Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Rulers
- Map 1 Anatolia and Upper Mesopotamia
- Map 2 Armenian Themes and Pri ncipalities
- Introduction
- 1 The ‘Grand Strategy’ of the Byzantine Empire
- 2 Byzantine and Arab Strategies and Campaigning Tactics in Cilicia and Anatolia (Eighth–Tenth Centuries)
- 3 The Empire’s Foreign Policy in the East and the Key Role of Armenia (c. 870–965)
- 4 The Byzantine View of their Enemies on the Battlefield: The Arabs
- 5 Methods of Transmission of (Military) Knowledge (I): Reconnaissance, Intelligence
- 6 Methods of Transmission of (Military) Knowledge (II): Espionage
- 7 Tactical Changes in the Byzantine Armies of the Tenth Century: Theory and Practice on the Battlefields of the East
- 8 Tactical Changes in the Byzantine Armies of the Tenth Century: Investigating the Root Causes
- 9 Byzantine–Arab Battles of the Tenth Century: Evidence of Innovation and Adaptation in the Chronicler Sources
- 10 Tactical Innovation and Adaptation in the Byzantine Army of the Tenth Century: The Study of the Battles
- Summaries and Conclusions
- Primary Bibliography
- Secondary Bibliography
- Index
7 - Tactical Changes in the Byzantine Armies of the Tenth Century: Theory and Practice on the Battlefields of the East
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 April 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Rulers
- Map 1 Anatolia and Upper Mesopotamia
- Map 2 Armenian Themes and Pri ncipalities
- Introduction
- 1 The ‘Grand Strategy’ of the Byzantine Empire
- 2 Byzantine and Arab Strategies and Campaigning Tactics in Cilicia and Anatolia (Eighth–Tenth Centuries)
- 3 The Empire’s Foreign Policy in the East and the Key Role of Armenia (c. 870–965)
- 4 The Byzantine View of their Enemies on the Battlefield: The Arabs
- 5 Methods of Transmission of (Military) Knowledge (I): Reconnaissance, Intelligence
- 6 Methods of Transmission of (Military) Knowledge (II): Espionage
- 7 Tactical Changes in the Byzantine Armies of the Tenth Century: Theory and Practice on the Battlefields of the East
- 8 Tactical Changes in the Byzantine Armies of the Tenth Century: Investigating the Root Causes
- 9 Byzantine–Arab Battles of the Tenth Century: Evidence of Innovation and Adaptation in the Chronicler Sources
- 10 Tactical Innovation and Adaptation in the Byzantine Army of the Tenth Century: The Study of the Battles
- Summaries and Conclusions
- Primary Bibliography
- Secondary Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter will focus on the tactical changes that took place in the units of the Byzantine army in the tenth century. The most useful primary sources for identifying these changes are the following military treatises: the Στρατηγική Έκθϵσις Και Σύνταζις Νικηφόρου Δϵσπότου (Praecepta Militaria of the Emperor Nicephorus Phocas) (c. 969), the anonymous Sylloge Taktikorum (c. 930), a short tenth-century work entitled Σύνταζις οπƛιτών τϵτράγωνος έχουσα ϵντός καβαƛƛαρίους (better known by its Latin title: Syntaxis Armatorum Quadrata) and the c. 969 Πϵρί παραδρομής του κυρού Νικηφόρου του βασιƛέως (better known by the title bestowed on it by its 1985 editor, Dennis: On Skirmishing). These works provide crucial information on how armies should be organised and deployed on the battlefield up to the period when they were compiled.
I will discuss the recommendations of the authors of the treatises regarding the marching, battle formations, armament and battlefield tactics of the Byzantine army units and I will ask whether they reflect any kind of innovation or tactical adaptation to the strategic situation in the East. The main point that I wish to raise in this section of the study concentrates on how far we can say that ‘theory translated into practice’ on the battlefields of the period at Hadath (954), Tarsus (965), Dorystolon (971), Alexandretta (971), Orontes (994) and Apamea (998). How successful were the Byzantines at adapting to the changing military threats posed by their enemies in the East, according to the evidence we can discern from careful study of the writings of the tacticians of the period?
Tactical Changes: The Double-ribbed Hollow Infantry Square
Beginning his discussion on the infantry corps and the necessary equipment that should be borne by the στρατιώτας (soldiers), the author of the Στρατηγική Έκθϵσις (infra Praecepta Militaria) proceeds with the brief but nevertheless detailed description of their battle formation:
The formation of the aforementioned foot soldiers is to be a double (διττή) square, called by the ancients a four-sided formation, which has on each side three units (παραταγάς), so that all four sides have twelve units in total.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Byzantine Military Tactics in Syria and Mesopotamia in the Tenth CenturyA Comparative Study, pp. 192 - 218Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2018