suitable recruiting garrisons, more firmly integrating the city and its area into the Byzantine administrative system. Niš remained in the Byzantine Empire – with brief interruptions in the 12th century – until ca. 1200 when the Empire, shaken by a severe internal crisis and the offensive policy of neighboring peoples (Serbs and Bulgarians), withdrew from this region for good.

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research

Índice y muestra del nuevo libro de Historia de 1º Bachillerato. Editorial Santillana, Madrid, 2015. ISBN: 978-84-680-1330-5