Strategicon of Maurikios
The Strategikon des Maurikios is a late antique military manual in Greek, which is commonly attributed to the Eastern Roman emperor Maurikios .
Origin and dating
The exact time and the background of the writing of the treatise are controversial in research. It is generally believed that it was written before the year 630 (since the Sassanids are still portrayed as important enemies of East Stream) and after 570 (since the Turks are mentioned). Although the work is written in Greek, it still assumes that the command language of the imperial army was Latin , as was customary up to Herakleios . Research also debates the identity of the author, whom some historians call pseudo-Maurikios : it is possible that Maurikios only suggested the work while his brother Petros or his brother-in-law Philippikos was the author. It is unclear whether the Strategikon is based on the experience gained from 592 during the Balkan campaigns of Maurikios or whether it was already implemented by the responsible Eastern Roman generals at this point in time.
content
While most of the late Roman military treaties were literarily overworked and often lost in digressions, the Strategicon is actually a practical guide, quite “humble and simple”, as it is called in the introduction; for those "who devote themselves to the duties of the general ( strategos )". The aim of the Strategikon was perhaps the codification of the military reforms planned by Maurikios. These reforms, some of which were implemented by Maurikios' successor Herakleios (or later), lasted well into the 11th century.
The text consists of 12 chapters or books. With the exception of the 11th book, all deal with the organization, training and interaction of foot troops and mounted troops, right down to individual flag signals and trumpet signals . Furthermore, the Strategikon includes suggestions and plans for the formation of units of conscripts to replace the mercenary armies . The 11th book is remarkable with its descriptions of the typical fighting methods of the enemies of the Eastern Roman Empire around 600 : Persians , Franks , Lombards , Avars , Turks and Slavs . These explanations are also interesting from an ethnological and ethnographic point of view. In addition, the Strategikon is one of the earliest occidental texts (if not the first at all) in which stirrups are mentioned (Book 1). The Strategikon is in much of the sources of the Late Antique-Early Byzantine military disciplinary law is, as there is a list of military misconduct and this appropriate disciplinary action enumerates.
reception
The Strategikon of Maurikios considered by military historians as the first and up to the Second World War only ingenious theory of the battle of the combined arms but not to brigade level , but battalion level ( Greek : Tagma ). It also testifies to the great influence of Latin on the Eastern Roman-Byzantine terminology of the warfare and also proves that around 600 Latin was still the command language of the imperial army (this only changed under Herakleios).
literature
expenditure
- Maurice's Strategicon. Handbook of Byzantine Military Strategy. Translated by George T. Dennis. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia PA 1984, ISBN 0-8122-7899-2 (Reprinted ibid 2001, ISBN 0-8122-1772-1 ).
- The strategy icon of Maurikios. = Mauricii Strategicon (= Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae . Series Vindobonensis 17). Introduction, edition and indices by George T. Dennis. Translated by Ernst Gamillscheg. Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-7001-0403-0 .
Secondary literature
- Eric McGeer: Strategicon of Maurice. In: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY et al. 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 .
- Johannes Preiser-Kapeller: The Strategikon of Maurikios. A 6th century Byzantine military manual. In: Carbuncle Combat. 5 2009, ISSN 0944-2677 , pp. 36–39 (concise overview with detailed further references).
- Philip Rance: The "Fulcum", the Late Roman and Byzantine "Testudo": the Germanization of Roman Infantery Tactics? In: Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies. 44, 2004, ISSN 0884-7304 , pp. 265-326, online (PDF; 214 kB) .
- Philip R. Rance: The Roman Art of War in Late Antiquity. The Strategikon of the Emperor Maurice (= Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman Studies ). A Translation with Introduction and Commentary. Ashgate Variorum, Farnham 2011, ISBN 978-0-7546-0810-3 (basic work with English translation of the source).