On the Problem of the Role Played by the Urban Commune in the Administration of Byzantine Cherson from the Eight to the Eleventh Century

This paper analyses the role played by the urban commune of Byzantine Cherson, its individual representatives, and traditional bodies of power in the administration of this city in ca. 700–1100 against the background of recently published sources and scholarship. The representatives of this commune participated in the administration through the institutions of magistracies with anachronistic titles and as individuals who became Byzantine officials first in Cherson archontia and later in the theme. The administration of Cherson never was a frozen body, and the role of urban commune changed in course of time. The materials from Cherson uncover that emperor Leo VI’s order from ca. 900 abolishing urban communes’ right to possess administrative offices was not realized or was not a universal law. The observations on the administration of Cherson uncover parallels with other provincial cities and towns in the Byzantine empire