Byzantine Navy - Tactics and Weapons

Tactics and Weapons

The Byzantines took care to codify, preserve and pass on the lessons of warfare at land and sea from past experience, through the use of military manuals. Despite their sometimes antiquarian terminology, these texts form the basis of our knowledge on Byzantine naval affairs. The main surviving texts are the chapters on sea combat (peri naumachias) in the Tactica of Leo the Wise and Nikephoros Ouranos (both drawing extensively from the 6th century Naumachiai of Syrianos Magistros and other earlier works), complemented by relevant passages in the De administrando imperio of Constantine Porphyrogennetos and other works by Byzantine and Arab writers.