10-12-2013, 11:50 PM
Hi Evan, I see your reasoning in regards to the naming of the drills, but if I may add a few points about naming. Like you pointed out Africans & Illyrians had been part of Empire for a while & by Byzantine times enemies have changed.
Italian drill could be used against Ostrogoths and/or Lombards.
African drill against Vandals in Africa even possibly Alans who crossed to Africa with Vandals.
Illyrian drill against Slavs or Bulgars who occupy the old area encompassing Illyria
However the fact that Alans were not lumped with other steppe peoples (Huns, Avars, Sarmatians) as Scythians does puzzle me but Maurice (in Dennis's translation) says of Scythian Drill that tagmas are all formed in the same manner, as in former times & mentions that this used to be part of cavalry games in winter quarters during March. However I don't think Alans were a threat to the empire at that stage although I have read that some Alans rode with Bulgar Huns.
I don't really know how names of drills originated but Maurice's manual like a lot of later Byzantine manuals seem to make a point of having different methods to fight different enemies, but it was just something Alemany mentioned in his footnotes. :?
Regards
Michael Kerr
Italian drill could be used against Ostrogoths and/or Lombards.
African drill against Vandals in Africa even possibly Alans who crossed to Africa with Vandals.
Illyrian drill against Slavs or Bulgars who occupy the old area encompassing Illyria
However the fact that Alans were not lumped with other steppe peoples (Huns, Avars, Sarmatians) as Scythians does puzzle me but Maurice (in Dennis's translation) says of Scythian Drill that tagmas are all formed in the same manner, as in former times & mentions that this used to be part of cavalry games in winter quarters during March. However I don't think Alans were a threat to the empire at that stage although I have read that some Alans rode with Bulgar Huns.
I don't really know how names of drills originated but Maurice's manual like a lot of later Byzantine manuals seem to make a point of having different methods to fight different enemies, but it was just something Alemany mentioned in his footnotes. :?
Regards
Michael Kerr
Michael Kerr
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
"You can conquer an empire from the back of a horse but you can't rule it from one"
