Managing the Crown Lands in the Aegean: The Kouratoriai of Mytilene and Chios (8th–11th c.)

A kouratoreia (κουρατωρεία), known also as kouratorikion, was a fiscal term used from the second half of the sixth century to designate a distinct form of imperial property. From this period up to the eleventh century, the kouratoreiai were the crown lands of the Byzantine empire, exploited directly from the state to cover the needs of the imperial court and / or other institutions as well. The kouratoreiai were administered by a (grand) kourator and his subordinates such as the ephoroi and the episkeptitai. The larger and most important kouratoreiai were located across Asia Minor. They disappear along with their clerks in the late eleventh century as a result of the political collapse in the region. The lead seals clearly suggest the presence of two kouratoreiai located in the neighbouring islands of Chios and Mytilene (Lesbos) in the north-eastern Aegean. Located along “Sea Route B”, the one of the two major waterways that connected Constantinople with Asia Minor, Cyprus and the (Middle) East, Chios and Lesbos featured diverse natural resources, well defended settlements and a series of harbours, ports and minor landing places that allowed unhindered communication and trade with the outside world. The purpose of this paper is to present the combined sigillographic, written and material evidence and with the use of satellite imagery attempt to locate the possible areas of the kouratoreiai, the settlements within their limits and the ports that allowed them to ship their produce to the capital of the empire or to export it directly to various destinations.