Sabas Asidenos

1. Life and Activity

Sabas Asidenos possibly lived in Sampson (ancient Priene), near Miletus. In 1204, after the fall of Constantinople to the Latins of the fourth Crusade, he temporarily established an independent rule in the valley of the lower Meander River around the administrative centre of Sampson. But towards the late 1205 or the early 1206 he had to recognise the dominion of Emperor Theodore I Laskaris (1204-1222) in the region,1 at the same time maintaining the province under his command.

The relations between Asidenos and Theodore I Laskaris were later restored and the two men even became relatives: according to a document of the monastery of Xerochoraphion issued in 1213/1214, Asidenos appears to have got married to a member of the imperial family of the Laskarids and been awarded the high title of sebastokrator.2 In the same period his landed property had acquired the status of episkepsis.

No more information is available about other activities of Sabas Asidenos. The last time his name was mentioned was in 1216 in a document of the Theotokos tou Stylou Monastery (St. Paul the Younger) of Mount Latros.3



1. In the same period the emperor of Nicaea regained control over the areas of the Κελβιανού Meander, Philadelphia and Neokastra. See Σαββίδης, Α., Βυζαντινά στασιαστικά και αυτονομιστικά κινήματα στα Δωδεκάνησα και τη Μικρά Ασία, 1189-1240 μ.Χ.: Συμβολή στη μελέτη της υστεροβυζαντινής προσωπογραφίας και τοπογραφίας την εποχή των Αγγέλων, των Λασκαριδών της Νίκαιας και των Μεγαλοκομνηνών του Πόντου (Athens 1987), p. 247.

2. Τhe document of the monastery has been included in: Λάμπρος, Σ., “Ανέκδοτα έγγραφα της μονής Ξηροχωραφίου”, ΝΕ 11 (1914), pp. 402-403; Miklosich, F. – Müller, J., Acta et diplomata graeca medii aevi acta et profana (Wien 1871), IV, p. 292, V, p. 257; Wilson, N. – Darrouzès, J., “Restes du cartulaire de Hiéra Xérochoraphion”, REB 26 (1968), pp. 5-45, no. 2. In that period the title of sebastokrator was awarded to the emperor’s brothers. See Σαββίδης, Α., Βυζαντινά στασιαστικά και αυτονομιστικά κινήματα στα Δωδεκάνησα και τη Μικρά Ασία, 1189-1240 μ.Χ.: Συμβολή στη μελέτη της υστεροβυζαντινής προσωπογραφίας και τοπογραφίας την εποχή των Αγγέλων, των Λασκαριδών της Νίκαιας και των Μεγαλοκομνηνών του Πόντου (Athens 1987), pp. 246-251.

3. Miklosich, F. – Müller, J., Acta et diplomata graeca medii aevi acta et profana IV (Wien 1871), p. 292.