'''''Aplekton''''' ({{langx|el|{{lang|grc|ἄπληκτον}}}}, from {{Langx|la|applicatum}}) was a Byzantine term used in the 10th–14th centuries for a fortified army base (in this sense similar to the ''metaton'') and later in the Palaiologan period for the obligation of billeting soldiers.<ref>{{harvnb|ODB|p=131}}; {{harvnb|Bartusis|1997|pp=252–253}}.</ref>
==History and functions== The institution of the ''aplekta'' as major assembly areas, where stores of supplies were kept and where the provincial armies of the ''themata'' were to join the main imperial force for a campaign, date most probably to the reign of Emperor Constantine V (r. 741–775).<ref name="Haldon150">{{harvnb|Haldon|1999|p=150}}.</ref> Of these, the camp of Malagina in Bithynia was the nearest to the capital of Constantinople, and is mentioned as early as 786/787.<ref name="Haldon150"/> Other such bases existed in Anatolia. Emperor Basil I (r. 867–886) mentions Kaborkin, Koloneia and Kaisareia, while Bathys Ryax was to be used for expeditions against the Paulicians.<ref name="Haldon151">{{harvnb|Haldon|1999|p=151}}.</ref> His successor, Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 945–959), in his treatise on imperial expeditions, records the ''aplekta'' from west to east as follows: Malagina, Dorylaion, Kaborkin, Koloneia, Kaisareia and Dazimon.<ref>{{harvnb|Haldon|1990|pp=80–81}}.</ref> Further such camps are in evidence from literary sources at Kepoi (at the mouths of the Maeander river) and at Phygela, at Diabasis in Thrace, as well as the large encampments at Hebdomon near Constantinople, and at Adrianople.<ref name="Haldon151"/>
The Komnenian emperors, harder pressed and lacking in strategic depth, continued this system, and added camps (no longer termed ''aplekta'', but fulfilling the same role) at Gounaria in Paphlagonia, at Chrysopolis in Bithynia, Pelagonia in western Macedonia, Serdica (modern Sofia), Kypsella in Thrace (near the Maritsa river), and at Lopadion on the Rhyndacus river in western Anatolia. Advance camps for expeditions against the Seljuk Turks were established by Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180) at Dorylaion and Soublaion.<ref name="Haldon151"/><ref>{{harvnb|Birkenmeier|2002|pp=107, 150, 176–177, 204}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==Sources== *{{cite book|last=Bartusis|first=Mark C.|title=The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society 1204–1453|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=1997|isbn=0-8122-1620-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUs-hHd89xAC}} *{{cite book|last=Birkenmeier|first=John W.|title=The Development of the Komnenian Army: 1081-1180|location=Boston, Massachusetts|publisher=Brill|year=2002|isbn=90-04-11710-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8OOoGWRC2EC}} *{{cite book|editor-last=Haldon|editor-first=John F.|title=Constantine Porphyrogenitus: Three Treatises on Imperial Military Expeditions|location=Vienna|publisher=Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften|year=1990|isbn=3-7001-1778-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J9EgAQAAIAAJ}} *{{cite book|last=Haldon|first=John F.|chapter=The Organisation and Support of an Expeditionary Force: Manpower and Logistics in the Middle Byzantine Period|pages=111–151|editor-last=Oikonomides|editor-first=Nicolas|editor-link=Nicolas Oikonomides|title=Το εμπόλεμο Βυζάντιο, 9ος-12ος αι. – Byzantium at War|location=Athens|publisher=National Hellenic Research Foundation|year=1997|url=http://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCES/ARTICLES/haldon1.htm|access-date=2010-02-27|archive-date=2012-02-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229141737/http://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCES/ARTICLES/haldon1.htm|url-status=dead}} *{{Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565–1204}} *{{Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium|ref={{harvid|ODB}}}}
Category:Byzantine army Category:Byzantine military architecture Category:Military installations