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Byzantium or Byzantion was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name Byzantion and its Latinization Byzantium continued to be used as a name of Constantinople sporadically and to varying degrees during the thousand year existence of the Byzantine Empire. Byzantium was colonized by Greeks from Megara in the 7th century BC and remained primarily Greek-speaking until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in AD 1453.
At the Battle of Taginae in June/July 552, the forces of the Byzantine Empire under Narses broke the power of the Ostrogoths in Italy, and paved the way for the temporary Byzantine reconquest of the Italian Peninsula.
The tagma is a military unit of battalion or regiment size, especially the elite regiments formed by Byzantine emperor Constantine V and comprising the central army of the Byzantine Empire in the 8th–11th centuries.
The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct continuation of the Eastern Roman army, shaping and developing itself on the legacy of the late Hellenistic armies, it maintained a similar level of discipline, strategic prowess and organization. It was among the most effective armies of Eurasia for much of the Middle Ages. Over time the cavalry arm became more prominent in the Byzantine army as the legion system disappeared in the early 7th century. Later reforms reflected some Germanic and Asian influences – rival forces frequently became sources of mercenary units e.g.; Huns, Cumans, Alans and Turks, meeting the Empire's demand for light cavalry mercenaries. Since much of the Byzantine military focused on the strategy and skill of generals utilizing militia troops, heavy infantry were recruited from Frankish and later Varangian mercenaries.
A droungarios, also spelled drungarios and sometimes anglicized as Drungary, was a military rank of the late Roman and Byzantine empires, signifying the commander of a formation known as droungos.
The Byzantine army evolved from that of the late Roman period taking as leading models and shaping itself on the late Hellenistic armies, but it became considerably more sophisticated in strategy, tactics and organization. The language of the army was still Latin, although later Greek dominated, as it became the official language of the entire empire. Unlike the Roman legions, its strength was in its cavalry, especially the armoured cataphracts, which evolved from the clibanarii of the late empire. Infantry were still used but mainly as a base of maneuver for the cavalry, as well as in specialized roles. Most of the foot-soldiers of the empire were the armoured skutatoi and later on, kontarioi, with the remainder being the light infantry and archers of the psiloi. The Byzantines valued intelligence and discipline in their soldiers far more than bravery or brawn. The "Ρωμαίοι στρατιώται" were a loyal force composed of citizens willing to fight to defend their homes and their state to the death, augmented by mercenaries. The training was very much like that of the legionaries, with the soldiers taught close combat techniques with their swords, spears and axes, along with the extensive practice of archery.
The Strategikon or Strategicon is a manual of war regarded as written in late antiquity and generally attributed to the Byzantine Emperor Maurice.
Longobardia was a Byzantine term for the territories controlled by the Lombards in the Italian Peninsula. In the ninth and tenth centuries, it was also the name of a Byzantine military-civilian province known as the Theme of Longobardia located in southeastern Italy.
AlexiosBranas or Vranas was a Byzantine nobleman, attempted usurper, and the last Byzantine military leader of the 12th century to gain a notable success against a foreign enemy.
The Byzantine army of the Komnenian era or Komnenian army was the force established by Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos during the late 11th/early 12th century, and perfected by his successors John II Komnenos and Manuel I Komnenos during the 12th century. From necessity, following extensive territorial loss and a near disastrous defeat by the Normans of southern Italy at Dyrrachion in 1081, Alexios constructed a new army from the ground up. This new army was significantly different from previous forms of the Byzantine army, especially in the methods used for the recruitment and maintenance of soldiers. The army was characterised by an increased reliance on the military capabilities of the immediate imperial household, the relatives of the ruling dynasty and the provincial Byzantine aristocracy. Another distinctive element of the new army was an expansion of the employment of foreign mercenary troops and their organisation into more permanent units. However, continuity in equipment, unit organisation, tactics and strategy from earlier times is evident. The Komnenian army was instrumental in creating the territorial integrity and stability that allowed the Komnenian restoration of the Byzantine Empire. It was deployed in the Balkans, Italy, Hungary, Russia, Anatolia, Syria, the Holy Land and Egypt.
This article lists and briefly discusses the most important of many treatises on military science produced in the Byzantine Empire.
The siege of Manzikert in 1054 was a successful defense of the city of Manzikert by Byzantine forces under Basil Apocapes against the Seljuk Turks led by sultan Toğrül.
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. Its citizens did not normally refer to themselves as "Byzantine", a term popularized after Constantinople's fall, but rather continued to refer to their empire simply as the Roman Empire, and to themselves as Romans—a term which Greeks continued to use for themselves into Ottoman times. Although the Roman state continued and its traditions were maintained, modern historians distinguish Byzantium from its earlier incarnation because it was centered on Constantinople, oriented towards Greek rather than Latin culture, and characterised by Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
The Praecepta Militaria is the Latin conventional title given to a Byzantine military treatise, written in ca. 965 by or on behalf of Eastern Roman emperor Nikephoros Phokas. Its Greek title is Στρατηγικὴ ἔκθεσις καὶ σύνταξις Νικηφόρου δεσπότου Strategikè ékthesis kaì syntaxis Nikephórou despótou.
De velitatione bellica is the conventional Latin title for the Byzantine military treatise on skirmishing and guerrilla-type border warfare, composed circa 970. Its original Greek title is Περὶ Παραδρομῆς. The original author is unknown but likely to have been a high-ranking army officer close to the Phokas family. The work describes tactics used previously against Muslim opponents but the author notes that due to recent Byzantine successes they might "not find application in the eastern regions at the present time" but might be useful for future campaigns. The author is critical of the bureaucracy of the Constantinople-based government.
The menaulion or menavlion, also menaulon or menavlon (μέναυλον) was a heavy spear with a length of 2.7 to 3.6 metres with a thick shaft, used by the Byzantine infantry as early as the 10th century AD, against enemy heavy cavalry. To give it increased strength, whole oak or cornel saplings were preferably used. These were then tipped with a long blade of ca. 45–50 cm.
Saint Basil the Younger was a Byzantine Greek holy man and visionary. He is the subject of a Greek hagiographical biography, the Vita sancti Basilii iunioris, written by his pupil Gregory. Although the Vita portrays its subject as historical, there is yet no consensus whether Basil or even Gregory were real persons or fabrications.
A military treatise or treatise on war is any work that deals with the "art of war" in some basic aspect. Fundamentally military treatises are treatises on military strategy. Other works may also be included in the definition that, although they deal with other topics, include sensitive information about military matters. These may include, among others, description of specific battles, sieges, general campaigns, reports of military authorities, and commented works about ground or naval battles.
Alice-Mary Talbot is Director of Byzantine Studies Emerita, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Her particular expertise is the social context of Byzantine religious practices, including hagiography, monasticism and gender studies. Much of her work has focused on the edition and translation of Byzantine texts.
References
- ↑ E McGeer - Infantry versus Cavalry : The Byzantine Response (p.136 footnote 6) Revue des études byzantines, Volume 46, 1988. pp. 135-145. doi : 10.3406/rebyz.1988.2225 [Retrieved 2015-04-02]
- ↑ AP Kazhdan - The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium [Retrieved 2015-04-02]
- ↑ Oxford Dictionaries - stratagem Oxford University Press [Retrieved 2015-04-02]
- ↑ Oxford Dictionaries - tactics Oxford University Press [Retrieved 2015-04-02]
- ↑ E Luttwak (Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies) - The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire - p.312 Harvard University Press, 1 Nov 2009 Armenian Research Center collection ISBN 0674035194 [Retrieved 2015-04-02]
- ↑ Merriam-Webster - sylloge [Retrieved 2015-04-02]
- ↑ R D'Amato (external professor to the Athens University School of Philosophy and Material Culture c.2012) - Byzantine Imperial Guardsmen, 925-1025: The Tághmata and Imperial Guard (p.60) Osprey Publishing, 24 Jul 2012 ISBN 1849088500 (Illustrated by G Rava) [Retrieved 2015-04-02]
- ↑ M White (Lecturer in Slavonic Studies at the University of Nottingham) - Military Saints in Byzantium and Rus, 900-1200 (p.57) Cambridge University Press, 21 Feb 2013 ISBN 0521195640 [Retrieved 2015-04-02]
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