Nicopolis (theme)
| Theme of Nicopolis Νικόπολις, θέμα Νικοπόλεως |
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| Theme of the Byzantine Empire | |||||
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| Capital | Naupaktos, Arta | ||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||
| • | Established | after 886 | |||
| • | Fourth Crusade; transformation into Despotate of Epirus. | after 1204 | |||
| Today part of |
 Greece
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The Theme of Nicopolis or Nikopolis (Greek: θέμα Νικοπόλεως, thema Nikopoleōs) was the name of a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) located in northwestern Greece, encompassing Aetolia-Acarnania and southern Epirus. It was established in the second half of the 9th century, probably after 886, and survived until the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire by the Fourth Crusade in 1204.
Like most of the Balkans, the Epirus region had been overrun and settled by Slavic tribes in the 7th century. Very little is known about the region during the 7th–9th centuries, but from the prevalence of Slavic toponyms it is clear that they settled in large numbers throughout the region. On the other hand, the Byzantines retained their control of the Ionian Islands, which, organized in the theme of Cephallenia, were used as a base for the reassertion of imperial control, so that the region was relatively soon re-Hellenized.
It is in this context that the theme of Nicopolis was established, although the exact date is unclear. It was founded sometime in the latter half of the 9th century, between 843 and 899, when it is first attested in the Kletorologion of Philotheos. The most probable date is some time after 886, in the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912).Sigillographic evidence suggests that the theme may have resulted from a previously-existing subordinate division (tourma) of the theme of the Peloponnese, although the historian Warren Treadgold has suggested that it formed part of the theme of Cephallenia. The exact boundaries of the Theme of Nicopolis are not known in detail, but must have been approximately coterminous with the territory of the Metropolis of Naupaktos, which was reorganized at the same time: but probably matched the extent of the Metropolis of Naupaktos, established at about the same time, and which encompassed the suffragan sees of Vonditsa, Aetos, Acheloos, Rogoi, Ioannina, Hadrianopolis, Photike, and Buthrotum.
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