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Walter Emil Kaegi, Jr.
Some Thoughts on Byzantine Military Strategy
© Hellenic College Press, Brookline, Massachusetts, 1983
Page 25
It is true that during the Renaissance there was a rediscovery of the Ars Militaris of Roman authors, but it is the Byzantines who preserved and adopted the ancient Greek concepts of military or strategic science as episteme and strategike. These cases illustrate some of the difficulties which are inherent in the study of Byzantine military institutions and strategy. An appreciation of very long-range continuities is essential. Lacunae in the extant sources do not always permit one to understand the full linkage and degree of continuity. The longer and broader historical context requires comprehension. It has always been known that there are many continuities of Byzantium with her Greek and Roman antecedents, but in the case of strategy, especially on Byzantium's eastern frontier, there are some greater instances of continuity than hitherto suspected.
The study of Byzantine strategy, conception of military operations, stratagems, and tactics is far from complete. Its realization will depend not only on progress in Byzantine military studies, but also a more accurate understanding of Greek and Roman military thought, that indispensable fount of Byzantine military wisdom. None of these remarks intend to denigrate the distinctive Byzantine contribution to strategic and tactical thinking, but that originality cannot be grasped without reference to its [older] Greek and Roman heritage.
Cf. Luttwak on The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire ||| Byzantium : The Alternative History of Europe ||| The pulse of Ancient Rome was driven by a Greek heart ||| A History of the Byzantine Empire ||| Videos about Byzantium and Orthodoxy ||| 3 Posts on the Fall of Byzantium ||| Greek Literature
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Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/byzantine-military.asp?pg=25
