Suntagma Hoplôn: The Equipment of Regular Byzantine Troops, c.950 to c.1204

Abstract

At the debut of the tenth century, after two hundred years of assaults from external enemies and a debilitating internal schism over theology, the Byzantine eagle was again on the wing. The Roman army had always been ready to adapt to changing circumstances, and theprevious centuries had demanded much of that capability, although less due to a different character of external threat than to the perennial problems of finance and supply. However by c.900 recovery was under way and there was also a revival of the ancient Roman tradition of military literature, as well as greater confidence to specify optimum forms of equipment at a sophisticated level. The recommendations of the mid-tenth-century manuals set paradigmswhich prevailed for many years.