The term Calabria was originally applied to a late Roman civilian province
corresponding to theTerra d’Otranto. In the mid-seventh century the imperial
possessions underwent a severe crisis with the civilian administration
finally breaking down and the Lombard dukes of Benevento capturing large
areas. It is likely that, as a result of an administrative reorganisation in the
late seventh century, the name was applied to a duchy ruled from Reggio
and covering both those areas remaining under Byzantine rule, the Terra
d’Otranto and southern Calabria (i.e. the lands south of a line running
from the Crati river – to the south of Cosenza – to Amantea on the Tyrrhenian
coast).72 This period marked an important stage in the hellenisation
of both areas, probably largely as a result of immigration from Greece and
Sicily rather than settlements of refugees from theMuslim invasions further
east or official transfer of soldiers or peasants. In the early eighth century
Otranto was lost to the Lombards and the term ‘duchy of Calabria’, which
previously included present-day Apulia, was confined to the old civilian
province of Bruttium in the south-west toe of Italy, which came under the
authority of the strat¯egos of Sicily. The duchy is mentioned in the Taktikon
Uspensky (842–3) but does not appear in the Kletorologion of Philotheos of
899, presumably because it became the main power base of the strat¯egos of
Sicily, when most of Sicily had fallen to the Arabs.73 Disappointingly little is
known of the duchy in this period from written sources, but archaeological
research has pointed to a move away from settlements on the plains and
coast towards hilltop sites and to fairly widespread circulation of eastern
goods such as pottery.74 Only after 885–6, when Lombard Calabria was
conquered by Nikephoros Phokas (see above and below, pp. 298, 560) does
the position become clearer.
Even less is known of Calabria’s imperial neighbour on the heel of Italy,
the duchy of Otranto. Otranto and Gallipoli remained Byzantine at the
time of the Lombard advances of the late seventh century, but some time
after 710 Otranto was lost. It was restored to the empire in 758 by King
Desiderius in return for Byzantine help against a rebel duke of Benevento.
The case for the area’s status as a separate duchy depends on a seal of
uncertain date, and the duchy’s non-appearance in the Taktikon Uspensky
(842–3) suggests that at some stage it was reincorporated in the duchy of
Calabria.75 The boundaries of imperial rule are uncertain; the duchy may
have been confined to the dioceses which clearly came under the jurisdiction
of Constantinople, Gallipoli and Otranto, or it may have included all the
Terra d’Otranto including Oria. Excavations have suggested that Otranto
was a rich centre, probably thanks to its strategic importance as the main
point of entry for imperial troops and officials sent to the west.76 However,
following the swift reconquista of Lombard Apulia from 876 the capital
became Benevento and later Bari.
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