11-12-2006, 11:14 AM
My pleasure Robert. Stefanos, by the time the Menelogion of Basill II is written the word rhomphaia had come to mean a spear specifically but any instrument of God's authority and by extension the Byzantine Emperor's Divine authority - that of Christ on earth.
Many re-enactors came to this recreational pursuit from war gaming. Indeed there was a time when war gaming books provided the most convenient point of entry into those societies we seek to re-enact. However as the movement matured we did also, we went to the primary sources and archaeological reports ourselves and hopefully started using a bit of logic and some sound scholarship. In some cases applying a modicum of the scientific method itself has been noted. Lo and behold we found scholarship had evolved and we followed suit.
One major area of concern for the New Varagian Guard was what was known as The Great Rhomphaia Controversy in war gaming circles. This still bedevils those new to our period of re-enactment. The major popular articles in the controversy were published in Slingshot the journal of the Society of Ancients (probably the oldest pre-modern war gaming group in the UK) mainly between 1978 and 1979.
What most of the articles tend to rely on is etymological and literary evidence. For example in modern Greek the word preserved as rhomphaia means 'a big broad sword' Doh !!!
The major source for this confusion by re-enactors is found in Michael Psellus: Chronographia, translated into English by E.R.A Sewter. In Tim Dawson’s article “The ‘Varangian Rhomphaia’ - A Cautionary Taleâ€
Many re-enactors came to this recreational pursuit from war gaming. Indeed there was a time when war gaming books provided the most convenient point of entry into those societies we seek to re-enact. However as the movement matured we did also, we went to the primary sources and archaeological reports ourselves and hopefully started using a bit of logic and some sound scholarship. In some cases applying a modicum of the scientific method itself has been noted. Lo and behold we found scholarship had evolved and we followed suit.
One major area of concern for the New Varagian Guard was what was known as The Great Rhomphaia Controversy in war gaming circles. This still bedevils those new to our period of re-enactment. The major popular articles in the controversy were published in Slingshot the journal of the Society of Ancients (probably the oldest pre-modern war gaming group in the UK) mainly between 1978 and 1979.
What most of the articles tend to rely on is etymological and literary evidence. For example in modern Greek the word preserved as rhomphaia means 'a big broad sword' Doh !!!
The major source for this confusion by re-enactors is found in Michael Psellus: Chronographia, translated into English by E.R.A Sewter. In Tim Dawson’s article “The ‘Varangian Rhomphaia’ - A Cautionary Taleâ€
Peter Raftos