Optimatoi

The Optimatoi (Greek: Ὀπτιμάτοι, from Latin: Optimates, "the Best Men") were initially formed as an elite Byzantine military unit. In the mid-8th century, however, they were downgraded to a supply and logistics corps and assigned a province (thema) in north-western Asia Minor, which was named after them. As an administrative unit, the Theme of the Optimatoi (Greek: θέμα Ὀπτιμάτων, thema Optimatōn) survived until the Ottoman conquest in the first decades of the 14th century.

History

The Optimates were first set up in the late 6th century (c. 575), by Emperor Tiberius II Constantine (r. 574–582). According to the Strategikon of Emperor Maurice, the Optimates were an elite regiment of Foederati, most likely of Gothic origin. They were a cavalry corps, somewhere between one and five thousand strong, and formed part of the central reserve army, their commander bearing the then unique title of taxiarchēs. The presence of descendants of these men, called Gothograeci (Γοτθογραῖκοι) by the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor, is attested in northern Bithynia as late as the early 8th century. At that time, Warren Treadgold estimates that the corps numbered 2,000 men, a figure that possibly corresponds to its original size as well.