Tenth century Byzantine military history book – “Byzantine Military Tactics in Syria and Mesopotamia in the 10th century” (Edinburgh University Press, 2018) – Georgios Theotokis interview

Georgios Theotokis studies warfare in medieval Europe and the Mediterranean.  He’s written extensively on this subject and we spoke about his latest book on the Byzantine and Arab militaries in the tenth century. 0:51 – Georgios talks about how he got into writing a book on the tenth century Byzantine military.  2:51 – Georgios talks…

Georgios Theotokis studies warfare in medieval Europe and
the Mediterranean.  He’s written
extensively on this subject and we spoke about his latest book on the Byzantine
and Arab militaries in the tenth century.

0:51 – Georgios talks about how he got into writing a book
on the tenth century Byzantine military. 

2:51 – Georgios talks about the military situation at the
time period the book focuses on. 

4:10 – Georgios talks about the book.  It’s a comparison of military cultures of
the period.

6:49 – Georgios talks about the Byzantium grand strategy. He also touches on tactics and equipment.

11:15 – Georgios touches on espionage in the period.

14:15 – Georgios talks about border security during the
period.

20:16 – Georgios talks about how control is established in
the towns of the border.

24:40 – Georgios talks about raids and skirmishes on the
border.

28:31 – Georgios talks about how borders changed during this
period.

34:32 – Georgios compares the equipment of the Arab and
Byzantium militaries in the tenth century. He talks about heavy infantry among
other types of units.

37:51 – Georgios talks about the evidence, documents and
such, that support his research.

40:12 – Georgios talks about the evidence that informs
researchers about the military equipment – armor or weapons.

45:12 – Georgios talks about why saints in Greek and
Anatolian churches were painted wearing contemporary armor and weapons.

52:24 – Georgios talks about the discoveries that he would
most like to see happen in relation to his work. 

54:50 – Georgios mentions about the battles of Tarsus and
Al-Hadat. 

1:06:10 – Georgios has a page on academia.edu.

Links of interest

https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-byzantine-military-tactics-in-syria-and-mesopotamia-in-the-10th-century.html

http://bogaziciuniversity.academia.edu/GeorgiosTheotokis

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Guests: Georgios Theotokis

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict,
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