Customer Reviews

Maurice's Strategikon: Handbook of Byzantine Military Strategy (The Middle Ages Series)

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This is a beautifully produced translation of the Strategikon, a military manual attributed to the eastern Roman emperor Maurice and thought to have been written sometime between A.D. 580 and 600. Packed full of the accumulated wisdom of a thousand years of Hellenistic and Roman experience in warfare, the Strategikon was meant to be a primer for the novice general--roughly the Western equivalent to Sun Tzu's "Art of War."

Simply put, the Strategicon is a gold mine of historical data on the Roman army of the late 6th century. It is of particular interest because this period marks a time when Roman power had made its last vain attempt to regain authority over the Western provinces of the Empire, and was now undergoing a period of contraction and collapse. The Strategikon describes an army whose core is no longer the heavy infantry of the early Roman Principate, but armored cavalry lancers and archers. It is a time when Greek was fast becoming the predominant language in Roman society as a whole, while vestiges of Latin remained in the jargon of the army. The legion of old was replaced by the meros, the centurion by the hekatontarch.

The Strategikon records many aspects of the Roman army life at this time, including: induction of new recruits, description of ranks and responsibilities, formation of units, drills, rules, punishments, instructions on marching through enemy territory, foraging for food, and the set-up of fortified camps. It is rich in advice for the prospective general when battling against the various enemies of the Empire, from the Persians, to the Slavs, to the Avars and Goths. Perhaps most interesting of all, it contains several detailed diagrams for the order of battle of a Late Roman/Early Byzantine army of various sizes and configurations. It also gives a great deal of advice on how to defeat the enemy via guile, deception, misinformation, ambush, concealed traps, etc.

All in all, the Strategikon is a source that can not be neglected for the scholar of the Late Roman or Byzantine army. The University of Pennsylvania Press is to be congratulated for making the work available in such an accessible and attractively-produced volume.

This is my first exposure to Maurice's handbook, so I cannot write a critical review of Mr. Dennis' work. Absent my ability to critique the translation, I give the book five stars as a combined score for Mr. Dennis and the long-departed Roman author.

Mr. Dennis' translation is very readable and smooth. The glossary was valuable while reading, and the index has been useful as I'm going over some specific topics again. The introductory material provided enough tutorial that I could enjoy the text without confusion. I appreciated the footnotes that give the Latin commands for directing troops. I find the "Bibliographical Notes" more useful than the typical stark list of references.

The only thing that I could really wish for are footnotes detailing variants in the surviving texts. While that would satisfy my curiosity, it could serve only as a distraction for those not interested in minutiae. One can't mark the book down for personal quirks. :-)

As for the text itself, it's a fascinating journey through the mind of a seasoned Roman general. Written to train the Empire's top military leaders, the well-organized handbook presents the material thoroughly without repetition. The plain, no-nonsense language keeps the material accessible to the non-erudite. The fact that it influenced warfare for hundreds of subsequent years comes as no surprise.

Long attributed to the Byzantine Emperor Maurice, the "Strategikon" became the practical handbook for Byzantine army organization, covering everything from basic training to tactical planning against the armies of different nations and to basic strategy and diplomacy.

A young Byzantine man of good birth was expected to learn from childhood how to use the bow, ride a horse, then do both, while also training to fight on foot with sword, and then train to do it all in armor, and be capable of making long rides or long marches in full kit before being deemed fully qualified for service in the army.

Although heavily dependent upon mercenary forces, the Byzantines did not forget the lessons of the latter Western Roman Empire -- along with the mercenaries, the Byzantines established a hard core of well-trained native soldiers who acted as a unifying force around which the mercenaries gathered.

The "Strategikon" gives detailed marching orders for a variety of column types, orders of battle, the fighting styles of different enemies of the Byzantines, etc. It is this detail which helps the textual critics to analyze whether or not the Emperor Maurice himself wrote the book, or if it was written at his request, or under his dictation. Whoever the author, it is undoubted that he was a skilled tactician and an experienced veteran officer of high rank. In any case, "Strategikon" was for generations one of THE handbooks of military theory for the Byzantines, one which enabled them to maintain their independence (even in exile) for centuries after the book was written, and one which still has value for "Maurice's" comments on the need to train recruits thoroughly in ALL of the types of fighting which they might need to do.

Maurice's Strategikon: Handbook of Byzantine Military Strategy is the English translation of the famous Strategikon, a practical handbook writen around 600 AD outlining Romano-Byzantine military practice and doctrine of the previous and following centuries.
This book gives indispensable first hand information of the armies of these centuries.
All texts are held in a language that is easily understandable even for those readers not having English as their native language.
Only disadvantage is, that the original Greek and Latin terms aren't always mentioned. This doesn't effect the ability to understand the texts, but make it more difficult to bring them into context with other works often overcrowded with Greek or Helenised terms.

Wow, Emperor Maurice's Strategikon, finely translated, and easily accessible. I imagine that a thousand or so years ago, men would have killed to get this kind of an insight on the strategy and tactics of the Byzantine military. Today we read it for pleasure, amusement, or scholarly work. Nevertheless the Stratigikon is a practical military field manual that was clearly meant to be used by Byzantine commanders. This is not some flowery, self-serving, ego-driven, propaganda piece of classical writing. This is a no-nonsense, realistic, practical approach to warfare, whose basic tenets are likely still applicable today. Able to draw on thousands of years of experience of combat from the Greeks and Romans, the Byzantines had warfare down to a science. Almost every conceivable detail is well thought out logically and every contingent planned for. The Byzantine approach to battle formations is particularly impressive and students of warfare can see a clear evolution of the original Roman heavy infantry tactics to the more complex combined arms strategy of the Byzantines. It's doubtful that actual battles ever went as smoothly as planned, but nevertheless the Byzantines were ready for any and all types of war and were fully prepared to face the numerical superiority that their opponents often enjoyed with a well drilled, well disciplined fighting unit. Students of Byzantine history are well aware that the Byzantine state waged constant warfare on multiple fronts since its inception, so it is little wonder that they were so good at it. Too my knowledge, nothing written in the West on our near this time period even comes close to this level of sophistication. Maurice's Strategikon is an absolute gold mine of information and a must have for anyone interested in East Roman or military history in general.

Maurice was apparently a very practically minded commander for this book of advice is packed, in a most readable and concise form, full of advice for tactics, strategy, and logistics. It is a treasure for the student of ancient warfare desiring knowledge of the every-day challenges of commanders. Mr. Dennis' translation is very readable while not losing too much of the Greek terminology the serious student will be seeking.

Maurice organizes his advice into an introduction followed by 11 books on topics including calvary and infantry formations, strategy, tactics, logistics, ambushes, sieges, and an analysis of the strategy and tactics of other people's in his time. The back matter of the book includes a brief but fairly thorough glossary and a good index. The front matter includes a full page map of the Byzantine empire circa AD 600. Various troop formations and orders of battle are illustrated by simple yet clear sketches and text-art.

No library of ancient history is complete without this work. Each book division can be studied alone as your interest leads making it especially useful as a reference book. At the same time, the translation and style makes it an easy read as a solid overview of ancient warfare. The thoughtful organization makes it a perfect companion for study and classroom use.