Strategikon of Kekaumenos

This article is about the 11th century book. For the late 6th century manual, see Strategikon of Maurice.

The Strategikon of Kekaumenos (Greek: Στρατηγικὸν τοῦ Κεκαυμένου, Latin: Cecaumeni Strategicon) is a late 11th century Byzantine manual offering advice on warfare and the handling of public and domestic affairs.[1]

The book was composed between 1075 and 1078 by a Byzantine general of partly Armenian descent. In it, he offers advice, based on his own personal experience and drawing upon numerous historical examples from the events of the 11th century. It is divided in six parts:

The book is valuable to historians for its portrayal of the mindset of the Byzantine provincial aristocracy in the closing decades of the 11th century, and especially the social relations, as revealed in the third part. It also contains much otherwise unknown information about historical events, and is the first book to record the presence of the Vlachs in Thessaly.

References

  1. Edward Luttwak (1 November 2009). The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire. Harvard University Press. p. 387. ISBN 978-0-674-03519-5. Retrieved 19 April 2012.

Editions, Translations, and Commentaries

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 07, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.