Anatolic Theme

Theme of the Anatolics Άνατολικόν θέμα, θέμα Άνατολικῶν
Theme of the Byzantine Empire
640s/660s – c. 1078
The Byzantine themes of Asia Minor in circa 740
Capital	Amorium Polybotos
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Established	before 669
• Fall to the Seljuks.	c. 1078
Today part of	Turkey

The Anatolic Theme (Greek: Άνατολικόν [θέμα], Anatolikon [thema]), more properly known as the Theme of the Anatolics (Greek: θέμα Άνατολικῶν, thema Anatolikōn), was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) in central Asia Minor (modern Turkey). From its establishment, it was the largest and senior-most of the themes, and its military governors (stratēgoi) were powerful individuals, several of them rising to the imperial throne or launching failed rebellions to capture it. The theme and its army played an important role in the Arab–Byzantine wars of the 7th–10th centuries, after which it enjoyed a period of relative peace that lasted until its conquest by the Seljuk Turks in the late 1070s.