Discussion on Byzantine Themes at the 11th International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Munich (1958)

This article is devoted to the discussion of the origin of the Byzantine “theme system”, which took place in 1958 at the 11th International congress of Byzantine studies in Munich. The reason for the discussion was the publication by Italian researcher Agostino Pertusi of the Constantine’s VII Porphyro-gennetos work De thematibus. The author examines the concepts of the formation of the Byzantine “theme system” proposed by congress members George Ostrogorsky and Johannes Karayannopulos. The theory of the Russian researcher Theodor Uspensky formulated at the beginning of the 20th century is separately examined. The author concludes that the themes of modern historiographical theory are heavily based on the concepts of F. Uspensky and A. Pertuzi. According to this theory, the Byzantine “theme system” took a long time to form between the third quarter of the seventh century and the beginning of the ninth century