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A MEDITERRANEAN WORLD?
PART II
THE PHYSICAL
WORLD:
LANDSCAPE,
LAND USE,
AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
II.3. THE POLITICAL
GEOGRAPHY OF
THE BYZANTINE
WORLD
CHAPTER II.3.I
G e o g r a p h i c a l
S u r v e y
M a r k w h i t t ow
ITSgeography is the key to the history of the Byzantine world. It defined its strategic
possibilities and challenges; set limits to the resources that the empire and its inhabitants
could draw upon and exploit; and imposed a template on the movement of
goods and people. The Roman empire of the sixth century—Byzantium before the
rise of Islam—was essentially the eastern half of the Roman empire of the fourth
and fifth centuries with the addition of varying territories in the central and western
Mediterranean. Its core territories lay in the east: the Balkan peninsula, Anatolia,
the western Transcaucasus, the Levant, northern Mesopotamia, and Egypt. Long
before its end in 1453 most of this area had been lost to the empire, but even in its
last two centuries this was still the wider geographical context in which Byzantium
continued to exist.
A MEDITERRANEAN WORLD?
Introducing the Byzantine world in this way is to minimize the empire as a Mediterranean
state. As a geographical region the Mediterranean is defined by its climate:
hot dry summers, mild wet winters. (Almost everywhere else rain either falls in
the hot season, or throughout the year.) It is also characterized by its vegetation,
most obviously by the rarity of forests and the widespread presence of scrub
and grassland, or by the olive, which is almost confined to the region (Grove
and Rackham 2001: 11; Braudel 1972-3: i, 231-67). Recently Horden and Purcell
(2000: 9-25) have focused attention on the Mediterranean as a conglomeration
of microregions, a region united by its extreme variety, tied together through the
medium of the sea. By any of these measures only the Mediterranean islands and the
coastal fringes of the Balkans, western and southern Anatolia, and the Levant can
be regarded as 'Mediterranean'. Justinian's conquests in the sixth century brought
significant Mediterranean territories under imperial control: Africa (effectively
modern Tunisia), Sicily, Italy, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearics, and southern Spain
(see II.3.2B Political-historical survey, 518-800). If Herakleios had moved the capital
to Carthage or Constans II to Syracuse, that would certainly have created a Mediterranean
empire, but a state with a capital at Constantinople inevitably had a rather
different orientation, Balkan and Anatolian, terrestrial and continental as much
as Mediterranean, maritime, and insular (Whittow 1 9 9 6 : 1 6 3 ) . Even the Aegean, a
classic Mediterranean environment by any definition, was for most of Byzantium's
existence rather marginal save at particular periods, such as between the conquest
of Crete in 961 and the Venetian conquests that followed 1204 (Malamut 1988:
25-104). The empire of the final two centuries may have been largely confined to
Mediterranean territories, but, with the sea dominated by the Italians, Palaiologan
Byzantium existed in the Mediterranean rather than itself being a Mediterranean
empire (see II.3.2D Political-historical survey, 1204-1453).
THE BALKANS
The Balkan peninsula stretches from the Sava and Danube rivers in the north to
Greece and the Peloponnese in the south. It is bounded to the west by the Adriatic
and Ionian seas, and to the east by the Black Sea and the Aegean. The most obvious
physical features of the peninsula are the major mountain ranges. In the west a
mountainous spine runs from near the head of the Adriatic to the Peloponnese.
In the north this is formed by the Dinaric Alps, further south by the mountains
of Montenegro and Albania, further south still by the Pindos range which carries
on beyond the Gulf of Patras in the mountains of the Peloponnese, finally reaching
the sea with Capes Mani and Malea. On the east side of the Balkans, running in a
curve from the Iron Gates on the Danube to the Black Sea is the Haimos or Balkan
range. South of these, running towards the Aegean are the Rhodope mountains
(Obolensky 1971: 5-15; Branigan and Jarrett 1969: 320-5, 293-7; Cvijic 1918: 17-35,
47-79).
None of these mountain ranges, even the Dinaric Alps or the Rhodope, the
two most effective barriers, is strictly speaking impassable. It is easy too to forget
the possibility of movement along the grain of these ranges, following high paths
that link peak to peak and pasture to pasture. These were the routes followed
by twentieth-century guerrillas as much as by fourteenth- and fifteenth-century
Albanian migrants. Nonetheless for most of the population, and certainly for
armies and anyone trying to cross the peninsula in winter, travel and transport was
funnelled by these mountains along predictable paths (Hammond 1967: 25-7; 1976:
52-3,59-61, 69-76).
Constantinople was a Balkan city. From the imperial capital two main land routes
linked Byzantium with the west. The first, Via Egnatia, follows the Aegean coast,
keeping south of the Rhodope as far as Thessalonike, where it sets off across the
mountains and upland basins of Macedonia and Albania to reach the Adriatic at
Dyrrachion, and thence the short sea crossing to Italy, Brindisi, and Rome (Hammond
1972-88: i, 19-58). The second route, usually known to modern historians
as the 'military highway', crosses Thrace to Adrianople (Edirne) and then travels
along the valley of the Maritsa between the Haimos and the Rhodope to reach
Serdica (Sofia). From there the highway crosses into the Morava valley via the
Dragoman pass, and heads north to join the Danube near Singidunum (Belgrade),
and north-west along the valley of the Sava to reach Italy at the head of the Adriatic.
The two routes are linked via the Morava-Vardar gap which joins Thessalonike to
Singidunum (Obolensky 1971:16-24; see also II.4 Communications).
Settlement is equally determined. Again it is easy to miss and underestimate
settlement in the mountains, and at the same time to overestimate that in the plains.
Many Balkan plains look very different now to how they appeared before the major
drainage projects of the last century and a half. But this does not obviate the fact that
in the Byzantine period the major agricultural areas and hence the major centres
of population in the Balkans were the riverine and coastal plains, and the inland
alluvial basins (Hammond 1972-88: i, 9-10). The largest and most important were
the plains along the Danube and in Thrace, but they are exceptional; the typical
Balkan landscape is of much smaller plains, often isolated from the main routes
unless they have access to the sea. Shaped by its mountains the Balkans is naturally
a fragmented world, only given temporary unity by such outside powers as the
Roman empire (Obolensky 1971: 5-15; Curta 2006: 415-37).
THE STEPPES
North of the Balkans lie the Hungarian plains, in a European context a huge flat
expanse, but seen on a bigger scale, only a tiny outlier of the vast Eurasian steppe
grasslands that stretch east more than 6000 kilometres to Lake Baikal and the Inner
Asian frontiers of China. Bounded to the north by the Russian forests and to the
south by seas, deserts, and mountains, the steppes are the Eurasian equivalent of the
American prairies, a distinctive environment that distinctive societies have grown
up to exploit—in this case Eurasian steppe nomads (Chibiliyov 2002:248-66; Taaffe
1990: 30-5; Obolensky 1971: 34-7). One need only think of such nomad empires
as Attila's Huns or Genghiz Khan's Mongols to see the significance of the steppe
world.
Chinese and Persian history may be seen fundamentally in terms of the relationship
between a settled empire and its nomad neighbours, with both histories being
marked by nomad conquests—the most recent such conquest of China being that
by the Manchus in 1644 which created the dynasty that ruled until 1911 (Barfield
1989). Byzantium's relationship was inevitably different because the geography of
that relationship was different. The Avars came closest to achieving the equivalent
conquest of Byzantium by a steppe power, but leaving aside the particular reasons
that led to their failure in 626, the core of Byzantium was always too distant
and too alien an environment to make for easy domination. Making contact with
steppe rulers usually involved leaving Constantinople by boat and heading for the
northern or eastern shores of the Black Sea. One of the functions of Cherson in the
Crimea was as a listening post onto the steppe world (Obolensky 1971: 28-32). By
land Byzantium was always separated by either the Transcaucasus or the Balkans, in
both cases buffering the empire from the steppe world.
ANATOLIA
If Constantinople was a Balkan city, it was also an Anatolian city with a hinterland
in north-western Anatolia around the Sea of Marmara. Indeed between the seventh
and tenth century the empire was not a great deal more than the imperial city
plus Anatolia. Like the Balkans, the geography of Anatolia is perhaps most easily
grasped through its mountains. The peninsula is essentially a high plateau with an
infertile salt lake at its centre. The plateau is surrounded by mountains, but not
in a way that makes Anatolia a perfect natural fortress. The grain of the landscape
runs west to east. To north and south respectively the Pontos and Taurus ranges
create narrow coastal strips with high mountains behind. To the south-east, towards
Syria and Iraq the grain acts as a barrier to movement, channelling armies and
travellers through a number of key passes: the Cilician Gates, the Ergani pass,
and the Bitlis pass being particularly important. To the west the grain creates
long and fertile river valleys, notably the Maeander (Menderes) and the Hermos
(Gediz). To the east the mountains are a formidable barrier, but to movement from
north to south rather than from east to west. Anatolia is therefore well provided
with natural defences against an invader coming from Damascus or even Baghdad,
but not against an invader, like the eleventh-century Turks, that comes from
the east (Naval Intelligence Division 1942-3:19-22,145-52,154-8; Hutteroth 1982:
45-95).
The largest and most fertile agricultural zones of Anatolia are on the western
and southern coasts, and historically these regions, with a milder climate than
the plateau itself, have been the richest and most densely populated areas of the
peninsula. The prolific remains of Roman monumental buildings in these regions
are evidence enough. The northern coast is equally fertile and better watered, but
the coastal strip between the Black Sea and the mountains is for the most part
extremely narrow. That said, the importance of the rest of the plateau should not
be missed. Some extensive parts are no more than bleak semi-desert in the rain
shadow of the coastal ranges, but the plateau also contains substantial agricultural
plains and alluvial basins, some like the Konya basin of considerable size, and where
water is available these can be very productive. Cappadocia is typical in being more
productive than it appears at first sight. A shortage of surface water can be offset by
exploiting underground aquifers, and the sometimes rather poor soil enriched by
the use of guano (Hiitteroth 1982:49-61; Naval Intelligence Division 1942-3:103-16,
121-42,152-4,160-8). As with the Balkans, it is worth remembering too, that the
mountains are not uninhabited. Leaving aside the high summer pastures (yaylar)
traditionally exploited by seasonal transhumance, most Anatolian ranges are settled
by villages exploiting small basins of alluvium or farming the slopes by means of
terraces (Tun^dilek 1974: 62-3; Hiitteroth 1982: 290-2).
THE TRANSCAUCASUS
Travelling east the Anatolian mountains become higher and take up more of the
landscape. The plains become smaller. The sense that routes are funnelled along
predictable channels becomes stronger. This is the Transcaucasus, a land of high
mountains and high plains between the plateaux of Anatolia and Iran, bounded on
the north by the Caucasus mountains, beyond which lie the steppes. To the east is
the Caspian; to the west the Transcaucasus extends to the Black Sea.
In the Kur valley, which lies between the Caucasus range and the mountains
of Armenia, the region includes a substantial area of lowland plain, the eastern
portions of which are in effect, rather like the Hungarian plains, an outlier of the
steppes beyond the mountains. But most of the Transcaucasus is a world of mountains
and small alluvial basins. If the Balkans is a region fragmented and defined
by mountains, the Transcaucasus is more so, and thanks to the size and height of
these ranges the impact is more extreme. If the Balkans are cold in winter, with
passes regularly blocked by heavy snow; the Transcaucasus is more so. For human
beings living in this harsh environment the chief mitigating factor is the fertility of
the volcanic soil. Where there is a water supply, the Transcaucasus can be verdant
between late thaws and early snows, can support significant populations. The result
is a highly fragmented pattern of localized power and culture (Hewsen 2001:14-19;
Whittow 1996:195-203; Naval Intelligence Division 1942-3: 22-5,179-94).