The Theme of Bosporos According to Sigillography

Abstract

In 1895 G. Schlumberger published the seal of Arkadios, protospatharios and strategos of Bosporos. In 2008, I. Jordanov published the second find of similar seal found in Preslav. The strategos of Bosporos appeared in the Taktikon of 975, published by N. Oikonomides. According to written sources, Preslav was conquered by Byzantium in 971 and remained under its control as long as 986. According to the Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon, during negotiations with Prince Sviatoslav in 971, the Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes demanded that the Prince of Kiev “should take the pay promised by the emperor Nikephoros <…> and should return to his own territory and the Cimmerian Bosporos.” This way, the establishment of the theme of Bosporos was a consequence of the appearance of the Rus’, before 971, on the shores of the Straits of Bosporos, where the so-called Tmutorokan Principality occurred in a later period. The theme in question existed for a short time. The seal of Leo, imperial spatharios and tourmarches of Gothia, was discovered in the area under study. The second find of this seal originates from Chersonese. The appearance of Leo’s seal indicates the changes in the structure of the Byzantine theme administration in Taurica in the 970s.