Chaldia

Map of the administrative structure of the Byzantine Empire in 1025. Chaldia's strategic location in the north-easternmost corner of the Empire is evident.

Chaldia (Vorlage:Lang-el, Khaldia) was a historical region in the Black Sea coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Its name derived from the people of the Chaldoi or Chalybes that inhabited it in Antiquity, and was used throughout the Byzantine period. In the late Middle Ages, it formed the core of the Empire of Trebizond. It is not to be confused with Chaldea in Mesopotamia.

Geography

Initially, the name Chaldia was consigned to the region around Gümüşhane, but in middle Byzantine times, the name was extended to include the coastal areas, and thus the entire province around Trabzon. Forming the easternmost part of the Pontus region, Chaldia was bounded to the north by the Black Sea, to the east by Lazica, the westernmost part of Caucasian Iberia, to the south by Cappadocia and Armenia Minor, and to the west by the western half of Pontus. Its main cities were the two ancient Greek colonies, Kerasus (modern Giresun) and Trapezus (modern Trabzon), situated in the coastal lowlands. The mountainous interior to the south, known as Mesochaldia ("Middle Chaldia"), was more sparsely inhabited and described by Procopius as "inaccessible", but rich in mineral deposits, especially lead, but also silver and gold. The mines of the region gave the name Argyropolis ("silver town", modern Gümüşhane) to the principal settlement.

History

The first local inhabitants, the Chalybes, were counted among the earliest ironsmith nations by Classical writers. Indeed, the Greek name for steel is chalybas (χάλυβας), possibly deriving from them. The first Greek colony was that of Trapezus, founded by Greek traders from Miletus, traditionally dated to 756 BC. Greek colonization was restricted to the coast, and in later ages Roman control remained likewise only nominal over the tribes of the interior. The coastal regions however belonged to the Roman province of Pontus Polemoniacus. Only during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I were the warlike tribes, the Sannoi or Tzannoi, subdued, Christianized, and brought under central rule. Justinian included the entire region was included in the newly constituted province Armenia I Magna with Trapezus as its capital (under Maurice renamed Armenia III). In the latter part of the 7th century, with the establishment of the theme system, the region became part of the Armeniac Theme, until ca. 820, when it formed the new theme of Chaldia, again with Trapezus as its capital. Until the eastern gains in the latter 10th century, Chaldia remained the northeastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire. During the periods 1091/5-1098 and 1126-1140, the theme was practically autonomous from the Byzantine government. During the first period, under its doux, Theodore Gabras, the region had been cut off from the remaining Byzantine territories by the Seljuk Turks, while during the second, doux Constantine Gabras had rebelled against emperor John II Komnenos. Following the dissolution of the Empire by the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the region became part of the new Empire of Trebizond. Indeed, by the 14th century, the Empire was reduced practically to the territory of the old theme. The Empire managed to survive through successive upheavals by a combination of its inaccessible location, a small but capable army and a sound diplomacy based on marriage alliances, before finally falling to the Ottomans in 1461. Even thereafter, isolated fortresses in the interior continued to resist. Only in 1479 was the region subdued, when the castle of Golacha, the last remaining Christian stronghold in Asia Minor, fell. Significant numbers of Pontic Greeks remained in the region throughout the Ottoman period, until the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

Sources

• Anthony Bryer, David Winfield: Byzantine Monuments and Topography of the Pontos, Volume 1. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1985, ISBN 0-88402-122-X. 
• James Allan Stewart Evans: The Age of Justinian: The Circumstances of Imperial Power. Routledge, 2000, ISBN 978-0-415-23726-0. 
• Vorlage:El icon Vorlage:En icon Sofia Gyftopoulou: Chaldia (Byzantium). Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World, 3. Oktober 2005, abgerufen am 15. Februar 2009. 
• William Smith: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Little, Brown & Co., 1854 (google.com). 
• Richard J. A. Talbert: Barrington atlas of the Greek and Roman world map-by-map directory: Map-by-map Directory. Princeton University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-691-04945-8 (google.com). 
• Warren T. Treadgold: Byzantium and Its Army, 284–1081. Stanford University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-8047-3163-2. 
• Warren T. Treadgold: A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2.