, founder of the Theme of Iberia.|199x199px The exact chronology of the theme of Iberia and of its governors is not completely clear. Unfortunately, the few Greek seals from the theme or from the ambiguous "Interior Iberia" can seldom be dated precisely. Although many scholars maintain that the theme was probably created immediately after the annexation of David of Tao's princedom, it is difficult to ascertain whether Byzantine rule extended into Tao permanently in 1000 or only after Georgia's defeat in 1022. It is also impossible to identify any commander in Iberia before the appointment, in 1025/6, of the
eunuch Niketas of
Pisidia as the
doux or
katepano of Iberia. Some scholars believe, however, that the first doux of Iberia was either
Romanos Dalassenos or his brother
Theophylactos appointed between 1022 and 1027 in the aftermath of Basil's Georgian campaigns. After 1045 Iberia also included the former
Kingdom of Ani. Since 1071
Gregory Pakourianos was a governor of the Theme of Iberia. The Iberian governor was aided by tax officials, judges, and by co administrators who shared in the exercise of the military and civil duties. Among these officials were the domesticus of the East, the administrators of the districts of which the theme was composed, and the occasional extraordinary legates sent there by the emperor. Apart from the regular Byzantine garrisons, an indigenous army of peasant soldiers guarded the area and received in turn an allotment of tax-free government land. This changed, however, when
Constantine IX Monomachos (1042–1055) dismantled the army of the theme of Iberia, perhaps 5,000 men, converting its obligations from military service to the payment of tax. Constantine dispatched
Nikolaos Serblias to conduct an inventory and to exact taxes that had never been demanded previously. == End of the Theme ==