Doukaton and Greek-orthodox patriarchate of Antioch in the middle Byzantine period (969-1084)

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Klaus-Peter Todt
• Subject Area: Greek and Latin Philology ; Medieval History
• Term: Funded in 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 446733966

Subject of my monograph is the political, administrative and ecclesiastical history of Cilicia and Northern Syria in the years 969-1084. During this period Cilicia and Northern Syria were again part of the Byzantine Empire. The region was organized as a military government (in Greek doukaton). By a detailed analyse of the literary sources in Greek, Syriac, Arabic and Armenian and the sigillographic source material it was possible despite the loss of contemporary documents to reconstruct not only the prosopography of the military governors (in Greek doukes or katepanō) of Antioch, but also the military organization and the civil administration of the region. I found that until ca. 1050 the military government of Antioch was the most important of the Byzantine empire, at times defended by ca. 20.000 soldiers. Only persons with experience as military governors in other provinces of the empire or as commanders of units of the central army (in Greek tagmata) and in special relationship with the reigning emperors were sent to administer Antioch and to command the armed forces. After the reconquest of Antioch by Byzantine forces the Greek-orthodox patriarchate of the city was reintegrated in the Orthodox Church of the Byzantine Empire. For the reconstruction of the history of the Greek-orthodox patriarchs of Antioch between 970 and 1100, of the reorganisation of the administrative structure of the patriarchate and the history of the cathedral and the churches of Antioch the first complete edition of the Taktikon of the monk Nicon of the Black Mountain (published in 2014 by Christian Hannick), the most important contemporary source, was utilized. Chapter 7 is concerned with the ecclesiastical provinces of the Greek-orthodox patriarchate of Antioch within Byzantine Syria, but also with the catholicata and ecclesiastical provinces located beyond the political frontiers of the Byzantine Empire in Georgia and in Western and Central Asia. In my study their history was reconstructed and analysed likewise as the history of the monasteries in the ecclesiastical provinces of the patriarchate of Antioch.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants