Army structure and regiments of the Byzantine army VI.
The composition of the army for most of the VI in:
I. Courts.
1. Spatharies, scribons, sili ciarius, cubiculars are small groups of bodyguards that arose in the preceding period;
2. Protectors and Domestica (protectores domestici) - officer, court ceremonial bodyguard unit, consisting of two schol;
3. Escuvites (eskubitory) - capable Guards unit, which was originally recruited from experienced veterans;
4. The court schola is the “old” guard, unlike the escuvites. Composition - 11 schol (palace regiments), the initial number of 3500 scholaria;
5. Candidates - a unit that was part of the palace schola. It can be described as an officer reserve.
Ii. Army.
The native army was to consist of territorial-based units — the palatini and the comitatus or stratiot arithms.
Two presenatal or court “armies” (in praesenti), which were based near the capital, belonged to the palatini.
The comitatus consisted of four territorial groups of troops ("armies"), which were located in Illyria, Thrace, in the East and (since the reign of Justinian I) in Armenia.
The difference, by this period, between the first and second was only stories the origin of the "armies", i.e., in the fighting, theoretically, the presentation armies were to participate with the support of the regional ones.
Due to the shortage of personnel, arithmics could be included both in the field army, remote from their places of deployment, and move from area to area. We know this by the example of the guard: Emperor Justinian I moved six schols from Asia Minor (Nicomedia, Chios, Kizik, Kotfa, Dorilei) to Thrace, to repel attacks from the north.
Despite the existence of directories, the actual number of stratiots in arithmas or gangs was different. The regiments, already long before the 6th century, were formed on the terms of mercenarism (contract), replenishment most often came at the expense of capable barbarians. Although the local population had such an opportunity: this is how Uncle Justinian, the Romanized Illyrian, the emperor Justin, came to the capital and entered the army. But since the native population did not aspire to military service despite the formally existing universal military duty, the government was forced to create new arithms, some completely consisting of barbarians. It should be noted that during this period, there was a clear separation between the catalog parts of the stratiots (soldiers) and other parts. This is underlined in his "History" of Procopius.
1. Fermopilian units - Under Justinian I, the thermopilic fortifications were guarded by the 2000 stratiotes, in contrast to the fact that they had previously been defended by armed locals who were not prepared for armed struggle. 2000 warriors are equal to two "new" legions or 10 arithmetic.
2. Vandali Iustiniani - Justinian formed regiments of captured vandals, calling their units "Justinian Vandals".
3. Emperor Tiberius, in 574, bought 5000 slaves, created the regiments of Tiberius from them and ranked them among the federals.
4. Theodosiaci - the imperial authorities in Rome under Pope Gregory in 592, created a regiment of "Soldier Theodosius."
5. Captured Bulgarian riders joined the 539 standard units - arithms in Armenia and Lazike [I. Chichurov Byzantine historical works: “The Chronography” of Theophanes, “Breviary” by Nikifor. Texts. Transfer. Comment. M., 1980. C.52.].
6. Of those who passed under the romeysky scepter in the second half of the 5th century. Huns were created two border detachments Sakromantiziev and Fossatisii (Sacromontisi, Fossatisii), existing in VI. [Jordan. On the origin and act of the Geth. Translation by E.Ch. Skrzhinsky. SPb., 1997. C.112].
7. The Armenian Nakharar troops were repeatedly recruited into the ranks of the Romanian troops, so in 600, Mauritius gave them the appearance of regular regiments and sent them to Thrace [Bishop Sebeos History of Emperor Irakl. Translation K. Patkanyan. Ryazan, 2006. C. 50., C.53., C.55., C.65 .; C.66.].
8. Detachments of Peltastes were formed from the Mavrusians (Moors).
9. Detachments of heavily armed infantry were formed from the Tsans.
10. Warriors were also recruited among the Roma population: the Isaurians or the Lycranite, the Samaritans, the Syrians, and the Cappadocians.
11. Catalog parts, cavalry, permanent bases from Thrace, Iliria.
Iii. Federations.
During the VI. we are witnessing a transition from "federated" relations of the early period to the direct employment of tribes or groups of "professionals" from barbarians: the Huns in Africa; Goths, Heruls and Vandals in the East, Persians and Armenians in Italy, Eruls and Lombards in Italy, etc. The federations enrolled in military service both personally and as part of a tribal group. In the federals could get a Greek. As we wrote above, the five thousand slaves purchased by Tiberius were transferred to the command of a committee of federates. Commanded a federation with 503g. committee of federates (comes foederatorum). In peacetime, at the head of each tagg of the federations there was an option, which was in charge of the soldiers ’allowance, in wartime - tribunes. At the beginning of the century, they, according to the historiographic tradition, could be divided into “ethnic” and “imperial”. Gradually, during the VI. This category is "lubricated", because they are trying to give it the appearance of a Roma regiment — arithms, but the specificity of the hostilities did not always allow for unification, as we saw above: “Some of [Heruli –V.E.] they became Roman soldiers and were enlisted in the troops under the name of“ federates ”( allies) ”[Procopius of Caesarea War with the Goths. Translation S.P. Kondratieff. T.1. M., 1996].
Archaeological data (perhaps) draws us an example of such indisputable warriors of the ready-federations from the south-west of Crimea: the population is engaged in farming, men are horsemen and, if necessary, come to the war as part of the Romanian units, as evidenced by army brooches and weapon. i.e., the federates became troops by structure not distinguishable from miles.
Iv. The squads of the leaders and commanders or bukkelarii.
Squads, units that have no formal status, consisting of shield bearers and spearmen, personally loyal to the leader, emerged in the Roman state from the period of the penetration of the barbarians. Commander Belisarius fielded 7000 riders at his expense [Procopius of Caesarea War with the Goths. Translation S.P. Kondratieff. T.1. M., 1996. C.213]. Justinian, with his 9 short story in March 542, commanded the dissolution of such personal commanders, apparently fearing the threat of an overturn from military leaders such as Belisarius, who returned to the capital just at that time [Nov.Just. 116]. But, as practice has shown, in the context of the decline of the traditional Roman military unit, the squads of barbarians or clients sometimes remained the only effective, professional units.
V. Border troops, or Milites limitanei.
These are permanently stationed troops in border settlements along the borders of the empire. In the VI. most of them were located on the border with the Arabs and Persians. There were detachments in Egypt and on the northern border, after the capture of Africa, Justinian ordered to create parts of the Limits here.
Border units could be drawn into the ranks of the field army. Limits, in turn, if necessary, supported the regular army. In repelling the attacks of the Arabs, besides the allied Arabs, the Duxes of the Limits also participated in the chiliarch Sevastian, i.e. 1000 stratiot unit commander [John Malala. Chronography // Procopius of Caesarea War with the Persians. War with vandals. Secret story. SPb., 1998. C.471].
Since the borders of the empire were extremely stretched, the border guards guarding them were in a huge number of fortresses and fortified points on the borders of the empire, many of which were restored during the rule of Justinian. The personnel consisted of settlers cultivating the land and receiving a salary for the service, but Jordan reports about settlement on the borders of the empire at the end of the 5th century. tribes or tribal groups that most likely lived there and in the VI. and carried out border protection:
1. In Illyric, tribes of Sarmatians and Kemandras sat.
2. In the Little Scythia and Lower Moesia there are skira, Sadagaria, Huns and Alans.
Vi. The militia of the tribes, allied Constantinople.
These units include the militia of the Erules, who fought in Italy with their king, the Gepidic squad. The Langobard militia, who, having taken part in the company of Narses, became acquainted with Italy and had already captured it on their own. 60 thousands of Lombards allegedly participated in hostilities in the east in 578. [Chapters from the "Church History" of John of Ephesus / Translation N.V. Pigulevskoy // Pigulevskaya N.V. Syrian medieval historiography. Research and translations. Compiled by Mescherskaya E.N. C-PB., 2011. C.547]. Finally, the tribal militia of the border Arab tribes, covering the eastern border. At the head of the tribes were "kings", officially called the philarchs.
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The structure of the army of the end of VI. - beginning of VII. was, according to Mauritius Stratigue, the following:
Territorial group of troops ("Army District") Mauritius, in the field, refers to the term "measure" or "Moira", this equestrian unit numbering 6000-7000 riders. However, as you can see, this unit is equal in number to the presentational or comitat army. In the field, the end of VI - the beginning of VII centuries. The field army consists (or should consist) of measures: Buckelaria, Vecillaria, Optimates, Federations, Illyrians. Connection in 24000 - 28000 riders. Such is the number of soldiers in the expeditionary and field army, without guards and other units. In reality, such an army could be less. So the army that fought in Persia, in 578 during the ascension to the throne of Tiberius, received a donative, based on the calculation of 5 solidis per warrior; C-PB., 11500.C.519].
The measure is naturally divided into smaller structural divisions, and at the base of it was a tagma. It should be emphasized that, formally, the tagma could coincide with arithms or gangs, but it could not coincide, since, according to the “Strategiston”, the tagmas are units for a particular battle, composed of arithms or gangs, which could be either less or more than the right amount of stratiots for the tagma.
In general, it can be said that the structures of the Roman army continued their development in the army of the 6th century.
Most of the old regiments died in the period of battles and catastrophes that went through the territory of the Western and partly Eastern Empire, especially in the V century.
Inattention to the needs of the native army, a sharp decrease in the number of soldiers in the subunit, the formation of subunits based on the current need, the armed nature of the formation, all this led to a drop in the value of the regiment (in the modern sense of the word). But not only that. The active use of cavalry by the enemy, forced the Romans to use a similar branch of service, which led to a change in the numerical strength of the tactical unit. If, in the republican period, 6 thousandth legions decided everything, then, at this time, the tactical unit was reduced to 300-500 people. The author of "Strategicon" notes that there is no exact number of warriors in the regiments (arithms or gangs), and for a combat unit - tagma, there could be a shortage of warriors in arithmet or gang: “Now that unequal magnitude arithms, it is not easy to establish the exact number of the tagma, so that those soldiers who exceed the number of 256 people would not be out of business, as it happens, or placed alongside other soldiers whom they do not know did not destroy would order the system; in any case, tagmy should be formed taking into account the characteristics of each unit. " i.e. it should be clarified that the tagma is a unit of combat formation on the battlefield, which was composed of soldiers of arithmetic or gang [Strategikon Mauritius. Translation and Commentary by V. V. Kuchma S-Pb., 2003. C.207].
By this time, the Greek name for the main lower division (by analogy with the legion), which we call the regiment (tagma), the schola in the guard, the arithmetic (αριθμός) or the number in the infantry, came into use. In the cavalry - gang. New times gave rise to a new organization of troops. Once again, it should be noted that the arithmetic of "permanent basing" in the VI. they were not parts that were put forward in full force to the theater of operations, as was the case with the Roman legion. It was, in modern terms, the framed part, consisting of the commander (tribune), the "headquarters" of the unit and staff employees of screenshots and clerks who were in charge of the Soldiers' Catalog, and, of course, of the stratiot soldiers. In peacetime, the soldiers were self-sufficient, i.e. cultivated their land plots, and were not in camps or barracks, engaged in military training. Although there were part of the barracks location, for example, in the fortress of Dara. The headquarters had a special room, so, by order of Justinian I, in the city of Zenobia, a special room for storing flags was built on the Euphrates.
The “winter apartments” of the regiment could not coincide with the place of its permanent base. Schitonos and spearmen Belisarius had "winter apartments" in Cilicia. In the event of hostilities, individual stratiots personally appeared at war, and the headquarters remained in place: Belisarius recruited an army among the stratiots and federates to go to Africa, in 550. commander Hermann recruited his squad to march to Italy, among the "regular (catalog) Thracian cavalry," in 578. Master of the Army of the East and the Committee of Escuiters Mauritius recruited warriors among the cataloged soldiers, from the guardsmen of the Escubiters and Scribons, in 583. Stratig Filippik recruited soldiers for a campaign against the Persians. It turns out that recruiting troops for war among catalog stratiots was a standard procedure of this period. The advantage of recruiting among catalogers was that these warriors were already prepared for combat, and on the eve of the campaign they did not need to be trained and trained like recruits.
During this period, we meet in the sources and the old parts: infantry and cavalry.
1. Lantsiarii - we meet the legion in the period of accession to the throne of Justin in the VI., The legion, known during the struggle for the throne of Julian the Apostate, in the IV. We also know several such regiments in the "List of all honorary positions." It can be assumed, based on the images of the shields of the “List” legions and the surviving images of the 6th century shields, that at the beginning of the century, the units of the Presentation armies were in Constantinople. It is obvious that its composition, at least, was no more than 1000 stratiots, if we rely on the number of the Legion of this period;
2. The schols (praetorianas cohortes) were located in Rome at the beginning of the 6th century, as Cassiodorus wrote about. [Flavius Cassiodorus. Vararium. L.6.7.// http://antology.rchgi.spb.ru/Cassiodorus/varia6.html].
3. The regiment of brashiats presumably existed even during this period, which John Lead wrote about in his historical excursion: bracchiati or armilligeri .. According to the “List”, among the Palatine auxilii (auxilia) was Brachiati iuniores, in 1 th , among the Palatine vectors, Equites brachiati iuniores. Originally - these parts consisted of "barbarians". Perhaps the name of the regiment was written on the helmets of the soldiers. The origin of the name of the bracelets, which awarded distinguished warriors. [Jean le Lydien Des Vagistratures de l'etat romain. Paris.T.2. 1 partie. P.2.].
4. The Fourth Parthian Regiment of the Clibanaria. At the end of VI. Theophylact Simokatta mentioned a soldier from this unit, based in the Syrian city of Veroe (Halleb). At the beginning of the 5th century, according to the “List”, it refers to the Vexillationes comitatenses of the Master of the Army of the East. It is noteworthy that during the siege of Veroi in 540, most of the soldiers from this city went over to the side of Khosroy I, because the treasury had not paid their salaries for a long time. [Feofilakt Simokatta History. Translation by S.P. Kondratiev. M., 1996. C.43 .; Procopius of Caesarea War with the Persians. War with vandals. Secret story. SPb., 1998.C. 89.]
5. Third Dalmatian Bill (Equites Tertio Dalmatae). A portion is mentioned in Justinian’s decree. This cavalry Komitatsky detachment from Palestine Master of the Army of the East. John Lead defined the Vexillation of the first half of the 6th century. in 500 horsemen. [Lazarev S. A. The structure of the Late Roman Legion // http://www.ancientrome.ru/publik/lazarev/lazar03.htm]. It is possible that the bill of exchange (500 vsadniki) uses Bes, Dux of Martiropol (Mayferkat) in a battle with cadisid Gadar in 531.
6. XII Lightning Legion (Legio XII Fulminata), located in Melitien, a city fortified with Justinian: in the VI. there was a squad of romeevs, possibly connected by tradition with the twelfth legion;
7. At the end of VI. in the city of Asim, standing on the same tributary of the Danube, "from ancient times" was a military unit with its gang. Perhaps it is the Limits or arithms of the master of the army of Thrace [Theophylact Simokatta History. Translation by S.P. Kondratiev. M., 1996.C.182-183.];
8. It can be assumed that in Egypt in the VI. preserved most of the parts listed at the beginning of Vv. So from the papyrus document 550, we know about the "legion" of the Egyptian Siena. According to the “List of Positions” in Egypt, the Limitsky Comitat had only two legions, and Duxa Thevais did not have them, Ala I Herculia, Ala V Raetorum, Ala VII Sarmatarum stood in Egyptian Siena. [Van Burchem D. The Roman army in the era of Diocletian and Constantine / trans. with fr. A. V. Bannikov. S.-Pb., 2005].
9. Formally, on paper existed a framed Legio I Adiutrix, among which were civil servants. [Schamp J. Notice // Jean le Lydien Des Magistratures de l'etat romain. Paris.T.II. Livres II et III. P.CCXIII].
The composition of the regiment or arithmetic ranged from 200 to 400 catalog stratiotes. The number of warriors in the unit was floating, and not rigidly fixed.
As historical experience shows, a hundred and a dozen in antiquity did not always equal a hundred or ten. This is the first. Secondly, for example, even in a structured Soviet army, the number of listed personnel fluctuated within a certain margin of error in a platoon, in a company, and so on. The training regiment was different in size from the linear regiment, and the number of linear regiments also varied depending on the type of troops and the location.
As for the names of the type of legion, cohort, we meet them at the authors of this period. Legion in principle, as, and cohort, terms are synonymous with squad. The cohort is mentioned by Agathius of Mirineas, Coryppus, Cassiodorus, but these references have little to do with army realities, and John Lead writes about the legion, cohort, ale, turma, as divisions of the past historical period.
It should be clearly understood that in the military structure of this period it is difficult to find parallels with the structures of the modern army. Therefore, often, such a system seems somewhat chaotic. Unfortunately, sources do not give a clear answer, and many questions remain debatable in the scientific literature. Nevertheless, some essential moments of the army structure of the Romeyan state can be singled out. Recommendations for the theoretical construction of troops in the phalanx, using the classical Greek military theory, gives Anonymous VI.
In narrative sources there is no confirmation of the use in practice of such a phalanx. As is known, the phalanx itself is inferior on the battlefield to a Roman manipular as early as the period of the Roman Republic. The combination of the first and last is the practice of the period under review.
A clearer structure of the troops of the late VI. can be seen in the work of Mauritius Stratiga, who writes that the tagma should consist of 200-400 soldiers, peace - more than 3000, a measure more than 6000-7000 soldiers:
The decimal system was the basis of the structural unit of the army. The infantry and equestrian units were built into the "tagma" in rows and rows. A number of infantry consisted of warriors of one decarche (Loja).
The Decarche could consist of ten to sixteen warriors:
I. The warriors of decarche (loha) stood in the back of each other's head.
Ii. Equestrian units were built on the 4 rider in a row.
The soldiers, both in cavalry and infantry, who were standing in each line, had, in addition to military posts, certain names:
Protostats stood in the first rank (they are decarche or illarhi, commanders of decarche).
Epistatus stood in the second rank.
Pentarch stood in the middle rank, this is the commander of the five.
Uragi stood in the last rank, watched and encouraged the warriors to battle.
The highest officers consisted of chiliarchs: commanders of thousands, duxes, commanders of border districts, corresponding to them, but occupying a higher rank - military committees (comes rei militaris), the future emperor Justin went through this post during the 502-506 war.
The common name for senior officers is probably from the middle of the 6th century. there were taxi drivers, for junior officers - lohagi.
The master of army or stratilates was the commander of one of four, and later five districts (armies). The specific guard units of the officers had their posts.
I. Courts.
1. Spatharies, scribons, sili ciarius, cubiculars are small groups of bodyguards that arose in the preceding period;
2. Protectors and Domestica (protectores domestici) - officer, court ceremonial bodyguard unit, consisting of two schol;
3. Escuvites (eskubitory) - capable Guards unit, which was originally recruited from experienced veterans;
4. The court schola is the “old” guard, unlike the escuvites. Composition - 11 schol (palace regiments), the initial number of 3500 scholaria;
5. Candidates - a unit that was part of the palace schola. It can be described as an officer reserve.
Ii. Army.
The native army was to consist of territorial-based units — the palatini and the comitatus or stratiot arithms.
Two presenatal or court “armies” (in praesenti), which were based near the capital, belonged to the palatini.
The comitatus consisted of four territorial groups of troops ("armies"), which were located in Illyria, Thrace, in the East and (since the reign of Justinian I) in Armenia.
The difference, by this period, between the first and second was only stories the origin of the "armies", i.e., in the fighting, theoretically, the presentation armies were to participate with the support of the regional ones.
Due to the shortage of personnel, arithmics could be included both in the field army, remote from their places of deployment, and move from area to area. We know this by the example of the guard: Emperor Justinian I moved six schols from Asia Minor (Nicomedia, Chios, Kizik, Kotfa, Dorilei) to Thrace, to repel attacks from the north.
Despite the existence of directories, the actual number of stratiots in arithmas or gangs was different. The regiments, already long before the 6th century, were formed on the terms of mercenarism (contract), replenishment most often came at the expense of capable barbarians. Although the local population had such an opportunity: this is how Uncle Justinian, the Romanized Illyrian, the emperor Justin, came to the capital and entered the army. But since the native population did not aspire to military service despite the formally existing universal military duty, the government was forced to create new arithms, some completely consisting of barbarians. It should be noted that during this period, there was a clear separation between the catalog parts of the stratiots (soldiers) and other parts. This is underlined in his "History" of Procopius.
1. Fermopilian units - Under Justinian I, the thermopilic fortifications were guarded by the 2000 stratiotes, in contrast to the fact that they had previously been defended by armed locals who were not prepared for armed struggle. 2000 warriors are equal to two "new" legions or 10 arithmetic.
2. Vandali Iustiniani - Justinian formed regiments of captured vandals, calling their units "Justinian Vandals".
3. Emperor Tiberius, in 574, bought 5000 slaves, created the regiments of Tiberius from them and ranked them among the federals.
4. Theodosiaci - the imperial authorities in Rome under Pope Gregory in 592, created a regiment of "Soldier Theodosius."
5. Captured Bulgarian riders joined the 539 standard units - arithms in Armenia and Lazike [I. Chichurov Byzantine historical works: “The Chronography” of Theophanes, “Breviary” by Nikifor. Texts. Transfer. Comment. M., 1980. C.52.].
6. Of those who passed under the romeysky scepter in the second half of the 5th century. Huns were created two border detachments Sakromantiziev and Fossatisii (Sacromontisi, Fossatisii), existing in VI. [Jordan. On the origin and act of the Geth. Translation by E.Ch. Skrzhinsky. SPb., 1997. C.112].
7. The Armenian Nakharar troops were repeatedly recruited into the ranks of the Romanian troops, so in 600, Mauritius gave them the appearance of regular regiments and sent them to Thrace [Bishop Sebeos History of Emperor Irakl. Translation K. Patkanyan. Ryazan, 2006. C. 50., C.53., C.55., C.65 .; C.66.].
8. Detachments of Peltastes were formed from the Mavrusians (Moors).
9. Detachments of heavily armed infantry were formed from the Tsans.
10. Warriors were also recruited among the Roma population: the Isaurians or the Lycranite, the Samaritans, the Syrians, and the Cappadocians.
11. Catalog parts, cavalry, permanent bases from Thrace, Iliria.
Iii. Federations.
During the VI. we are witnessing a transition from "federated" relations of the early period to the direct employment of tribes or groups of "professionals" from barbarians: the Huns in Africa; Goths, Heruls and Vandals in the East, Persians and Armenians in Italy, Eruls and Lombards in Italy, etc. The federations enrolled in military service both personally and as part of a tribal group. In the federals could get a Greek. As we wrote above, the five thousand slaves purchased by Tiberius were transferred to the command of a committee of federates. Commanded a federation with 503g. committee of federates (comes foederatorum). In peacetime, at the head of each tagg of the federations there was an option, which was in charge of the soldiers ’allowance, in wartime - tribunes. At the beginning of the century, they, according to the historiographic tradition, could be divided into “ethnic” and “imperial”. Gradually, during the VI. This category is "lubricated", because they are trying to give it the appearance of a Roma regiment — arithms, but the specificity of the hostilities did not always allow for unification, as we saw above: “Some of [Heruli –V.E.] they became Roman soldiers and were enlisted in the troops under the name of“ federates ”( allies) ”[Procopius of Caesarea War with the Goths. Translation S.P. Kondratieff. T.1. M., 1996].
Archaeological data (perhaps) draws us an example of such indisputable warriors of the ready-federations from the south-west of Crimea: the population is engaged in farming, men are horsemen and, if necessary, come to the war as part of the Romanian units, as evidenced by army brooches and weapon. i.e., the federates became troops by structure not distinguishable from miles.
Iv. The squads of the leaders and commanders or bukkelarii.
Squads, units that have no formal status, consisting of shield bearers and spearmen, personally loyal to the leader, emerged in the Roman state from the period of the penetration of the barbarians. Commander Belisarius fielded 7000 riders at his expense [Procopius of Caesarea War with the Goths. Translation S.P. Kondratieff. T.1. M., 1996. C.213]. Justinian, with his 9 short story in March 542, commanded the dissolution of such personal commanders, apparently fearing the threat of an overturn from military leaders such as Belisarius, who returned to the capital just at that time [Nov.Just. 116]. But, as practice has shown, in the context of the decline of the traditional Roman military unit, the squads of barbarians or clients sometimes remained the only effective, professional units.
V. Border troops, or Milites limitanei.
These are permanently stationed troops in border settlements along the borders of the empire. In the VI. most of them were located on the border with the Arabs and Persians. There were detachments in Egypt and on the northern border, after the capture of Africa, Justinian ordered to create parts of the Limits here.
Border units could be drawn into the ranks of the field army. Limits, in turn, if necessary, supported the regular army. In repelling the attacks of the Arabs, besides the allied Arabs, the Duxes of the Limits also participated in the chiliarch Sevastian, i.e. 1000 stratiot unit commander [John Malala. Chronography // Procopius of Caesarea War with the Persians. War with vandals. Secret story. SPb., 1998. C.471].
Since the borders of the empire were extremely stretched, the border guards guarding them were in a huge number of fortresses and fortified points on the borders of the empire, many of which were restored during the rule of Justinian. The personnel consisted of settlers cultivating the land and receiving a salary for the service, but Jordan reports about settlement on the borders of the empire at the end of the 5th century. tribes or tribal groups that most likely lived there and in the VI. and carried out border protection:
1. In Illyric, tribes of Sarmatians and Kemandras sat.
2. In the Little Scythia and Lower Moesia there are skira, Sadagaria, Huns and Alans.
Vi. The militia of the tribes, allied Constantinople.
These units include the militia of the Erules, who fought in Italy with their king, the Gepidic squad. The Langobard militia, who, having taken part in the company of Narses, became acquainted with Italy and had already captured it on their own. 60 thousands of Lombards allegedly participated in hostilities in the east in 578. [Chapters from the "Church History" of John of Ephesus / Translation N.V. Pigulevskoy // Pigulevskaya N.V. Syrian medieval historiography. Research and translations. Compiled by Mescherskaya E.N. C-PB., 2011. C.547]. Finally, the tribal militia of the border Arab tribes, covering the eastern border. At the head of the tribes were "kings", officially called the philarchs.
[/ center] [center]The structure of the army of the end of VI. - beginning of VII. was, according to Mauritius Stratigue, the following:
Territorial group of troops ("Army District") Mauritius, in the field, refers to the term "measure" or "Moira", this equestrian unit numbering 6000-7000 riders. However, as you can see, this unit is equal in number to the presentational or comitat army. In the field, the end of VI - the beginning of VII centuries. The field army consists (or should consist) of measures: Buckelaria, Vecillaria, Optimates, Federations, Illyrians. Connection in 24000 - 28000 riders. Such is the number of soldiers in the expeditionary and field army, without guards and other units. In reality, such an army could be less. So the army that fought in Persia, in 578 during the ascension to the throne of Tiberius, received a donative, based on the calculation of 5 solidis per warrior; C-PB., 11500.C.519].
The measure is naturally divided into smaller structural divisions, and at the base of it was a tagma. It should be emphasized that, formally, the tagma could coincide with arithms or gangs, but it could not coincide, since, according to the “Strategiston”, the tagmas are units for a particular battle, composed of arithms or gangs, which could be either less or more than the right amount of stratiots for the tagma.
In general, it can be said that the structures of the Roman army continued their development in the army of the 6th century.
Most of the old regiments died in the period of battles and catastrophes that went through the territory of the Western and partly Eastern Empire, especially in the V century.
Inattention to the needs of the native army, a sharp decrease in the number of soldiers in the subunit, the formation of subunits based on the current need, the armed nature of the formation, all this led to a drop in the value of the regiment (in the modern sense of the word). But not only that. The active use of cavalry by the enemy, forced the Romans to use a similar branch of service, which led to a change in the numerical strength of the tactical unit. If, in the republican period, 6 thousandth legions decided everything, then, at this time, the tactical unit was reduced to 300-500 people. The author of "Strategicon" notes that there is no exact number of warriors in the regiments (arithms or gangs), and for a combat unit - tagma, there could be a shortage of warriors in arithmet or gang: “Now that unequal magnitude arithms, it is not easy to establish the exact number of the tagma, so that those soldiers who exceed the number of 256 people would not be out of business, as it happens, or placed alongside other soldiers whom they do not know did not destroy would order the system; in any case, tagmy should be formed taking into account the characteristics of each unit. " i.e. it should be clarified that the tagma is a unit of combat formation on the battlefield, which was composed of soldiers of arithmetic or gang [Strategikon Mauritius. Translation and Commentary by V. V. Kuchma S-Pb., 2003. C.207].
By this time, the Greek name for the main lower division (by analogy with the legion), which we call the regiment (tagma), the schola in the guard, the arithmetic (αριθμός) or the number in the infantry, came into use. In the cavalry - gang. New times gave rise to a new organization of troops. Once again, it should be noted that the arithmetic of "permanent basing" in the VI. they were not parts that were put forward in full force to the theater of operations, as was the case with the Roman legion. It was, in modern terms, the framed part, consisting of the commander (tribune), the "headquarters" of the unit and staff employees of screenshots and clerks who were in charge of the Soldiers' Catalog, and, of course, of the stratiot soldiers. In peacetime, the soldiers were self-sufficient, i.e. cultivated their land plots, and were not in camps or barracks, engaged in military training. Although there were part of the barracks location, for example, in the fortress of Dara. The headquarters had a special room, so, by order of Justinian I, in the city of Zenobia, a special room for storing flags was built on the Euphrates.
The “winter apartments” of the regiment could not coincide with the place of its permanent base. Schitonos and spearmen Belisarius had "winter apartments" in Cilicia. In the event of hostilities, individual stratiots personally appeared at war, and the headquarters remained in place: Belisarius recruited an army among the stratiots and federates to go to Africa, in 550. commander Hermann recruited his squad to march to Italy, among the "regular (catalog) Thracian cavalry," in 578. Master of the Army of the East and the Committee of Escuiters Mauritius recruited warriors among the cataloged soldiers, from the guardsmen of the Escubiters and Scribons, in 583. Stratig Filippik recruited soldiers for a campaign against the Persians. It turns out that recruiting troops for war among catalog stratiots was a standard procedure of this period. The advantage of recruiting among catalogers was that these warriors were already prepared for combat, and on the eve of the campaign they did not need to be trained and trained like recruits.
During this period, we meet in the sources and the old parts: infantry and cavalry.
1. Lantsiarii - we meet the legion in the period of accession to the throne of Justin in the VI., The legion, known during the struggle for the throne of Julian the Apostate, in the IV. We also know several such regiments in the "List of all honorary positions." It can be assumed, based on the images of the shields of the “List” legions and the surviving images of the 6th century shields, that at the beginning of the century, the units of the Presentation armies were in Constantinople. It is obvious that its composition, at least, was no more than 1000 stratiots, if we rely on the number of the Legion of this period;
2. The schols (praetorianas cohortes) were located in Rome at the beginning of the 6th century, as Cassiodorus wrote about. [Flavius Cassiodorus. Vararium. L.6.7.// http://antology.rchgi.spb.ru/Cassiodorus/varia6.html].
3. The regiment of brashiats presumably existed even during this period, which John Lead wrote about in his historical excursion: bracchiati or armilligeri .. According to the “List”, among the Palatine auxilii (auxilia) was Brachiati iuniores, in 1 th , among the Palatine vectors, Equites brachiati iuniores. Originally - these parts consisted of "barbarians". Perhaps the name of the regiment was written on the helmets of the soldiers. The origin of the name of the bracelets, which awarded distinguished warriors. [Jean le Lydien Des Vagistratures de l'etat romain. Paris.T.2. 1 partie. P.2.].
4. The Fourth Parthian Regiment of the Clibanaria. At the end of VI. Theophylact Simokatta mentioned a soldier from this unit, based in the Syrian city of Veroe (Halleb). At the beginning of the 5th century, according to the “List”, it refers to the Vexillationes comitatenses of the Master of the Army of the East. It is noteworthy that during the siege of Veroi in 540, most of the soldiers from this city went over to the side of Khosroy I, because the treasury had not paid their salaries for a long time. [Feofilakt Simokatta History. Translation by S.P. Kondratiev. M., 1996. C.43 .; Procopius of Caesarea War with the Persians. War with vandals. Secret story. SPb., 1998.C. 89.]
5. Third Dalmatian Bill (Equites Tertio Dalmatae). A portion is mentioned in Justinian’s decree. This cavalry Komitatsky detachment from Palestine Master of the Army of the East. John Lead defined the Vexillation of the first half of the 6th century. in 500 horsemen. [Lazarev S. A. The structure of the Late Roman Legion // http://www.ancientrome.ru/publik/lazarev/lazar03.htm]. It is possible that the bill of exchange (500 vsadniki) uses Bes, Dux of Martiropol (Mayferkat) in a battle with cadisid Gadar in 531.
6. XII Lightning Legion (Legio XII Fulminata), located in Melitien, a city fortified with Justinian: in the VI. there was a squad of romeevs, possibly connected by tradition with the twelfth legion;
7. At the end of VI. in the city of Asim, standing on the same tributary of the Danube, "from ancient times" was a military unit with its gang. Perhaps it is the Limits or arithms of the master of the army of Thrace [Theophylact Simokatta History. Translation by S.P. Kondratiev. M., 1996.C.182-183.];
8. It can be assumed that in Egypt in the VI. preserved most of the parts listed at the beginning of Vv. So from the papyrus document 550, we know about the "legion" of the Egyptian Siena. According to the “List of Positions” in Egypt, the Limitsky Comitat had only two legions, and Duxa Thevais did not have them, Ala I Herculia, Ala V Raetorum, Ala VII Sarmatarum stood in Egyptian Siena. [Van Burchem D. The Roman army in the era of Diocletian and Constantine / trans. with fr. A. V. Bannikov. S.-Pb., 2005].
9. Formally, on paper existed a framed Legio I Adiutrix, among which were civil servants. [Schamp J. Notice // Jean le Lydien Des Magistratures de l'etat romain. Paris.T.II. Livres II et III. P.CCXIII].
The composition of the regiment or arithmetic ranged from 200 to 400 catalog stratiotes. The number of warriors in the unit was floating, and not rigidly fixed.
As historical experience shows, a hundred and a dozen in antiquity did not always equal a hundred or ten. This is the first. Secondly, for example, even in a structured Soviet army, the number of listed personnel fluctuated within a certain margin of error in a platoon, in a company, and so on. The training regiment was different in size from the linear regiment, and the number of linear regiments also varied depending on the type of troops and the location.
As for the names of the type of legion, cohort, we meet them at the authors of this period. Legion in principle, as, and cohort, terms are synonymous with squad. The cohort is mentioned by Agathius of Mirineas, Coryppus, Cassiodorus, but these references have little to do with army realities, and John Lead writes about the legion, cohort, ale, turma, as divisions of the past historical period.
It should be clearly understood that in the military structure of this period it is difficult to find parallels with the structures of the modern army. Therefore, often, such a system seems somewhat chaotic. Unfortunately, sources do not give a clear answer, and many questions remain debatable in the scientific literature. Nevertheless, some essential moments of the army structure of the Romeyan state can be singled out. Recommendations for the theoretical construction of troops in the phalanx, using the classical Greek military theory, gives Anonymous VI.
In narrative sources there is no confirmation of the use in practice of such a phalanx. As is known, the phalanx itself is inferior on the battlefield to a Roman manipular as early as the period of the Roman Republic. The combination of the first and last is the practice of the period under review.
A clearer structure of the troops of the late VI. can be seen in the work of Mauritius Stratiga, who writes that the tagma should consist of 200-400 soldiers, peace - more than 3000, a measure more than 6000-7000 soldiers:
The decimal system was the basis of the structural unit of the army. The infantry and equestrian units were built into the "tagma" in rows and rows. A number of infantry consisted of warriors of one decarche (Loja).
The Decarche could consist of ten to sixteen warriors:
I. The warriors of decarche (loha) stood in the back of each other's head.
Ii. Equestrian units were built on the 4 rider in a row.
The soldiers, both in cavalry and infantry, who were standing in each line, had, in addition to military posts, certain names:
Protostats stood in the first rank (they are decarche or illarhi, commanders of decarche).
Epistatus stood in the second rank.
Pentarch stood in the middle rank, this is the commander of the five.
Uragi stood in the last rank, watched and encouraged the warriors to battle.
The highest officers consisted of chiliarchs: commanders of thousands, duxes, commanders of border districts, corresponding to them, but occupying a higher rank - military committees (comes rei militaris), the future emperor Justin went through this post during the 502-506 war.
The common name for senior officers is probably from the middle of the 6th century. there were taxi drivers, for junior officers - lohagi.
The master of army or stratilates was the commander of one of four, and later five districts (armies). The specific guard units of the officers had their posts.
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