1. The Historical Context
Already by the late 9th c., Byzantium solidifies its rule over Southern Greece in its entirety, while late-coming populations, especially Slavs, become gradually Hellenised. A firm political and military administration in the form of the thematic institution, as well as a new ecclesiastical organisation and a remarkable financial prosperity has become entrenched and bear fruit. Within this context, we find Boeotia belonging to the Hellas Theme, Thebes being the permanent capital of the latter. The same region was coveted by the adversaries of Byzantium, mostly the Bulgarians but also Arabs, either from Crete or from Africa. These were the enemies that the Empire had to confront. Their raids on Byzantine lands appear to have been short-term and restricted to looting, but there was an ulterior motive about them as well: the conquest of these lands and their annexation. Thus, Cretan and North African Arabs sieged Salonica (904) and pursued their activities as pirates at the Aegean and the coast of Thessaly, Eastern Roumeli (with the lootings of Demetriada and Attica) and the Peloponnese, aiming at subverting the resistance of the Empire, an aim which they would not eventually meet. Instead, the Byzantine state took the offensive by attacking their base at Crete and evicting them from the Eastern Mediterranean.
However, during that century it was mostly Bulgarians who declared their intent and actively sought to conquer the mainland Greek region (sometimes not unsuccessfully) and annex it to their own ‘Kingdom of Bulgarians and Romans’, as they styled it. They were interested in supplanting the “Roman” emperors of Constantinople and establishing their own Bulgarian Empire of Eastern Christendom. The tsars who led these operations had a Byzantine upbringing and were of the same religious denomination, which made them all the more dangerous. This was the context within which their raids at the Southern Greek region and Boeotia is to be examined.
2. Raids in Southern Greece and Boeotia
2.1. Invasion and pillages during the reign of Tsar Simeon (918-927)
The first Bulgarian invasion in the region took place in 918; Bulgarian presence there seems to have lasted for about a decade. Tsar Simeon, would-be ‘King in Christ of Bulgarians and Romans’, didn’t need any pretexts to invade Southern Greece: the area was naturally on a geographical continuum with regard to the Bulgarian dominions in Northern Greece, was highly developed, financially and demographically, was without military defense and at a distance from the (already terrorized) Byzantine capital. Following the victories of the Bulgarians at Anchialos and Katasyrtes in Thrace (917), Simeon could invade Southern Greece unimpeded. His army crossed Thermopyles, entered the Boeotian valley, turned toward the Corinthian coast and occasionally crossed the bay and reached Peloponnese. Terrorised inhabitants left their villages, taking refuge at citadels, fortified towns, the islets of the Corinthian Gulf, or wherever else they could, as we are told by the biographer of Hosios Loukas of Steiris, our only source.
The Boeotian countryside, as well as other parts of Southern Greece, is now seized by the Bulgarian tsar. We don’t know what sort of administrative apparatus Simeon might have been able to establish, or what exactly happened at fortified cities, such as Thebes. There is a marginal note in a manuscript from the library of Arethas, bishop of Caesarea, which records his worries over the fate of the city (δέδοικα μη και ταύτην [την Καδμείαν=Θήβα] Βούλγαροι κατεστρέψαντο: «I'm affraid that the Bulgarians may have destoyed Kadmeia [i.e. Thebes]»). Recent archeological evidence suggests a mid-century devastation that can only be explained by an enemy army invasion, as has been noted by archeologist Charicleia Koilakou. In any case, Bulgarian control on the land must have been restricted to taxation, such that once Simeon died (927) his army left Boeotia and its inhabitants returned safely to their homes, again according to the Life of Hosios Loukas (§47: «ο αλιτήριος Συμεών εξ ανθρώπων γίνεται [δηλ. πέθανε]... ηνίκα και πάντων επί τας οικείας πόλεις τε και κώμας ανασωζομένων...»).
2.2. Invasion during the reign of czar Samuel (986-996)
The second time Bulgarians posed a threat for the Southern Greek region was in between 986 and 996. In all likelihood, there occurred a repetition of what happened during the reign of Simeon. Setting off from their base at Larissa, the Bulgarians led their armies to S. Greece, looting and taking numerous captives. At its very start, the chronicle of Galaxidi relates the facts of one such case: “In the reign of King Constantine Romanos, ferocious and unchristian people called Borgarians entered Greece, massacred the Christians by sword and spear and headed to the Moreas [Peloponnese]”. It appears that in these raids the Bulgarians were not confronted with any powerful local resistance, the only possible exception being the Corinthian Isthmus. Undoubtedly the must have also looted the rich villages and monasteries of Boeotia on this campaign.
In one such raid, upon returning to their base with their booty of goods and people, they encountered the Byzantine army of Nikephoros Ouranos by Spercheios River (996). Their destruction was impressive: only Samuel and his son Radomir were able to escape in the night-time and return to a steadier base, 400 km to the north, at Ochrid. Their whole army was destroyed during that nocturnal onslaught unleashed by the Byzantines. That was the end of the Bulgarian presence in Southern Greece. After a few years, Emperor Basil II succeeded in subjugating the Bulgarian state (1018).
The tour of the victorious emperor in Southern Greece, its end point being Athens before his triumphant return to Constantinople, could be seen as a curtain call of this period. During this tour, Basil most likely visited Thebes, the capital of the Theme of Hellas, even though this is not mentioned anywhere in our sources.Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World, Boeotia
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