Table Of Content

A Tenth-Century Byzantine Military Manual: The Sylloge Tacticorum The Sylloge Tacticorum is a mid-Byzantine example of the literary genre of military manuals or Taktika which stretches back to antiquity. It was one of a num- ber produced during the tenth century CE, a period when the Byzantine empire enjoyed a large measure of success in its wars against its traditional enemy, the Arabs. Compiled to record and preserve military strategies, know-how, and tactics, the manual discusses a wide variety of matters: battle formations, raids, sieges, ambushes, surprise attacks, the treatment of prisoners of war and defec- tors, distribution of booty, punishment of military offences, how to mount effec- tive espionage, and how to send and receive envoys. There is even advice on the personal qualities required by generals, on how to neutralize enemy horses, and on how to protect the troops against poisoned food. The work culminates in an account of the stratagems employed by great Greek and Roman military com- manders of the past. While, like so much of Byzantine literature, the Sylloge often simply reproduces material found in earlier texts, it also preserves a great deal of information about the military tactics being developed by the Byzantine army during the tenth century. It is the first Byzantine source to record the reappearance of a specialized heavy cavalry (the kataphraktoi) and of a specialized infantry (the menavlatoi) used to repel the attacks of the opposing heavy cavalry. There is also a great deal of information on new infantry and cavalry formations and on the new tactics that required them. This is the first complete translation of the Sylloge into English. It is accom- panied by a glossary of the specialised Greek military vocabulary used in the work and by footnotes which explain obscure references and identify the author’s classical and Byzantine sources. An introduction places the work in its historical and literary context and considers some of the questions that have remained unan- swered over the centuries, such as its authorship and the date of its composition. Georgios Chatzelis is a PhD student at Royal Holloway University of London, UK. Jonathan Harris is Professor of the History of Byzantium at Royal Holloway University of London, UK. Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Studies General Editors Leslie Brubaker Rhoads Murphey John Haldon Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Studies is devoted to the history, culture and archaeology of the Byzantine and Ottoman worlds of the East Mediterranean region from the fifth to the twentieth century. It provides a forum for the publication of research completed by scholars from the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies at the University of Birmingham, and those with simi- lar research interests. For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/series/BBOS Imperial Lineages and Legacies in the Eastern Mediterranean Recording the Imprint of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Rule Edited by Rhoads Murphey Dreams and Lives in Ottoman Istanbul A Seventeenth-Century Biographer’s Perspective Aslı Niyazioğlu Byzantium and the Emergence of Muslim-Turkish Anatolia, ca. 1040–1130 Alexander Daniel Beihammer Cyprus Between Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (ca. 600–800) An Island in Transition Luca Zavagno A Tenth-Century Byzantine Military Manual The Sylloge Tacticorum Translated by Georgios Chatzelis and Jonathan Harris Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies University of Birmingham A Tenth-Century Byzantine Military Manual: The Sylloge Tacticorum Translated by Georgios Chatzelis and Jonathan Harris First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Georgios Chatzelis and Jonathan Harris The right of Georgios Chatzelis and Jonathan Harris to be identified as translators and authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Chatzelis, Georgios, translator. | Harris, Jonathan, translator. Title: A tenth-century Byzantine military manual : the Sylloge tacticorum / translated by Georgios Chatzelis and Jonathan Harris. Other titles: Sylloge tacticorum. English | Sylloge tacticorum Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, New York, NY : Routledge, [2017] | Series: Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman studies | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017002087 | ISBN 9781472470287 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315565316 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Military art and science—Early works to 1800. | Tactics—Early works to 1800. | Byzantine Empire. Stratos—Drill and tactics. Classification: LCC U43.B9 S95 2017 | DDC 355.4/749509021—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017002087 ISBN: 978-1-4724-7028-7 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-56531-6 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Apex CoVantage, LLC Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Studies Volume 22 To Aristeides and Lemonia, for their sacrifices Contents Acknowledgements viii List of abbreviations ix Glossary x Conventions used in the translation xii Introduction 1 Translation 13 Notes 119 Bibliography 151 Index 165 Acknowledgements The translators would like to express their thanks to Andy Antzara, Charalam- bos Dendrinos, David Gwynn, Eirene Harvalia-Crook, and Chrysa Zizopoulou for their help, advice, and information and to Michael Greenwood of Routledge and John Smedley of Ashgate for facilitating the acceptance and publication of the volume. When it came to the production stage, they were fortunate to have the assistance of Sheri Sipka and her colleagues at Apex CoVantage whose hard work and eye for detail smoothed the path to the press. Their greatest debt is to John Haldon, whose careful reading of the translation and introduction yielded numerous and extremely valuable corrections, suggestions, and improvements. Lastly, they would like to record their appreciation to the late Frank Trombley (1947–2015) who, by supervising Georgios Chatzelis’s MA dissertation, helped to lay the foundations of this translation.