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Byzantium and Its Army, 284-1081. By Warren Treadgold. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8047-2420-2. Maps. Tables. Appendix. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xii, 250. S39.50.
The Byzantine Empire was the medieval Roman Empire, and the Byzantine army was the direct descendant of the Roman army. In this book, Warren Treadgold, one of the most productive Byzantine historians writing today, examines the evidence for the army's size, organization, and pay from 284 (his date for the beginning of the Byzantine Empire) to 1081 (after which the army's Roman roots are less recognizable). Treadgold is not interested here in weapons, uniforms, battles, tactics, or even the course of campaigns, but in the larger questions: primarily, how many and how much.
The book begins with a refreshingly frank survey of previous scholarship on the Byzantine army. Then, for those unfamiliar with Byzantine...