Organization
The term thema was ambiguous, referring both to a form of military tenure and to an administrative division. A theme was an arrangement of plots of land given for farming to the soldiers. The soldiers were still technically a military unit, under the command of a strategos, and they did not own the land they worked as it was still controlled by the state. Therefore, for its use the soldiers' pay was reduced. By accepting this proposition, the participants agreed that their descendants would also serve in the military and work in a theme, thus simultaneously reducing the need for unpopular conscription as well as cheaply maintaining the military. It also allowed for the settling of conquered lands, as there was always a substantial addition made to public lands during a conquest.
The commander of a theme, however, did not only command his soldiers. He united the civil and military jurisdictions in the territorial area in question. Thus the division set up by Diocletian between civil governors (praesides etc.) and military commanders (duces etc.) was abolished, and the Empire returned to a system much more similar to that of the Republic or the Principate, where provincial governors had also commanded the armies in their area.
The following table illustrates the thematic structure as found in the Thracesian Theme, circa 902-936:
| Structure of the Thema Thrakēsiōn | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Number of personnel | Number of subordinate units | Officer in command | |||||||
| Thema | 9,600 | 4 Tourmai | Strategos | |||||||
| Tourma | 2,400 | 6 Droungoi | Tourmarches | |||||||
| Droungos | 400 | 2 Banda | Droungarios | |||||||
| Bandon | 200 | 2 Kentarchiai | Count | |||||||
| Kentarchia | 100 | 10 Kontoubernia | Kentarches/Hekatontarches | |||||||
| 50 | 5 Kontoubernia | Pentekontarches | ||||||||
| Kontoubernion | 10 | 1 "Vanguard" + 1 "Rear Guard" | Dekarchos | |||||||
| "Vanguard" | 5 | n/a | Pentarches | |||||||
| "Rear Guard" | 4 | n/a | Tetrarches | |||||||
Read more about this topic: Theme (Byzantine District)
Famous quotes containing the word organization:
“Democracy means the organization of society for the benefit and at the expense of everybody indiscriminately and not for the benefit of a privileged class.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“Unless a group of workers know their work is under surveillance, that they are being rated as fairly as human beings, with the fallibility that goes with human judgment, can rate them, and that at least an attempt is made to measure their worth to an organization in relative terms, they are likely to sink back on length of service as the sole reason for retention and promotion.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Democracy is the wholesome and pure air without which a socialist public organization cannot live a full-blooded life.”
—Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931)