Lucania (theme)

Theme of Lucania
Theme of the Byzantine Empire
c. 968 – 1050s
Map of Byzantine themes in Italy (yellow) c. 1000.
Capital	Tursi
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Reorganization of Byzantine Italy	c. 968
• Norman conquest of southern Italy	19 December

Lucania was a Byzantine province (theme) in southern Italy that was probably established c. 968, under Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas.

History

It was situated between the two older Byzantine provinces of Longobardia in the east and Calabria in the west, and was formed to encompass Lombard-populated areas of the theme of Longobardia where Byzantine Greeks from Calabria had settled in the early 10th century (the regions of Latinianon, Lagonegro and Mercurion).

Tursi was chosen as the theme's capital and also as the seat of a new metropolitan bishopric to encompass the province. The theme of Lucania was probably under the overall authority of the Catepan of Italy at Bari.

The Lucania Theme lasted nearly one hundred years: from 968 to 1050 AD. It was fully conquered by the Normans, with the help of the Longobards of the Principate of Salerno.

The province corresponds roughly to the modern Italian region of Basilicata.

See also

• Catapanate of Italy
• Mercurion (a territory situated along the Calabrian-Lucanian border)
• History of Tursi

Sources

• Loud, G.A. (2000). "Southern Italy in the tenth century". In Reuter, Timothy (ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume 3, c.900–c.1024. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 624–645. ISBN 978-1-13905572-7.
• Guillou, André (1965). "La Lucanie byzantine: Étude de géographie historique". Byzantion (in French). 35: 119–149.