Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · The Byzantine Empire (the Empire of the Romans) · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Opsikion and Aigaion

The old Opsikion theme, joined with the theme of the Aegean (Aigaion) at some point in the twelfth century, covers the southern shore of the Sea of Marmara and the Hellespont: Kyzikos, Pegai, Lampsakos and Abydos, the customs fortress at the narrows, with the Troad behind.

The chrysobull of 1198 and the partition of 1204 also name two small units here: Achyraous, a Komnenian fortress district probably near Balikesir, and Lopadion, John II's bridge fortress on the Rhyndakos, treated as an imperial estate (episkepsis) in 1198. The Abydos toll on straits shipping is one of the treasury's main revenues. On 1 January 1200 all is imperial and quiet; no governor is named.

Who he is

Title
The emperor's governor of Opsikion and Aigaion, with the small provinces of Achyraous and Lopadion beside it
Since
not pinned
Born
not pinned
Family
not pinned
Confidence
low

No governor is named for 1199-1200; the seat is not pinned (Abydos used here as the main place).

Overlord

The emperor Alexios III Angelos (Byzantium).

What it holds

  • Abydos (Abydos), the Hellespont customs
  • Lampsakos (Lampsakos) facing Gallipoli
  • Pegai (Pegai) and Kyzikos (Kyzikos) on the Propontis
  • Lopadion (Lopadion), an imperial estate in 1198
  • Achyraous, a fortress district probably near Balikesir (site not pinned)
  • The Troad

How it was acquired

Imperial since the reconquest of the 1090s.

Allies and rivals

None of its own.

How things stand that morning

Imperial. Inland, the hills toward Sindirgi and Dursunbey are frontier country where Turkmen graze (not dated for 1199).

Wealth

The Abydos toll; wine, grain and fish of the Propontis shore; the crossings to Thrace.

Military

Abydos and the coastal forts; no figures.

Threats

  • Raiders by sea (Italian corsairs in the Aegean in the 1190s)

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Province names only; nothing dated for 1199-1200.

On the map: Province bounds reconstructed from the provincial lists.

Primary sources for Byzantium

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
  • History of Niketas Choniates, Niketas Choniates (about 1185 to 1217, in stages, with a final revision in exile at Nicaea after 1204). The central narrative for the Byzantine Empire under Alexios III Angelos: the Bulgarian and Vlach war under Kaloyan, the breakaway of Ivanko in the Rhodopes and his capture by treachery in 1200, Dobromir Chrysos at Prosek and Strumica and the emperor's campaign and settlement with him, the Cuman raids into Thrace, John Komnenos the Fat's one-day revolt at Constantinople on 31 July 1200, the loosening of imperial control in the provinces and the rise of Leo Sgouros, and the court's fiscal abuses. Read online
  • The Capture of Constantinople, Gunther of Pairis (about 1205 to 1210). Written at the Cistercian abbey of Pairis in Alsace from the account of its abbot Martin, who preached the crusade at Basel in 1200 (Gunther gives the sermon) and led a contingent from the Upper Rhine. Read online
  • The Conquest of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, knight of Picardy (about 1205 to 1216). A rank-and-file crusader's account that begins with the preaching of the crusade and the taking of the cross in 1199 to 1200 by the counts of Flanders, Blois and Champagne and by the Picard lords, among them Peter of Amiens, Robert's own lord, then the negotiations with Venice. Read online
  • The Palace Revolution of John Komnenos (31 July 1200), Nicholas Mesarites (1200 or soon after). An eyewitness narrative of the one-day coup of John Komnenos the Fat at Constantinople on 31 July 1200: the crowning of the usurper in Hagia Sophia, the mob's plunder of the Great Palace, the stand of the palace clergy and the guard at the church of the Virgin of the Pharos, where Mesarites was skeuophylax, and the recovery of the palace by Alexios III's men that night. Read online
  • History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
  • The Conquest of Constantinople (Villehardouin), Geoffrey of Villehardouin (about 1207 to 1213). Opens with the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly and the tournament at Ecry (28 November 1199) where Theobald III of Champagne and Louis of Blois took the cross, then the taking of the cross by Baldwin of Flanders, Hugh of Saint-Pol, Geoffrey of Perche and others through early 1200, the assemblies at Soissons and Compiegne in 1200, and the six envoys sent to Venice in the winter of 1200 to 1201. Read online
  • The History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online

7 more in the sources library for The Balkans and Byzantium.

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia: Opsikion
  2. Wikipedia: Partitio terrarum imperii Romaniae (with the Asian provinces of 1198 and 1204)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.