{{Short description|Greek term for district ruler or district}} '''''Toparchēs''''' ({{langx|el|τοπάρχης}}, "place-ruler"), anglicized as '''toparch''', is a Greek term for a governor or ruler of a district and was later applied to the territory where the toparch exercised his authority.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology|last=Bagnall|first=Roger S.|date=2009|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=9780195178388|location=New York|pages=527}}</ref> In Byzantine times, the term came to be applied to independent or semi-independent rulers in the periphery of the Byzantine world.
==Hellenistic usage== The term originates in Hellenistic times, when ''topos'' (τόπος, "place, locale") was established as an administrative unit, most notably in the Ptolemaic Kingdom, but also among the Seleucids and Attalids, although less well attested in comparison to Ptolemaic practice.<ref name="NP">{{cite encyclopedia | last = Eder | first = Walter | title = Topos | encyclopedia = Brill's New Pauly | publisher = Brill Online | doi = 10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1217420 }}</ref> The Ptolemaic ''topos'' comprised a number of villages (''komai'', sing. ''komē'') under a ''toparchēs'' and was in turn a subdivision of the ''nomos'' (nome or province), which was governed by a ''strategos''.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Was 1 Esdras First?: An Investigation Into the Priority and Nature of 1 Esdras|last=Fried|first=Lisbeth S.|date=2011|publisher=Society of Biblical Literature|isbn=9781589835443|location=Atlanta, GA|pages=182}}</ref> In Ptolemaic Egypt, the ''toparches'' was usually an Egyptian, and was responsible for the collection of revenue and administration, much as the ''nomarchēs'' for the ''nomos'' and the ''komarchēs'' for each ''komē''.<ref name="NP"/> In an account, the ''toparchies'' constituted the ''hyparchies'' such as Gaulanitis, Galilea, Samaria, Judea, Perea, and Idumaea during New Testament times.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Jesus & the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times|last=Barnett|first=Paul|date=1999|publisher=IVP Academic|isbn=9780830826995|location=Downers Grove, Illinois|pages=49}}</ref> The title remained in use under the Roman Empire in the Greek East, for the governor of a district. Such districts were then called "toparchies" (sing. toparchy, from Greek τοπαρχία, ''toparchia'').<ref name="Real">{{cite encyclopedia | last = Kießling | first = Emil |title = Toparches | encyclopedia = Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft | volume = Band VIA, Halbband 12, Timon-Tribus | year = 1937 | page=1716}}</ref>
==Byzantine Empire== In the 6th century, in the ''Novellae Constitutiones'' of Emperor Justinian I, the term ''toparchēs'' was used to encompass all local magistrates, both civilian and military.<ref name="ODB">{{ODB|last=Kazhdan|first=Alexander|authorlink=Alexander Kazhdan|title=Toparches|page=2095}}</ref>
More often, however, Byzantine writers use the term to refer to local monarchs, especially during the 10th–13th centuries, when, according to the Byzantinist Paul Lemerle, "a ''toparchēs'' is the independent ruler of a foreign territory adjoining the Empire... He is in some manner under the influence of the Empire, as it is supposed that he may rebel against the Byzantines". This usage extended not only to actual breakaway or ''de facto'' autonomous Byzantine governors, who appear during the military crises and administrative disintegration of the 11th–12th centuries, but was also applied to independent rulers, usually on the periphery of the Byzantine Empire (e.g. the Emir of Crete, various Turkish lords in Anatolia, or the rulers of Bulgaria or Serbia), of territories which the Byzantines considered rightfully theirs.<ref name="ODB"/><ref name="Cheynet">{{cite journal|title=Toparque et topotèrètès à la fin du 11e siècle|first=Jean-Claude|last=Cheynet|journal=Revue des Études Byzantines|year=1984|volume=42|pages=215–224|language=French|doi=10.3406/rebyz.1984.2156|url=http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/rebyz_0766-5598_1984_num_42_1_2156.pdf}}</ref>
In this context, the late 11th-century writer Kekaumenos dedicates a large part of his ''Strategikon'' to advising the ''toparchēs'' on his conduct and dealings with the emperor and the other Byzantine governors.<ref name="ODB"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite journal|last=Margetić|first=Lujo|authorlink=Lujo Margetić|title=Toparque, tep'ci (topotèrètès) et dad en Croatie au 11e siècle|journal=Revue des Études Byzantines|volume=44|language=French|year=1986|pages=257–262|doi=10.3406/rebyz.1986.2194}}
Category:Byzantine titles and offices Category:Greek words and phrases Category:Ancient Greek titles Category:Government of the Ptolemaic Kingdom