07-08-2005, 05:20 PM
Put them in. After all, they sprung from the Roman Empire, called themselves Romans, and even westerners referred to their empire as "Romania". Moreover, early Byzantine history is in many ways relevant to the study of the later "Roman" Empire.
I would, however, place an "upper" chronological boundary; let's face it, this forum is mostly about "warfare in the ancient world" (plus civilian things of the same era, of course). There's a clear overlap between ancient and medieval in the so-called "early" Middle Ages, but once you get past the Carolingians, things become decidedly un-ancient, as the old world gradually faded away and something clearly different had evolved out of it.
1071, the date of Manzikert and the fall of Bari, the last Byzantine outpost in Italy, is my suggestion for such an upper chronological boundary. That leaves the taktika, the Byzantine military manuals, of the 10th century (part of the same tradition as the Strategikon) and the De Administrando Imperio of Emperor Leo the Wise, with its information on late Roman / early medieval (coming of the Slavs etc.) events and migrations as part of the subject matter.
Chariovalda
I would, however, place an "upper" chronological boundary; let's face it, this forum is mostly about "warfare in the ancient world" (plus civilian things of the same era, of course). There's a clear overlap between ancient and medieval in the so-called "early" Middle Ages, but once you get past the Carolingians, things become decidedly un-ancient, as the old world gradually faded away and something clearly different had evolved out of it.
1071, the date of Manzikert and the fall of Bari, the last Byzantine outpost in Italy, is my suggestion for such an upper chronological boundary. That leaves the taktika, the Byzantine military manuals, of the 10th century (part of the same tradition as the Strategikon) and the De Administrando Imperio of Emperor Leo the Wise, with its information on late Roman / early medieval (coming of the Slavs etc.) events and migrations as part of the subject matter.
Chariovalda
Andreas Baede
