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Byzantine Imperial
Guardsmen 925–1025
The
Tághmata
and Imperial Guard
RAFFAELE D’AMATO
ILLUSTRATED BY GIUSEPPE RAVA
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
Elite • 187
Byzantine Imperial
Guardsmen 925–1025
The
Tághmata
and Imperial Guard
RAFFAELE D’AMATO
ILLUSTRATED BY GIUSEPPE RAVA
Series editor
Martin Windrow
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHRONOLOGY
THE REGIMENTS – FORMATION & ORGANIZATION
The Thémata The Tághmata:
Skhólai – Eskoubitores –
‘Víghla’ or ‘Arithmós’
– Ikanátoi –
Athanatoi
–
Noúmeroi
and
Teichistai Vasilikoploimon
(the Constantinople fleet)
The Imperial Guard:
Vasilikê Etaireía – Vasilikodhrómonion
(the Imperial flotilla)
–
Maghlavítai –
Vasilikoi Anthropoi
Other Guard units:
Archontogennhematai – Sardoi –
the Varangian Guard
Clothing
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5
10
WEAPONS & EQUIPMENT
Weapons: Swords – daggers – spears – maces – axes – bows Defensive equipment: Helmets –
body armour: lamellar, scale and mail – ‘soft’ armour – shields Horse equipment
41
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
61
64
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
BYZANTINE IMPERIAL
GUARDSMEN 913–1025
THE
TÁGHMATA
AND IMPERIAL GUARD
INTRODUCTION
Between the 9th and 11th centuries the East Roman Empire, at that time
dominating most of south-eastern Europe from its capital in Constantinople,
enjoyed a period of unprecedented splendour and renewed vigour under the
rule of the Macedonian emperors of the Porphyrogenitus dynasty. (The
modern Anglophone convention of referring to this
polity as the Byzantine Empire is necessarily followed
in this text for the sake of clarity, but it should be
remembered that the inhabitants of the Eastern empire
called themselves ‘Rhomaioi’ or Romans. The
Byzantine state derived directly and without
interruption from the Eastern capital, administration
and provinces of the Late Roman state, which had
survived the barbarian invasions of the 4th and 5th
centuries AD that destroyed the Western Empire.)
The Macedonian dynasty, originating in north-
western Thrace, acceded to the throne of Byzantium
due to the energy and intelligence of its founder, Basil
I (r.867–886). It based its strength on the twin
foundations of a reasoned policy of fiscal and
bureaucratic centralization, which allowed the
emperors to contain the centrifugal tendencies of the
powerful Anatolian aristocracy, and – above all – on
military power. Despite the distractions of struggles
over the Imperial succession, during this period the
army was consistently well organized, well trained
and well paid. The proof of its efficiency is the success
of the 9th–11th century Byzantine emperors in
overcoming the serious crisis caused by Simeon I of
Bulgaria’s invasion of the Western provinces; in
repelling attacks against Constantinople itself by the
Russo-Scandinavians of Igor and Svyátoslav of Kiev;
and in resisting pressure in the East from powerful
Islamic enemies – both the Hamdanid Emirate of
Aleppo and Mosul (the guardian and rival of the
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© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
now-decadent Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad), and
the Fatimids, who from 969 dominated Egypt and
threatened Byzantine Syria. The elite element of the
armies that achieved this success were the regiments
forming the Imperial
Tághmata,
stationed around
the capital, and the Guards forming the military
elements of the Imperial household.
Nikêphóros II Phokás (r.963–969),
Iohannes Dzimiskés (r.969–976) and
Basil II Porphyrogenitus (r.976–1025)
were the protagonists of the great
military victories that characterized
the ‘age of Byzantine reconquests’
spanning the late 10th and early
11th centuries. These triumphs were
due not only to the military genius of
these rulers, but to the technical and
organizational legacy of Imperial
Rome. At the time of Basil II’s death
in 1025 the empire extended from
the river Danube to the Euphrates,
and from the Adriatic Sea to the
mountains of Armenia.
Byzantine sword guard of the
10th or 11th century from
Pliska, Bulgaria, with ‘sleeve’
extension down blade. (Photo
courtesy Prof Valeri Yotov)
CHRONOLOGY
(Byzantine victories against external enemies are printed in
italic
type.)
June 913
Costantine VII Porphyrogenitus, seven-year-old son of the
Vasiléfs
(Emperor) Leo VI the Wise, succeeds his uncle Alexander on the Byzantine
throne, under the regency of the Patriarch Nicholas the Mystic.
August 913
First siege of Constantinople by the Bulgarian Czar Simeon.
September 914
Simeon conquers Hadrianopolis.
Summer 915
Forces of a coalition of the Emperor of Byzantium, the dukes
of Naples and Gaeta, the Lombard princes of Salerno, Capua and
Benevento, and the Pope, destroy the Muslim stronghold at the mouths of
the River Garigliano near Capua, Italy.
August 917
Expedition against the Bulgarians led by Leo Phokás,
Dhoméstikos
of the
Skhólai,
fails with the defeat at Acheloo and new
setbacks for the Empire near Catasyrtae; Simeon is left the master of the
Balkan peninsula.
September 920
The
Vasiléopator
Rhomanós Lecapênós becomes co-regent of
the young Constantine VII and the dominant figure of the Byzantine state.
921 or 922
Battle of Phegai against the Bulgarians; weighed down by his
armour and equipment, the
Dhroungários
of the Imperial fleet, Alexis
Moselés, is drowned.
924
Second Bulgarian siege of Constantinople. Simeon overthrows the
Byzantine-allied Serbian
Zupan
Zacharias; Rhomanós I names his sons
to the succession;
victory of the Imperial fleet over the Arabs of Leo of
Tripoli near Lemnus.
May 927
Death of Czar Simeon of Bulgaria; Byzantine influence strengthens
throughout the Balkans.
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
OPPOSITE PAGE
An Imperial Guardsman of
c.
AD 1000. The
klivanion
corselet is gilded. The skirt of
the
roukhon
tunic is grey
embroidered with gold crosses,
and the gold-patterned border
shows flower motifs; the narrow
sleeves are light blue with gold
dots. The
chlamys
cloak is red,
the trousers (anaxyrida) are in
light blue and light yellow, and
the sash is in silver. The
spearshaft is gold and black; the
small
cheiroskoutarion
shield is
scarlet with white ornaments, a
silver rim and a gold boss. For a
reconstruction, see Plate H2.
(Menologion of Basil II, folio 215,
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Rome; facsimile by Pio Franchi
de Cavalieri, author’s collection)
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