Late Roman Unit Sizes

[Flavivs Aetivs]

I have recently found a new fragment that is useful for calculating the size of the Roman army in the 6th century in this book called: Theophilus of Edessa’s Chronicle and the Circulation of Historical Knowledge in Late Antiquity and Early Islam. Robert G.Hoyland. 2011.

Theophilus was perhaps born in 695 AD and died within a few days of the Caliph Mahdi (775 – 85). His chronicle presumably starts in 590 AD and stops at 754-55 AD.
His chronicle has not survived the times, but there are others who have quoted him.

Here is the new fragment which can be found in the Chronicle of 1234. (And perhaps Michael the Syrian (MSyr: very similar to the account in Chron 1234.))

(Page 51 For the year 590-591 AD)

Msyr 10. XXIII. 386 – 87 / 371 – 72.
Chron 1234, 216 – 217

Chron 1234: When Maurice received Khusrau’s letter, he convened an
assembly of leading Romans and ordered the letter of Khusrau to be read
out loud. Then he sent John, (34) the general of the division of Thrace, with
an army of 20,000, and the general Anastasius (35) with 20,000 men from the
Armenian and Bucellarian (36) divisions.

34 Presumably the John Mystakon who Theophanes and Theophylact Simocatta (4.15.2 - 4) and Sebeos (77) say was sent by Maurice to help Narses in recovering Khusrau’s kingdom. He would seem to have been commander in Armenia at the time, though he had previously been a commander in Thrace; see PLRE , Ioannes qui et Mystacon 101.

35 A mistake for Narses according to PLRE . ‘Anastasius’ (at the end of the list after Anastasius 4T).

36 Bwql’ryw: from Greek boukellarioi , meaning privately hired soldiers rather than state recruited troops, though the term came to designate, perhaps already by the seventh century, an elite unit of the Opsikion army ( ODB , Boukellarioi). Bar Hebraeus, CS, 92, probably wrongly, writes bwlgryw/ ‘Bulgarians’.

A little more information:

Warren Treadgold says (Byzantium and its Army p.28): The Opsician Theme backed another revolt in 766, when it was probably punished again by having its eastern half made into a new Bucellarian Theme, first mentioned in 767. (30) (30. Theophanes, 438 and 440.)

According to Treadgold the Army of the East had 20,000 men in 531 (Procopius Wars , I.18.5.)), reinforced by 15,000 men called Federates by Tiberius in 577 (578) AD. (Theophanes, A.M. 6074, p. 251). The Army of Armenia in 530AD had half as many soldiers as a Persian force of 30,000, so 15,000 men. (Procopius, Wars, I. 15.11).

Treadgold guesses additionally that the Army of Thrace had 20,000 men and the two Praesental Armies also each 20,000 men.

On page 24 Treadgold says: The one source to date the creation of the themes attributes it to “the men after Heraclius,” an apparent reference to Constans II and his advisers. (The reference is in Constantine VII, De Thematibus, p.60.)

Now we can interpret the primary source.

First of all, there was no Buccelarian theme during the reign of Maurice. Did Theophilus conflate this with one of the Praesental Armies? We can also ask what does he mean by ‘the division of Thrace’? This division could be the Army of Thrace, but it might also be, in hindsight of the Buccelarian Theme, the so called Thracesian Theme in western Anatolia.

Did Theophilus transpose the Theme System of his own day on the original source?

Whatever the case might be, this fragment is an important piece to reconstruct the Roman Army in the sixth century.

There was no Theme system in Theophilus' day, there may never have even been one at all. Current scholarship by Haldon, Consentino, Zuckerman, and Pringent don't place it until after the Vexations of Nikeforos I in 811.

The army of Thrace by this time was fulfilling the role of the old Praesentalis I army it seems. It had been sent to Africa and Italy under Belisarius and was sent East against Persia. It would become the Thraekesion after the failed attempt to retake Alexandria in 642, but Theophilus does seem to at least be partly transposing. Although you are right that the various Bucellarii get formalized into a "Guard Unit" as part of the Obsequium (the old Praesentalis I and II armies) in the late 6th or early 7th century (I have to check exactly when).