The Burden, the Craving, the Tool. The Provisioning of the 10th Century Byzantine Army in the Light of Leo’s Tactica and Sylloge Tacticorum

Szymon Wierzbiński

doi:10.18778/2084-140X.10.23

Authors

Szymon Wierzbiński Lodz University of Technology, Faculty of Management and Production Engineering, Institute of Social Sciences and Management of Technologies https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0684-0911

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.10.23

Keywords:

Byzantium, strategy, tacticts, logistics

Abstract

It seems obvious that 10th century was a period in which the Byzantine polemology flourished once again, before it collapsed one hundred years later. During that period numerous authors of Byzantine military treaties instructed imperial commanders how to wage war. Among many issues organization of the campaign was always an important aspect. In this paper I will try to clarify selected problems. First, I will try to specify what the soldiers ate on a daily basis. Next, I will determine to what extent the provisioning system met the expectations and needs of the Byzantines fighting for the empire. With the help of Tactica and Sylloge Tacticorum, I will try to explain how the rations were gathered, transported and protected. Finally, I will specify how the supplies were utilized not only as a means of nourishment, but also as a tool of war. The following research was carried out on the basis of military treaties from the 10th century, since this time was the peak of Byzantine military revival. Although I mainly base my research on the work of Leon the Wise and the anonymous treaty known as Sylloge Tacticorum, I also occasionally refer to other works, such as Peri Strategias, De velitatione and Praecepta Militaria.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

The Anonymous Byzantine Treatise on Strategy, [in:] Three Byzantine Military Treatises, trans. et ed. G.T. Dennis, Washington 1985 [= Dumbarton Oaks Texts, 9; Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae. Series Washingtonensis, 25], p. 10–135.
Google Scholar

Apparatus Bellicus, vol. VII, ed. I. Lamis, 1746.
Google Scholar

C. Asini Polionis De Bello Africano, ed. E. Wölfflin, A. Miodoński, Lipsiae 1889.
Google Scholar

Campaign Organization and Tactics, [in:] Three Byzantine Military Treatises, trans. et ed. G.T. Dennis, Washington 1985 [= Dumbarton Oaks Texts, 9; Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae. Series Washingtonensis, 25], p. 241–327.
Google Scholar

Chronique de Jean de Nikiou, ed. et trans. H. Zotenberg, Paris 1883.
Google Scholar

Commentari de Bello Civili, ed. F. Kraner, F. Hoffmann, Berlin 1996 [repr.].
Google Scholar

Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Three Treatises on Imperial Military Expeditions, ed. et trans. J.F. Haldon, Wien 1990 [= Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae, 28].
Google Scholar

Constantini Porphyrogeniti imperatoris De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae libri duo, vol. I–II, ed. J.J. Reiske, Bonn 1829–1830 [= Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae, 1].
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783112413982

Dio’s Roman History, vol. VIII, trans. E. Cary, London–New York 1955.
Google Scholar

Flavi Vegeti Renati Epitoma Rei Militaris, ed. C. Land, Lipsiae 1885 [= Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana].
Google Scholar

The History of Leo the Deacon. Byzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth Century, trans. et ed. A.-M. Talbot, D.F. Sullivan, Washington 2005 [= Dumbarton Oaks Studies, 41].
Google Scholar

Ioannis Scylitzae Synopsis historiarum, ed. H. Thurn, Berolini 1973 [= Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae, 5].
Google Scholar

Iulius Africanus Cesti. The Extant Fragments, ed. M. Wallraff, C. Scardino, L. Mecella, C. Guignard, Berlin–Boston 2012 [= Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten [drei] Jahrhunderte. Neue Folge, 18], https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110286809
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110286809

Kitab al-Masalik wa’l-Mamalik, vol. VI, ed. M.J. de Goeje, Lugdunum 1889.
Google Scholar

Leonis Diaconi Historiae Libri Decem, [in:] Patrologiae cursus completus, Series graeca, vol. CXVII, ed. J.-P. Migne, Paris 1894, col. 655–924.
Google Scholar

Livy, History of Rome, vol. VI–VII, ed. F.G. Moore, Cambridge–London 1940 [= Loeb Classical Library], https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.livy-history_rome_23.1940
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/DLCL.livy-history_rome_23.1940

Plutarch, Lives, vol. VII, trans. B. Perrin, Cambridge–London 1967 [= Loeb Classical Library, 99].
Google Scholar

Polybius, The Histories, vol. III, Books 5–8, trans. W.R. Patton, Cambridge–London 1979 [= Loeb Classical Library, 138].
Google Scholar

Praecepta Militaria, [in:] E. McGeer, Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth. Byzantine Warfare in the Tenth Century, Washington 1995 [= Dumbarton Oaks Studies, 33], p. 12–59.
Google Scholar

Procopius, Historia Arcana, [in:] Procopius ex recensione Guilielmi Dindorfii, vol. III, ed. I. Webber, Bonn 1838, p. 10–166.
Google Scholar

Procopius, History of the Wars, vol. II, Books 3–4. (Vandalic War), trans. H.B. Dewing, Cambridge Mass. 1916 [= Loeb Classical Library, 81].
Google Scholar

Pseudo-Simeon, Theophanes Continuatus, Ioannes Cameniata, Symeon Magister, Georgius Monachus, ed. I. Bekker, Bonnae–Lipsiae 1838 [= Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae, 31].
Google Scholar

Skirmishing, [in:] Three Byzantine Military Treatises, trans. et ed. G.T. Dennis, Washington 1985 [= Dumbarton Oaks Texts, 9; Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae. Series Washingtonensis, 25], p. 137–239.
Google Scholar

Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, vol. I, trans. J.C. Rolfe, London–New York 1914 [= Loeb Classical Library, 31].
Google Scholar

Sylloge Tacticorum, quae olim “Inedita Leonis Tactica dicebatur”, ed. A. Dain, Paris 1938.
Google Scholar

The Taktika of Leo VI, trans. et ed. G. Dennis, Washington 2010 [= Corpus fontium historiae byzantinae. Series Washingtonensis].
Google Scholar

A Tenth-Century Byzantine Military Manual. The Sylloge Tacticorum, trans. G. Chatzelis, J. Harris, London 2017 [= Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Studies].
Google Scholar

Theodosiani Libri XVI cum Constitutionibus Sirmondianis et Leges Novellae ad Theodosianum Pertinentes, ed. T. Mommsen, P.M. Meyer, Berolini 1905.
Google Scholar

La Vie de Saint Luc le Stylite, ed. F. Vanderstuyf, [in:] Patrologia orientalis, vol. XI, ed. R. Graffin, F. Nau, Paris 1915, col. 187–287.
Google Scholar

Bartusis M., Aerikon, [in:] The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. I, ed. A. Kazhdan et al., New York–Oxford 1991, p. 28.
Google Scholar

Bohec Y. le, The Imperial Roman Army, London 1994.
Google Scholar

Bowman A.K., Roman Military Records from Vindolanda, “Britannia” 5, 1974, p. 360–363, https://doi.org/10.2307/525738
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/525738

Cappel A.J., Synone, [in:] The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. III, ed. A. Kazhdan et al., New York–Oxford 1991, p. 1994–1995.
Google Scholar

Cosentino S., Syrianos’ Strategikon – a 9th-Century Source?, “Bizantinistica” 2, 2000, p. 243–280.
Google Scholar

Dalby A., Siren Feast. A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece, London 1996.
Google Scholar

Dalby A., Tastes of Byzantium. The Cusine of a Legendary Empire, London 2010.
Google Scholar

Dawson T., Byzantine Cavalryman c. 900–1204, Oxford 2007.
Google Scholar

Dawson T., Byzantine Infantryman – Eastern Roman Empire c. 900–1204, Oxford 2007.
Google Scholar

Dennis G.T., The Byzantines in Battle, [in:] Byzantium at War (9th–12th c.), ed. K. Tsiknakis, Athens 1997, p. 165–178.
Google Scholar

Górecki D.M., Constantine VII’s Peri ton stratioton, “Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies” 48, 2009, p. 135–154.
Google Scholar

Haldon J., Feeding the Army: Food and Transport in Byzantium, ca. 600–1100, [in:] Feast, Fast or Famine. Food and Drink in Byzantium, ed. W. Mayer, S. Trzcionka, Brisbane 2005, p. 85–100, https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004344853_009
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004344853_009

Haldon J., The Organisation and Support of an Expeditionary Force: Manpower and Logistics in the Middle Byzantine Period, [in:] Byzantium at War (9th–12th c.), ed. K. Tsiknakis, Athens 1997, p. 111–151.
Google Scholar

Haldon J., Theory and Practice in Tenth-century Military Administration: Chapters II, 44 and 45 of the Book of Ceremonies, “Travaux et mémoires du Centre de recherches d’histoire et civilisation byzantines” 13, 2000, p. 201–352.
Google Scholar

Heath I., McBri E.A., Byzantine Armies 886–1118, Oxford 1979.
Google Scholar

Kaplan M., The Producing Population, [in:] A Social History of Byzantium, ed. J. Haldon, Oxford 2009, p. 143–167, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444305906.ch7
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444305906.ch7

Kazhdan A., Aplekton, [in:] The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. I, ed. A. Kazhdan et al., New York–Oxford 1991, p. 131.
Google Scholar

Kazhdan A., Eidikon, [in:] The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. I, ed. A. Kazhdan et al., New York–Oxford 1991, p. 681.
Google Scholar

Kazhdan A., McGeer E., Stratiotes, [in:] The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. III, ed. A. Kazhdan et al., New York–Oxford 1991, p. 1965–1966.
Google Scholar

Luttwak E.N., The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire, Harvard 2009, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvjhzrf5
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvjhzrf5

McGeer E., Opsonion, [in:] The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. III, ed. A. Kazhdan et al., New York–Oxford 1991, p. 1529.
Google Scholar

McGeer E., Recruitment, [in:] The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. III, ed. A. Kazhdan et al., New York–Oxford 1991, p. 1777–1778.
Google Scholar

McGeer E., Sowing the Dragon’s Teeth. Byzantine Warfare in the Tenth Century, Washington 1995 [= Dumbarton Oaks Studies, 33].
Google Scholar

McGeer E., Touldos, [in:] The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, vol. III, ed. A. Kazhdan et al., New York–Oxford 1991, p. 2099–2100.
Google Scholar

Moralee J., It’s in the Water: Byzantine Borderlands and the Village War, “Humanities” 7, 2018, p. 1–14, https://doi.org/10.3390/h7030086
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/h7030086

Oikonomidès N., Middle-Byzantine Provincial Recruits: Salary and Armament, [in:] Byzantine Warfare, ed. J. Haldon, Burlington 2007, p. 151–166.
Google Scholar

Rance P., The Date of the Military Compendium of Syrianus Magister (formerly the Sixth-CenturyAnonymus Byzantinus), “Byzantinische Zeitschrift” 100.2, 2007, p. 701–737, https://doi.org/10.1515/BYZS.2008.701
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/BYZS.2008.701

Roth J.P., The Logistics of the Roman Army at War (264 B.C. – A.C. 235), Leiden–Boston–Köln 1999 [= Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition, 23].
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004236325

Różycki Ł., Byzantine Asymmetric Warfare in Light of “De velitatione bellica”, “Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. Prace Historyczne” 143.4, 2016, p. 645–662.
Google Scholar

Rzeźnicka Z., Military Diet in Selected Greek, Roman and Byzantine Sources, [in:] Standards of Everyday Life in the Middle Ages and in Modern Times, ed. K. Mutafova, N. Hristova, I. Ivanov, G. Georgieva, Veliko Tarnovo 2014, p. 649–661.
Google Scholar

Watson G., The Roman Soldier, London 1969 [= Aspects of Greek and Roman Life].
Google Scholar

Wolińska T., Synowie Hagar. Wiedza Bizantyńczyków o armii arabskiej w świetle traktatów wojskowych z IX i X wieku, “Vox Patrum. Antyk Chrześcijański” 35, 2015, p. 397–416.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.31743/vp.3571