IMPERIUM ROMANUM

Provinces · The later eastern provinces

LE-54 Isauria

The later Balkan provincial landscape. Dacia south of the Danube, the two Epiri…
The later Balkan provincial landscape. Dacia south of the Danube, the two Epiri, Thessaly, Macedonia, Achaia, and the Thracian districts illustrate the replacement of large commands by smaller jurisdictions. The river network helps relate frontier districts to the Adriatic, Aegean, and imperial straits.

The province combined a difficult interior with important coastal and river connections. Farming in suitable valleys, livestock, local exchange, timber, towns, and maritime routes supported its population. Repeated official concerns about raiding and banditry reflected security problems but should not define every Isaurian community.

Military leaders from the region became powerful in imperial affairs, culminating in Zeno’s reign. Their prominence demonstrates integration with the state as well as regional identity. Christian institutions and pilgrimage sites added further connections. Isauria’s history is therefore neither an isolated mountain resistance story nor simply a lesser subdivision of Tarsus-centred Cilicia.