Chaldia
| Theme of Chaldia Χαλδία, θέμα Χαλδίας |
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| Theme of the Byzantine Empire | |||||
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| Capital | Trapezus | ||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||
| • | Establishment as a theme | ca. 820/840 | |||
| • | Autonomy from Byzantine rule after Seljuk incursions | 1091/1095–1098 | |||
| • | Rebellion of Constantine Gabras | 1126–1140 | |||
| • | Autonomy from Byzantine rule after Fourth Crusade | 1204 | |||
| • | Fall to the Ottomans | 1461 | |||
Chaldia (Greek: Χαλδία, Khaldia) was a historical region located in mountainous interior of the eastern Black Sea, northeast Anatolia (modern Turkey). Its name was derived from a people called the Chaldoi (or Chalybes) that inhabited the region in Antiquity. Chaldia was used throughout the Byzantine period and was established as a formal theme, known as the Theme of Chaldia (Greek: θέμα Χαλδίας), by 840. During the late Middle Ages, it formed the core of the Empire of Trebizond until its fall to the Ottomans in 1461.
Anthony Bryer traces the origin of its name not to Chaldea, as Constantine VII had done, but to the Urartian language, for whose speakers Ḫaldi was the Sun God. Bryer notes at the time of his writing that a number of villages in the Of district were still known as "Halt".
Initially, the name Chaldia was consigned to the highland region around Gümüşhane, in northeast Anatolia but in middle Byzantine period, the name was extended to include the coastal areas, and thus the entire province around Trapezus (Trebizond, modern Trabzon). Forming the easternmost area of the Pontic Alps, Chaldia was bounded to the north by the Black Sea, to the east by Lazica, the westernmost part of Caucasian Iberia, to the south by Erzinjan, Erzurum and what the Romans and Byzantines called Armenia Minor, and to the west by the western half of Pontus. Its main cities were the two ancient Greek colonies, Kerasus (modern Giresun) and Trapezus, situated in the coastal lowlands. The mountainous interior to the south, known as Mesochaldia ("Middle Chaldia"), was more sparsely inhabited and described by the 6th-century historian Procopius as "inaccessible", but rich in mineral deposits, especially lead, but also silver and gold. The mines of the region gave the name Argyropolis ("silver town", modern Gümüşhane) to the principal settlement.
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