This article lists and briefly discusses the most important of many military treatises on military science produced in the Byzantine Empire.
Background The Eastern Roman Empire was, for much of its history, one of the major powers of the medieval world. Continuing the institutions of the Roman Empire, throughout its history it was assailed on all sides by various numerically superior enemies. The empire therefore maintained its highly sophisticated military system from antiquity, which relied on discipline, training, knowledge of tactics and a well-organized support system. A crucial element in the maintenance and spreading of this military knowledge, along with traditional histories, were the various treatises and military manuals. These continued a tradition of Greek-Hellenistic warfare and tacticians that stretched back to Xenophon and Aeneas Tacticus, late Hellenistic military manuals adapted and applied for the needs and realities of the Byzantine army, most of them deriving from the wide corpus of ancient Greek and late Hellenistic authors, especially Aelian,A. Dain, L’Histoire du texte d’Élien le Tacticien des origines à la Fin du Moyen Âge (Paris 1946); P. Rance, "Maurice's Strategicon and the Ancients: the Late Antique Reception of Aelian and Arrian" in P. Rance and N.V. Sekunda (edd.), Greek Taktika. Ancient Military Writing and its Heritage (Gdańsk 2017) 217–255. OnasanderA. Dain, Les manuscrits d’Onésandros (Paris 1930) 145–157; P. Rance, "The Ideal of the Roman General in Byzantium: the Reception of Onasander's Strategikos in Byzantine Military Literature", in: S. Tougher and R. Evans (eds.), Generalship in Ancient Greece, Rome and Byzantium (Edinburgh 2022) 242–263 and Polyaenus,F. Schindler, Die Überlieferung der Strategemata des Polyainos (Vienna 1973) 187–225; E.L. Wheeler, "Notes on a Stratagem of Iphicrates in Polyaenus and Leo Tactica", Electrum 19 (2012) 157–163. and to a lesser extent AeneasP. Rance, "The Reception of Aineias' Poliorketika in Byzantine Military Literature" in M. Pretzler and N. Barley (eds.), Brill's Companion to Aineias Tacticus (Leiden/Boston 2017) 290-374. and Arrian.P. Rance, "Maurice's Strategicon and the Ancients: the Late Antique Reception of Aelian and Arrian" in P. Rance and N.V. Sekunda (edd.), Greek Taktika. Ancient Military Writing and its Heritage (Gdańsk 2017) 217–255. Pioneering scholars in the modern study of Byzantine military manuals include Friedrich Haase (1808-67), Karl Konrad Müller (1854-1903), Rezső (Rudolf) Vári (1867-1940) and Alphonse Dain (1896-1964).P. Rance, "Introduction" in P. Rance and N.V. Sekunda (edd.), Greek Taktika. Ancient Military Writing and its Heritage (Gdańsk 2017) 9–64 at 29–32.
List of works
A large corpus of Byzantine military literature survives. Characteristically Byzantine manuals were first produced in the sixth century. They greatly proliferated in the tenth century, when the Byzantines embarked on their conquests in the East and the Balkans, but production abated after the early eleventh century. There is some evidence of similar works being written in the Palaiologan era, but with one exception, none survive.Bartusis (1997), p. 10
Urbicius () wrote a military pamphlet addressed to Anastasius I (r. 491–518). In the manuscripts it is transmitted as two independent tracts. First, the Tacticon is an epitome of the first part (chs. 1–32) of Arrian’s Ars Tactica (AD 136/7), a conventional treatment of an idealised Hellenistic infantry phalanx.R. Förster (1877), ‘Studien zu den griechischen Taktikern’, Hermes 12:426–71 at 467–71 Second, the Epitedeuma () or 'Invention' is Urbicius’ own design for a type of portable cheval de frise.G. Greatrex, H. Elton and R. Burgess (2005), ‘Urbicius’ Epitedeuma: an edition, translation and commentary’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 98:35–74 The attribution to Urbicius of a third work, the so-called ‘Cynegeticus’, is spurious and results from confused scholarship in the 1930s. One manuscript (M) ascribes Maurice’s Strategikon to Urbicius, but this is demonstrably the copyist’s error.P. Rance, The Etymologicum Magnum and the "Fragment of Urbicius", Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 47 (2007) 193–224 The "Sixth-Century Byzantine Anonymous" or Anonymus Byzantinus: see below under Syrianus Magister The StrategikonG.T. Dennis (ed.), Das Strategikon des Maurikios, Ger. trans. E. Gamillscheg (CFHB 17] Vienna 1981); G.T. Dennis (Eng. trans.), Maurice’s Strategikon: Handbook of Byzantine Military Strategy (Philadelphia 1984) attributed to the Emperor Maurice (r. 582–602) was compiled in the late sixth century. It is a large twelve-book compendium treating all aspects of contemporary land warfare. Derives much of its information from the late Hellenistic corpus of Aelian and may have been a complete imitation of the latter, adapted to 6th century needs and realities. The author is especially concerned to clarify procedures for the deployment and tactics of cavalry, particularly in response to Avar victories in the 580s-590s. He favours indirect forms of combat - ambushes, ruses, nocturnal raids and skirmishing on difficult terrain - and he also exhibits a good understanding of military psychology and morale. Book XI offers an innovative analysis of the fighting methods, customs and habitat of the Empire's most significant enemies, as well as recommendations for campaigning north of the Danube against the Slavs, another strategic concern of the 590s. The Strategikon exercised a profound influence upon the subsequent Byzantine genre. The so-called De Militari Scientia or "Müller Fragment", an anonymous fragmentary tract, mostly comprising modified excerpts from Maurice's Strategikon.K. K. Müller 'Ein griechisches Fragment über Kriegswesen', Festschrift für Ludwig Urlichs (Würzburg 1880) 106–38. New edition with Italian translation: I. Eramo (ed.), Appunti di tattica (De militari scientia). Testo critico, traduzione e commento (Besançon 2018). Internal evidence, including the addition of "Saracens" to the list of enemies, suggests a date around the mid-seventh century.P. Rance, 'The De Militari Scientia or Müller Fragment as a philological resource. Latin in the East Roman army and two new loanwords in Greek: palmarium and *recala', Glotta. Zeitschrift für griechische und lateinische Sprache 86 (2010) 63-92 Syrianus Magister (formerly the "Sixth-Century Byzantine Anonymous" or Anonymus Byzantinus) wrote a large, wide-ranging military compendium employing Aelians and Onosander and to a lesser extent Arrian. Three substantial sections survive, which are transmitted independently in the manuscript tradition and have been edited in separate publications. Scholarship dating as far back as the seventeenth century has consistently recognised the textual unity of these three pieces, but errors in mid twentieth-century studies prolonged their separation.See most recently F. Lammert, 'Die älteste erhaltene Schrift über Seetaktik und ihre Beziehung zum Anonymus Byzantinus des 6. Jahrhunderts, zu Vegetius und zu Aineias’ Strategika, Klio 33 (1940) 271–788; C. Zuckerman, 'The Compendium of Syrianus Magister', Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 40 (1990) 209–224; S. Cosentino, "Syrianos’ Strategikon– a 9th-Century Source?", Bizantinistica 2 (2000) 243–80; P. Rance, The Date of the Military Compendium of Syrianus Magister (formerly the Sixth-Century Anonymus Byzantinus), Byzantinische Zeitschrift 100.2 (2007) 701-737 The three components are: a treatise on land warfare under the modern titles or De Re Strategica, most recently published as "The Anonymous Byzantine Treatise on Strategy".G.T. Dennis (ed.), Three Byzantine Military Treatises (CFHB Series Washingtoniensis 25] Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., 1985) 10–135 a treatise on military oratory under the modern title Rhetorica Militaris, long ascribed to the same "Anonymous".Ed. with Italian trans. by I. Eramo, Siriano. Discorsi di guerra. Testo, traduzione e commento (Bari 2010). This edition supersedes H. Köchly (ed.), Rhetorica Militaris (Δημηγορίαι προτρεπτικαὶ πρὸς ἀνδρείαν ἐκ διαφόρων ἀφορμῶν λαμβάνουσαι τὰς ὑποθέσεις) in: Index Lectionum in Literarum Universitate Turicensi… habendarum (Zurich 1855-56), 2 parts, which was based on defective secondary manuscripts. the Naumachia (Ναυμαχίαι), a treatise on naval warfare, which in the unique manuscript bears an ascription to a Syrianus Magister ().Ed. with Eng. trans. by Pryor and Jeffreys (2006) 455–481 Recognition of the common authorship of all three sections necessarily assigns the entire compendium to Syrianus. A new edition of the complete compendium is reportedly in preparation.C. Zuckerman, 'The Compendium of Syrianus Magister', Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 40 (1990) 209–224 The constituent parts of the compendium were traditionally dated to the sixth century, but the evidence is weak and all recent studies have identified features incompatible with late antiquity or more congruent with a date of composition in the ninth century.B. Baldwin, 'On the Date of the Anonymous ΠΕΡΙ ΣΤΡΑΤΗΓΙΚΗΣ', Byzantinische Zeitschrift 81 (1988) 290–3; A.D. Lee and J. Shepard, 'A Double Life: Placing the Peri Presbeon', Byzantinoslavica 52 (1991) 15–39 esp. 25–30; S. Cosentino, 'Syrianos’ Strategikon– a 9th-Century Source?', Bizantinistica 2 (2000) 243-80; P. Rance, 'The Date of the Military Compendium of Syrianus Magister (formerly the Sixth-Century Anonymus Byzantinus)', Byzantinische Zeitschrift 100.2 (2007) 701-737; L. Mecella, 'Die Überlieferung der Kestoi des Julius Africanus in den byzantinischen Textsammlungen zur Militärtechnik' in M. Wallraff and L. Mecella (edd.), Die Kestoi des Julius Africanus und ihre Überlieferung ([Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 165] Berlin/New York 2009) 85-144 at 96-8. This ninth-century dating has been widely accepted in recent scholarship on the genre.Pryor and Jeffreys (2006) 180; McGeer (2008) 910; Sullivan (2010) 151-2. The Problemata of the Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912),A. Dain (ed.), Leonis VI Sapientis Problemata (Paris 1935) compiled ca. 890s, comprise excerpts of Maurice's Strategikon arranged in a question-and-answer format. The Tactica of Leo VIG.T. Dennis (ed.), The Taktika of Leo VI. Text, Translation and Commentary ([CFHB 49] Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. 2010). was written ca. 895-908. At its core is a re-edition of Maurice's Strategikon, often reproduced verbatim, and additional material drawn from Hellenistic military treatises, especially Onasander.Haldon (1999), pp. 109–110 However, it also includes expansions and modifications to reflect contemporary practice, especially against the Arabs and the Hungarians, as well as chapters on naval warfare (peri naumachias).Kazhdan (1991), p. 2008 The Sylloge Tacticorum (), compiled in the early to mid 10th century, possibly during the reign of Constantine VII.Greek text: A. Dain (ed.), Sylloge tacticorum quae olim Inedita Leonis Tactica dicebatur (Paris 1938); Eng. trans.: G. Chatzelis and J. Harris, A Tenth-Century Byzantine Military Manual: The Sylloge Tacticorum (London 2017). The text is divided into two major sections: the first (chapters 1 to 56) draws upon various earlier authors and provides advice on generalship, battle formations and tactics, and siege warfare. The second half (chapters 57 to 102) deals with stratagems employed by past generals, drawing chiefly from ancient authors.Kazhdan (1991), p. 1980 Nevertheless, sections on contemporary warfare and comparison with earlier models (chapters 30-39 and 46-47) are also included, and were used as a basis for the later Praecepta Militaria. The so-called "Three Treatises on Imperial Military Expeditions", an appendix to the De Ceremoniis of Emperor Constantine VII.