Asia Minor Slavs

With Asia Minor Slavs southern Slavic tribes are called, who were resettled by the Byzantine Empire from the Balkans to Anatolia.

History

After the Balkan campaigns of Maurikios ( 582-602 ) large federations of Slavs were forcibly moved to Asia Minor, to secure the border with the Umayyad Caliphate.

The city Gordo Servon (Serbian Srbograd, Гордосервон, Greek Gορδοσερβα ) in Bithynia was a Byzantine city inhabited by Serbs. The name is derived from the Serbs, who were about 649 (or 667) resettled by the Byzantine emperor Constans II to Asia Minor. Isidore, Bishop of Gordo Servon is mentioned 680/681. The fact that this village was the seat of a bishop, suggests that it housed a large Serbian population. A Byzantine army of 30,000 Slavs (mostly Serbs ) was defeated by the Umayyads in 692 at the Battle of Sebastopolis because of widespread Serbian desertion. To escape, they were persuaded by Muhammad ibn Marwan, who reminded her of her forcibly uprooting and poor treatment by the emperor. Around the year 1200, the city is called Servochoria ( Serbian village).

In the year 658 and 688/9, the Byzantines settled Slavs to Bithynia. Justinian II ( 685-695 ) also moved many Slavs, which he had captured in Thrace, Asia Minor in order to increase the team's strengths there. Most Slavs deserted but in the first battle with the Arabs. Under the reign of Constantine V ( r. 741-775 ) were resettled many Slavs because of the constant pressure by the Bulgarians from the north of Greece to Asia Minor.

The best known of the small Asian Slavs was Thomas the Slav, a military commander who could bring in the 820ern behind a good part of the empire during the ultimately unsuccessful revolt against Emperor Michael II. Although the chronicler calls him Joseph Genesios from the 10th Century " by Thomas Gouzourou Lake, of Armenian origin ", keeping the most modern historians suspect him to be a Slav and his birthplace at Gaziura in Pontus.

The Slavs of the topic of Opsikion ( Sklabesianoi ) existed as an independent group even in the 10th century, where she served as Marines in the Byzantine fleet.