Cibyrrhaeot Theme The Cibyrrhaeot Theme , more properly the Theme of the Cibyrrhaeots ( ) , was a Byzantine theme encompassing the southern coast of Asia Minor from the early 8th to the late 12th centuries . As the Byzantine Empire ' s first and most important naval theme ( Greek : θέμα ναυτικόν ) , it served chiefly to provide ships and troops for the Byzantine navy . History . The Cibyrrhaeots ( , " men of Cibyrrha " ) derive their name from the city of Cibyrrha ( it is unclear whether this is Cibyrrha the Great in Caria or Cibyrrha the Lesser in Pamphylia ) . The command first appears in the expedition against Carthage in 698 , when a " " droungarios " of the Cibyrrhaeots " is attested as commanding the men from Korykos : Apsimar , who at the head of a fleet revolt became emperor as Tiberios III ( r . 698 – 705 ) . At the time , the Cibyrrhaeots were subordinate to the great naval corps of the " Karabisianoi " . After the " Karabisianoi " were disbanded ( the exact date is disputed between ca . 719 / 720 and ca . 727 ) , the Cibyrrhaeots were constituted as a regular theme , with its governing " strategos " first attested in 731 / 732 . Until the 9th century , when the themes of the Aegean Sea and Samos were elevated from " droungarios " - level commands , the Cibyrrhaeot Theme was the only dedicated naval theme of the Empire . The theme comprised the southern coast of Asia Minor ( modern Turkey ) , from south of Miletus ( which belonged to the Thracesian Theme ) to the confines of the Arab borderlands in Cilicia , including the old Roman provinces of Caria , Lycia , Pamphylia and parts of Isauria , as well as the modern Dodecanese . Its geographical position made it the " front - line " theme facing the attacks of the Muslim fleets of the Levant and Egypt , and consequently the Cibyrrhaeots played a major role in the naval aspect of the Byzantine – Arab Wars . The land , which was known for its fertility , suffered from the frequent and devastating Arab raids , which largely depopulated the countryside except for the fortified cities and naval bases . The seat of the " strategos " was most probably Attaleia . He drew an annual salary of 10 pounds of gold , and his overall rank in the imperial hierarchy was relatively low , but still senior to any other naval commander : twenty - fifth in the " Taktikon Uspensky " of 842 / 843 , dropping to fifty - fifth in the " Escorial Taktikon " of 971 – 975 . Like its other counterparts , the Cibyrrhaeot Theme was divided into " droungoi " and " tourma i " , and possessed the full array of typical thematic administrative positions . Among the most important subordinates of the " strategos " were the imperial " ek prosopou " at Syllaion , the " droungarioi " of Attaleia and Kos and the " katepano " who commanded the theme ' s Mardaites . These were the descendants of several thousand people transplanted from the area of Lebanon and settled there by Emperor Justinian II ( r . 685 – 695 and 705 – 711 ) in the 680s to provide crews and marines for the fleet . In the early 9th century , the thematic fleet of the Cibyrrhaeots comprised 70 ships ; and in the Cretan expedition of 911 , the Cibyrrhaeot theme sent 31 warships – 15 large dromon s and 16 middle - sized " pamphyloi " – with 6 , 000 oarsmen and 760 marines . Around the mid - 11th century , as the Muslim naval threat subsided , the Byzantine provincial fleets began a precipitate decline : the fleet of the Cibyrrhaeots is last mentioned in the repulsion of a Rus ' raid in 1043 , and the theme became a purely civil province , headed by a " krites " and later by a " doux " . Most of its territory was lost to the Seljuk Turks after 1071 , but partly recovered under Alexios I Komnenos ( r . 1081 – 1118 ) . The rump theme was finally abolished by Manuel I Komnenos ( r . 1143 – 1180 ) , and the remaining territory in Caria subordinated to the theme Mylasa and Melanoudion .