Судан и Большой Ближний Восток

344 IV. Ближний Восток и его соседи derived fromancientwisdom, inorder toproperly and successfully counter theEmpire’s opponents. Surprisingly enough, a non-campaignEmperor, in the spirit of the Macedonian antiquarianism and encyclopedism 1 renovates the Byzantine experience in warfare by elaborating mostly upon existing military manuals; even if indebtedness is not explicitly always stated, 2 he highly praises the war experience and the knowledge transmitted by his father. 3 First and foremost however, he actualizes and adapts war tactics to the present-day, most serious threat, the Arabs, and the need to counter their naval activity. In this context, faith and religion became a main armament in the arsenal for the Byzantine warriors. The Taktika , main subject of this paper, is inmany respects attractive in the scientific research, not only as fundamental turn in the Byzantine views on warfare and military tactics, but also as expression of the ideal leadership in traditional, standardized qualities, deriving from antique models, adapted for prominent rulers andmilitary leaders. 4 In a broader context, comparable to the model of the ideal military leader, which 1 Some of the compilations elaborated during this period have been clas- sified as “specialized Encyclopedias” from Lemerle, Le premier humanisme , 288ff. Cf. however, the interesting analysis by P. Odorico, “Du premiere humanisme l’encyclopédisme: une construction revoir”, TM 21/2 (2017), 23–42 and especially his remarks on the Taktika , 27–30. 2 It is remarkable that in the spirit of the“return to Justinian”, Leo’s extensive reliance toMaurice’s Strategikon remains silent.Cf.Magdalino,TheNon-Juridical legislation (1977), 177, who offers as possible explanation Leo’s “less respect for Maurice than for Justinian”. Further, haldon, A Critical Commentary , passim. 3 For instance, Taktika 18, 133, 672–674 (p. 488f.), advising the generals to attack and plunder the enemy’s land in the way Basil I, Leo’s father, has acted: “καὶ οὕτω τῶν ληστῶν ἐκείνων καταληίσῃ τὴν χώραν, οἷόν ποτε ὁ ἡμέτερος μακαριώτατος πατὴρ καὶ Ῥωμαίων αὐτοκράτωρ ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῦ χρόνοις διὰ κελεύσεως αὐτοῦ θείας πεποίηκε” (“In this way you will plunder the land of those bandits, as our most blessed father and autokrator of the Romans once did in his days by his sacred command”). 4 Taktika , Constituion 2: “Περὶ τοῦ οἷον εἶναι δεῖ τὸν στρατηγόν”, Dennis, Leonis VI Taktika , 16–36, is based on Onasander, Chap. 1 “Περὶ αἱρέσεως στρατηγοῦ”. An extensive presentation of all other comparable and possibly used sources for the compilation of this chapter by Haldon, A Critical Commentary , 131. Cf. D. Letsios, “Die Kriegsgefangenschaft nach Auffassung der Byzantiner”, Bsl 53(1992), 213–227.