The Roman Art Of War In Late Antiquity The Strategikon Of The Emperor Maurice

The Strategikon of the Emperor Maurice, written towards the end of the 6th century, is a key text in the history of late Roman and Byzantine warfare. It stands midway between the classical genre of tactica, dating back to the 4th century BC, and the subsequent Byzantine military corpus, which it profoundly influenced. Of unprecedented size and scope, the Strategikon discusses every aspect of contemporary land warfare, and includes ethnographic excursuses on the late Roman Empire's varied enemies. It is a work of outstanding utility, whose author was able to combine, in a deliberately vernacular Greek, the precepts of earlier military texts with a practical military knowledge. Volume I is a new English translation and detailed commentary on the work, incorporating the vast amount of research recently conducted on this period. Volume II provides studies on the text's structure, composition, language, sources and literary antecedents.

The Strategikon of the Emperor Maurice, written towards the end of the 6th century, is a key text in the history of late Roman and Byzantine warfare. It stands midway between the classical genre of tactica, dating back to the 4th century BC, and the subsequent Byzantine military corpus, which it profoundly influenced. Of unprecedented size and scope, the Strategikon discusses every aspect of contemporary land warfare, and includes ethnographic excursuses on the late Roman Empire’s varied enemies. It is a work of outstanding utility, whose author was able to combine, in a deliberately vernacular Greek, the precepts of earlier military texts with a practical military knowledge. Volume I is a new English translation and detailed commentary on the work, incorporating the vast amount of research recently conducted on this period. Volume II provides studies on the text’s structure, composition, language, sources and literary antecedents.

The Strategikon of the Emperor Maurice, written towards the end of the 6th century, is a key text in the history of late Roman and Byzantine warfare. It stands midway between the classical genre of tactica, dating back to the 4th century BC, and the subsequent Byzantine military corpus, which it profoundly influenced. Of unprecedented size and scope, the Strategikon discusses every aspect of contemporary land warfare, and includes ethnographic excursuses on the late Roman Empireâe(tm)s varied enemies. It is a work of outstanding utility, whose author was able to combine, in a deliberately vernacular Greek, the precepts of earlier military texts with a practical military knowledge. This new English translation is accompanied by a detailed commentary, the first in nearly a century, which incorporates the vast amount of research recently conducted on this period. It is prefaced by a series of studies on the textâe(tm)s structure, composition, language and idiom, sources and literary antecedents. This study redefines the purpose and overall character of the Strategikon, by emphasising the descriptive, rather than prescriptive, nature of the text, and its vital role in preserving earlier traditions and practices, and transmitting them from the late Roman world to the Byzantine Empire. This volume will be of interest to scholars and students of the late Antique and early Byzantine periods, as well as specialists in military history and the Byzantine literary tradition.

The Strategikon of the Emperor Maurice, written towards the end of the 6th century, is a key text in the history of late Roman and Byzantine warfare. It stands midway between the classical genre of tactica, dating back to the 4th century BC, and the subsequent Byzantine military corpus, which it profoundly influenced. Of unprecedented size and scope, the Strategikon discusses every aspect of contemporary land warfare, and includes ethnographic excursuses on the late Roman Empire's varied enemies. It is a work of outstanding utility, whose author was able to combine, in a deliberately vernacular Greek, the precepts of earlier military texts with a practical military knowledge. Volume I is a new English translation and detailed commentary on the work, incorporating the vast amount of research recently conducted on this period. Volume II provides studies on the text's structure, composition, language, sources and literary antecedents.

As a veteran campaigner, the Byzantine emperor Maurice (582-602) compiled a unique and influential handbook intended for the field commander. In this first complete English translation, the Strategikon is an invaluable source not only for early Byzantine history but for the general history of the art of war. Describing in detail weaponry and armor, daily life on the march or in camp, clothing, food, medical care, military law, and titles of the Byzantine army of the seventh century, the Strategikon offers insights into the Byzantine military ethos. In language contemporary, down-to-earth, and practical, the text also provides important data for the historian, and even the ethnologist, including eyewitness accounts of the Persians, Slavs, Lombards, and Avars at the frontier of the Empire.

This collection of papers, arising from the Late Antique Archaeology conference series, explores war and warfare in Late Antiquity. Papers examine strategy and intelligence, weaponry, literary sources and topography, the West Roman Empire, the East Roman Empire, the Balkans, civil war and Italy.

The Roman Emperor ran the Empire through contentious committee meetings at which civil, military and religious policies were debated.

What do the mysterious Roman author Vegetius, the Byzantine emperor Leo VI, and the Chinese general Li Jing all have in common? They are three of the dozens of authors across the medieval Mediterranean world and beyond who wrote works of military literature, sometimes called military handbooks, manuals, or treatises. This book brings together a multidisciplinary international team of scholars who present cutting edge essays on diverse aspects of medieval military literature. While some chapters offer novel approaches to familiar authors like Vegetius, some present research on under-valued topics like Byzantine military illustrations, and others provide holistic studies on subjects like early modern treatises, they all move the discussion of medieval military literature forward. Contributors are Michael B. Charles, Georgios Chatzelis, Pierre Cosme, Maxime Emion, Immacolata Eramo, Michael Fulton, David Graff, John Haldon, Catherine Hof, John Hosler, Savvas Kyriakidis, Łukasz Różycki, Katharina Schoneveld, Georgios Theotokis, Conor Whately, Michael Whitby, and Nadya Williams.