Byzantine
Byzantine defeat at Manzikert
The large Byzantine army intended to strengthen the fortifications of the eastern frontier and to invade Turkish Syria. The wild Turkish tribes who were raiding the empire could probably not have opposed this assault, but Alp Arslan was drawn into the fray by the threat to the Seljuk lands. The Emperor of the Romans was led away, a prisoner, to…
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Breaking the Byzantine Naval Superiority
The Arabs were already sailing on the Red Sea and Persian Gulf in pre-Islamic times but they were not greatly experienced seafarers in contrast to the Persians. This soon changed as their struggle to conquer Byzantium turned into a naval contest in the Mediterranean. Assisted by Persians and the Copts…
Crews of the Byzantine Fleets
By John H. Pryor In spite of the fact that some crews in Byzantine fleets at various times were well regarded, for example the Mardaites of the theme of the Kibyrrhaiōtai, there is little evidence to suggest that, in general, Byzantine seamen were so skilled that this gave Byzantine fleets…
Old Depiction of a Dromon (Dromond)
After the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire the struggle on the Mediterranean Sea was held between Byzantine and the Arab world. The dromon became the main type of ships at that time and besides, both opposing sides used them. She was a war ship who dismissed biremes and liburnas.…
DROMON
The standard Byzantine warship that employed both sails and oars. A typical 10th-century dromon had two banks of oars employing 200 rowers, in addition to a battering ram on the prow, and enough heavily armored marines to board an enemy ship if necessary. In other words, it looked and acted…
‘Greek Fire’
While the Europeans were fighting wars in ways that would not have astonished Archimedes or Julius Caesar, a brief, sudden flash of science many miles to the east managed to save the last vestige of the Roman Empire—for a while, anyway. It happened in Byzantium, the state created by Emperor…