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IMC 2023: Sessions

Session 1713: Byzantine Warfare, III: Vertical Transition of Military Knowledge in Byzantium and Beyond

Thursday 6 July 2023, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:De Re Militari: Society for Medieval Military History
Organiser:Georgios Theotokis, Department of Italian Language & Literature, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
Moderator/Chair:Ilana Krug, Department of History & Political Science, York College of Pennsylvania
Paper 1713-aInspiring Soldiers in Early and Middle Byzantium: Finding the Link between Procopius and Syrianos Magistros
(Language: English)
Dimitrios Sidiropoulos, Department of History & Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Military History
Paper 1713-b'Know your enemy … and do your best to avoid him': Evidence of Vertical Transmission of Military Knowledge in the Military Manuals
(Language: English)
Georgios Theotokis, Department of Italian Language & Literature, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens
Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Military History
Paper 1713-cByzantine Military Manuals and Pedagogy: The Educational Strategies of Byzantine Tacticians
(Language: English)
Georgios Chatzelis, Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London
Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Military History
Abstract

The third session in De Re Militari's Byzantine warfare strand takes a different approach to the IMC's theme of 'networks and entanglements' to investigate the various ways in which military knowledge was transmitted both within the Byzantine Empire and between 'military cultures'. The first paper focuses on this transmission within the manuals that connected Byzantine tactics and methods across the centuries, and the second paper demonstrates how such 'vertical transmission' of military knowledge helps provide a sense of continuity of information within the military writings themselves.