Samos ( theme ) The Theme of Samos ( , " thema Samou " ) was a Byzantine military - civilian province , located in the eastern Aegean Sea , established in the late 9th century . As one of the Byzantine Empire ' s three dedicated naval themes ( Greek : ) , it served chiefly to provide ships and troops for the Byzantine navy . History . The dates of establishment and the territorial reach of the various Byzantine naval commands in the 7th – 9th centuries are mostly unclear . After the unitary navy of the " Karabisianoi " was split up in the early 8th century , regional naval commands were established , of which the naval theme of the Cibyrrhaeots is the first known and most important . The 10th - century Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos ( r . 913 – 959 ) records that " at the time the Empire was divided into themes " , Samos became the seat of the " theme of the sailors " ( Greek : ) ; the meaning of this passage is unclear . The historian Warren Treadgold interprets this to mean that Samos was the first seat of the " Karabisianoi " fleet , until their disbandment c . 727 . Alternatively , it could imply a command that formed part of the " Karabisianoi " and was abolished with them , or a later , short - lived successor , perhaps even identical with the Cibyrrhaeots . The existence of a " " strategos " of Samos " in the 8th century is attested through a surviving seal of a " strategos " named Theodore . In the late 8th century , the southern Aegean appears to have come under the jurisdiction of the " " droungarios " of the Dodecanese ( " Dodekanesos " ) " , whom some scholars ( following Hélène Ahrweiler ) identify with the post of " " droungarios " of Kos " and the later " " droungarios " of the Gulf ( " Kolpos " ) " , listed in the mid - 9th century " Taktikon Uspensky " . This command then , or at least the eastern part of it , apparently evolved into the theme of Samos . The theme of Samos , with its governing " strategos " , is first documented in Philotheos ' s " Kletorologion " of 899 . It included the islands of the eastern Aegean , as well as the western coast of Asia Minor between Adramyttion and Ephesos ( also known as Theologos at the time ) . The seat of the theme was at Smyrna , while subordinate " tourmarchai " ( vice - admirals ) had their seats at Adramyttion and Ephesos . In 911 , the forces of the naval theme of Samos are recorded as being 3 , 980 oarsmen and 600 marines , with a fleet of 22 warships . The mainland portion of the theme , however , is also explicitly mentioned as belonging to the Thracesian Theme , which had a special " tourmarches " in charge of defending the coast . This , along with a lack of mention of civil officials attached to the naval theme , most probably reflects a division of tasks : the " strategos " of Samos and his officials were responsible for furnishing the ships and crews of the thematic fleet as well as defending the islands , while the mainland coast , with its cities and population , came under the control of the Thracesian " strategos " and his officials , who were responsible for their taxation and defence . Samos seems to have remained a purely military formation until the late 11th century , when its fleet was disbanded and it was converted into a regular theme with its own civil officials .