Cherson (theme)
| Theme of Cherson (Klimata) Χερσῶν, θέμα Χερσῶνος (τὰ Κλίματα) |
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| Theme of the Byzantine Empire | |||||
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| Capital | Cherson | ||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||
| • | Established | ca. 833 or 840 | |||
| • | Destruction of Cherson | 988/989 | |||
| • | Controlled by the Empire of Trebizond | after 1204 | |||
| Today part of |
 Ukraine (internationally recognized)
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The Theme of Cherson (Greek: θέμα Χερσῶνος, thema Chersōnos), originally and formally called the Klimata (Greek: τὰ Κλίματα) was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) located in the southern Crimea, headquartered at Cherson.
The theme was officially established in the early 830s and was an important centre of Black Sea commerce. Despite the destruction of the city of Cherson in the 980s, the theme recovered and prospered, enduring until it became a part of the Empire of Trebizond after the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire in 1204.
The region had been under Roman and later Byzantine imperial control until the early 8th century, but passed under Khazar control thereafter. Byzantine authority was re-established by Emperor Theophilos (r. 829–842), who displayed interest in the northern littoral of the Black Sea and especially his relations with the Khazars. Traditional scholarship dates the establishment of Cherson as the seat of a theme in ca. 833/4, but more recent researchers have linked it with the Byzantine mission to construct the new Khazar capital at Sarkel in 839, and identify Petronas Kamateros, the architect of Sarkel, as the theme's first governor (strategos) in 840/1. The new province was at first called ta Klimata, "the regions/districts", but due to the prominence of the capital Cherson, by ca. 860 it was known even in official documents as the "Theme of Cherson".
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