Byzantine Military Manuals As Literary Works And Practical Handbooks by Georgios Chatzelis, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters

This book studies theSylloge Tacticorum, an important tenth-century Byzantine military manual. The text is used as a case study to connect military manuals with the challenges that Byzantium faced in its wars with the Arabs, but also with other aspects of Byzantine society such as education, politics, and conventions in the productions of literary texts and historical narratives. The book explores when theSyllogewas written and by whom. It identifies which passages from classical or earlier works were incorporated in theSyllogeand explains the reason why Byzantines imitated works of the past. The book then studies the extent to which theSyllogewas original and how innovation and originality were received in Byzantine society. Despite the imitation, the author of theSyllogeadapted and updated his material to reflect the current operational needs as well as the ideological, cultural and religious context of his time. Finally, the book attempts to estimate the extent to which Byzantine generals followed the advice of military manuals, and to explore whether historical narratives can be safely used to draw information as to how the Byzantines and the Arabs fought. Therefore, along with a detailed study of theSylloge Tacticorum, this monograph also addresses broader issues of the pen and the sword such as military manuals in connection with Byzantine warfare, politics, literature, historiography and education. | Byzantine Military Manuals As Literary Works And Practical Handbooks by Georgios Chatzelis, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters