Macedonia (theme)

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Approximate extent of the thema of Macedonia, superimposed on modern borders.

Macedonia was a thema (θέμα, meaning a province) of the Byzantine Empire, organised by Empress Irene, about 800, out of the Theme of Strymon. It included the area from Adrianople and the Evros valley eastward along the Sea of Marmara; Adrianople was the capital of the theme. It did not include the territory of ancient Macedon, which (insofar as the Byzantines controlled it) was the Theme of Thessalonica which is a part of Macedonia. According to Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, it included also Thessaly, regions of Trikalia and Larissa, and even island Skiathos; this view is, however, controversial. John I Tzimisces replaced this with a duchy of Adrianople, which included much of his Bulgarian conquests.

[edit] References

Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and society (1997), pp. 421, 478, et passim.
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, De Thematibus, Lib. II.