The Late Byzantine Military (1204-1461)

Opulsola..it's up to us to revive the Thread. :)

As about the picture you posted...
I will post an original image


This is an icon of Christ Pantokrator in Hermitage Museum.
It is fine painted , but its historical significance lies in the two figures painted in the bottom corners of it.
This icon comes from the Pantokrator Monastery in Mount Athos and dates short after its built in 1357.
The two figures depict the founders of the Monastery the brothers Ioannis and Alexios.

Ioannis was Megas Primecirius and Alexios Megas Stratopedarches , High Ranks in Byzantine (Romaic) Novelty.



Note the robe with double head eagles and the luxurius hat, identical to the person on the left in  the picture u posted.

"The title megas stratopedarchēs ("grand master of the camp") was instituted ca. 1255 by the Emperor Theodore II Laskaris (r. 1254–1258) for his chief minister and confidante, George Mouzalon.^[5] The mid-14th century Book of Offices of pseudo-Kodinos places the megas stratopedarchēs as the seventh-most senior official of the state below the emperor, ranking between the prōtostratōr and the megas primmikērios. Kodinos claims that he was in charge of provisioning the army, and places four subordinate stratopedarchai under his command: those of the monokaballoi (μονοκάβαλλοι, "single-horsemen"), a cavalry unit; the tzangratores (τζαγγράτορες, "crossbow-men"); the tzakōnes (τζάκωνες, "Tsakonians"), a palace guard originally composed of marines; and the mourtatoi (μουρτάτοι), whom Kodinos presents as palace guards, but whose real nature remains obscure.^[4][6] In reality however, in the Palaiologan period the [megas] stratopedarchēs was most likely a mere court title, and did not necessarily entail a military command.^{[4]" wiki}


"In the late 11th century, the dignity of megas prim(m)ikērios ("Grand Primicerius") was established, which ranked very high in court hierarchy well into the Palaiologan period, where he functioned as a chief of ceremonies. Primmikērioi continue to be in evidence in the Byzantine Empire and the Despotate of Morea until their fall to the Ottomans.^[1]" wiki

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The two brothers governed Christoupolis (modern Kavala) ,Thassos and the surrounding area of Macedonia, to Strymon River from 1365 (maybe 1350) to 1384. They defended and expanded their territory against Serbs and Turks...and asked aid from Venice.
Alexios died in 1363, possibly defending Thassos island from the Turks, while his brother finally became a monk in the monastery they built in 1384, probably disappointed and unable to react to the advance of Turks.
He died after a couple of years,in 1386.
Their tomb and some personal belongings (not the robe though:) ) are still preserved in Pantokrator Monastery in Athos.

These are a couple of temple wall pantings of the late Byzantine period from Crete island:


Betrayal, St. George, Artos, Rethymnon, 1401 A.D. 


Helkomenos, Panagia, Roustika, 1391 A.D.

* http://www.alexandrospress.com/Dated_Byzantine_WallPaintings.htm



The armor of the soldiers seems very western-like

The pronaiar system is a curious system. Its a hybrid of different systems and principles.

Small pronoia (military fiefs) were occupied by stradiotai, or soldier as Byzantine Emperor mentioned, who were citizens, mercenaries and even prisoners of war. The stradiotai were the main supply of the Byzzie's declining military force, and later, after the loss of Constantinople to the Ottoman, became mercenaries known as stradiotes in western Europe. Their first service was to Venice during the Veneto-Turkish war. Later, seeing the effectiveness of these stradiotes, other Italian city states either directly employed them or hired them for training their own light cavalry troops. 

My guess is the cavalry in the Total war and rise of nations series is based more on the later mercenary than the original stradiotai :)


Edited by Sergeant113 - 11-Dec-2008 at 06:30

I meant as in the cavalry

Can anyone tell me anything about the Stratiotai?

I think that this chainmail at Byzantine Museum of Athens is Othoman or persian origin.

Patrinos, it is good to see you back at the forum again!  Welcome.

Originally posted by Ahenobarbus From what I can tell, it appears to be rectangular, as it does not seem to taper towards the bottom.

I fully agree with this, as it even seems to look a bit like a Roman scutum, with the way it curves around the body. It seems to be a complex blending of the old and new ages with the addition of the mace (scepter?) and the breastplate (looks to be single piece with bronze banding). I, however, cannot tell simply from the black/white image who the image is depicting, and can offer no authoritative opinion on the matter.

If it is indeed St. Niketas, is this common in depictions of him? Also, which other saints hold similar descriptions/depictions and include a scepter and shield? Is this common of a "warrior-saint" or is this distinction not set aside from normal saints in Byzantine art history?


Edited by Benedictus - 01-Sep-2008 at 19:43

Originally posted by HeorgltheMad Which battle are we talking about? Which players were involved? From the picture shown above, indeed the walls of Trebizond were very tall. One can easily imagine their own head being shattered by an shell from an arqebusier's rifle. Is this warfare between the Turks and Seljuks?