Problems in the History of Byzantine Anatolia

7/25/2019 Problems in the History of Byzantine Anatolia

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P R O B L E M S I N T H E H I S T O R Y O F B Y Z A N T I N E A N A T O L I A *

S

p e r o s

V

r y o n i s ,

r .

U n i v e r s i t y o f C a l i f o r n i a , L o s A n g e l e s .

It is a pleasure and an honor to have been a sked to a ddre ss a few infor-

mal remarks to you to day on some of the problems whicl the history of B yzan-

tine Anatol ia presents to the seholar . Inasmuch as the discipl ines of Byzan-

tinology and Turkology over lap chronological ly , geographieal ly , and topi-

cal ly , the seholars of Turkish history and la guage are in an excel lent posi-

tion to offer suggestions and methodologies towards solutions to m any of

the problems whieh the di f ficult history of Byzantine Anato l ia presents .

It is in this spirit that I would like to address my remarks to you.

As you are well aware the chronological period of Byz an tin e Asia Minr

is quite an exten sive one, beginning with the reforms of Diocletian and Cons-

tantine and continuing unti l the period of the Sel juk inv as io ns . . . in other

words Byzantine Asia Minr existed for at least e igl t hundred years

1

. But

in spi te of this longevity and in spi te of i ts great geographical extent , Byzan -

tine Asia Minr remains terra incognita . In sharp contrast , researeh on the

history of the Byzan tine B alka ns i s more advanced and i t is unl ikely that

there will be m any maj r chang es or revisios in the ac coun t of its h istory

which Byzan tinists have put together for the per iod up to the eleventh

eentury. The history of Byzantine Asia Minr is not only less well investi-

gated than the history of the Balk an regions dur ing this per iod, but in com-

par ison with practical ly a ny other per iod of Anato l ian history the history

of Byzantine Anatol ia i s st i l i shrouded by comparative darkness . The prog-

ress and activi ty in the f ield of Heti te studies at the hands of K. Bittel and

T. zg, the monumental survey by Magie of Roman Anatol ia , the numerous

m onogr aphs by K. E r dm ann, Uz unar l , O . Tur an, 0 . B ar kan, Wit tek ,

* B u y a z , C a li f o r n i a n i v e r s i t e s i , L o s A n g e l e s , P r o f e s r l e r i n d e n D r . S . V r y o n i s ' i n 1 7

M a y s 1 9 6 3 d e E n s t i t m z d e v e r m i o l d u u k o n f e ra n s n m e t n i d i r . K e n d i s i n o t l a r i l v e

e d e r e k D e r g i m i z d e y a y n l a n m a s n a m s a a d e e t m e k l t f u n d a b u l u n m u t u r .

1

T h e p h r a s e , ' B y z a n t i n e A s i a M i n r ' i n t h i s p a p e r i s r e s t r i c t e d t o t h e a r e a w e s t o f a

l i ne r u n n i n g t h r o u g h T r e b i z o n d - C a e s a r e i a - T a r s u s , b u t e x c l u d i n g C i l ic i a .


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s p e r o s v r y o n i s

Cahen, Kprl and others on Sel juk and Ottoman Anatol ia further indicate

the neglected state of researcl on Byzantin e Anato l ia .

This neglect of Byzantine Asia Minr i s strange when one considers the

important and great role which the peninsula played in Byzantine history .

After the great terr i tor ial losses to the Germans and Slavs in Europe and

to the Arabs in the east ad south, Asia Minr becane the empire's principal

reservoir of spr i tual and physical strength. I t eontained the greatest portion

of the empire ' s population and was the pr incipal source of its agr icultural , p as-

toral , mineral , and other products . I t furnished the most important and most

num erous levies fron its free peasant-y for the armie s. T he bulk of the great

landed ar istocracy was located there. The number of capable generals , adm inis-

trators , patr iarchs, hoy men, and em perors who came from A natol ia i s str i-

king. In addition i ts urban centers remained comparatively sheltered from

the per iodic migrations of new peoples which so disrupted B yzantin e urban

society in great areas to the B alka ns. In spi te of this obviously great impor-

tance, its history is only poorly kown. There have been, of course, some

very importa nt co ntr ibutions, sucl as the work of Wil l iam Ra ms ay and his

school on the geograpl y and epigrap hy of Asia Minr. Equa l ly monunen tal

i s the work of Jerphanio n for the ar t history of this area. Thougl there h ave

been significant contr ibutions in some of the broad scctors of eth nograph y,

demography, rel igious, urban, rural , economic, and administrative history ,

they have not been completely and thorougl ly investigated.

Let us turn f ir st to the fie ld of ethnograp hy. In antiqu ity Asia Minr

was, ethnographical ly speaking, comparable to the Caucausus regions

2

. It

possessed a great var iety of l inguisticcultural or ethnic grou ps. . . Lyd ians ,

Lycians, Mysians, Lycaonians, Phrygians, Cappadocians, I saur ia s , Arme i-

ans, Greeks, and others

3

. From the point of view of Byzan tine history , the

cr i tical phenomenon w as the proeess of Hel lnizatio amon gst these gou ps,

this proeess having occured in three p h as e s . . . that of class ical Greek anti-

quity , that of the Hel lenistic a d Ro ma n era and f inal ly tha t of the B yzan tine

2

A . H . S ay c e ,

:

< L a n g u a g e s o f A s i a M i n r ,

Anatolian Sludics Prescnted to Sir William

Ramsay, ed. W. H. Bu ckler a nd W. M. Calder (Lon don , 1923) , 396.

3

On this va s t , confus ing subje c t one raay consult the fol lowing: A . Goetze , Kulturges-

chichte des alten Orienls. Kleinasien. 2nd ed. (Munich, 1957) , 180-3 , 193-4 , 201-9 . D. C . Swanson,

A S e l e e t B i b l i og r ap h y o f t h e A n at o l i an Lan g u ag e s , Bulletin of the Nem York Public Library

( M ay - J u n e , 1 9 4 8 ) , 3 -2 6 . O . M as s on , E p i g r ap l i e a s i a n i q u e , Orientalia, nov. ser . , 23 (1954) ,

439-42. J . Fr ieder ieh, Kleinasiatische Sprachdcnkmaler (Ber l in , 1932) . M. B . Sake l lar iou ,

La

migration grecque

en

Jctie (Athens , 1958) , 414-37.


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p r o b l e m s o f b y z a n t i n e a n a t o l i a

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per iod. This process of Hel lenization has as yet not received a def initive treat-

men t, though the works of A. Jone s and L . Robe rt have furnished us with

exemp lary works of synthesis and system atic col lection of mater ials respec-

tively *. The collection of ali the factual m aterial has not yet reached a point

whereby a clear outline of the whole process em erges.

In the st udy of the fortleben of the pre-Greek Anatol ian langu ages one

of the basic problems i s to trace the evolution in meaning of such older ethnic

designations as Phrygian, Lycian, Cappadocian, Mysian, Paphlagonian,

ete . When in 1870 Rambaud wrote his pioneer ing work on the history of the

Byzan tine Empire in the tenth century, he interpreted these terms as rep-

resenting li guistic groups surviving in Anatol ia d ur ing the tenth century

5

.

Since then the German philologist Holl, in 1908, showed that some of these

languages survived as late as the s ixth century, but he suggested that they

m ay have becom e m or ibund by that t im e

6

. How ever even Holl, it would

seem, did not interpret al i of his texts correctly , and ver hal f century has

1

apse d since his work app eare d. W hat is needed is a series of studie s such

as those of Neum ann and then Cate who hav e studied the fortleben of

Heti te and Luwian respectively

1

. In addition a semantological study should

be made of the process by which older ethnic designations such as Lyd ian,

Lycian, Cappadocian, ete , were transformed into purely geographical epit-

hets , epithets which merely distinguished a particular portion of Asia Minr .

One exam ple of error ar i s ing from the misinterpretation of these ethnic-geog-

raphical terms will be suff icient to i l lustrate the necessi ty of such a stud y.

Holl, and a \vhole host of authors following him, concluded as a result of a

pass age from the f if th cen tury ecclesiastical histor ian Socrates th at Phrygian

was spoken and und erstood in the fi f th century of the Christian era

8

. Soc-

4

A. H. M. Jor c s , The Greek City from Alcxander to Justinian ( O xf or d , 1 9 4 0 ). L . R ob e r t ,

La C arie. Histoire et geographie historique avec le recueil des inseriptions antiques. V o l . I I , Le pla-

teau de Tabai et ses environs (Par is , 1954) ; a l so, Villes d'Asie Mineure; etudes de geographie an -

cienne, 2nd ed. (Par is , 1962) .

5

A . R a m b a u d , L 'Empire grec

au

d ixieme siecle (Par is , 1870) , 241-2 , 252.

9

K . H o l l , D as F or t l e b e n de r V o l ks p r ac h e n in K l e i n a s i e n in n ac h c h r i st l i ch e r Z e i t , Hermes,

43 (1908) , 240-54.

7

C . Ne u m an n , Untersuchungen zu m Weiterlebcn hethitisehen un d lulischen Sprachgutes

in hellenistiseher und rmiseher Zeit (1962) . Ph. H. J . Howink ten Cate , The Luvian Population

Groups of Lycia an d Cilicia Aspera during the Hellenistic Period (1961) .

8

Hol l , loc , c i t . , 247-8 . W. M. Calder , Monuments from Eastern Phrygia,

in

Monumenta

Asiae

Minoris Antiquae, 7 ( M an c h e s t e r , 1 9 5 6) , xv , xxx i i . F r i e de ri e h , P h r y g i a , Pauly-W'is-

sowa,

868-9 .


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rates relates that the bishop of the Goths in f if th century A sia Minr , a cer-

tain Se l inas , was the son of a mixed marr iage.

He was a Goth on his father ' s s ide and a Phrygian through his mother .

And beeause of this he taug ht readi ly in both langua ges in the chure h.

9

This pass age has been interpreted as meaning tha t Sel inas addressed his

congregation in both Gothie and Phrygian. But the real question i s the mean-

ing of the phras e d|iq>0Tpcu

V( 8a/.ezTOl

in both languages. Does

this mean that he real ly spoke both Gothie and Phrygian, or i s the word Phry-

gian here s imply a reference to the faet that his mother w as from the distr ict

of Phrygia ? Byzantine authors general ly refer to individuals by plaeing geog-

raphical epithets next to their names, intending thus to show their place

of origin (as is stil i the case in modern Greece). Thus the sources will refer

to an individual as Thettalos , Hel ladikos, Makedon, Tharx, Cappadox, ete .

Tha t the epithet Phry x in the text of Socrates i s geographical rather than

l inguistic i s implied in a paral lel pass age of another eeclesiastieal histor ian ,

Sozomenus. Sozomenus relates that Senus was able to del iver sermons

. .not only in their national language (Gothie) but al so in that of the

G r e e k s .

1 0

This example from the texts of Socrates an d Sozomenu s shows that

a study of the semanto logical transformation of these ethnic-geographical

epithets i s very much needed.

We are better informed on the later ethnic groups introduced by the

Byzantines into their Anatol ian possessions.

.

the Armen ians, Syr ians , Slav s ,

and others . The investigation s of P. Charanis have been particular ly impor-

tan t on these ethnic groups and on the Byzan tine pol icy of transplanting

of popula t ions

1 1

. Bu t there is stil i need for a detailed stu dy of the effect

of Byzan tine culture on these transpla nted groups.

9

S oc r a t e s , Hisloreia Ecclesiastica, Patrologia Graecn, 67 (1864) , 648 :

tcv FozOdjv ijnyjmo, vfjp

m/j,'xzov ty(v

to yevo. rvOo /uev

fjv

ex Tiavp. 0pvs de xav

jurjTepa.

xaia vovto /M potepa val

)v ixxhf]aiav ediaaxe.

1 0

S o z o m e n u s ,

Kirchengeschichte,

e d . J . B i d e z an d G . H an s e n ( B e r l i n , 1 96 0 ) 2 3 6 :

... x ai e ni ixxA?]crd ixavq> ddonev, ov fivov xar vijv ndtpov

avvv 0mvr/v, aV. yap xai rr)v

'EXX)vwv.

1 1

P . C h ar an i s , E t h n i c C h an g e s i n t h e B y z an t i n e E m p i r e d u ri n g t h e S e ve n t h C e n t u r y

Dmbarton Oaks Papers, 1 3 ( 1 9 59 ) , 2 5 -4 4 ; S l a v i c S e t t l e m e n t s i n B y z an t i n e A s i a M i n r By-

zantion, 1 8 ( 1 9 4 8 ) , 6 9 -8 3 ; T h e A r m e n i an s in t h e B y z an t i n e E m p i r e , Byzantinoslavica, 22 (1961) ,

196-240.


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1 1 7

The f ield of Anatol ian dem ography has hardly been touched in regards

to the Byzantine per iod. There have been important studies of Anatol ian

demography for the late class ical per iod by Broughton and Beloch

1 2

and

for Ottom an t im es by B ar k an

1 3

. Bu t aside from the study of Russel l

1 4

(which

though useful, has not really martialled ali the evidence) there is very little

which one can consult on this important subject

1 5

. Secon dary works have

tended to depict Asia Minr as depopulated to the point of semi-desolation.

These works fail into two categor ies : 1. The studies of I s lamicists , 2 . the

studies of Marxist histor ians.

Is lamicists have of ten tended to state that the population of Asia Minr

becam e very sparse as a result of the Arab raz ias and t hat the largest propor-

t ion o f the Anato l i an popula t ion s im ply d i sappe ar ed

1 6

. This conclusion

would, however , seem to be exaggerated and we must reserve judgement

on this mat ter unti l the history of Byzantin e-Arab warfare has been thorou-

ghly investigated in the exemplary manner which M. Canard has done i t for

1 2

J . B e l oc h , Die Bevlkerung der griechisch-rmischen Welt (L eipz ig , 1886) . 227 f f. T . R. S .

B r o u g h t o n , Roman Asia Minr, vo l . V I I i n An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome ( B a l t i m or e ,

1938) , 812-16. For more recent remarks on the anc ient per iod, H. Bengtson, Griechische Ges-

chichte von den Anfngen bis in die rmisehe Kaiserzeit, 2nd. ed. (Munich, 1960) , 421. C . Roe-

b u c k , Ionian Trade an d Colonization (New York, 1959) , 21-3 .

1 3

. B ar ka n , T r k i y e de i m p ar a t o r l u k de v i r le r i n in b y k n f u s ve a r az i t ah r i rl e r i ve

h akan a m ah s u s i s t a t i s t i k de f t e r l e r i ,

ktisat Fakltesi Mecmuas,

II . I . (1949) , 1-10; Es sa i

sur les donnees s tat i s t iques des reg is tres de recensement dans Tempire ottoman aux XV. et XVIe

s i e c l e s ,

Journal of the Economic

an d

Social History of the Orient,

1. (1957), 9-35.

1 4

J . C . R u s s e l ,

Late

Ancient

an d

Medieval Population, Transactions of the American Phil-

osophical Society

43, no. 3 (Phi lad elphia, 1958) , 81-100; La te Mediev al Ba lka n and As ia M inr

P o p u l a t i o n , Journal of the Economic

an d

Social History of the Orient, 3 (1960) . The works of

A . A n dr e ade s m a y st i li b e con s u l t e d w i t h s om e p r o f it , L a p op u l a t i on de l ' e m p i r e b y z an t i n ,

Actes

d u I Ve

Congres International des itudes byzantines (Sof ia , 1935) , 117-26;

jgpl

TOV

nXr\Qvo[j,ov

y .m vov nkovtov vrj Ktvavtavvbvovn^co xav vov rie-

aoV

Xt')VOV, n

Epya,

I (Athens , 1938) , 417-21.

1 5

For the later per iod there i s the work of P . Charanis , A No te on Pop ulat io n and Cities

o f t h e B y z an t i n e E m p i r e in th e T h i r t e e n t h C e n t u r y , Joshua Starr Memorial Volume; Studies

in

History

an d

Philosophy (New York, 1953) , 135-48.

1 6

C . C ah e n , Le p r ob le m e e t h n i q u e e n A n a t o l i e Journal of World History, II , 2 (1954) ,

352-3 . M . H. Yinan , Anadolunun Fethi ( s t an b u l , 1 9 4 4 ) , 2 1 . F . K p r l , Le s origines de l'em-

pire ottoman (Par is , 1935) , 60 .


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1 1 8


the tenth centur y

1 7

. The Arab razz ias were general ly smal l booty operations,

not near ly extensive enough to extirpate the popu lation of the whole peninsula.

Marxist histor ians have also posi ted a general decl ine of the A natol ian

population, the conclusion not being based on any substantial source mater-

ial but rather u pon the dictates of Marxist dogm a. Bu t I shal l reserve further

discussion on the Marxist interpretation of this per iod of Anatol ian history

for a later point in the lecture.

The real di ff iculty in the investigation of Anatol ian d emograp hy i s the

lack of adequ ate source mate r ial for the seventh-eleventh centur ies . The

Byzantine histor ical sources are al i Constantinople-centered and so they

do not ref lect conditions and events in the provinces. We have nothing in

the way of local chronicles . Thus most histor ians have tende d to argue ex-

si lentio when speaking of the history of the provinces. W hat sources might

be consulted for information on Anatol ian demography dur ing the Byzantine

period ? There is the collection of documents usually referred to as the notitiae

episcopatum.

These docum ents are indications of the metropo l i tanates , arch-

bishoprics and bishoprics which were composed for the purposes of protocol

and were used for this purpose in synods, at the imperial court, and at other

o ff ic ia l p l aces

1 8

. For this purpose the

notitiae

define clearly the position

and rank of each participan t. The posi tion of each metropol i tan ate depended

upon a number of things. . . the ancient trad ition of a particular ci ty as a

seat of Christianti ty , the s ize of that particular ci ty , and i ts importance in

the provincial administration. A detai led stud y of these notitiae will reveal

something as to the f lux of population, as Jerapha nion h as already demonst-

rated in the case of the Cap padocian bishoprics

1 5

. These episcopal lists are

supplemented by the ata em anatin g from the var ious synod s of the churcl

in Constantinople. These

ata

deal with speci f ic questions of ecclesiastical

1 7

M . C an ar d , Histoire de la dynastie des Hamdanides de Jazra et de Syrie I (Par is , 1953) .

T h e r e c e n t s t u dy o f H . A h r w e i l er , L ' A s i e M i n e u r e e t l e s i n vas i on s a r ab e s V I I e - I X e s i e c l e s ,

Hevue Historique, 227 (1962) , 1-32, i s unsat i s f ac tory .

I R

H . G . B e c k , Kirche un d theologische Litteratur im bysantinisches Reich (Munich 1959) ,

148-56. H. Gelzer , Ungedruckte

un d

ungengend verffentlichte Texte der Notitiae Episcopatum,

ein Beitrag zu r byzantinischen Kirchen-und Vergaltungsgeschichte, Abhandlungen der bayeris-

chen Akademie der W'issenschaft, 21 ( 1 9 0 1 ) , 5 2 9 -6 4 1. W . R am s ay , P h r y g i an O r t h odox a n d

H e r e t i c s 4 0 0 -8 0 0 A . D . , Byzantion, 6 (1931) , 1-35.

1 9

G . de J e r p h an i on , Une nouvelle province de Var byzantin: Le s eglises rupestres de Cap-

padoce, I , 1 (Par is , 1925) , l i - lxi i ; I , 2 (Par is , 1932) , 397-400. I t i s a l so exj> l iei t ly s tated in a syno-

dal dccu me nt of the four teenth century , Miklos ich et Mller , Ata et diplomata graeca medii

aevi, II (1862) 103-6 .


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1 1 9

administration and discipl ine and often reveal information wl ich has a direct

bear ing on demograph y. Thoug h these two groups of documents give us no

def inite population f igures they seem to indicate a general increase in the

Anatol ian population dur ing the tenth-eleventh ce tur ies

2 0

.

There also oceur isolated references in the historical narratives as to

the nunbers of inhab itants in var ious towns and vi l lag es . . . these have n ot

been col lected systematical ly

2 1

. Furtle r, these chronicles and listories often

refer to areas and town s as heavi ly po pula ted. . . these references must be

col lected and evaluate d. The Byzant ine pol icy of transplan ting population s

to and from Asia Minr must be re-examined in correlation with de mo grap hy

2 2

.

The numbers of soldiers in the provincial levies f lu ctuated from time

to time, but a ny effort at a demographic estim ate mu st take this factor into

accoun t. Archaeology i s as yet of l i tt le value for i t has not progressed suf-

f iciently in regards to Byzantine mater ial

2 3

. Bu t even so one mu st al\vays

keep in mind the admonition of Thucydides in regards to the lack of archae-

ological remains. He remarked that should people in later generations judge

Sparta by i ts physical remains, they would deem i t to have been a ci ty of

no importance

2 4

. So here too, care must be exercized in acceptin g the nega tive

evidence of archaeology.

I t would seem that the demographic importance of Byzantine Anatol ia

has been ser iously underestimated. Without i ts peasant armies, farmers,

2 0

T h i s c on cl u s i on i s s u p p or t e d b y t h e e s e a r c h of G . O s t r og or s ky , D as S t e u e r s y s t e m

i m b y z an t i n i s c l e n A l t e r t u m u n d M i t t e l a l t e r , Byzanlium, 6 (193J ) , 233.

2 1

S u c h a c a s e i s th e c i t y o f E de s s a . A c c or d i n g t o S aw i r a s i b n a l - M u kaf f a

c

,

H istory of the

Patriarchs of the Egyptian Church,

t r . an d e d . A . S . A t i y a an d Y . A b d a l -M as i h , I I , i i i ( C a i r o .

1959) , 305, the c i ty had, in 1071-2 , 20 ,000 Syr ians , 8 ,000 Ar nenians , 6 ,000 Greeks , and 1 ,000

La t in s , for a tota l of 35 , 000. Som e t l ree-qu ar ter s of a century later when the c i ty was captu -

r e d b y t h e M u s l i m s , B ar H e b r ae u s , Chronography of Gregory Abu'l Faraj, t r . E . W . B u d g e ( Lon -

don, 1932) , 273, repor ts that 30 ,0000 were ki l led, 16 ,000 ens laved, and 1 ,000 escaped. According

to these f igures the populat ion had r i sen to 47 , 000, the increase haviug been caused by the

inf lux of rural e lements to the safety of the c i ty wal l s .

2 2

P . C h ar an i s , T h e T r an s f e r of P op u l a t i on s a s a P o l i c y i n t h e B y z an t i n e E m p i r e , Com-

parative Studies

in

Society

an d

History

III , 2 (1961) .

2 3

T h e g e n e r a l s u r ve y o f H . R ot t , Kleinasiatische Denkmaelcr au s Pisidien, Pamphylien,

Kappadokien un d Lykicn, Studien ber christlicle Denkmaelcr

2 vols . (Leip z ig , 1908) , thou gh

u s e f u l , is b ad l y ou t o f da t e . T h e r e h av e b e e n , o f cou r s e , e xc ava t i on r e p or t s on var i ou s s i t e s ,

bu t there i s no comp rehens iv e survey . An exa mp lary s tu dy res tr ic ted to a smal l arca i s the

r e c e n t one o f W . M l l e r -W i e n e r , M i t t e l a l t e r l i c b e B e f e s t i g u n g e n i m s d l i c h e n J on i e n , Is-

tanbuler Mitteilungen, 11 (1961) , 5-122.

2 4

T h u c y d i de s , I , x .


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1 2


and townsmen, Byza ntiu m would have col lapsed in Anato l ia long before

the appearanee of the Se l juks.

The d omain of rel igious history , and more speci f ical ly th e history of

heresy , have been somewhat better investigated. But here also we are far

from sati sfactory solutions to many of the di f ficulties involved. Considerable

mater ial has been ama ssed in the studies of Har nack , Ram say , Anderson and

others on the sp read of Christianity in Anatol ia so ' tha t a considerable

amoun t i s known about the ear ly spread of Christianity here

2 5

. Also, consid-

erable is our knowledge of the early Christian heresies which were so numerous

in Asia Minr

2 S

. Bu t as yet the cultural s ignif icance of this appearan ee of

heresy in Anatolia is not completely elear. Holl laid down the principle that

where the pre-Greek Anatol ian languages survived longest heresy was hardest

to eradicate

2 7

. Though this pr inciple has been accepted unreservedly , does

i t stand before a more detai led investigation? Let us take the case of Mon-

tanism , the most sensation al of the ear ly indigenous heresies of An atol ia .

As i t arose in Phrygia i t came to be cal led the Phrygian heresy . According

to Hol l ' s reasoning Montanism was so hard to eradicate in Phrygia because

of the survival of tenacious local culture and especial ly of the Phry gian lan-

guage. The implication i s that as the Montanists were Phrygian speaking,

they resisted Orthodoxy and Hel lenization.

However , though a number of pagan inser iptions in the area have sur-

vived from the third century in Phryg ian, the Montan ist and other heretical

inser iptions (and these are considerable) are inser ibed in Greek

2 8

. I f Hol l ' s

2 5

A . H a r n a c k , Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Bishoprics

of Phrygia, Being an Essay on the Local History of Phrygia from the Earliest Times to the Turh-

ish Conquest ( O xf or d , 1 8 9 5 -7 ) . J . H . A n d e r s on , P ag an i s m an d C h r i s t i an i t y i n t h e U p p e r T e m b -

r is Val ley ,Studies in the History and Art of the Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire ( A b e r de e n ,

1906) , 183-227.

2 6

B a r d y , M o n t a n i s m e , Dictionnaire de la theologie catholique. W . M . C a l de r , T h e E p i g -

r ap h y o f th e A n at o l i an H e r e s i e s , Anatolian Studies Presented to Sir William Mitchell

Ramsay

( Lon do n , 1 9 2 3 ), 5 9 -9 1 . J . S t a r r , A n E as t e r n C h r i s t i an S e c t , t h e A t h n g an o i , Harvard Theolo-

gical Reviev, 2 9 ( 1 9 3 6 ) , 9 3 -1 0 6 . S . R u n c i m an , The Medieval Manichee ( C am b r i d g e , 1 9 5 5 ) . G .

F i c ke r , Die Plundagiagaten (Leipz g , 1908) .

2 7

H ol l , loc. cit., 253.

2 8

W . M . C a l de r , T h e E p i g r ap h y o f t h e A n at o l i an H e r e s i e s , 5 9 -9 1 , p u b l i s h e s in s e r i p ti -

on s , in G r e e k , o f t h e h e r e ti c S akkop h o r o i , A p os t a t i t ae , an d N ova t i a n s . S e e a l s o W . M . C a l de r ,

Monuments from Eastern Phrygia, Monumenta Asiae Minoris Antiquae, V I I ( M an c h e s t e r , 1 9 5 6 ) ,

xxv i i xxx i i


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1 2 1

principle were inviolably true, we would have expected the Montanist an d

other heretieal inscriptions to be inscribed in Phrygian and other Anatolian lan-

guages rather than in Greek. Hol l ' s pronouncement then i s not inviolable

and one mu st be eareful in accepting i t in an unqual i fied manner . Rel igious ort-

hodoxy and heresy did not coincide completely and exactly with the l inguis-

tic boundar ies between Geek and the pre-Greek Anatol ian languages. In the

regions of Capp adocia , where Cappad ocian survived for some- time, Orthod-

oxy took a f i rm root com paratively ear ly . In contra st , Constantine Porphy-

rogenitus relates that in the ninth century the Greeks of the southernm ost

Peloponnesus were sti l i pagans

2 9

.

One of the important tasks then in the rel igious history of Byzantine

Anatol ia i s to at tem pt an analysis of the cultural s ignificance of heresy or

of rel igious non-conformity . We mus t al so re-study the spread of Christianity

i tself in Asia Minr . Of the f i r st order of importance here are the w ritings

of the churchmen of the fourth-sixth centur ies (the Cappad ocian fatl ers ,

Amphilochius of Iconium, Joh n of Ephesus) and the inscr iptions. Of equal

importance are the decis ions of the synods and counci ls , and ab ove al i the

r ich hagiographical l i teratre. The hagiographical l i teratre i s of particular

importan ce as much of i t is concerned with the provinces rather than withCons-

tantinople. The spread of mon asticism and monastic colonization are phen-

omena which also deserve more detai led atte ntio n.

3 0

It is quite symbolic

th at in the ten th centu ry it was a monk from Asia Minr who went to Crete

af ter i ts reconquest by Nicephorus Phocas to convert the Musl ims, and who

then proceeded to Sparta to convert to Christianity the Slavs l iving ne arb y

3 1

.

Of cr i t ical importance and bad ly needed i s an intensive survey of Byza n-

tine urban society during the per iod of seventh-eleventh cen tur ies

3 2

. Asia

2 9

C on s t an t i n e P or p h y r og e n i t u s ,

De

Administrando Imperio

ed. and tr . G . Morav cs ik

an d R . J . H . J e n k i n s ( B u d ap e s t , 1 9 4 9 ) , 2 3 6 -7. T h e i n h ab i t an t s o f t h e c i ty o f M a i n a a r e n o t

o f t h e r ac e o f t h e a f or e s a id S l av s , b u t o f t h e an c i e n t R om an s ( G r e e ks ) , an d e ve n t o t h i s da y

they are cal led 'Hel le nes ' by the local inhabi tant s , beeause in the very anc ient t imes they were

i do l a t e r s an d w or s h i p p e r s o f i m ag e s a f t e r t h e f a s h i on o f t h e an c i e n t H e l l e n e s ; a n d t h e y w e r e

bap t ized an d became Chr is t ians in the re ign of the g lor ious Bas i l . (867-886 A. D. )

3 0

. B ar kan h as don e e xac t l y s u c h a s t u dy fo r t h e M s l i m de r v i s h b r o t h e r h oods , Le s

f on da t i on s p i e u s e s c om m e m e t h ode d e p e u p l e m e n t e t d e c o lon i s a t i on . Le s de r v i c h e s c o lon i s a t e -

u r s de l ' e p oq u e de s i n vas i on s e t l e s c ou ve n t s ( Z av i y e s ) . Vakflar Dergisi, 2 (1942) , 59-65.

3 1

S . L a m b r o s , 0

jiioC, Nyuol'O VOV

MeVaVOeUt, Neo

'K/./.YjVO[J.-

Vl)[X

WV

3

(1906) , 150-2 , 194, 200-02.


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1 2 2


Minr was, in classica l ant iqu ity, cov ered with town s and c ities. . . a condi-

tion which prevailed it would seem especially in Hellenistic and Roman times.

The physical remains of these urban ag glomera tes st i l i testi fy to the com-

parat ive inten si ty and impo rtance of this urban l i fe . This ancient l ife was

character ized by a certain aut onom y, the divis io of i ts inl abitants into

tr ibes , cer tain types of education for the youth, ete . Physical ly i t was charac-

ter iz by a theatre, an agora, temples , palaestra , baths, ci ty wal ls , ete . Two

questions ar i se : 1 . Did this pol is of Graec o-Rom an a ntiqu ity , which had

spread throug h so much of Anatol ia , survive an d continue in Byzantin e times ?

2 . And , secondly , can we speek of any type of urban society in By zant ine

Asia Minr?

Did tl e pol i s of antiquity survive? This question has been framed in

terms of the class ical poli s , i . e . an agglome rate consisting of a qua nti ty

of population but organized according to the class ical patte rn. .with an nu-

al ly eleeted magistrates , independent coinage, internal and exter al indepen-

dence, and with i ts cultural l i fe center ing about the pagan theatre, temples

and cults . Sucl a pol i s , as an insti tution, had of course begun to disappe ar

when the Hellenistic monarch instituted his epistates within the city to pre-

side ver i ts foreign af fair s . By Byzan tine times such a pol i s , insti tutional ly

speaking, had v ir tual ly disa ppea red. .

.

everyth ing cam e to be rigidly cent-

ralized in Constantinople.

But does this mean that the pol i s as an important centcr of population

witl a relatively vi tal economic l i fe and organization and as an administra-

tive ce ter had disappeared? There have been two answers to this question:

a . that which i s based on the disappearan ce of the insti tutions of the anci-

ent pol i s , b . and tha t of the Marxist histor ians. Let us turn f ir st to the argu-

ment base d on the disappeara nce of the insti tutions of the class ical pol i s .

I t i s obvious that the class ical municipal forms and insti tutions had disap-

peared or decl ined. However i t i s quite within the realm of possibi l i ty that

though the class ical forms might have disappeared, urban l i fe continued.

3 2

Se e E . K i r t e n , D i e b y z a n t in i s e h e S t a d t , Bericht zum XI. Iternatioalen Byzanlinis-

ten Kongresses (Munich 1958) . F . Dlger , ,Die f rhbyza ntinische nn d byza ntini sch beeinf -

h s s t e S t a d t , Atti de 3 congresso internazionale de studi sulV alto medioevo (Spoleto, 1958) . G .

O s t r og or s ky , ' ' B y z an t i n e C i t i e s i n t h e E ar l y M i dd l e A g e s , Dumbarton Oaks Papers , X I I I ( 1 9 5 9 ) ,

4 7 -6 6. i m p or t a n t f o r r e fe r e n ce s t o t h e s ou r c e s on B y z an t i n e u r b a h i s t o r y is A . R u d i kov , Oc -

herki vzantiiskoi kuVtury po dannym greeheskoi agiografi i (Moscow, 1917) .


11/20


1 2 3

As we shal l see, the Byzantine pol i s or castron was an important center of

population, with an organized economic life and a cash economy which em-

ployed gold and bronze coinage. The magistrates a nual ly elected by lot

had of course disappea red, as did possibly much of the class ical nomenc-

lature of municipal of f icialdom. Bu t even here the process was not complete for

we hear of the existence of agoranomoi in the towns. But as an urban center

the Byz antine tow n was character ized b y di f ferent mil i tary , f i scal , an d reli-

gious insti tutions.

The archaeological evidence has not been suf f iciently well studied so

as to supply us with detai led information on the Byzantine town. In any

com par at ive eva luat ion of the archaeological evidence from the per iod of late

antiq uity and of Byza ntium a number of i tems should be kept in mind. The

l ife of towns in class ical antiquity revolved abou t the temple palaest ra , gym-

nasium , theatre, ci ty wal ls , ete . The adven ce of Christianity however did

away with the necessi ty for the palaestra , gymnasium, theatre, temples ,

ete . The Christian church henceforth fulf il led the funetions of many of these

insti tutions. I t became the rel igious center , and what there was of drama

was religious and took place in the church. Ali the rest was discarded as it

was of pagan o r i gi n . . . . only the hippodrome survived but even here the

church fought i t as i t was pagan in or igin. Thus the Byzantine town did not

need the physical apparatus which the class ical ci ty needed. The basic nucleus

of the Byzan tine town consisted of i ts wal l s, agora, and church which served

as the bishop's residence. In addition there were grain siloes, storehouses,

and publ ic bath s. The use of br ick, a mater ial far more per ishable than ston e,

meant of course that the bui ldings would be less able to survive the ravages

of t ime and man. Th e use of br ick, rather than of stone, does imply that this

per iod in Anatol ia might not have been as prosperous as the f i r st and second

centur ies of the Christian era, bu t i t does not imply the disappea rance

of urban l i fe f rom the peninsula.

Let us turn to the Marxist argumen t on the disappearance of urban cen-

ters in Anatol ia dur ing the per iod under discussion. A very great concent-

ration on the urban history, as well as on the whole socio-economic history

of Byzantiu m, has taken place in the hands of the Soviet Byza ntin ists . This

concentration on socio-economic history by Soviet seholarship has had a

very salut ary ef fect, for i t has caused B yzan tinists to re-examine the basic

questions an d problems of Byzan tine socio-economic history . The conclusion

of the Soviet school in regards to By zantine urban history i s that Byzan tine


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1 2 4


urban society disappea red v ir tual ly completely dur ing the per iod from the

late seventh to the mid-ninth century. This conclusion has been set forth

in the most detai led fashion by the decanus of Russian Byzantinists Kajdan,

f irst in his ar ticle , ' Byza nt ine Cities in the 7-11 th Cen tur ies , and in a muc h

more detai led fashion in his monog raph

Country ad Town

in

Byzantium

in

the 9-10th Centuries

33

Subseq uently there has been a tendency for scholars

to accept this coclusion. Ka jda n's theory on the disappearance of urban

centers revolves very closely about Marxist dialectic. According to the well-

known Marxist theory, huma n societies evolve through four stag es : a . Slave

-b ase d society , such as that of Gra eco -Ro ma n an tiqutiy , b . feudal society ,

in>which s lavery disappears , c . capital i st society , d . and social i st society .

Ka jda n thus argues that the ancient poli s was based on s lavery , but that

dur ing the feudal per iod s lavery disappeared. Therefore, as the ancient ci ty

was based on s lavery , the ancient ci ty disappeard in feudal t imes because

slavery disappeared. The transi tion between ancient and feudal society , he

continues, occurred dur ing the 7-9th centur ies . Therefore Kajdan concludes

i t was d ur ing this per iod of transi tion, when slavery disappeared, that the

urban centers al so disappeare d. H e atte mp ts to buttress his theory with evi-

dence from the chronicles and throu gh the use of numisma tic evidence.

Kajdan maintains that the chronicles do not descr ibe an urban society

for this period of two cen turies. B ut in effect he is arguing ex silentio, for

we have no contem porary chronicles for the greater part of the per iod under

discussion. Bu t even the l i tt le that does exist in the way of l iterary source

mater ial reveals that between the late seventh and ninth century Asia Minr

continued to be the scene of a l ively urban society with an active economic

life, a society which paid a portion of its tax es in gold an d in which even a

lowly shepherd received a daily wage in bronze coin which amounted to about

two gold sol idi per month. In short Kajdan has attempted to argue from

the com parativ e s ilence of the sources that urban society had disappeared

from Anato l ia in the 7-9th centur ies. B ut the few existing references do not

support him.

More ingenious and interesting i s Kaj da n's use of the numisma tic eviden-

ce. He has studied the coins unearthed in excavations and hoards and tabu-

lated the totals for each emperor . By so doing he has provided a tabulation

3 3

A . P . K a j d a n , V i z a n t i i sk i e g o r o d v V I I - X I v v , Sovetshaia Arkheologia, 21 (1954) ,

164-88;

Derevnia i g orod v Vizantii

/ Y - X

vv

(Moscow, 1960) . Adherence to this theory has not

b e e n c om p l e t e . S e e M . T . S j u z u m ov i n

Voprosy Istorii,

3 (1959) , 98-117, who maintains that

the prosper i ty of the towns wa s not inter rupted in the 7-9th centur ies .


13/20

p r o b l e m s o f b y z a n t i n e a n a t o l i a 1 2 5

which shows taht the total number of coins for the per iod between 668 and

842 is smaller than that for the preeeeding period. And, he continues, as an

abun dance of money indicates propser i ty and i ts pauc ity economic hard

times, one must conclude that the period between 668 and 842 was one in

which active commercial and economic l ife , and so urban l ife, disappeared.

This use of the numismatic evidence i s interesting, but i t raises more

problems than it solves. To begin with, how reliable is the numismatic evi-

dence as an indication of the extent of the economic l i fe of the times ? I s the

numb er of coins found in a particuler per iod proportionately related to the

am oun t struck at the mints ? Or, to phrase t he question in a sliga tly different

mann er , i s the numb er of coins found for a particular em peror directly related

to the number struck, the latter number being determined by the compara-

tive prosper i ty or poverty of his reign? In this connection one should also

recall that periods of economic chaos often bea r vvitness to a feverish act ivity on

the part of the m ints . . . one need only note the Rom an Emp ire in the third

century.

Secondly , as has already been mentioned, rural and urban society paid

much of i ts taxes in gold dur ing the 7-9th centur ies . This means th at there

was some kind of cash economy, w ithout which cash economy urba n society

could hardly hav e existed. T hirdly , we know that in spi te of the relatively

few f inds of coins f rom the 7-9th centur ies , there were com paratively large

sums of gold in circulation in the provinces dur ing this t ime. Two chance

references in Theophan es record th at the governmen t spent p erhaps as much

1,000,000 gold solidi in a year on annual salaries for the indigenous soldiery

in Asia Minr about 800 A.D.

3 4

Yet none of this gold money has survived.

W hat has become of i t ? According to Ka jda n's ta bulatio ns only 138 coins

have survived from the whole of the empire for the two centur ies under dis-

cussion. Becau se of this , then, we must conclude that the num ismatic evi-

dence used by K aj da n as an indication of the lack of urban centers in 7-9tl

century Asia Minr is -vvorthless, for it represents a very infinitesimal seg-

m ent o f a li tha t w as m i nt ed

3 5

.

3 4

T h e o p h a n e s , Chronographia, ed. C . de Boor , I (Leipz ig , 1883) , 484, 489.

3 5

F or a de t a i l e d c r i t ic i s m o f K a j da n ' s n u m i s m at i c t h e or y , s e e G . O s t r og or s ky , B y z an -

t i n e C it i e s i n t h e E ar l y M i dd l e A g e s , 4 8 ff. P . G r i e r s on , C o i n ag e an d M on e y i n t h e B y z an t i n e

E m p i r e 4 9 8 -c . 1 0 9 0 , Settimane di studio del centro di studi suW Alto Evo VIII. Moneta e scambi

nelVAllo Medioevo ( S p o l e t o , 1 9 6 1 ), 44 5 -6 . S . V r y on i s , A n A t t i c H oar d o f B y z an t i n e G o l d C o i n s

( 6 6 8 -74 1 ) f r om t h e T h om a s W h i t t e m or e C o l l e c t ion an d t h e Nu m i s m at i c E v i de n c e f o r t h e U r b a n

H i s t o r y of B y z a n t i u m . Sbornik Radova Srpski Akademije Naukai Umetnostin 68 . Vizantolojki

Institut, 8 (1963) , 291-300.


14/20

1 2 6


Since the numismatic evidence has been considered so extensively , i t

would be of considerable interest to have a general tab ulation of Byzan tine

eois lying in the vario us collections and mu seum s of An atolia a t the presen t.

We are better informed on the history of rural Anatol ia , largely as a

result of the studies on the agrar ian legis lation of the 10- l l t h centur ies . Bu t

there is stili no comprehe nsive surv ey of the rural history of Asia Minr whicl

atte mp ts to answer the many di ff icult q uestions which ar ise

3 6

. First of

ali there is the complicated question as to the various legal categories into

which the mem bers of rural society fell. The arclontes or nobility are th e

most easi ly distinguished. But as yet there has been no complete l i st drawn

up of the Anatol ian a r istocracy, the location and ex tent of i ts landed esta-

tes and the system of marr iage al l iances bound the ar istocratic families to-

gether

3 7

. We are far lees advan ced in the study of the peasan try . There i s

not as yet any firm agreement as to what consti tuted a f ree peasant farmer

or a serf, or as to the extent to which slavery continued to exist. There is

also need of a stud y which would elucidate the compa rative f luidi ty and

mobil i ty of this peasa nt class in the social structure. One hears of numerous

examp les of people of insignificant peasa nt or igin who becam e wealthy lan-

dovvers , merchants , s l ipping nagnates , powerful bureaucrats , generals ,

and even emperors .

In scholar ly discussion one of the central themes has centered a bout

the question as to the degree and extent to which a ' f ree ' peasantry existed.

One of the restraining factors in the geographical movem ent of society was

the tax structure and administration , for each unit of land carr ied a ta x ob-

3 6

G . O s t r og or s ky , L a c om m u n e r u r a l e b y z a n t i n e , Byzantion, 32 (1962) , 139-66; Quel-

ques problemes d'histoire de

la

pavsannerie byzantine ( B r u s s e l s , 1 9 5 6 ) ; Pour Vhistoire de la feo-

dalite byzantine ( B r u s s e l s , 1 9 5 4 ); A g r ar i a n C on d i t i on s in t h e B y z an t i n e E m p i r e i n t h e M i dd l e

A g e s , Cambridge Economic History, I (Cambr idge, 1941) , 194-223. A vigorous revievv of the

l i teratre i s to be found in Lem er le , Es qu is s e pour une his toire agraire de By zan ce: Le s sourees

e t l e s p r ob l e m e s , Revue Historique, 2 1 9 ( J an .M ar . 1 9 5 8 ) , 3 2 -7 4 ; ( A vr . J u i n . 1 9 5 8 ) , 2 5 4 -8 4 ; ( J u i l -

let-Sep t , 1958, 43-94. Lem er le has opposed m any of the views of Os tro gorsky here , but he has

in some. eases dis tor ted the phi lological evidence , as for ins tance on p . 274 he trans lates

VKLCI

a s

lands * , wheraes on p . 72 he def ines TO KO t'

a s

p laces or pos i t ion s in the

ar m y . T h e t e r m s p r ob ab l y r e f er t o l an d in b o t h e a s e s. A ls o h i s de f i n it i on o f n xp ( l T l O ) X 1 ) Z

i s h y p ot h e t i c a l an d u n c on v i n c i n g .

3 1

A n u n p u b l i s h e d s t u dy doe s e x i s t on t h i s s u b j e c t i n W i d e n e r L i b r a y , H ar var d U n i ve -

s i t y , S . V r y on i s , T he Internal History of the Byzantine Empire during the Time of Troubles 1057-

1081 (1956).


15/20


1 2 7

l igation. The vaeation of the land threatened the adm inistration with loss

of tax revenues. Thu s a peasa nt eould not in theory aba don his land u nless

someone else assuned the ta x hurdan on that piece of land. Bu t peasa nts

could and did often seli tleir land and the buyer simply assumed the tax

burden. Inasm uch as this class of peasants was free to sel i i ts landl oldings

this class of peasa nts was to that exten t f ree. To what degree the tax strucutre

and adm inistrative system were onerous to the Byzan tine peas antr y i l

is difficult to sa y. Tax es h ave never been considered a blessing by those who

have to pay them. I t i s quite possible that the supp osed harsl ness of the

Byzantine tax structure in t l e per iod under discussion has been somewhat

exagg erated . For had i t been as harsl as is of ten stat ed, the effect would

have been to destroy the comparative p rosper i ty of Anatol ia . W hat i s needed

here is an evalu ation of the services which thje adm inistr ation performed

in Anatol ia as opposed to the burdens which i t imposed -

,s

.

Aside from the adm inistra tion the re were other chann els by whicl rural

elasses were integrated into Byzantine society , channels of a pr imari ly econo-

mic and religious nature. The relatioship of the countryside to the towns

is the critical aspect which needs investigation

3 9

. The towns, as the centers

of the provincial adm inistration, were the foci through which the ce tral

government reached the rural areas. But this in of itself would not be suffi-

cient to produce any kind of integrated society . Other factors came into play .

n the realm of economic activi ty , the peasan try of Anatol ia produced a var i-

ety of agr icultural and pa storal p roduets , the pr incipal mark ets for whicl

were the towns. The tow ns, in possession of smal l local industry and com-

mcrcial emporia, became the scee of a considerable provincial business life.

The peasantry came to the towns to sel i their produce and to buy the goods

of the local craf tsmen and m ercl ants . The most importa t manifestation

of this strong economic bond between town and country were the panegyr ia

or feast-market days held in conjunction with the celebration of the feast

days of var ious sain ts . . . such as the panegyr ia of St . Eug enius at Trebizond,

the Archangel Michael at Chonae, St . John at Ephesus, ete

4 0

.

3 8

T h e m o o g r ap h o f J . K a r a y a n n o p o u l o s , Da s Finanzveser des frhbyzantinischen Staates

(Munich, 1958) , 259 f f, ha s unde r tak en suc h an ef for t .

3 9

O n t h e c o n p ar a t i ve l y c l o se r b on d s h c t w e e n tow n an d c ou n t r y i n B y z an t i u m , a s c om -

p ar c d t o th e s i t u a t i on in t h e W e s t , s e e S . R u n c i n an , B y z an t i n e T r ad e an d i n d u s t r y , Camb-

ridge Economic History (Cambr idge, 1952) , 86-7

4 9

P h . K o u k o u l e s , Bv

aVTlV)V $LO KOL nO/.ia/lO,

II I (Ath ens , 1949) , 270-83.


16/20

1 2 8


Equal ly in need of further investigation i s the role of the cl urch in the

integration of rural society . As has been estab l i shed, the rural areas were

converted to Christianity by the bishops who operated from the towns. Eac h

Anatol ian town had i ts speeial patron saint, and there arose ear ly throughout

Anato l ia a whole host of cults center ing ab out these saints

4 I

. Thes e cults

were essentially local in origin and character and came to have great meaning

and inf luence on not only the urban populace but al so on the rural populace

as well. The sick and needy, as well as the rich and powerful, ali appealed

to the local saint in times of ecessity, and of course ali contribut ed economi-

cally for the services which they believed the saint rendered. Thus the local

saints en tered into every asp ect of l ife of the rural as well as of the urb an

inhab itants of Ana tol ia . The central church structure s imply absorbed al i

these local cults and by so doing further integrated rural and urban classes

of Byza ntine An atol ia into Byzan tine society .

An at tem pt h as been made to indicate tha t there is a whole host of impor-

tan t problems in the history of Byzan tine rural society which awaits s tud y

and clar i f ication: a . F ir st there i s the problem of di f fierentiating the var ious

social and legal groups in the countryside. b . Secondly , an evaluation of

the Byzan tine administration in the rural areas could be mad e. e . F inal ly ,

the relationship of the coun tryside to the town in the economic an d religious

spheres should be described.

The economic history of Byzan tine An atol ia has been almost entirely

neglected, tough there exists an excel lent economic survey of Anatol ia in

Bo ma n time s, and there are also a number of import ant stud ies on Sel juk

and Ottoman Anatol ia by Cahen, nalck, Barkan, and others

4 2

. Aga in the

main di f ficulty i s the lack of source mater ial . For R oma n time s there is the

4 1

H . De l e h ay e ,

Le s

l egendes grecques des saints militaires ( P ar i s , 1 9 0 9 ) ;

Le s

origines

du

culte des martyres (Brus se ls , 1933) . Th at the t im e i s r ipe for a ser ies of new s tudie s o the cu lts

o f i n d i v i d u a l s a i n t s i n A n at o l i a i s i n d i c a t e d b y t h e vo l u m i n ou s c on t e n t s o f F . H a l k i , Bibliot-

heca Hagiographica Graeca, 3rd. ed. (Brus se ls , 1959) . Such a s tudy i s the work of A . H adj in i-

c o l aou -M or ava , ' O UflO MlflU (Athens , 1953) .

4 2

B r o u g h t o n ,

op .

cit. C . C ah e n , L e c om m e r c e an a t o l i e n au l t' lm t d u X I I I e

siecl

e, Melan-

ges d'histoire du moyen ge dedies

a la

memoire de Louis Halphen ( P ar i s ,1 9 5 1 ) ,9 1 -1 0 1 . H . n a l c k

B u r s a ;X V . a s r s an ay i ve t i c a r e t t a r i h i n e da i r ve s i ka l a r , Belleten, 2 4 ( 1 9 6 0 ) , 4 5 -1 0 2 . . B ar kan ,

Trhiyede mparatorluk devirlerinin byk nfus ve arazi tahrirleri ve

h ak an a m a hs us

ista-

tistik defter ler i, ktisat Fakltesi Mecmuas , II , 1 . (1949) , 1-19; XV. ve XVI. asrlarda Osmanl

mparatorluunda ziri ekonominin hukki ve mal esaslar ( s tanbul , 1945) .


17/20


1 2 9

great quan ti ty of inscr iptions as well as the impo rtant geograpl ical descr ip-

tion of Strab o, l imsel f a native of Amase ia . In Sel juk a d Ottoman times

we have the geographical works of ibn Ba tu ta and al- 'Um ari , the commerci-

al handbook s of Pegolotti and Bado er as wel l as the importan t col lections

of Turkish docum ents . Unfortunately the corresponding Byzantin e d ocumen ts

(which were as detai led as t l ose of the Otto man per iod) ha ve disappe ared,

and the histor ieal narratives are eentered on Constantinople

4 3

.

Nevertheless this di f f ieulty need not completely bloek research into

the economic history of Byzantine Asia Minr . One may have recourse to

other proced ures. A meth od which has recently been emp loyed in investi-

gation on the Byzantine mining industry may be appl ied to the whole of

the economic history of Anatol ia dur ing By zantin e times. By examining

the economic history of Anatol ia in Rom an times and in the Ottoman per iod,

where the documentation is more plentiful, one can shed a certain light on

the economic history of Byzan tine An atol ia , especai l ly s ince the Byzan tines

were extremely conserv ative and tended to preserve rather than to innovate

and discard. This method of proceeding i s i l lustrated by i ts appl ication to

the question of whether or not a Byzan tine mining industry existed

4 4

. It

has been customary in the Standard treatments of Byzantine economic his-

tory to assum e that af ter the loss of much of the Balk ans to the Slavs and

of the Near Ea st to the Arabs , the Byzan tines lost the metal producing regi-

ons and so produced no metals

4 5

. But an examination of the mining industry

in Roman times shows that gold, silver, copper, iron, and lead were mined

in Asia Minr

4 6

. The sources of the Sel juk and ear ly Ottom an period indi-

cate that man y of these m etals were m ined in the sam e areas of Anat ol ia

4 7

.

Therefore one would not be surprised if the mines continued to function

in Byzantin e times. B ut the di ff ieulty i s that there are few sources. Neverthe-

less the Armenian and Arab sources mention the existence of mines in A natol ia

4 3

The detai led nature of this los t Byzanti ne mat er ial i s eas i ly ascer tained f rom some of

t h e s u r v i v i n g f r ag m e n t s . N . S vor on os ,

Recherches sur le cadastre byzantin et la fiscalite

au x

XIe

et XIIe siecles: Le cadastre de Thebes (Par is , 1959) . Miklos ich et Mller , Ata et diplomata graeca

medii aevi, VI (1890) , 4-15.

4 4

S . V r y on i s , T h e Q u e st i on o f t h e B y z an t i n e M i n e s , Speculum, 37 (1962) , 1-17.

4 5

M . Lom b ar d , Le s b a s e s m on e t a i r e s d ' u n e s u p r e m at i e e e on om i q u e : VOr musulman

du

Vlle siecle

au

XIe siecle,

Annales,

2 (19 47) , 146-60.

4 6

B r o u g h t o n ,

op .

cit.

4 7

V . G or d l e vs k i , E k s p l o a t a t s i a n e dr z e m l i v T u r t s i i ,

Sovetskoie Vostokovedenie,

3 (1945) ,

109-145


18/20

1 3


during the Byzantine per iod, as do also Procopius, Theophanes and some

hagiographical sources .

This m ethodology then, of com paring the eeonomic l ife of Rom an with

Sel juk-O ttoma n An atol ia has some value for the history of Byzan tine Anato-

lia, and especially if there can be found a few By zan tine sources whicl cor-

roborate the results of this approach. Bu t the type of results wil l be of a general

nature and they wil l tend to be qual i tative rather than quanti tative. Thus i t

has been possible to ascertain by this method that certain types of eeonomic

endeavor existed in Byzantine Anatol ia , viz . mining, texti le making, dying,

pottery and glass making, ship bui lding, f i shing, lumber , production of mastic ,

sponges, sheep's wool , ete

4 8

. Bu t we need n ot be entirely de pend ant on

such a methodology, for the hagiographical texts are particular ly r ich on

the economic l ife of Asia Minr . Unfortunately the num ber of inscr iptions

from the Byz antin e per iod i s not near ly so extensive as that f rom the Rom an

per iod, but what l i tt le has survived i s of value

4 9

. The Byzan tine histor ical

narratives will a l so y ield a certain amoun t of information i f they are combed

thoroughly .

The s ingle most important source, the Arab geographers , has remained

unexploited. This bod y of mater ial wi ll increase our knowledge of the economic

history of Byzan tine An atol ia considerably . How ever , the di f ficulty of langu-

age and the lack of sati sfactory text s in some eases have prevented their

systematic uti l ization. The Arabs were much more the successors to the tra-

ditions of ancient Greek geography than were the Byzantines, and their works

contain considerable information on the cit ies of Asia Minr , the road system s,

and the produets of the craf ts and of agr iculture. Bu t there are two b asic

problems in the use of these texts . No one has yet w orked out in detai l the

relation which exists amon gst the var ious ac counts of Anato l ia in these aut-

hors . The Arab p ractice of copying and l i f t ing information from older authors

thus presents a sub stant ial obstacle to any ev aluation of the mater ial whiel

they furnish on the economic history of Ana tol ia . Sec ondly , one of the most

import ant of these texts , that of al-Idr s , has not yet been cr i t ical ly edited,

so that we are forced to rely upon the very poor French translation. Once

this Arabic mater ial has been presented to us completely edited, and once

4 8

J . T e a l i h a s m ade a s t u dy o f g r a i n , T h e G r a i n S u p p l y o f t h e B y z an t i n e E m p i r e , 3 30 -

1 0 2 5 , Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 13 (1959) , 87-139.

4 9

H. Gregoire , Recueil des inscriptions grecques ehretiennes d'Asie Mineure, I (Par is ) , 1922,

91 , 127,passim.


19/20


1 3 1

the interdependence and relations of the var ious aeeounts have been studied,

we shal l gather new information on the economic l i fe of Byzantine Anatol ia .

The Armenian and Syr iac sources hav e been ef fectively martial led and

uti l ized by Manandian

5 0

, but the western travellers h ave been utilized only

for the Sel juk and Ottoman per iods.

Enough has been said about the sources and tl e ir problems. Perhaps

a few words on the ge neral l ines of research would be in order here.

a . A general tabu lation i s needed of the industr ies , craf ts , agr icultural

and past oral prod ucts character ized the economic li fe of the peninsula. Su ch

a l i st should follow the l ines set out by W altz ing for the R om an Em pire and

which Goitein is preparing for the medieval Islamic world on the basis of the

Genizeh mater ials .

5 1

b. Seco ndly there is needed a description of the internal econom ic life

of Anatol ia , a local ization of the var ious craf ts and ag r icultural special i t ies ,

and a qu anti ta tive and q ual i tative sketch of the local commerce which took

place between towns and between urban and rural areas .

c. Third ly, there is need of a similar description of the comm ercial rela-

tions of Byzantine Anatol ia with the Cr imea, Constantinople, the Aegean

worled and Greece, with Crete, Egypt and Cyprus in the south, and with

the Is lamic and Caucausian world in the east . My own researches have indi-

cated that trade was considerable

5 2

.

The phase of adm inistrative history of Byzan tine An atol ia has received

considerable scholar ly treatment in regards to the administrative reforms

of Diocletian an d Co nstan tine an d the introduction and fate of the them atic

syste m. Thu s the general outline of the admin istrative history of Byzan tine

Anatol ia i s more or less clear

5 3

. Bu t a more detai led descr iption and analy-

5 0

Y . M a n a n d i a n ,

O torgovle i gorodakh Armenii v sviazi

s

mirovoi torgovle i drevnikh vremen

( E r e van , 1 9 5 4 ) .

5 1

J . ^ a l t z i n g , Etde historique sur les corporations professionnelles chez les Romins, 4 vols .

( Lou va i n , 1 8 9 5 -1 9 00 ) . G o i t e in , T h e M ai n i n du s t r i e s o f t h e M e d i t e r r an e an A r e a a s R e f l e e t e d

i n t h e R e c or ds o f t h e C a ir o G e n i z e h , Journal of the Economic an d Social History of the Orient.

4 (1961) .

5 2

I n e h ap t e r on e o f a s t u dy i n p r e p ar a t i on on T h e De e l i n e o f M e d i e va l H e l l e n i s m i n

A s i a M i n r an d t h e P r oc e s s o f I s l am i z a t i on , l l -1 5 t h C e n t u r i e s .

5 3

F o r b i b l i og r ap h y s e e G . O s t r og or s ky , History of the Byzantine State ( Ne w B r u n s w i c k ,

1956) .


20/20

3 2


sis of the actual mech anics is desirable. W hat services did the provincial

administration perform, what obl igations did i t exaet, and what was the

total ef fect on the inhab itan ts? Of special importance would be careful st udy

of the Byzan tine adm inistrative s ystem of the l l - 15t h centur ies so as to as-

certain the ef fect of the Turkish conq uest on the administrative system and

also to ascertain to what degree the Byzantine administrative structure was

inducive or not inducive to the conquest

5 4

. Of equ al importanc e would be

an investigation of the relation between the Byzan tine adm inistrative pat-

terns and those which arose in Turkisch Anatol ia . The studies of Professors

Kprl and inalck consti tute valuable beginnings in this respect

5 5

.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the above remarks I l ave attempted to sketch

for you in the br iefest and broad est manner the vas t gaps in our konw-

ledge of Anatol ia dur ing the Byza ntine per iod and also some of the dif ficul-

ties which must be solved before this history becomes better known. I than k

you for your kind attention and patience.

5 4

H. Glycatz i-Ahrw ei ler , L es for tres ses cons trui ts en As ie Mineure f ace l ' invas ion se ld-

j u c i d e , Akten des XI internationales Byzantinistenkongreeses, Mnchen 1958 (Munich, 1960) ,

1 8 2 -9 ; R e c h e r c h e s s u r l ' adm i n i s t r a t i on d e l ' e m p i re b y z an t i n au x I X e - X I e s i e c l e s . Bulletin

de Correspondance Hellenique, 84 (1960 ) , 1-1 11. G . Arn akis , ()[ ypcOTOL OQCO]UC17'O,

( A t h e n s , 1 9 47 ) , i s a m as t e r f u l s t u d y o f t h e i n t e r ac t i on b e t w e e n B y z an t i n e ad m i n i s t r a t i ve

de c l i n e an d t h e T u r k i s h advan c e .

5 5

M . K p r l , B i z an s m e s s e se l e r i n in O s m an l m e ss e s e l er i n e t e ' s i ri h akk n da b az

m l h a z a l a r ,

Trk hukuk ve iktisat tarihi mecmuas,

1 ( s ta nbu l , 1932) , 165-313. H. n alc k,

T h e P r ob l e m o f t h e R e l a t i on s h i p b e t w e e n B y z an t i n e an d O t t om a n T a xa t i o n ,

Akten des

XI

internationalen Byzantinistenkongresses,

Mnchen 1958 (Munich, 1960) , 237-42.

Documents

Problems in the History of Byzantine Anatolia