Manuel I Komnenos, the Maiandros campaigns of 1177-8 and Thessaloniki

Abstract

Scrutiny of the panegyrics of the twelfth-century Byzantine rhetor Eustathios
of Thessaloniki has uncovered testinomy to historical events not recorded
in any of the contemporary sources. Study of an oration to the Grand Hetaireiarch
John Doukas, and an oration to the emperor Manuel I Komnenos,
made upon a temporary recovery from his terminal illness, suggests that
Manuel had directed the repair of Thessaloniki’s fortifications in 1179, and
provides a chronology for the campaigns in Asia Minor on the River
Maiandros in the latter part of Manuel’s reign. The dating of the two orations
may be subject to revision, as the Doukas oration may be earlier than late
1179, and the oration on the occasion of the emperor’s recovery may belong to
late 1179 rather than early 1180, but it is fairly certain that the two orations
belong to the 1179-80 period. The suggested date for the refurbishment of
Thessaloniki’s defences is therefore accurate to within only a few months, but
the suggested chronology of the Maiandros campaigns would nevertheless still
be valid.