Tactica of Emperor Leo VI the Wise

CORPUS FONTIUM HISTORIAE BYZANTINAE CONSILIO SOCIETATIS INTERNATIONALIS STUDIIS BYZANTINIS PROVEHENDIS DESTINATAE EDITUM

THE TAKTIKA OF LEO VI TEXT, TRANSLATION, AND COMMENTARY

by GEORGE DENNIS

VOLUMEN XLIX

LEONIS VI TACTICA

EDIDIT, ANGLICE VERTIT, ADNOTAVIT GEORGE DENNIS

SERIES WASHINGTONIENSIS, EDIDIT JOHN DUFFY In aedibus Dumbarton Oaks Washingtoniae, D.C.

DUMBARTON OAKS RESEARCH LIBRARY AND COLLECTION WASHINGTON, D.C.

MMX

2010

CONTENTS

© 2010 Dumbarton Oaks Trustees for Harvard University Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

Preface Introduction Select Bibliography Acronyms Sigla

vii ix XV

xix

xxi

TEXT AND TRANSLATION LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Leo VI, Emperor of the East, 866-912. [Tactica. English & Greek] The Taktika of Leo VI I text, translation, and commentary by George Dennis. 1st ed. p. em. - (Dumbarton Oaks texts; 12) Greek text and English translation on facing pages; notes and commentary in English. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-o-88402-359-3 (hardcover: alk. paper) 1. Military art and science-Early works to 1800. 2. Tactics-Early works to 18oo. 3. Military art and science-Byzantine Empire. 4. Byzantine Empire-History, Military-527-1081. I. Dennis, George T. II. Title. Ul01.L42313 2010 355.4'2-dc22 2009075248

In accordance with the rules adopted by the International Commission for the Edition of Sources of Byzantine History, the text and translation of this volume have been verified by John Duffy, John Haldan, and Alice-Mary Talbot.

Prologue Constitution

2

1:

About Tactics and the General

Constitution 2: About the Qualities Required in the General

12

16

Constitution 3: About How It Is Necessary to Make Plans Constitution 4: About the Division of the Army and the Appointment of Officers

46

Constitutions: About Weapons

74

Constitution 6: About Armament for the Cavalry and the Infantry

82

Constitution 7: About Training for the Cavalry and the Infantry

104

Constitution 8: About Military Punishments

146

Constitution 9: About Marches

154

Constitution 10: About the Baggage Train

186

Constitution 11: About Camps

194

Constitution

12:

About Advance Preparation for Battle

216

vi

Contents Constitution 13: About the Day before Battle Constitution 14: About the Day of Battle

290

Constitution 15: About Besieging a City

350

Constitution 16: About Matters after the War

382

Constitution 17: About Surprise Attacks

392

Constitution 18: About the Practices of Various Peoples and of the Romans in Their Battle Formations

436

Constitution 19: About Naval Warfare

502

Constitution 20: About Various Concise Sayings

536

Epilogue

620

Maps

644

Byzantine Measurements

647

Glossary

649

Persons Mentioned

653

Indexes I.

Greek proper names

II.

Greek terms

655 657

III.

Fontes

669

IV.

General

672

PREFACE

My dissertation director, Raymond-J. Loenertz, OP, once told me that, in old age, one should not undertake a critical edition of a Greek text. Perhaps I should have followed his advice. When I began work on the present edition, however, old age was off in the distant future and I could still distinguish an acute accent from a grave. But, owing to unforeseen circumstances, the work took much longer than I had anticipated and I came to realize the pertinence of Fr. Loenertz's cautionary advice. Despite our best efforts, there surely remain imperfections and mistakes. That they are not too numerous is due largely to the careful, time-consuming work of John Duffy in reading and correcting my typescript. To him I express my heartfelt thanks. My thanks also to John Haldon for his helpful suggestions and, among other things, his corrections of the equine terminology. My sincere thanks go to Alice-Mary Talbot, ofDumbarton Oaks, for her kind and constant support and for expediting the production of this book. My thanks, as well, to Joel Kalvesmaki, a former student, who so efficiently presided over the editorial process, and to Lionel Yaceczko who moved that process along carefully and professionally. I must, as any scholar must, acknowledge the gracious, professional assistance of the librarians at Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Biblioteca de El Escorial, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, as well as those at Dumbarton Oaks, The Catholic University of America, and Santa Clara University.

Los Gatos, California September, 2009

George T. Dennis, S./.

INTRODUCTION

Although he probably never set foot on a battlefield, the Byzantine emperor Leo VI (r. 886-912) appears to have had a lively interest in military matters and the conduct of war. He was after all the supreme commander of the Byzantine or, as he would prefer, Roman armed forces. Successor to Caesar Augustus, Trajan, Constantine, and Justinian, he was expected to be victorious in war and to subject barbarian peoples to the authority of Rome. He soon realized that he could not do this without a solid knowledge of military equipment and practice. This is precisely what Leo set about to acquire. The Byzantines had inherited a voluminous series of military treatises from antiquity: diagrams of battle formations and instructions for improving one's archery, for besieging or defending a city, and for nearly every aspect of warfare. Leo went through all this, summarized it, and presented what he considered to be an elementary handbook for his officers on how to prepare soldiers for war and how to move them about on campaign and on the battlefield. The Tactical Constitutions, or Taktika, were the result. Preceded by a prologue and concluding with an epilogue, the twenty Constitutions, or chapters, offer little that is original. But the Byzantines were not interested in original compositions; they revered the authority of the ancients. Apart, then, from sections devoted to the Saracens and to naval warfare, the Taktika consist largely of adaptations and paraphrases of previous authors, the most obvious of which are Onasander (first century A.D.), Aelian (second century A.D.), and Maurice (ca. A.D. 6oo). Leo must have compiled the Taktika during his reign as emperor, for he refers to his father, Basil I, as deceased. As with any work attributed to an emperor, it is not clear how much was written by Leo himself (although there are some very personal remarks) and how much by his secretaries or research assistants. At any rate, copies were made and, sometime before the death of his son, Constantine VII, in 959, it was incorporated

x

Introduction

into a large volume of Greek military treatises, a sort of military encyclopedia, and deposited in the imperial library. This, or a copy of it, is the mid-tenthcentury codex Mediceo-Laurentianus graecus, 55, 4 (M). This manuscript, written by one hand on good parchment, has been the subject of several detailed studies.' Alphonse Dain claims that it exemplifies the first manuscript family, which he designates as the authentic tradition. In its present state, it is made up of 404 folios, mostly quaternions, although some folios are now missing, as will be noted suo loco. Each page measures 32.5 x 26 em., 32 lines to a page. The script is a clear and somewhat elegant minuscule, with the titles in semi-uncial. The ink is dark brown, fading in places, with red ink used for the titles, which are preceded by ornamental bands. It seems that not many copies were made of M, and much of its subsequent history is not clear. Early in the fifteenth century, it was owned by a highranking army officer in the service of Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, De-metrios Laskaris Leontares, who made use of blank spaces to record births and deaths in his family from 1408 to 1439. His grandson, also named Demetrios, made further notations for the years 1448 to 1450.2 After the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, the volume found its way to Thessaly, where it was purchased in 1491 by Janus Laskaris and brought to Florence. The Tactical Constitutions, beginning on folio 281, originally consisted of sixteen constitutions, which were followed by an assortment of maxims; an epilogue; and three treatises on surprise attacks, siege warfare, and naval warfare. These three treatises, as well as a collection of concise sayings, were soon incorporated into the main body of the work, as can be seen in the codex Vindobonensis phil. graecus 275 (W), resulting in the following order for the final sections: Constitution XIV, The Day of Battle; XV, Siege Warfare; XVI, The Day after Battle; XVII, Surprise Attacks; XVIII, Customs of Different Nations; XIX, Naval Warfare; XX, Concise Sayings; Epilogue. This is the plan, perhaps the original plan, given in the prologue (lin. 103-19). One should also note that, in the manuscripts, Constitutions III and IV are in reverse order. In addition to the above changes in the order of the chapters, W made a few other changes, mostly minor ones, indicated below. It is, in essence, an expand-

Introduction

xi

Nl copy of M, a sort of second edition. Although mutilated in the beginning and at the end, and missing several folios, it must be consulted to establish the authentic text of the Taktika. W is a small (octavo) parchment volume consisting presently of 249 folios. The script is clear, 24 lines to a page, although the ink has faded in several places. Especially in the earlier chapters, there are numerous brief, crudely written marginal notations, perhaps by a later hand, often without diacritical marks (reproduced as such in this edition), meant to clarify certain terms in the text. When W was written is not clear, probably early in the second half of the tenth century. A thorough study of the two manuscripts indicates that W may have been copied directly from M or, at least, from a manuscript very closely linked to it. The differences between the two are minimal, and a survey of the first fourteen chapters reveals some 220 common errors, such as KOUTou~epvtv and T6A.oov (seep. xiii below). And, of course, each manuscript has some unique errors, with W having a few more than M, including some omissions. Both seem to regard indicative and subjunctive as interchangeable, o - w, et - '1· M tends to present numerals as such, whereas W tends to spell them out, e.g., tW versus 6wOeKa. Both prefer o to w in words such as KoupmiTopeagron, G. "Byzance et le modele islamique au Xe siecle a propos des constitutions tactiques de l'empereur Leon VI." Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des Inscript. et BellesLettres (1983): 219-42. Dain, A. Histoire du texte d'Elien le Tacticien. Paris, 1946. {)ain, A. "Les strategistes byzantins." TM 2 (1967): 317-92. ~~~,~-. "Touldos et Touldon dans les traites militaires." In Melanges Henri Gregoire (Brussels, 1950) 2:161-69. Dennis, G. T. "Byzantine Battle Flags." ByzF 8 (1982): 51-59. '"--. "Byzantine Heavy Artillery: The Helepolis." GRBS 39 (1998): 99-115. "The Byzantines in Battle." In Byzantium at War. Edited by K. Tsinakes. 165-78. Athens, 1997. -----."Religious Services in the Byzantine Army." EYAOTHMA: Studies in Honor of Robert Taft, S.]. Studia Anselmiana 110. Edited by E. Carr et a!. 107-17. Rome, 1993· -~-.

"Some Reflections on Byzantine Military Theory." John K. Zeender: A Festschrift. Edited by R. Calinger and T. West. 1-18. Maplecrest, NY, 2007. Dufrenne, S. "Aux sources des gonfanons." Byzantion 43 (1973): 51-60. Eickhoff, E. Seekrieg und Seepolitik zwischen Islam und A bend/and. Berlin, 1966. Greatrex, G., eta!. "Urbicius' Epitedeuma: An Edition, Translation and Commentary." BZ 98 (2005): 35-74. Grosdidier de Matons, J. "Trois etudes sur Leon VI." TM 5 (1973): 229-42. Grosse, R. "Die Fahnen in der ri:imisch-byzantinischen Armee des 4.-10. Jahrhunderts." BZ 24 (1924): 359-72. Haldon, J. F. Byzantine Praetorians: An Administrative, Institutional and Social Survey of the Opsikion and Tagmata, c. 580-900. Bonn, 1984. - - . The Byzantine Wars: Battles and Campaigns of the Byzantine Era. Gloucestershire, 2001. - - . Recruitment and Conscription in the Byzantine Army c. 550-950: A Study of the Origins of the Stratiotika Ktemata. Vienna, 1979. "Some Aspects of Byzantine Military Technology from the Sixth to the Tenth Centuries." BMGS 1 (1975): 11-47.

xviii

Select Bibliography

- - . "Theory and Practice in Tenth Century Military Administration: Chapters II, 45 and 46 of the Book of Ceremonies." TM 13 (2ooo): 201-352. - - . Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World, 565-1204. London, 1999. Haldon, J. F. and M. Byrne. "A Possible Solution to the Problem of Greek Fire." BZ 70 (1977): 91-99Hild, F., and M. Restle. Tabula imperii byzantini. Vol. 2, Kappadokien. Vienna, 1981. Hunger, H. Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner. 2 vols. Munich, 1978. Kaegi, W. Some Thoughts on Byzantine Military Strategy. Brookline, MA, 1983. Kazhdan, A. eta!., eds. Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 3 vols. New York, 1991. Kolias, T. G. "The Taktika ofLeo VI the Wise and the Arabs." Graeco-Arabica 3 (1984): 129-35· - - . Byzantinische Waffen. Vienna, 1988. Korres, T. 'Yypov nvp· iva 6nlo TIJyyoc; e'iTe -roup11a e'iTe Kal nponapa-ra~tc; noA.A.of> oTpa-rof> f.mtv, E.v -rptol 11epem Taooetv -roue; yu11va~o!1£vouc;. Kal ei !lEV ~av6ov f.oTl To Ka8' £au-ro yu11va~611evov, -roue; nA.eiouc; aU-rou EV TCt~£l Koupowpwv 1t0l£LV ano 0£Ka Ka~aAA.ap(wv E1tL cmA.~c; aK(ac; £v8ev KUKe18ev, au-roue; L00!1£TW1tOU -rp6mp -rounp XPTJ