2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
STUDY OF TAGMA OR PRAETORIAN REGIMENTS
| Project/Area Number |
15520469
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
History of Europe and America
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| Research Institution | KWANSEI GAKUIN UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
NAKATANI Koji KWANSEI GAKUIN UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES, PROFESSOR, 文学部, 教授 (30217749)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2004
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| Keywords | Middle Byzantine Empire / Military System / Tagma / praetorian regiments / domesticos / central army / De cerimoniis aurae byzantinae |
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| Research Abstract |
Greek "tagma" means military unit in general. The tagma in the Middle Byzantine Period, however, appeared from the middle of the 8th century on as a praetorian regiment in or near the capital. Until the beginning of the 9th century, 4 cavarly tagmata had been organized by emperors and they played mainly the roles to back up emperors or to intervene to political process in the central government. We can be aware of formation of tagma as an official military force in the central government in the middle of the 9th century.
In this research to obtain more trustworthy data about force strength of cavalry tagma, we use the text of "De cerimoniis aurae byzantinae", which was edited by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in the 10th century. The text contains some data about the military expeditions to reconquer the Crete. According to the text, soldiers of each cavalry tagma were stationed near Constantinople, and have about 1,000-1,500 force strength. We count the total of the 4 tagmata about 4,000-5,000 in total. So probably the tagmata were too small to call "central forces" of the Byzantine Empire.
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