Katepano

The katepánō (Greek: κατεπάνω; lit. '[the one] placed at the top', or lit. 'the topmost') was a senior Byzantine military rank and office. The word was Latinized as capetanus/catepan, and its meaning seems to have merged with that of the Italian "capitaneus" (which derives from the Latin word "caput", meaning head). This hybridized term gave rise to the English language term captain and its equivalents in other languages (Capitan, Kapitan, Kapitän, El Capitán, Il Capitano, Kapudan Pasha etc.)

History

The katepáno first appears in the 9th century, when it was used in the generic sense of "the one in charge" by two officials: the head of the basilikoi anthrōpoi ("imperial men"), a class of low-level court functionaries, and the head of the Mardaites marine detachments of the Byzantine naval theme of the Cibyrrhaeots in southern Asia Minor.^[1] On the eve of the great eastern conquests of the 960s, however, the title acquired a more specific meaning.

The reconquered frontier zones were divided into smaller themata, and grouped together to form large regional commands, headed either by a doux ("duke") or a katepanō.^[2] These were the ducates/katepanates^[3] of Antioch, covering the south-eastern frontier in northern Syria, of Mesopotamia in the east around the Euphrates, and of Chaldia in the north-east.^[4] During the reign of Emperor Basil II (r. 976–1025), the eastern border was further expanded, and the katepanate of Iberia was established in 1022.

In the West, the most famous katepanate, that of southern Italy, is attested in the Escorial Taktikon, a list of offices compiled circa 971–975, and after the successful conclusion of the Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars, a katepanō of Bulgaria is also attested.^[4] A Serbian catepanate is also attested, which was known as the "katepano of Ras".^[5]

With the catastrophic territorial losses suffered during the 11th century, the office disappears in the sense of the overall military commander, but is retained in a more local level: during the Komnenian and Palaiologan periods, the term katepanikion thus comes to denote low-level administrative areas, both in Asia Minor (including the Empire of Trebizond) and Europe.^[1]

These were small subdivisions of the earlier themata, and consisted of little more than a fortified capital (the kastron) and its surrounding territory. In the Palaiologan era, the katepanikion was governed by a kephalē (Greek: κεφαλή, "head"), who had supreme civil and military authority within its bounds.^[6] Like many other Byzantine institutions, the katepanikion as an administrative subdivision was also adopted in the Second Bulgarian Empire.

References

^ ^a ^b ODB, "Katepano" (A. Kazhdan), pp. 1115–1116.
^ Haldon 1999, pp. 84–85.
^ Note that the original Byzantine term for a territory ruled by a katepanō was katepanikion. The term katepanate/catepanate, used in modern scholarship, is of recent origin. (ODB, "Katepano" (A. Kazhdan), pp. 1115–1116.)
^ ^a ^b Holmes 2005, pp. 301–302.
^ Krsmanović 2008, pp. 186, 189.
^ Bartusis 1997, pp. 33–34, 189–190, 236.

Sources

Bartusis, Mark C. (1997). The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society 1204–1453. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-1620-2.
Haldon, John (1999). Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565–1204. London: UCL Press. ISBN 1-85728-495-X.
Holmes, Catherine (2005). Basil II and the Governance of Empire (976–1025). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-927968-5.
Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
Krsmanović, Bojana (2008). The Byzantine Province in Change: On the Threshold Between the 10th and the 11th Century. Belgrade: Institute for Byzantine Studies. ISBN 9789603710608.
Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Runciman, Steven (1988) [1929]. The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and His Reign: A Study of Tenth-Century Byzantium. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521357227.

Preceding	Roman Empire Later Roman Empire
Early (330–717)	Constantinian–Valentinianic era Constantinian dynasty Valentinianic dynasty Theodosian era Leonid era Justinian era Heraclian era "Byzantine Dark Ages" Twenty Years' Anarchy
Middle (717–1204)	Isaurian era Nikephorian era Amorian era Macedonian era Doukid era Komnenian era Angelid era
Late (1204–1453)	Sack of Constantinople Fourth Crusade Frankokratia Latin Empire Byzantine successor states (Nicaea / Epirus–Thessalonica / Morea / Trebizond–Theodoro) Palaiologan era Decline of the Byzantine Empire Fall of Constantinople
By modern region or territory	Albania Anatolia Armenia Bulgaria Corsica Crete Cyprus Dalmatia Egypt Greece Italy Sardinia Sicily Maghreb Malta Mesopotamia Serbia Spain (Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands) Syria Thrace

Governance

Central

Emperors Coronation Family tree Empresses Imperial bureaucracy Medieval Greek Senate
Early	Praetorian prefects Magister officiorum Comes sacrarum largitionum Comes rerum privatarum Quaestor sacri palatii
Middle	Logothetes tou dromou Sakellarios Logothetes tou genikou Logothetes tou stratiotikou Chartoularios tou sakelliou Chartoularios tou vestiariou Epi tou eidikou Protasekretis Epi ton deeseon
Late	Megas logothetes Mesazon

Provincial

Early	Praetorian prefectures Dioceses Provinces Quaestura exercitus Exarchate of Ravenna Exarchate of Africa
Middle	Themata Kleisourai Bandon Catepanates
Late	Kephale Despotates

Foreign relations

Military

Army

Battle tactics Battles Beacon Generals Mercenaries Military manuals Military units Revolts Wars
Early	Late Roman army East Roman army Foederati Bucellarii Scholae Palatinae Excubitors
Middle	Themata Kleisourai Tourma Droungos Bandon Tagmata Domestic of the Schools Hetaireia Akritai Varangian Guard
Late	Komnenian army Pronoia Vestiaritai Palaiologan army Allagion Paramonai Grand domestic

Navy

Religion and law

Religion	Eastern Orthodoxy Byzantine Rite Hesychasm Patriarchate of Constantinople Saints Oriental Orthodoxy Alexandrian Rite Armenian Rite West Syriac Rite Miaphysitism Ecumenical councils Arianism Monophysitism Paulicianism Iconoclasm Great Schism Bogomilism Mount Athos Missionary activity Bulgaria Moravia Serbs Kievan Rus' Jews
Law	Codex Theodosianus Corpus Juris Civilis Code of Justinian Ecloga Basilika Hexabiblos Mutilation

Culture and society

Architecture

Secular Sacred Cross-in-square Domes
Constantinople	Basilica Cistern Baths of Zeuxippus Blachernae Palace Chora Church City Walls Great Palace of Constantinople Hagia Irene Hagia Sophia Hippodrome Pammakaristos Church Prison of Anemas
Thessalonica	Arch of Galerius and Rotunda Byzantine Bath Hagia Sophia Hagios Demetrios Panagia Chalkeon Walls of Thessaloniki
Ravenna	San Vitale Sant'Apollinare in Classe Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
Other locations	Daphni Monastery Hosios Loukas Nea Moni of Chios Panagia Gorgoepikoos Saint Catherine's Monastery Mystras

Art

Economy

Literature

Everyday life

Science
Learning

Impact
Byzantine commonwealth Byzantine studies Museums Byzantinism Cyrillic script Neo-Byzantine architecture Greek scholars in the Renaissance Third Rome Megali Idea

v t e Greek terms for administrative divisions
Modern	Decentralised Admninistrations Autonomous Monastic Society Region Regional Unit Municipality Municipal Unit Community
Defunct	General Admnistration * Prefecture (Super-Prefecture, Prefectural Department) * Province * Municipal Department* Communal Department * Municipal Community * Local Community
Historical	archontia/archontaton bandon demos despotaton dioikesis doukaton droungos eparchia exarchaton katepanikion kephalatikion kleisoura meris naukrareia satrapeia strategis thema toparchia tourma

This page was last edited on 22 December 2023, at 01:59

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