[3] There was a town in Bithynia known as Gordoservon, mentioned in 680–81, whose name possibly derived from the Serbs resettled there from the areas "around river Vardar" by Byzantine Emperor Constans II (r. 641–668), in the mid-7th century[4] (in ca.
Justinian II (685–695) also settled as many as 30,000 Slavs from Thrace in Asia Minor, in an attempt to boost military strength.
[2] The Bulgar expansion caused massive Slav migrations, and in 762 more than 200,000 people fled to Byzantine territory and were relocated to Asia Minor.
Although the 10th-century chronicler Genesios calls him "Thomas from Lake Gouzourou, of Armenian race", most modern scholars support his Slavic descent and believe his birthplace to have been near Gaziura in the Pontus.
[10] The Slavs of the Opsician Theme (Sklabesianoi) are still attested as a separate group in the 10th century, serving as marines in the Byzantine navy.