not without honoring the Ukrainian prince for his contribution to the defeat of the
Bulgarian tsardom. Taking advantage of the situation, Emperor John Tzimiskes
placed the border on the Danube in 972 once more. He then engaged in the
administrative organization of his empire, now the Byzantine empire, dividing it
into several themata, i.e., administrative and military units, each of them led by a
strategos having the title of duke (or katep^ ano), and by a military chief, with full
powers. With new forces, the empire engaged in battles of defending the right bank
of the Danube from the danger of the invasion of the Pechenegs, who eventually
entered and settled in the region located between the Danube and the Black Sea. It
was under these circumstances that the former Scythia Minor became the thema of
Paristrion.
12
Researchers have reconstructed a list of seven dukes of Paristrion from the
nineth century: Simeon, Kataxalon, Kekaumenos, Mihail, Romanos Diogenes,
Isaac Komnenos, Nestor and Leon Nikorites (Arbore 1928/2003: 300–301).
The Vlachs, the name under which Romanians were known in the Middle Ages,
are first documented in this period (Arbore 1928/2003: 302). In the following
centuries, the administration of Paristrion was entrusted to senior vassals to the
empire, whose name have come down to us: Miltzes, Balica and Dobrotic ˇ, to which
the name of Mircea cel Ba ˘tr^ an (Mircea the Elderly),
13 the ruler of Wallachia (“the
Country of the Vlachs”) should be added. In 1417, a year before he died, he lost it in
to the Turks. For the next four centuries, the region was under the rule of the
Ottoman Porte. It was returned to the modern independent Romanian state, after the
Russian-Romanian-Turkish War of 1877–1878 (Ra ˘dulescu and Bitoleanu 1998:
335 ff.). Colonized with Turks and Tartars, with Ukrainians, Russians, Germans,
Armenians, Greeks, and Bulgarians, nevertheless the land between the Danube and
the Black Sea has preserved its Romanian identity, and could serve as a model of
friendly interethnic relations.
∗
∗
∗
With such a rich and troubled history, the Getic province bore several conjectural names, given or taken, through calque, by the numerous peoples in their
passage to the heart of the Roman Empire, who established relations with the
natives, and became, as a result of the process of Romanization, part of the
Romanian people. However, despite the great number of such names, there must
have been one, given by the natives, which we are to reconstruct, by analyzing all
the others, and by briefly reiterating some data presented at the beginning of our
study.
12 For the whole period, with the events that followed in the Byzantine Empire, Dacia and Scythia
Minor, see Al. Arbore (1928/2003: 297–300).
13 Al. Arbore points out that all these vassals had been linked to the Emperor ever since they used to
administer Paristrion (1928/2003:302).
2 Dobrudja, in the Mesopotamia of the West
33
Bulgarian tsardom. Taking advantage of the situation, Emperor John Tzimiskes
placed the border on the Danube in 972 once more. He then engaged in the
administrative organization of his empire, now the Byzantine empire, dividing it
into several themata, i.e., administrative and military units, each of them led by a
strategos having the title of duke (or katep^ ano), and by a military chief, with full
powers. With new forces, the empire engaged in battles of defending the right bank
of the Danube from the danger of the invasion of the Pechenegs, who eventually
entered and settled in the region located between the Danube and the Black Sea. It
was under these circumstances that the former Scythia Minor became the thema of
Paristrion.
12
Researchers have reconstructed a list of seven dukes of Paristrion from the
nineth century: Simeon, Kataxalon, Kekaumenos, Mihail, Romanos Diogenes,
Isaac Komnenos, Nestor and Leon Nikorites (Arbore 1928/2003: 300–301).
The Vlachs, the name under which Romanians were known in the Middle Ages,
are first documented in this period (Arbore 1928/2003: 302). In the following
centuries, the administration of Paristrion was entrusted to senior vassals to the
empire, whose name have come down to us: Miltzes, Balica and Dobrotic ˇ, to which
the name of Mircea cel Ba ˘tr^ an (Mircea the Elderly),
13 the ruler of Wallachia (“the
Country of the Vlachs”) should be added. In 1417, a year before he died, he lost it in
to the Turks. For the next four centuries, the region was under the rule of the
Ottoman Porte. It was returned to the modern independent Romanian state, after the
Russian-Romanian-Turkish War of 1877–1878 (Ra ˘dulescu and Bitoleanu 1998:
335 ff.). Colonized with Turks and Tartars, with Ukrainians, Russians, Germans,
Armenians, Greeks, and Bulgarians, nevertheless the land between the Danube and
the Black Sea has preserved its Romanian identity, and could serve as a model of
friendly interethnic relations.
∗
∗
∗
With such a rich and troubled history, the Getic province bore several conjectural names, given or taken, through calque, by the numerous peoples in their
passage to the heart of the Roman Empire, who established relations with the
natives, and became, as a result of the process of Romanization, part of the
Romanian people. However, despite the great number of such names, there must
have been one, given by the natives, which we are to reconstruct, by analyzing all
the others, and by briefly reiterating some data presented at the beginning of our
study.
12 For the whole period, with the events that followed in the Byzantine Empire, Dacia and Scythia
Minor, see Al. Arbore (1928/2003: 297–300).
13 Al. Arbore points out that all these vassals had been linked to the Emperor ever since they used to
administer Paristrion (1928/2003:302).
2 Dobrudja, in the Mesopotamia of the West
33