The composition of the army for most of the 6th century:
I. Court units.
1. Spatarii, scribons, silinciarii, cubicularia - small detachments of bodyguards that arose in the previous period;
2. Protectors and Domestici (protectores domestici) - officer, court ceremonial bodyguard unit, consisting of two schola;
3. Eskuvits (escubitors) - a capable guards unit, which was originally recruited from experienced veterans;
4. The court scholars are the "old" guard, in contrast to the escuvites. Composition - 11 schol (palace regiments), the initial number of 3500 scholaries;
5. Candidates - a unit that was part of the palace schola. It can be described as an officer reserve.
II. Army.
The indigenous army was to consist of territorial units - palatini and comitatus, or stratiotic arithmas.
The palatini included two representational or court "armies" (in praesenti), which were based near the capital.
The comitatus included 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 the second was only in the history of the origin of the "armies", that is, in the hostilities (theoretically), presentation armies should have been involved with the support of regional ones.
Due to the lack of personnel, arithmas could be included both in field armies remote from their places of deployment, and move from region to region. We know this from the example of the guard: Emperor Justinian I moved six schols from Asia Minor (Nicomedia, Chios, Cyzicus, Kotf, Dorileo) to Thrace to repel attacks from the north.
Despite the existence of catalogs, the real number of stratiots in arithms or gangs was different. The regiments, already long before the 6th century, were formed on the basis of mercenary (contract), replenishment most often came at the expense of capable barbarians. Although the local population had such an opportunity: this is how Justinian's uncle, the Romanized Illyrian, Emperor Justin, came to the capital and entered the army. But since the indigenous population did not strive for military service despite the formally existing universal military duty, the government was forced to create new arithmas, some entirely consisting of barbarians. It should be noted that during this period, there was a clear division between the catalog parts of the stratiots (soldiers) and other parts. This was emphasized in his History by Procopius.
1. Thermopylae units - Under Justinian I, the Thermopylae fortifications were guarded by 2,000 stratiots, in contrast to the fact that they were previously defended by armed local residents who were not prepared for armed struggle. 2000 warriors are equal to two "new" legions or 10 arithmas.
2. Vandali Iustiniani - Justinian formed regiments of captured Vandals, calling them the "Vandals of Justinian".
3. The emperor Tiberius, in 574, bought 5,000 slaves, created the regiments of Tiberius from them and ranked them among the federates.
4. Theodosiaci - the imperial authorities in Rome under Pope Gregory in 592 created a regiment of "soldiers of Theodosius".
5. The captive Bulgarians-horsemen in 539 replenished the standard parts - arithms in Armenia and Lazik [Chichurov I. S. Byzantine historical works: "Chronography" of Theophanes, "Breviary" of Nicephorus. Texts. Translation. A comment. M., 1980. S. 52.].
6. From those who passed under the Roman scepter in the second half of the 5th century. The Huns created two border detachments of Sacromantisi and Fossatisii, which existed in the 6th century. [Jordan. About the origin and deeds of the Getae. Translated by E. Ch. Skrzhinsky. SPb., 1997. S. 112].
7. Armenian squads of nakharars were repeatedly involved in the ranks of the Roman army, so in 600 Mauritius gave them the appearance of regular regiments and sent them to Thrace [Bishop Sebeos History of Emperor Irakles. Translated by K. Patkanyan. Ryazan, 2006. S. 50., S. 53., S. 55., S. 65.; P.66.].
8. Peltast detachments were formed from the Maurusians (Moors).
9. From the tsans, detachments of heavily armed infantry (oplits) were formed.
10. Soldiers were recruited among the Romans as well: Isaurians or Likokranites, Samaritans, Syrians and Cappadocians.
11. Catalog units, cavalry, permanently based from Thrace, Iliria.
III. Federates.
During the VI century. we are witnessing a shift from early "federal" relations to the direct recruitment of tribes or groups of "professionals" from the barbarians: the Huns in Africa; Goths, Eruls and Vandals in the East, Persians and Armenians in Italy, Eruls and Lombards in Italy, etc. Federates enrolled in military service both personally and as part of a tribal group. A Greek could also get into the federates. As we wrote above, the five thousand slaves bought by Tiberius were placed under the command of the committee of the federates. He commanded the federates since 503. commit of federates (comes foederatorum). In peacetime, each tagma of the federates was headed by an option, which was in charge of the content of the soldiers, in wartime - the tribune. At the beginning of the century, according to historiographic tradition, they could be divided into "ethnic" and "imperial". Gradually, during the VI century. this category is "lubricated" because They are trying to give it the appearance of a Roman regiment - arithma, but the specifics of the hostilities did not always allow for unification, as we saw above: “Some of [Heruli - V. E.] of them became Roman soldiers and were enlisted in the troops under the name of“Federates”(allies)”[Procopius of Caesarea War with the Goths. Translation by S. P. Kondratyev. Vol. 1. M., 1996].
Archaeological data (perhaps) paint us an example of such indisputable warriors of the Goth-federates from the south-west of Crimea: the population is engaged in agriculture, men are riders and, if necessary, go to war as part of the Roman units, as evidenced by army brooches and weapons. that is, the federates became, in structure, troops indistinguishable from miles.
IV. Brigades of leaders and generals or bukkelaria.
The squads, divisions that did not have a formal status, consisting of shield-bearers and spear-bearers personally loyal to the leader, arose in the Roman state from the period of the penetration of the barbarians. The commander Belisarius fielded 7000 horsemen at his own expense [Procopius of Caesarea War with the Goths. Translation by S. P. Kondratyev. Vol. 1. M., 1996. S. 213]. Justinian, in his short story of March 9, 542, commanded the dissolution of such personal squads of commanders, obviously fearing the threat of a coup from military leaders such as Belisarius, who just at that time returned after the conquest of Italy to the capital [Nov. Just. 116]. But, as practice has shown, in the conditions 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 troops permanently based in border settlements along the borders of the empire. In the VI century. 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 the creation of parts of the Limans here.
Border units could be recruited into the ranks of the field army. The Limitans, in turn, if necessary, were supported by the regular army. In repelling the attack of the Arabs, in addition to the allied Arabs, the Dux of the Limans, the chiliarch Sevastian also participated, i.e. commander of a unit of 1000 stratiots [John Malala. Chronography // Procopius of Caesarea War with the Persians. War with the vandals. Secret history. SPb., 1998. S. 471].
Since the borders of the empire were extremely stretched, the border guards guarding them were located in a huge number of fortresses and fortified points on the borders of the empire, many of which were restored under the rule of Justinian. The personnel consisted of settlers who cultivated the land and received a salary for the service, but Jordan reports about resettlement on the borders of the empire at the end of the 5th century. tribes or tribal groups that most likely lived there in the 6th century. and carried out border protection:
1. In Illyricum sat the tribes of the Sarmatians and Kemandra.
2. In Lesser Scythia and Lower Moesia, the Skyrs, Sadagaria, Huns and Alans.
Vi. Militia of the tribes allied with Constantinople.
These units include the Erule militia, which fought in Italy with its king, the Gepids squads. The militia of the Lombards, who, having taken part in the company of Narses, got acquainted with Italy and already seized it on their own. 60 thousand Lombards allegedly took part in hostilities in the east in 578. [Chapters from the "Church History" of John of Ephesus / Translation by N. V. Pigulevskaya // Pigulevskaya N. V. Syrian medieval historiography. Research and translations. Compiled by E. N. Meshcherskaya S-Pb., 2011. P.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 at the end of the 6th century - the beginning of the 7th century was, according to Mauritius Stratig, as follows:
Territorial group of troops ("army district") Mauritius, in the field, denotes the term "measure" or "moira", this is an equestrian unit numbering 6,000-7,000 horsemen. However, as you can see, this unit is equal in size to the present or komitat army. In the field, late VI - early VII centuries. A field army is (or should be) made up of measures: Bukkelaria, Vexillaria, Optimates, Federates, Illyrians. A compound of 24,000 - 28,000 riders. This is the number of soldiers in the expeditionary and field army, without guards and other units. In reality, such an army could be smaller. So the army that fought in Persia, in 578, during the accession to the throne of Tiberius, received a donative, based on the calculation of 5 solidi per soldier, the number of soldiers in the field army was 11500 people [Kulakovsky Yu. History of Byzantium (519-601). S-Pb., 2003. S. 300].
The measure is naturally divided into smaller structural units, and it was based on tagma. It should be emphasized that formally tagma could coincide with an arithma or a gang, or it could not coincide, since, according to Strategicon, a tagma is a unit for a specific battle, made up of personnel of arithma or gangs, which could be either less, or more than the required number of stratiotes for tagma.
In general, we can say that the structures of the Roman army continued their development in the army of the 6th century.
Most of the old regiments died during the battles and disasters that passed through the territory of the Western and partly Eastern empires, especially in the 5th century.
Inattention to the needs of the native army, a sharp decrease in the number of soldiers in the unit, the formation of units based on the current need, the squad character of the unit, all this led to a drop in the meaning of the regiment (in the modern sense of the word). But not only that. The active use of cavalry on the part of the enemy forced the Romans to use a similar type of troops, which led to a change in the numerical strength of the tactical unit. If, in the republican period, everything was decided by 6-thousandth legions, then, at this time, the tactical unit decreased to 300-500 people. The author of "Strategicon" notes that there is no exact number of warriors in the regiments (arithma or gangs), and for a combat combat unit - tagma, warriors in an arithma or a gang could either not be enough, or it could be with a surplus: arithmas, unequal in size, it is not easy to establish the exact number of tagma, so that those soldiers who exceed the number of 256 people would not be out of work, as it happens, or, placed next to other soldiers whom they do not know, would not destroy the order of the order; in any case, tagmas should be formed taking into account the characteristics of each unit. " that is, it should be clarified that the tagma is a unit of combat formation on the battlefield, which was made up of soldiers of an arithma or a gang [Strategikon of Mauritius. Translation and comments by V. V. Kuchma St. Petersburg, 2003. P.207].
By this time, the Greek name for the main lower unit (by analogy with the legion), which we call a regiment (tagma), came into use - schola in the guard, arithma (αριθμός) or number in the infantry. In the cavalry, there is a gang. New times have given rise to a new organization of troops. Once again, it should be noted that the arithms of "permanent base" in the VI century. were not units that in full force were nominated to the theater of operations, as was the case with the Roman legion. It was, in modern terms, a cropped unit, which consisted of the commander (tribune), the "headquarters" of the unit and the staff officers of the screenaries and clerks in charge of the Catalog of Soldiers, and, of course, the stratiot soldiers. In peacetime, the soldiers were self-sufficient, i.e. cultivated their land plots, and were not in camps or barracks, doing military training. Although there was also a part of the barracks location, for example, in the fortress of Dara. The headquarters had a special room, so, by order of Justinian I, a special room was built in the city of Zenobia on the Euphrates for storing banners.
The "winter apartments" of the regiment might not coincide with the place of its permanent base. The shield-bearers and spear-bearers of Belisarius had "winter quarters" in Cilicia. In the event of hostilities, individual stratiots personally went to war, and the headquarters remained in place: Belisarius recruited an army among the stratiots and federates for a campaign in Africa, in 550. commander Herman was recruiting a squad for a campaign in Italy, among the "regular (catalog) Thracian cavalry", in 578. the master of the army of the East and the comit of escubators Mauritius recruited soldiers from the catalog soldiers, from the guardsmen of the escubators and scribons, in 583. stratig Filippicus recruited soldiers for a campaign against the Persians. It turns out that the recruitment of troops for the war among the catalog stratiots was the standard procedure of this period. The advantage of recruiting among the catalog ones was that these soldiers were already prepared for hostilities, and they did not need, on the eve of the campaign, to be trained and trained as recruits.
During this period, in the sources we find old units: both infantry and cavalry.
1. Lanzarii - we meet the legion during the accession to the throne of Justin in the VI century, the legion, known even during the struggle for the throne of Julian the Apostate, in the IV century. We also know several such regiments according to the "List of all honorary posts." It can be assumed, based on the images of the shields of the legions of the "List" and the surviving images of the shields of the 6th century, that at the beginning of the century, units of the Present Armies were located in Constantinople. Obviously, its composition, at least, was no more than 1000 stratiots, if we rely on the size of the legion of this period;
2. Schola (praetorianas cohortes) - were in Rome at the beginning of the 6th century, about which Cassiodorus wrote [Flavius Cassiodorus. Variarum. L.6.7.//https://antology.rchgi.spb.ru/Cassiodorus/varia6.html].
3. The regiment of Braschiats presumably existed during this period, as John Lead wrote about in his historical excursion: bracchiati or armilligeri. th, among the palatine vexilations, Equites brachiati iuniores. Initially, these parts consisted of "barbarians". Perhaps the name of the regiment was written on the helmets of the soldiers. The origin of the name from the bracelets, which were awarded to distinguished soldiers. [Jean le Lydien Des Vagistratures de l'etat romain. Paris. T.1. 2 partie. P.58.].
4. Fourth Parthian Regiment of Clibanaries. At the end of the VI century. 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", he belongs 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 Khosroi I, since the treasury had not paid them salaries for a long time. [Theophylact Simokatta History. Translated by S. P. Kondratyev. M., 1996. P.43.; Procopius of Caesarea War with the Persians. War with the vandals. Secret history. Saint Petersburg, 1998, p. 89.]
5. Third Dalmatian Vexillation (Equites Tertio Dalmatae). Part is mentioned in the decree of Justinian. This is a cavalry komitat detachment from Palestine of the master of the army of the East. John Lead defined Vexillation in the first half of the 6th century. 500 horsemen. [Lazarev SA The structure of the late Roman legion // https://www.ancientrome.ru/publik/lazarev/lazar03.htm]. Perhaps it is the vexillation (500 horsemen) that Besa, the dux of Martiropol (Mayferkata), uses in the battle with the Kadisid Gadar in 531.
6. XII Legion of Lightning (Legio XII Fulminata), located in Meliten, a city fortified under Justinian: in the VI century. here was a detachment of Romans, possibly connected by tradition with the twelfth legion;
7. At the end of the VI century. in the city of Asime, standing on the tributary of the Danube of the same name, "from ancient times" there was a military unit with its gang. Perhaps these are the limitans or arithmas of the master of the army of Thrace [Theophylact Simokatta History. Translated by S. P. Kondratyev. M., 1996. S. 182-183.];
8. It can be assumed that in Egypt in the VI century. most of the parts listed at the beginning of the 5th century have survived. So from a papyrus document of 550 it is known about the "legion" from the Egyptian Siena. According to the "List of posts" in Egypt, the Limit committee had only two legions, while the Dux Thebaida did not have them, in Egyptian Siena there were Ala I Herculia, Ala V Raetorum, Ala VII Sarmatarum. [Van Berchem D. Roman army in the era of Diocletian and Constantine / trans. with fr. A. V. Bannikov. S.-Pb., 2005].
9. Formally, on paper, there was a cropped Legio I Adiutrix, to which civil servants were numbered. [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 arithma ranged from 200 to 400 catalog stratiots. The number of soldiers in the unit was floating, not rigidly fixed.
As historical experience shows, a hundred and ten in antiquity did not always equate to a hundred or ten. This is the first thing. Secondly, for example, even in a structured Soviet army, the number of payroll personnel fluctuated within a certain margin of error both in a platoon and in a company, etc. The training regiment differed in size from the line regiment, and the number of line regiments also fluctuated depending on the type of troops and the place of basing.
As for the names of the type legion, cohort, we find them among the authors of this period. Legion, in principle, like a cohort, the terms are synonymous with detachments. The cohort is mentioned by Agathius of Mirine, Corippus, Cassiodorus, but these references have little to do with army realities, and John Lead writes about the legion, cohort, ala, turm, as units 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, the sources do not provide a clear answer, and many questions remain controversial in the scientific literature. Nevertheless, it is possible to highlight some significant points in the army structure of the Romeian state. Recommendations for the theoretical formation of troops in the phalanx, using the classical Greek military theory, are given by Anonymous of the 6th century.
In narrative sources, there is no confirmation of the use of such a phalanx in practice. As you know, the phalanx itself is inferior to the manipulative Roman on the battlefield even in the period of the Roman republic. The combination of the first and the last is the practice of the period under review.
A clearer structure of the troops of the end of the VI century. can be seen in the work of Mauritius Stratigus, who writes that tagma should consist of 200-400 soldiers, peace - more than 3000, measure more than 6000-7000 soldiers:
The decimal system was the basis of the structural division of the army. Infantry and cavalry units were formed in "tagmu" in rows and ranks. A number of infantry consisted of soldiers of the same decarchy (loha).
Dekarchia could consist of ten to sixteen warriors:
I. The warriors of the decarchy (loha) stood at the back of each other's heads.
II. Equestrian units were built in 4 riders in a row.
The soldiers, both in the cavalry and in the infantry, who stood in each rank, had, in addition to military positions, certain names:
The protostats were in the first rank (they are decarchs or illarchs, commanders of decarchy).
Epistats were in the second rank.
The pentarch was in the middle rank, the commander of the five.
The Uragi stood in the last line, watching and urging the soldiers to battle.
The highest officer corps consisted of chiliarchs: commanders of thousands, duks, commanders of border districts corresponding to them, but holding a higher rank - military commanders (comes rei militaris), the future emperor Justin passed through this position during the war of 502-506.
A common name for senior officers, probably from the middle of the 6th century. there were taxiarchs, for junior officers - suckers.
An army master or stratilate was the commander of one of four and later five districts (armies). Specific guards units had officers of their own.
