Maurice's Strategikon

As a veteran campaigner, the Byzantine emperor Maurice (582-602) compiled a unique and influential handbook intended for the field commander. In this first complete English translation, the Strategikon is an invaluable source not only for early Byzantine history but for the general history of the art of war. Describing in detail weaponry and armor, daily life on the march or in camp, clothing, food, medical care, military law, and titles of the Byzantine army of the seventh century, the Strategikon offers insights into the Byzantine military ethos. In language contemporary, down-to-earth, and practical, the text also provides important data for the historian, and even the ethnologist, including eyewitness accounts of the Persians, Slavs, Lombards, and Avars at the frontier of the Empire.

As a veteran campaigner, the Byzantine emperor Maurice (582-602) compiled a unique and influential handbook intended for the field commander. In this first complete English translation, the Strategikon is an invaluable source not only for early Byzantine history but for the general history of the art of war. Describing in detail weaponry and armor, daily life on the march or in camp, clothing, food, medical care, military law, and titles of the Byzantine army of the seventh century, the Strategikon offers insights into the Byzantine military ethos. In language contemporary, down-to-earth, and practical, the text also provides important data for the historian, and even the ethnologist, including eyewitness accounts of the Persians, Slavs, Lombards, and Avars at the frontier of the Empire.

This military handbook, attributed to the Byzantine emperor Maurice (582–602), is an invaluable source not only for early Byzantine history, but also for the history of the art of war. Intended as a guide for field commanders and campaigners, the Strategikon contains a wealth of information on practical aspects of Byzantine warfare: weaponry and armor, daily life on the march or in camp, clothing, food, medical care, and military law. It also offers detailed eyewitness accounts and ethnographic descriptions of the various peoples—Persians, Slavs, Lombards, and Avars—that the Byzantine armies would have encountered as enemies. George T. Dennis's translation—the first complete translation of this important text into English—renders the Strategikon 's straightforward, practical Greek into accessible and engaging prose. A new foreword by Conor Whately updates the volume with a brief survey of advances in scholarly understanding of the Strategikon and its historical context in the decades since the publication of Dennis's translation.