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

Georgios Theotokis Byzantium

Georgios Theotokis interview about Byzantine military history in the 10th century

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3kbS9gO

Interview Summary

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://amzn.to/3kbS9gO

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

http://bogaziciuniversity.academia.edu/GeorgiosTheotokis

Contact information

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: Georgios Theotokis

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: Books, audio interviews, author, academic, podcast, Edinburgh University Press, Medieval warfare, 

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3kbS9gO

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.