Journal of Mediterranean Studies, 2010

ISSN: 1016-3476

Vol. 19, No. 2: 219248

The Last Marines of Byzantium

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THE LAST MARINES OF BYZANTIUM

GASMOULOI, TZAKONES AND PROSALENTAI
A SHORT HISTORY AND A PROPOSED
RECONSTRUCTION OF THEIR
UNIFORMS AND EQUIPMENT
RAFFAELE DAMATO
University of Ferrara, Italy
The last centuries of Byzantium were characterized by the continuous efforts of the
central authority, in the middle of the chaos of the civil wars and of the centrifugal
tendencies of the last Roman elites, to structure and re-organize their military resources
against the constant menaces of Latins, Franks, Venetians, Slavs, Bulgars and Turks.
After the re-conquest of Constantinople in 1261 AD Michael VIII Palaiologos rebuilt a
strong naval force, able to withstand the military expedition of Charles DAnjou, to
lessen dependence on the Genoese, to counteract Venices naval strength and generally
attend to the needs arising from the wide ranging naval operations of the resurrected
Byzantine Empire. This great fleet, under the order of Alexios Philanthrpnos, was
manned partly by the new created regiments of the Gasmouloi, Marine Tzakones and
Prosalentai. The general purpose of this paper is to briefly trace the history of these
regiments; in particular it will endeavour to look at their military attire and equipment,
using available data from artistic, literary and archaeological sources.

The history of the Roman army in the last centuries of Byzantium is a

very complex one characterized by the continuous efforts of the central
authorities to structure and re-structure the remaining military resources
against the constant threats from Latins, Franks, Venetians, Slavs, Bulgars
and Turks, amidst the chaos of the civil wars and the centrifugal tendencies
of the last Roman elites. Although the military power of the empire was
now but a pale shadow of its former self, some elite units raised by the
Palaiologan emperors proved to be highly effective and able to confront
with some success the empires external enemies, as well as to participate
in the dramatic palace coups and internecine power struggles of this very
convulsive period.
Copyright 2010 Mediterranean Institute, University of Malta.

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After the reconquest of Constantinople from the Latins in 1261 AD and

the return of legitimacy with Michael VIII Palaiologos (12591282), Byzantium
rebuilt a strong naval force,1 able to withstand the offensive of Charles DAnjou,
act as a balance against the Venetians, and to generally engage in the wide
range of naval operations of the resurrected Byzantine Empire.2 Not willing to
rely exclusively upon the maritime power of the Genoese,3 arch rivals of the
Venetians, the emperor was able to build a great Imperial Fleet, a new Vasilikos
Stolos, equipped with Roman sailors and marines, and commanded by Romans.
This great fleet, described by Gregoras and Pachymeres, was the most important
and largest of thirteenth-century Byzantium. It was placed under the command
of the Protostrator Alexios Philanthrpnos,4 stationed in the provinces, and
commanded by regional Doukes.
In addition, the emperor created, among others, three military units to
form part of the fleet:5 the Gasmouloi, the (Marine) Tzakones and the
Prosalentai and he applied himself with such energy to the creation of the
new regiments that, in his autobiography he proudly wrote that the new
marines were convinced that their new home could only have been the sea.6
The Gasmouloi and the Tzakones were used in the navy as light infantry,7
with Gregoras calling them a maritime armed force.8 These military units,
which were destined to endure for generations, were assigned to the navy
and organised into a number of military groups or divisions and placed
under the command of Lochagoi, Tagmatarchai, Komts and Navarchoi,
corresponding approximately to ships captains, regimental commanders,
commanders of naval squadrons, and admirals. According to Pachimres,
the fleet was indeed great, being composed of many ships full of warlike
young men, hungry for booty . . .9
The effectiveness of the new naval units was soon demonstrated in
action. In 1263, Philanthrpnos successfully led a Genoese-Roman fleet
against a number of islands held by the Venetians: Paros, Naxos,10 Kos,
and the Negropontine towns of Karystos and Oreos. Michaels new naval
troops were the kern of the fleet: for the Gasmouloi were bold in battle,
and while these were assigned for battle, those called Proselontes were
assigned to rowing only. In addition, there were the Laconians whom the
ruler had transplanted from the Peloponnese . . .11 In the same year, naval
operations were also carried out in Crete to help the local population in
their rebellion against the Venetians.12 In 1268, a new naval expedition was
conducted against the Morea to seize the coasts of the Peloponnese, and the
Tzakones and Gasmouloi were once again the key fighting element on
board, while the Proselantai constituted the rowing force.13 In 1273, during
the great expedition against John I Doukas of Thessaly, a fleet of about 73

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units manned partly by Tzakones and Gasmouloi, and once again under the
command of Philanthrpnos, attacked the Latin Lords of Greece.14 Following
the victory at Neopatras by John the Bastard, the Latin Lords of the Archipelago
sent a fleet of mainly Venetian ships, from Crete and Negroponte, to attack
the Imperial Fleet anchored at Demetrias in the Gulf of Volos. Sanudo
mentions, 12 tra Galee e Tarrette, e 50 altri legni da remo . . . incontrando
larmata dellImperatore che era di 80 Gallee . . .15 Gregoras, who left a
detailed description of the battle, records the Latin fleet as composed of 50
Venetian galleys from Crete and more than 30 Euboian ships.16 According
to Gregoras, the Venetian ships were fitted with high wooden towers which
made it look like one was confronting a wall. At the beginning of the battle
the Romans seemed headed for defeat, but the arrival of reinforcements
lead by the Despot John Palaiologos turned the tide and the Latin fleet was
completely routed and its leaders captured.17
The Gasmouloi
The first contingent of soldiers for the fleet was sought and obtained by
Michael VIII from the fierce Gasmouloi, who originated from the region
around Byzantium and lived in and around the city, especially in the region
of the Propontis,18 but they are also said to have been resettled by him from
the Peloponnese in the 1260s.19 It is significant that these people were not
considered unequivocally Roman and had a special name. They were in
fact of mixed race, being a product of the intermarriage between Latins and
Byzantines, i.e. of local mothers and Italian fathers; as a consequence they
were part Greek and part Latin.20 According to Kambourouglou21 the name
Vasmoulos-Gasmoulos22 came from bat (probably the same etymology a
btard) and moulos, that in the dialect of Morea meant bastard, or more
simply from the Latin word mulus.23 For Roman authors, it meant someone
part Roman and part Latin.24 As a consequence, although they were recruited
from within the Empire, the sources try to explain their ethnicity to demonstrate
that they were not completely Rhomaioi (Romans). Clearly their loyalty
was to the Byzantine Roman state, for which they fought, forming the
military contingent called Gasmoulikon.25 Giorgios Pachimres gave a short
description of them, where he sets out the commonly-held opinion of them
as endowed with a mixture of the best qualities of both Romans and Latins:
. . . the contingent of the Gasmouloi, who being of mixed race could speak
the Latin language for they were born of both Romans and Latins . . . had
forethought in war and prudence from the Romans, (and) audacity and stubbornness
from the Latins . . .26

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They were turbulent individuals but very good at sea and it is interesting
to compare the above description with the diametrically opposite and very
negative image of them left by the anonymous Latin author of the Directorium
ad faciendum passagium transmarinum:
. . . and they are called Gasmouloi who were begotten on their fathers side
by a Greek and on their mothers side by a Latin or on their fathers side by
a Latin and on their mothers side by a Greek. In faith they are fickle, in
promise deceitful, in word mendacious, adroit in evil, ignorant of good, impudent
to their betters, prone to discord, accustomed to plundering, inclined to savagery,
adverse to piety; hungry for carnage and death, restless in everything, given
to drink, incontinent without restraint, slaves to greed, gluttony and intemperance, loving no one beside themselves and what belongs to them. They present
themselves as Greeks to Greeks and as Latins to Latins, being all things to
everyone, not to make a profit . . . but to destroy . . .27

Two things may have counted against their being counted as full Romans.
Firstly, they were only half-Roman in descent; and this is explicitly declared
to have affected their nature. Secondly, they seem to have been raised in a
Latin environment as they could speak the Latin language.
We have no information about the number of the Gasmouloi in Byzantium,
but it must have been considerable, considering that mixed marriages between
Latins from Italy and Byzantines were already common in the eleventh and
twelfth century, when westerners were uninterruptedly living in Constantinople.
Fighters from this race are already recorded by Nicetas Choniates for the
reign of Manuel I.28 The phenomenon obviously grew with the Latin conquest
of Byzantium after the fourth Crusade and subsequent intermarriages.29 This
was, indeed, a factor that mitigated the reaction of Michael VIII against the
Latin population left in Constantinople after 1261: the Gasmouloi were the
offspring of intermarriages and it was not an option for Michael to alienate
the sympathy of these elite naval troops who served in the imperial fleet by
exiling their fathers! It was clearly in his interest to nurture their loyalty.
Assigned to the fleet, they would seem to have mainly made up the crews of
the fleet stationed in Constantinople, along with the Tzakones, and also
served as rowers.31
The Gasmouloi, who formed the first nucleus of the men on the reconstituted
fleet of Michael VIII, were also the crew of the vasilik holkas (the fleet of
the imperial house) stationed at the Blachernai Palace.32 The emperor also
used them to punish insults to his authority. When in 1275 or spring 1276,
Genoese privateers from Genoa committed corsair acts in the Black Sea and
refused to accord to Michael VIII the honours which were his due,33 the

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Emperor sent a flotilla carrying all the Gasmouloi present in Constantinople

after them under the command of Alexios Alyattes, the imperial Vestiarios.
The flotilla overtook the Genoese with the help of a large Catalan merchant
ship which had been lying in the harbour. Michael, who had been encouraging
his men from the shore, ordered the Genoese crews to be blinded, a task that
his fearsome marines promptly carried out.34
Usually these Gasmouloi fought on the Roman side, but this need not
have been true for all children of mixed parentage; indeed, writing in the
1330s, the Latin author of the Directorium ad faciendum passagium
transmarinum saw these Gasinulias he called the Gasmouloias simply
perfidious, all things to all men, taking advantage of their dual heritage to
seize advantage with either side as they might. So they were not considered
always trustworthy. At the beginning of the fourteenth century the Gasmouloi
in Thessaloniki, although they felt themselves part of the Eastern Roman
race, did not hesitate to pass themselves off as Latins if it suited their
interests.35 Pachymeres specifically states that the Gasmouloi knew the
language of the Latins, suggesting that they were not brought up in an
exclusively Roman environment. Nor should we assume that all Gasmouloi
were born outside marriage. Prince William II himself married a Roman
woman from Epiros and was moreover ready to give wives to the two
Turks whom he knighted and enfeoffed in the 1260s.36 Some of them even
reached high administrative office, like for instance a certain Ogerius
probably a gasmules, although he could have been Genoesewho was the
imperial notary on behalf of the Latins who signed the first treaty between
the Palaiologan Empire and the Venetians in 1265.37
The Tzakones
To provide further manpower for his new fleet, the emperor distributed
largesse and invested large amounts of money in the transportation to
Byzantium, in 1261 or early 1262, of families of Tzakones from the regions
of Laconia and Monemvasia, assigning them to special regions in the city
and enlisting the men in his new fleet:38
He (Michael) had great need to settle in the city lightly-armed soldiers, and
so he called many Lakones, who arrived from the Morea, and he settled them
as natives, distributing places near the city. Bestowing the yearly pay, he also
supplied them with many other rights, and used them for many (things) inside
and outside, for they displayed worthy behavior in the wars . . .39

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These Laconians are here and elsewhere linked with the Gasmouloi,
who are similarly not called simply Romans; but differently from the
Gasmouloi they were not of mixed blood at all, and simply came from a
particular area in the Peloponnese. In any case, for all intents and purposes,
they were considered Romans owing to their military attributes and the
uninterrupted military service they had rendered in the army since ancient
times.40 Pachymeres states that these groups of warriors had been resettled
from the Peloponnese. He attests clearly that the word Tzakones was a
corrupted form of people from Laconia( )41 i.e. people
from South-Eastern Morea, around Mistra,42 and that these were
a very warrior-like race, famous for their military skills in the garrisoning
of castles.43 We also know about the naval qualities of the Tzakones/Lakones
from as early as the time of Saint Nikon Metanoites, in the eleventh century:
. . . the sons of the Lakones . . . consider as their own the biremes and the
triremes of the state, and made up the Imperial Fleet which sailed the seas
. . .44 The arrival of these inhabitants from the Eastern Peloponnesian coast
influenced the ethnic composition of the navys combatants. These Tzakones/
Lakones were in fact prominent in the garrison of the city and soon became
a body of imperial guards,45 assigned to defend the sea walls as lightly
equipped soldiers,46 but, in particular, they constituted the bulk of the crews
of the reconstituted imperial fleet, supplementing the Gasmouloi,47 especially
from 1260 to 1270.
In actual fact, the word Tzakon meant both a body of combatants (garrison
soldiers, marines, imperial bodyguards, paramilitary police, and light infantry)
and an ethnic designation for those originating in Laconia.48 It is clear from
a letter of about 12851286 from Patriarch Gregorius of Cyprus, that the
word Tzakones also indicated a race (genos).49 This race of Peloponnesians
mentioned by Gregorius may have been the descendants of the original
Tzakones transplanted to the capital by Michael VIII to perform the various
military duties listed in the sources.50
Their presence is specifically noted, alongside the Gasmouloi, during
two naval campaigns, in 1262 and 1273: many others were from the Lakones
that the people have corrupted to Tzakones, who the ruler transplanted with
their wives and children to Constantinople from the Morea and other western
regions, and who were numerous and warlike . . .51 Michael issued his
generals with blank letters of appointment, to be given to Tzakones, who,
in exchange for military service, often received the title of Sebastos.52 The
profession was hereditary,53 which is not surprising considering that for
their services the Tzakones not only received a salary from the Emperor but
also topoi, or holdings, near Byzantium.54 Bartusis has suggested that, although

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such topoi or places were probably small and inadequate for substantial
farming (as Pachymeres does not employ the word land) they nevertheless
provided a home as a conditional grant in order to ensure the continued
service of the heirs of the Tzakones who originally recruited.55
The activity of the Lakones in Asia Minor and in Pontus can be determined
through the toponyms, and is reflected as well in frescoes in the churches of
Laconia and Asia Minor. A considerable number of places bear names containing
the root of the word Tzakones, like in Tsakonos (Ano Matsouka in Pontus),
Tsakonochori (in Anatolian Thrace) and Tsachnochori (Roumelia) bear witness
to lands given to the Tzakones, or to places where they had operated, that are
to be found much further than the lands around the capital.56 Their diaspora
around the Empires territories was mainly due to their activity as marines all
around Romania, i.e. the territories inside the boundaries of the Roman
Empire of Byzantium, but probably also due to the changes in the stationing
of the fleet determined by the policy of Andronikos II (s. infra).
The Prosalentai
The third group of fighters enlisted by Michael VIII for his new fleet was
also composed of native Romans, smallholding soldiers, called Prosalentai.
In contrast to the first two, they were, in principle, rowers, remiges,
, servants of the marines, while the other two regiments were
mainly employed as fighting troops. According to Pachymeres the Emperor
fitted out and built a fleet and he assigned more than a thousand rowers
from the lands The words Proselontes or Prosalentai were usedaccording
to Pachymeresas the official designation for the imperial rowers of Michael
) means that the
VIII.57 The expression used by Pachymeres (
Proselontes did not come from Byzantium, but from other areas of the
Empire. Bartusis suggested that these rowers were recruited amongst the
peasants of the lands abandoned by their Frankish masters.58 According to
Pachymeres giving service to them (i.e. to the Tzakones and the Gasmouloi)
as rowers were the Proselontes: to most of whom, especially to those who
were the best, the ruler assigned lands everywhere close to the coast . . .59
The offer of lands by the Emperor in exchange for service in the fleet must
have constituted an attractive proposition.
The recruitment of rowers represented a further attempt by the emperor
to increase the population of the re-conquered capital, because many lands
were assigned to them inside and around Byzantium. However, the sources
also mention lands on the islands: on Lemnos, where a group of Proselontes
were stationed and looked after land on the island for at least 80 years from

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as early as 1284 until as late as 1361, and it seems that the institution itself
was remarkably stable and probably hereditary; around 1330, on the
Kassandreia Peninsula of Halkidiki, the Prosalentai were free landowners
with considerable properties of at least several acres; rowers also had lands
on the Longos Peninsula, adjacent to Kassandreia, and in the area east of
the mouth of the River Strymon.60
The Prosalentai were protagonists of another incident with the Genoese
narrated by Pachymeres.61 After a hard discussion during a drinking session,
a member of the Prosalentai struck a Genoese of Galata who had taunted
him by saying that Constantinople would soon be Latin again. The Genoese
slew the man with his sword, and his killing enraged the emperor so much
that Michael called up the army from inside and outside the city determined
to expel all the Genoese from Galata. The episode shows the high consideration
that Michael VIII had for the imperial Prosalentai! The rage of the Emperor
subsided only after the Genoese authorities had pleaded with him and agreed
to pay a hefty indemnity.62
Later History of the Regiments
The above-mentioned marines (especially the Gasmouloi and the rowers)
were recruited to satisfy the special needs that Michael VIII faced after the
re-conquest of the city in 1261, and the enlistment of the marine Tzakones
was the result of the military and diplomatic efforts of the same emperor
during his first campaign in Morea, but these units were destined to outlast
the reign of the first of the Palaiologans. The reconstituted navy comprised
80 ships by 1283 when Andronikos II (12821328), son and successor of
Michael VIII, disbanded and dismissed the Gasmouloi and the Tzakones in
an attempt to reduce costs, choosing instead to rely entirely on Genoese
vessels; by 1291 about 5060 vessels had been hired.63 The reason for this
decision was the 1285 truce with the Venetians that caused the emperor to
consider the maintenance of a large number of ships, sailors, rowers and
marines as too heavy a burden for imperial finances and proceeded to
reduce the size of the fleet.
The Proselentai were not much affected by this imperial order, because
the lands granted to them by Michael VIII in exchange for their military
service were already in their hands, and there was no cash involved. They
continued carrying on their duties in Constantinople to the end of the
thirteenth century and probably into the early fourteenth century as well.64
The Tzakones, who are no longer to be encountered in the area of
Constantinople after the reduction of the fleet ordered by Andronikos II,

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received some lands in grant and some money at the time of their discharge.
Nevertheless, they did survive in the provinces.65 They were settled in
many areas of the empire, like the Pontus, Thrace, and in many areas where
they still carried out garrison duties at castles and fortresses. The letter of
the Patriarch Gregory of Cyprus referred to earlier mentions Dorians and
Peloponnesians settled at Herakleia, in Thrace, living in an impoverished
state. Bartusis suggests that, with time, the Tzakones remaining in
Constantinople probably lost their separate ethnicity and would seem to
have been incorporated into the Gasmouloi.66
Those most affected by the Andronikos measures were the Gasmouloi.
Gregoras explicitly mentions the impoverishment of the Gasmouloi, whose
ranks were decimated. The ultimate consequence was the passage of many
of them into the service of Franks and Turks,67 and this can well explain
the bad reputation they had with the author of the Directorium. By 1300
some of them are to be found in the service of the Venetians in Crete.68
According to Pachymeres and Gregoras:
. . . for these reasons the warlike soldiers of the Fleet, despised by all and
deprived of their salary, partially applied themselves to perform mechanical
works to obtain some way to survive, when this was possible, and partially
deserted to the enemies, so that together with them they ravaged Roman
territory in the manner of pirates . . .

Others, on the other hand, became hirelings to those renowned Romans

distinguished by wealth, others gave up their arms and turned to farming. . .69
Some of them, however, continued to serve in the fleet, playing an active
role in military actions and in the citys disorders. This is confirmed by
Marco Minoto, Venetian bailli of Byzantium, who in March 1320 writes,
in Constantinople, Venetians, both Christians and Jews, are being despoiled
by Gasmouloi, Greeks and officials of the Emperor . . .70
The emperors plans to resurrect the fleet by building twenty galleys in
about 1320 were implemented by his grandson Andronikos III (13281341).
The new emperor re-employed the Gasmouloi and probably the Prosalentai
as well, following Andronikos IIs abdication. The Gasmouloi seem have
played an active role in the civil wars of the 1340s,71 during the rebellion
that caused the death of Apokaukos, to whom they were loyal, considering
that they formed the main nucleus of the crews of the reconstituted Roman
fleet of 70 ships, created to counterbalance the Turkish threat from the
sea.72 Our sources confirm that the Proselentai still existed as an institution
until the second half of the fourteenth century.73

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There is no evidence that later emperors attempted to recruit Prosalentai,

Gasmouloi and Tzakones to replace or reinforce existing contingents.74
Nevertheless, these regiments, or at least soldiers bearing their names, are
still to be encountered inside the Empire as late as 1422 in the case of the
Gasmouloi, 1361 for the Proselentai, and 1429 for the Tzakones.75
The source for 1429 is particularly relevant for our topic. According to
Sphrantzs and according to the Book of Ceremonies of Constantine
Porphyrogenitos, the Tzakones had had a great reputation as defenders and
guardians of citadels since the eight century AD. As early as 746 AD,
Monemvasia was considered a maritime centre of fundamental importance
for the Empire, garrisoned by Tzakones who spoke the Doric dialect, and
this was still the case nearly seven hundred years later, in 1429 AD.76 In
this year the inhabitants of Monemvasia considered themselves loyal and
strong allies of the Empire (Simmachoi Monemvasiotai), but as free as their
Spartan fathers had been before them. They enjoyed a great reputation as
infantry and cavalry but also as seafarers, being described by Sphrantzes as
very able in maritime affairs:
. . . on land and sea they are always very able and virtuous, good seafarers
and sailors, having many ships they are excellent ship-owners and captains,
not only with their own ships, but also in the imperial fleet where many of
them are commanders; at the same time on the dry land they are highly
renowned cavalrymen and warriors skilled in javelin throwing, but also tenacious and brave infantrymen. Indeed their commanders were considered keen
and wise and were held in great esteem, because often they offered hospitality
and consoled travellers. But especially they preserved their faith and their love
since ancient times until today of God and the Roman authorities. Indeed for
these their virtues of faith and love they have been honoured by their suzerains
in different times . . .77

A Reconstruction of their Dress and Equipment

An attempt to reconstruct the military attire and equipment of the last
marine elite of Byzantium is possible only by combining the iconography
of the period with descriptions in the sources and with archaeological finds.
Literary sources are, in fact, not very rich with information about their
dress, equipment, and physical aspect but we have encountered a number
of iconographic sources belonging to the second half of the thirteenth or
early fourteenth centuries which represent sea battles which can assist us in
our task. The Tzakones and the Gasmouloi were in the service at that time
and although they were considered as Rhomaioi, i.e. Greek-speakers, embracing

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Orthodox Christianity who followed the customs and the dress of the citizens
of the Empire, and as a consequence, culturally indistinguishable from the
other Romans, iconographic sources would seem to suggest that their military
attire had been influenced by both Byzantium and the Latins.78
The London British Librarys manuscript Add. Ms. 15268, produced in
Acre about 1286, is a very important document which sets out the universal
history of the world and according to Folda, citing Buchtal, it is strongly
influenced by the new Palaiologan art of Byzantium.79 Folios 105v and
126v of this manuscript show
men engaged in naval
operations (Figs. 12). The
central illumination of folio
105v shows craftsmen
building a ship, dressed in a
typically Western way but
with Eastern-looking tools
and weapons. They are
represented also in the lower
part of the folio, sailing a ship
with lateen sails. They could
well represent the light
soldiers of mixed blood who
formed the core of the
Gasmouloi. They are simply
dressed with an Italian tunic
of red and blue color that in
the Latin and Greek sources
of that epoch was called
tunica, gonnella or chitonia,
and was made of linen or
wool. This kind of tunic was
shaped like a T and was worn
Fig. 1. Add. Ms. 15268, British Library,
over an inner one called
London, folio 105v; courtesy of Dr. David
interula, camicia or kamision,
Nicolle.
directly worn in contact with
the skin.80
The best visual representation of marines and rowers of Byzantium in
action we have encountered is to be found in the History of Alexander, held
by the Venice Hellenic Institute, Codex Gr. 5.81 Of particular interest are
folios 3r, 21r, 42r, 43r, 108v, 113v (Fig. 3), 124r,124v,82 representing imperial

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Fig. 2. Add. Ms. 15268,

British Library, London,
folio 126v; courtesy of
Dr. Andrea Babuin.

Fig. 3. Codex Gr. 5, Biblioteca dellIstituto Ellenico di San Giorgio dei Greci,
Venezia, folio 113v, ex Trahoulias.

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galleys of the fourteenth century filled with armed warriors, rowers and
fighting sailors. We have representations of Eastern Roman warships, specifically lateen-rigged galleys, operating with one or two banks of oars,
and on the deck one can see clean-shaven oarsmen and an officer with
typical Western European bonnets, like the Gasmouloi probably wore.83 At
other times, they appear bare-headed or covered with the typical white
Eastern Roman turban. Lightly-armed troops are seen besides heavy infantrymen, probably embarked troops. As in the Acre manuscript, rowers and
fighting sailors are dressed in western or eastern tunics of blue, light green,
pinkish, off-white and red colour,84 while the soldiers are clad in Byzantine-type heavy armour.
In attempting the reconstruction of the equipment of the Tzakones, one
must keep in mind that the Tzakones of Michael VIII were ethnically Lakones
(Hellenes from ancient Laconia and Monemvasia). The large number of
paintings to be encountered in Laconia linked to their presence as garrison
troops are a valuable source; in places like Geraki, there are still many
church frescoes representing fighting saints and warriors, some of them
heavily armoured. These churches and their frescoes are very similar to
churches and frescoes found in all the territories of Romania where we
encounter the toponym of
Tzakones. 85 In seeking to
identify depictions of Tzakones,
there are three aspects which
can point us in the right
direction: details of heraldry,
symbols on the shields and
literary descriptions.
A fresco in the church of
Aghios Georgios tou Kastrou
(Saint George of the Castle),
in Geraki, painted in the second
half of the thirteenth century,
shows the saint standing in
military attire (Fig. 4). The
background of the round shield
depicting Saint George has
small white dots representing
the stars on the outer rim, on
Fig. 4. Saint George, fresco of the Church of
a red brown surface, with a
Aghios Georgios tou Kastrou, in situ, Geraki,
half-moon in the centre, inside
courtesy of Dr. Andrea Babuin.

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which we see a sun with eight rays.

This depiction, sometimes with
variations, can also be found in other
churches in Geraki: for instance on
the shield of Saint George painted in
the church of Saint John Chrisostomos
in the early fourteenth century,86 or
the Saint George represented in the
Fig. 5. Bronze coins of Caracalla and
church of Saint Athanasios, where can
Geta, 198211 AD, private collection.
see a half moon with the sun with
eight rays and around it planets in circular shape painted on the inside.87
All these representations show the saint having the same symbol on his
shield: the half moon with the sun and eight rays, surrounded by stars.
According to the Orphic Hymns the sun and the moon are the eyes of the
Eternal God, the sky his head and the stars (white dots on the shields
surface) his hair. A special body of priests has existed since the time of
Septimius Severus charged with the duty to worship the new Sun God and
his wife, the Moon: the Emperor and Empress venerated as the Sun and
the Moon, symbols of the idea of the eternal Empire (Aeternitas Imperii).88
In his campaign against the Parthians, the Emperor Caracalla (212
217 AD), recruited a corps of Lakones for the Roman army who eventually
became the Lakonikos and Pitanatis regiments.89 At that time, amongst the
various depictions on the shields of the Lakones who fought in Caracallas
army, there were also these iconographic signs: the half moon, the sun, the
eight rays, the stars.90 These symbols, together with the meanders and the
swastikas, preserved on the shields of the warrior saints of Geraki, probably
indicated the continuity of the Greco-Roman pagan tradition of the Lakones
soldiers (Tzakones), transplanted to the Roman Army.91
The sun and the half moon as symbols of the eternal and universal
Empire are also to be found on the shield of Constantine the Great, represented
together with Alexander the Great in the gold multiple of nine solidi preserved
in the Bibliothque National de Paris. The denomination of the Emperor as
invincible (invictus) underlines in a particular way the parallelism between
the founder of the ecumenical monarchy and the founder of the Eastern
Roman Empire, as a representation of the uninterrupted Greco-Roman
Oecumene.92 The two symbolsthe moon and the eight ray sunwere for
the Hellenic Lakones ancient symbols of their Greek past and the eternity
of the Empire (AETERNITAS IMPERII ) as an institution, the Roman
conception of the Emperor as the representative of the one God.

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233

The Tzakones were indeed the carriers of symbols attesting to the continuity
of the eternal Empire. Signs like the half moons, the eight ray sun, the
stars, the flowers, the meanders, and the swastikas visible in Geraki93 are
proof of this continuity in the iconographic tradition. In these iconographies
one can see the insertion of the pagan symbols of ancient Greece into a
Christian milieu, and used according to the Roman military tradition. These
symbols derive from the interaction of the Tzakones garrisoning the castles
of Romania with the heretical Christian or pagan tendencies of the inhabitants
of the garrisoned places, or as a consequence of past traditions.
The half moon, already symbol of the Lakones and of the ancient city of
Byzantion since ancient times,94 was probably recovered from the Palaiologoi
as a symbol of the eternal Empire after Constantinople was retaken from
the Latins in 1261. It was therefore natural that the Tzakones wore it on
their shields and flags, in the new Palaiologan army. The half moon was
adopted also by the Sassanians who transformed it into an emblem of their
state,95 and was one of their military neshans or seals.96 After 1200, the
Seljuks of Rum adopted the same symbol as well, and from the Seljuks or
maybe directly from the Romans it was also adopted by other Turkish
tribes. Lakones warriors were conscripted into the army of the Seljuk Turks
of Rum in the thirteenth century. The Patriarch Cyril says that when Sultan
Alad-hin was ruler he transferred near him, in Iconium, about 30,000 families
from the province of Laconia in the Peloponnese . . .97 Probably he used
them against the Mongols in the first half of the thirteenth century, after
the peace treaty between the Nicean Empire and the Seljuks. The future
emperor Michael Palaiologos was commander-in-chief of the Imperial
contingents that fought beside the Turks on that occasion.98 Amongst his
flags, it is probable that he had the standards of the Tzakones. It is not
surprising that the Ottoman Turks transformed the half moon and the eight
ray sun into the symbol of the present Turkish flag. When Mohammed II
conquered Byzantium in 1453, all the symbols of the Roman Empire became
symbols of the new state of Romania now ruled by the Turkish emperor
in the name of Allah.
The Tzakones were probably the models for the painters of the frescoes
of Geraki and many other localities. This is also confirmed by artistic sources
in territories outside Romania. The late thirteenth-century manuscript Ms.
Ars. 5211held by the Bibliothque de lArsenal de Paris99 and probably
produced in Acre by the same school which produced manuscript Ms. 15268
held at the British Museum, shows the marching army of Holofernes in folio
252 (Fig. 6), depicted like Palaiologan warriors of that age. It was habitual

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Fig. 6. Ms. Ars. 5211, Bibliothque de lArsenal, Paris, folio 252, courtesy of
Dr. David Nicolle.

for Latin artists to represent evil peoples in the Bible with the physical
appearance of their enemies. The flags at the head of the marching army are
the same, as are the moon and the eight-ray sun. The church of Aghios Georgios,
at Apodolou, in Crete, belongs to the early fourteenth century as well and
shows Saint George dressed like a Romaios Kavallarios exhibiting the moon
on the shield (Fig. 7). A further, extremely important parallel can be found
in a fresco in the celebrated church of Boyana, considered for its 1259 AD
frescoes painted during the reign of Constantine Asen the masterpiece of
Medieval Bulgar churches. The scene of the miracle of Saint Nicholas on the
sea shows a thirteenth-century ship, manned by sailors dressed in a western
style, having their shields or the shields of the passengers arranged on the

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small turret at the stern.100 The designs

on the shields are once again the half
moon and the sun with eight rays, and
there are strong possibilities that the ship
represented is one belonging to the
Roman Empire of Byzantium, probably
a ship of Michael VIIIs fleet just before
the reconquest of the City.101
The Tzakones bore on their shields
other distinctive signs that characterized
them as elite garrison troops. 102 For
instance, turrets of castles are visible on
the coat of arms on the shield in the
depiction of the Sleeping Soldiers at the
Holy Sepulchre at the church of Saint
Chrisostomos in Geraki (Fig. 8). The
epic songs of Pontus narrate their heroic
actions and refer to them as Drakellenes
or Drakellenoi (Greek dragons). One
example is the poem of Konstantinos

235

Fig. 7. Saint George, Church of

Aghios Georgios, Apodolou, Crete,
authors photo.

Fig. 8. Sleeping Soldiers at the Holy Sepulchre, Saint Chrisostomos Church, in

situ, Geraki, authors photo.

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Digenis Akritas, where the defenders of a castle bar access to a bridge to the
hero.103 The people from Pontus saw them as brave Hellenic warriors, coming
from Laconia, who continued in the tradition of the Classical Greek fighters.
The Akritic songs of Cyprus spoke about these outstanding fighters.104
The iconography of the miniatures and of the frescoes also give us
details of the kind of military gear worn by the Tzakones, Proselentai, and
Gasmouloi in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. At times, these seem
to differ considerably from their description as lightly-equipped warriors as
set out by Pachimeres and Gregoras, but we should remember that the
mention of these troops as lightly-equipped warriors relates to the earlier
phase of their recruitment, while other later sources, such as Sfrantzs, also
speak of their skills as cavalrymen, infantrymen and javelin-men. In these
frescoes and miniatures, we note the use by the marines of the Oplon or
amphion, i.e. a full mail hauberk usually fitted with coif and gauntlets;105
of helmets shaped like western
chapels de fer, 106 called in
medieval Greek Kranoi or Kukla;
of Linothorakes similar to West
European soft armour or surcoats
(Fig. 9). 107 We also note the
presence of javelins, swords,
crossbows, and daggers (Fig. 2).
The images on the miniatures
and frescoes can be matched with
weapons of the same age actually
found in the territory of
Romania. For example, the
battle/tool axe on folio 105v of
the Acritan manuscript finds a
perfect parallel in a thirteenth or
fourteenth-century specimen
Fig. 9. Add. Ms. 15268, British Library,
preserved at the museum of
London, images from folios 16r, 71r;
courtesy of Dr. David Nicolle.
Kazanlik in present-day Bulgaria
(Fig. 10) while the sword of Saint
George of Aghios Georgios tou Kastrou resembles a thirteenth-century
specimen in the museum of Rouse, which is also in Bulgaria (Fig. 11). This
is further confirmation that the artists who represented the warriors in
frescoes and miniatures had before them real life models, and were not
simply resorting to some artistic convention.

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237

Fig. 10. Battle-pole axe, thirteenth Century, Museum of Kazanlik (Bulgaria),

authors photo.

On the basis of what we have set out above, we can

now attempt to advance a tentative approximation of
what the Gasmouloi (or Proselentai) and the Tzakones
of the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries might have looked
like (Pls. 12). We have already seen the Gasmouloi
have been described as ferocious and strong warriors
of mixed race,108 and this is the way in which the artist
had represented one of them (Pl. 1). We have also added
in our reconstruction the small bags typically used by
Latin and more specifically Venetian and Genoese
sailors, called bourcte,109 and western style daggers or
basilards. Various kinds of clothing and footwear would
have been worn by the marines, as result of a variety
of influences from Latin states, Byzantium and Muslim
Principalities.111 We have also adopted the use of amulets
such as crosses and pendants with images of warrior
saints, given that this was a prerogative of Christian
soldier.112 Given the professional military nature of the
Fig. 11. Medieval sword from Rouse (Bulgaria), thirteenth
Century, Rouse Museum, courtesy of Prof. Valeri Yotov.

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Plate 1. Hypothetical Reconstruction of

a Gasmoulos or Proselentas, by Raffaele
DAmato & Igor Dzys.

Plate 2. Hypothetical Reconstruction

of a Tzakon Officer (Archon), by
Raffaele DAmato & Igor Dzys.

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The Last Marines of Byzantium

239

Tzakones and the Gasmouloi, it is not inconceivable that many of them

would have worn talismans and icons associated with the image of Saint
Nicholas, protector of seamen, around their neck.113
Conclusions
There is no doubt that the findings concerning Roman military dress and
equipment for this age must clearly be considered tentative in nature but
we feel that the results are not unsatisfactory. The manuscript miniatures
and the paintings of the churches offer us a great deal of material through
which we can try to find out what Byzantiums marines looked like in this
epoch. The detail of the paintings, the great deal of military equipment
illustrated, its matching with the descriptions in the sources, and the
archaeological material discovered and documented to date, are a sufficient
confirmation of the realism of the painters of that age when depicting the
material culture of military life.
The study of the coat of arms/deigmaton/episema of the Tzakones, traced
back to its origin, has shown us that the symbol of the half moon and of the
star in the shape of an eight- ray sun, is of very ancient provenance and it
was ultimately linked to the symbols of the military power of the universal
Empire of Rome. It was subsequently adopted by those who finally conquered
it, the Ottoman Turks.
All in all, it is our firm belief that the usual perception of Byzantine
iconography as being one based on artistic conventions rather than on real
life may not be wholly correct, at least as far as the images of warriors and
the detail of their dress and military equipment are concerned. It is also
becoming increasingly evident that marine war scenes offer important details
which can help us to better understand the structure of the galleys of the
last Roman fleets. But this is a matter we shall leave for another article.
Abbreviations
CFHB:
CSHB:
Byz:
DOP:

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Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae.

Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae.
Byzantion.
Dumbarton Oaks Papers.

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Acknowledgments
I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have helped me in the
preparation of this paper. A great deal of historical material on the topic
has been obtained thanks to my dear friends Prof. Taxiarchis Kolias, Director
of the Institute for Byzantine Research at the University of Athens, and
Dr. Andrea Babuin of the University of Ioannina. Dr. David Nicolle and
Prof. Valeri Yotov of the University of Varna, on the other hand, have
been of considerable assistance with the iconography. Prof. Nicholas Emertzidis
from Turin has helped me greatly with Greek terminology and translations
from old Greek dialects and language. A special acknowledgement is also
due to my dear friend and illustrator Igor Dzys who has so painstakingly
followed my instructions in preparing the splendid plates that have brought
to life the last marines of Byzantium with their magnificent equipment.
Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to my dear friend
Professor Carmel Vassallo, Coordinator of the Mediterranean Maritime
History Network, for his help with the English text of my paper, and for
the valuable advice he has given me.
Notes
1. Georgii Pachymeris de Michaele et Andronico Palaeologis, (Pachymeris),
ed. I. Bekker, 2 vols., (Bonn, 1835), I, 164.; 188, 309310; Nicephori Gregorae
Byzantina Historia, (Gregoras) ed. L. Schopen, 3 vols., CSHB (Bonn, 1829
1855), I, 98; M. Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, Arms and Society, 1204
1453, (Philadelphia, 1992), 44; D. J. Geanakoplos, The Emperor Michael
Paleologos and the West, 12581282, a Study in Byzantino-Latin Relations,
(Cambridge, 1959), 125ff.
2. Pachymeris, I, 209, 5-12; Gregoras, I, 98, 1317; campaigns of 12621263
against the islands held by Latins and Venetians.
3. Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 39; Geanakoplos, The Emperor, 125ff.
4. Pachymeris, I, 209; Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 49; H. Ahrweiler,
Byzance et la mer, La marine de guerre, la politique et les institutions
maritimes de Byzance aux VIIeXVe sicles, (Paris, 1966), 357, 360361.
5. Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 43; Ahrweiler, Byzance et la mer, 339,
360361.
6. Michail Palaiologos, 7, quoted in P. Pitselas, , (Athens,
2000), 62.
7. Pachymeris, I, 188, 28; 309, 25; other light armoured Tzakones were posted
to defend the walls, s. Pachymeris, I, 187, 13, 188, 24; this was due to the
reputation of these troops as defenders and guards of the citadels, S. Geanakoplos,
The Emperor, 130, n.7.

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241

8. Gregoras, I, 98: . . . s s s s . . ..
9. Pachymeris, I, 309.
10. Evidence of this expedition is a wonderful painting of the second half of
thirteenth century from Naxos, found in the church of
(The Holy Lady of Arin, the latter being a village in the region). It represents
a Roman Dhromon, a warship, painted in red, showing a turret on the stern
and surmounted by naval flags of a triangular shape (flamoula), one of them
bearing a cross. The stern, with the helm and the tiller for steering the ship,
the row of oars, the tall vertical spar (the mast) that rises from the keel to
support the lateen sails, the ropes and the pulleys, and the watcher over the
prow are very visible on the ship. Archaeologists assign the ship in the
painting to the fleet of Philanthrpnos, engaged in the operations against
the Venetians for the re-conquest of the island; s. Various,
, (Athens, 2002), 142, cat. 152.
11. Pachymeris, I, 209.
12. Pachymeris, I, 205, 209; Geanakoplos, The Emperor, 158, 184; Ahrweiler,
Byzance et la mer, 357.
13. Pachymeris, I, 309; M. Bartusis, On the Problem of Smallholding Soldiers
in Late Byzantium, in DOP, 1990 (44), 126,17.
14. Pachymeris, I, 324; Gregoras, I, 117; Geanakoplos, The Emperor, 279285;
Ahrweiler, Byzance et la mer, 364; including the naval forces, the sources
mention a number of 40,000 men involved in the expedition.
15. Marino Sanudo (Torsello),Istoria del Regno di Romania, (ed.) C. Hopf, in
Chroniques grco-romaines (Berlin,1873), 99170, 121.
16. Gregoras, I, 117, 2, 18, 19.
17. S. also Ahrweiler, Byzance et la mer, 364365.
18. A region where the cohabitation of Latins and Greeks had begun long before the
conquest of Constantinople in 1204 AD; s. Ahrweiler, Byzance et la mer, 339.
19. G. Page, Being Byzantine, Greek identity before the Ottomans, (Cambridge,
2008), 225; Ahrweiler, Byzance et la mer, 357 n. 1.
20. Pachymeris I, 309: born to Italians by Roman women . . .; Gregoras, I, 98,
810; Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 277.
21. D. Kambourouglou, s IV, (Athens, 1929),
24; on the origin of their name s. also K. Sathas, Documents indits relatifs
lhistoire de la Grce, (Paris, 18801890), IV, LXX ff.
22. Du Cange, Glossarium ad Scriptores mediae et infimae Graecitatis, (Lugdunum
(Lyon), 1658), col. 181182, 238.
23. According to Thrianos, from the French Gas and the Latin mulus, s. O. Tafrali,
Thessalonique au quatorzime sicle, (Paris, 1913), 43 n.7; in fact the mulus
(i.e. the mule) is an animal born from the mating of a male donkey and a
female horse. By analogy the Gasmouloi were the result of the interbreeding
of the Latin and Greek races.
24. Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 277.
25. Page, Being Byzantine, 114 115.

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26. Pachymeris, I, 188, 813; s. also 309, 1415; Gregoras, I, 98, 2, 810; Page,
2008, 136; Ahrweiler, Byzance et la mer, 339 and n. 5.
27. C. Beazley, Directorium ad faciendum passagium transmarinum, in American
Historical Review 13 (19071908), 7, 7, 100101; Bartusis, The Late Byzantine
Army, 4445. especially n. 5; the Latin author, maybe a certain Guilherme
Adam, called himself Friar Preacher and wrote the treatise in about 1330
with the purpose of urging the King of France, Philip VI of Valois (1328
1350), to undertake a crusade.
28. Du Cange, Gloss. I, col. 182 sub v. .
29. Geanakoplos, The Emperor, 127 n. 42.
30. Geanakoplos, The Emperor, 132133.
31. Pachymeris, I, 164, 1516; 188, 811; Gregoras, I, 98, 68; Geanakoplos,
The Emperor, 127.
32. Gregoras, I, 135; Pachymeris, I, 423; Ahrweiler, Byzance et la mer, 361362.
33. More specifically, they sailed their two galleys past the Blachernai Palace
without making the proper salute required by the Treaty of Nymphaion. In
the Black Sea, they seized a Genoese ship from Phokaia laden with alum,
against the Imperial order to respect the monopoly of the Zaccaria brothers
of transporting the alum from there. S. Geanakoplos, 1959, 250252.
34. Pachymeris, I. 423425; Gregoras I, 133ff; Bartusis, The Late Byzantine
Army, 59.
35. Tafrali, Thessalonique, 44.
36. Page, Being Byzantine, 226.
37. Geanakoplos, The Emperor, 302303.
38. Geanakoplos, The Emperor, 136.
39. Pachymeris, I, 188, 28; s. also 164, 1014; 309, 1619; Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 45; Geanakoplos, The Emperor, 126, who underlines the importance of the territory around Monemvasia and Lakonia, given back to the emperor by the Duchy of Achaia in 1262, as a source of manpower; Gregoras, I, 98.
40. Pitselas, , 62.
41. See also C. Lehman-Haupt, , in ,
(Athens, 1935), 353; instead for K. Amantos,
, in , X, Athens (1938), 211.
42. From this area (South Western Morea) these Tzakones originally came as an
ethnic group called Lakones; but the Lakones who appeared in front of the
Emperor were ordinarily referred to as Tzakones, because they were Lakones
coming from places garrisoned by them called Tzakoniai.
43. Pitselas, , 60 n. 2; 61, 62; their posting as garrison troops
for the castles seems have been originally a solution of the Roman State to
settle the tribes of the Tzakones ( ) s. Constantini Porphyrogeniti
imperatoris De Cerimoniis Aulae Byzantinae libri duo, (ed.) I. I. Reiske,
Bd.12, CSHB. (Bonn, 1829), 696; this means that the military aspect of the
term Tzakones appeared before the word came to represent an ethnic term
for Laconian Greeks, who lived in areas strongly militarized since the thirteenth

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The Last Marines of Byzantium

44.

45.
46.

47.
48.

49.

50.
51.

243

century, called Tzakoniai; for the reputation of the Tzakones as guards in

thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, s. D. Zakythinos, La population de la
More Byzantine in LHellnisme contemporaire, III, (1949), 24.

, (ed.) , ., ( 1997), 178, 178; Pitselas,
, 56, 64.
Pseudo-Kodinos, Trait des Offices, (ed.) J. Verpeaux, (Paris, 1966), 180.
Geanakoplos, The Emperor, 130; Pachymeris I, 187, 13, 188, 14. Pachymeris
specifies that there was no need for the soldiers, protected by the walls, to be
heavily armed, and in any case for the sorties against possible sieges the
defenders could rely upon the heavy cavalrymen coming from the Imperial
headquarters (. . .
. . . ).
Ahrweiler, Byzance et la mer, 337.
Du Cange, Gloss., 1560, who quotes various sources (Itinerarium Ms. Theodosii
Zygomalae, Chronica de Morea) and Gerlachius in his Epistula ad Martinum
Crustum specifying that the word Tzakon was primarily applied to the inhabitants
of Monemvasia, Nauplion and Epidauros, speaking a Greek language full of
barbarisms; Leonclavius in Pandectae Turcicae 120 tells us clearly that the
Tzaconia was the land once called Laconia; s. further on the topic Bartusis,
The Late Byzantine Army, 279; according to Ahrweiler, this regiment was
composed of Tzakonians, i.e. people from Laconia; s. Ahrweiler, Byzance et
la mer, 337 n. 5; S. Caratzas, Les Tzakones, (Berlin, 1976), derives instead
the word from Diakon, i.e. deacon; of course the various employment of the
word in the Eastern Roman sources has caused not a little confusion in
modern scholarship.
Gregorius II of Cyprus speaks about a criminal case involving a group of
eight young soldiers who were Tzakones by race, thus clearly distinguishing
them from the light-armed soldiers enlisted by Michael VIII, but who were
their descendants. s. M. Bartusis, Brigandage in the Late Byzantine Empire,
in Byz 51 (1981), 396397; Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 46 n. 8; S.
Eustratiades,
in ,
4 (1909) 105106,128, No. 166.
Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 46.
Pachymeris, I, 309; Gregoras, I, 98, 45: Joining (the Gasmouloi) were the
Lakones, that in the common spoken language are called Tzakones, constituting
a maritime armed force, who came to the Emperor from the Peloponnese
[,..] So, at least to some extent, although it need not be the case that the
majority of them came from the Eastern Peloponnese, most of Michaels
Tzakones were Tzakones by employment and Tzakones by ethnicity, s. Bartusis,
The Late Byzantine Army, 46; the other Romans also considered them Hellenes,
i.e. of Greek ethnicity descended from the ancient Laconians, still speaking a
Doric dialect; s. Pitselas, Peri Tzakwnwn, 61 ff.

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244
52.
53.
54.
55.

56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.

68.
69.
70.
71.
72.

73.
74.

Raffaele DAmato
J. Schmitt, The chronicle of Morea, (London, 1904), 303, 4571 ff.
Bartusis, On the Problem, 16.
Pachymeris, I, 188, 5.
Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 47: such an imperial policy would ensure a constant supply of resident mercenaries and further, since conditional
possession of however modest a property would deter many mercenaries
from leaving their jobs to seek employment elsewhere, it would have put the
Emperor in an advantageous position when negotiating pay rises.
Pitselas, , 63.
Pachymeris, I, 164, 15 ff.; 209, 910; 425, 14.
Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, p. 47.
Pachymeris, I, 164, 309.
Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 48.
Pachymeris, I, 425.
Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 59.
I. Heath, Byzantine Armies 11181461 AD, (London, 1995), 17.
Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 68.
Pitselas, , 68.
Bartusis, On the Problem, 17; Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 69.
For instance, later we find that in 1340 the Gasmouloi of Kallipolis served
the Ottoman Sultans after their dismissal from Kantakouzenos for reasons of
personal security, s. Doukas/Ducae, Michaelis Ducae Nepotis, Istoria Bizantina,
ed. Bekker, (Bonn, 1834), XXIV, 140; Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army,
69; Ahrweiler, Byzance et la mer, 405.
S. Carbone, Pietro Pizolo, Notario in Candia, Vol. I (1300), (Venezia, 1978),
8 no 4.
Pachymeris, II, 71; Gregoras, I, 175.
S. Bowman, The Jews of Byzantium, 12041453,(Ala, 1985), 247248, doc. 41.
Gregoras, II, 736740; Ahrweiler, Byzance et la mer, 384, 452455.
Cantacuzenus/Kantakouzenos, Ioannis, Historia, ed. Bekker, (Bonn, 1828),
I, 540: After this speech, where it was clear that Apokaukos would be
given the supremacy of Byzantium and of the Islands with all their taxes, an
Imperial letter was written, through which he was appointed commander of
the fleet against the Persians (i.e. the Turks) and was ordered to draw from
the public treasure one hundred thousand gold coins, so that from them and
from his own means, as he had promised, he would fit out triremes and
provide for the maintenance of their mercenary soldiers . . . (1340); K. P.
Matschke, Johannes Kantakuzenos, Alexios Apokaukos und die byzantinische
Flotte in der Burgerkriegsperiode, 13401355 in Actes du XIVe Congrs
international des tudes byzantines, II, Bucharest, (1975), 193205.
Sometimes probably just mentioned like rowers; s. Pachymeris II, 237238
,240; s. also Matschke, 1975, 204 n. 52.
Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 208.

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75. Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 47, 6970 (Gasmouloi); - Sphrantzes/
Chronica Maius in J. P. Migne, Patrologia graeca, civi; IV,17,
col. 975976; Pitselas, 69.
76. De Cerimoniis, 695696; Sphrantzes IV, 16; Pitselas, , 61, 69.
77. Refer note 76.
78. Bartusis, The Late Byzantine Army, 192.
79. J. Folda, Crusader Art in the Holy Land, from the third Crusade to the Fall
of Acre 11971291, (Cambridge 2005), p. 420;
80. D. Nicolle, Knight of Outremer, 11871344 AD, (London, 1996), 57, pl. C
nn. 6, 7, 8, 11; D. Nicolle, Italian militiaman, 12601392, (Oxford, 1999),
53, pl. L nn. 2, 7; Du Cange, Gloss., col. 563564 , 1752 ().
81. The miniatures of this splendid manuscript were painted by Georgian or
Tzan artists for the Emperor Alexios III Komnenos of Trebizond (1349
1390); s. N. S. Trahoulias, The Greek Romance of Alexander/
, (, 1997), 31 ff.; so it is
logical to suppose that the soldiers and ships depicted reflected those of the
Trebizond Empire; however, it is conceivable that the artists had the army of
the last Palaiologans as a model, but in event, both armies of the late Roman
Empire period showed a high degree of similarity in dress, weapons and
accoutrements.
82. Trahoulias, The Greek Romance, 55, 91, 133, 135, 266, 276, 297, 298.
83. Heath, Byzantine Armies, 21.
84. More specifically, red scarlet or red mauve and blue sky tunics with a black
collar, red scarlet kaftans with gold embroidery (21r); red, blue and green
tunics with a western style fastening system under the neck, (42r); blue, red
and red mauve tunics (43r); red and off-white tunics (108v); red, pinkish
and blue kaftans with Eastern caps (pinkish, blue, red) worn over white
bonnets (113v); blue and red tunics with yellow bonnets (124r); blue and
red tunics and pinkish kaftans (124v).
85. The marine calling of the Tzakones is underlined, for instance, by the presence
of Saint Phokas of Synope, in the church of Aghios Athanasios of Geraki,
where the saint, usually considered before Saint Nicholas as the main protector of sailors and mariners of all Romania, is depicted holding a torch to
light the way for the seafarers, s. N. K. Moutsopoulos, G. Dimitrokallis,
Graki: Les eglises du bourgade, (Thessaloniki, 1981), 153, fig. 234; the
veneration of this saint as saint protector of sailors was already wide-spread
in Georgia, in Anatolia, in the Aegean Sea (Naxos), in Southern Italy (Calabria,
Puglia), but was very rarely encountered on continental Greece. Other examples,
apart from Geraki, can also be seen in the church of Kalambaka dating from
the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries; in the Peloponnese: in the church of
Saint Basil of Dimizana; in the church of Saint Nicholas in the village of the
same name near Monemvasia; and in the church of Saint Phokas in the
village of the same name south of Monemvasia; s. Pitselas, ,

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246

86.

87.

88.
89.

90.

91.
92.
93.

94.

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63; it is possible, therefore, to formulate the hypothesis that the donors of
the churches or the painters were people linked with Anatolia or with the
East of the Empire, and may have been ethnically Tzakones. Moreover, the
church of Saint Soson in Geraki, as well as that of Saint Nicholas, were
dedicated to the patron saints of the marines and sailors and most probably
they represent the close connection of the Doric inhabitants of a continental
city, like Geraki, with the sea.
Moutsopoulos-Dimitrokallis, Graki, 226, col. pls. 13, 14; this is one of the
most interesting frescoes. The most important point in the fresco for us is the
small round shield behind the saint. It is decorated with meanders in ochre,
closed by a double line formed by a succession of white dots (probably
representing silver nails or even pearls). The red-brown background shows
small white dots (symbolizing the stars) and in the middle a half-moon of
light brown colour, inside which is depicted the sun with eight rays.
A. Babuin,
(12041453), (Ioannina, 2009), n. 353; again a half moon with the eight-ray
sun inside and three suns around it, may be seen at the church of Saint
George of the Kastron of Geraki, and a half moon surrounded by four suns
with eight rays can be seen in the Taxiarchon Church of the Kastrou (Church
of the Supreme Angelic Commanders of the Castle), Pitselas, ,
64; Babuin, , nn. 173, 174.
Various, , , 20, (, 1979),
257.
Herodian, History of the Empire, Books IIV, (Harvard University Press,
1961), IV, 8: He also summoned picked young men from Sparta and formed
a unit which he called his Laconian and Pitanate battalion . . .
They are clearly visible already on a bronze assarion of Caracalla minted in
Nikopolis in 198 AD; and again on a bronze coin of Caracalla and Geta of
211 AD; (fig. 5).
Pitselas, , 67.
A. Donati & G. Gentili, Costantino il Grande, la civilt antica al bivio tra
Occidente ed Oriente, (Cinisello Balsamo, 2005), 237 n. 54.
The ornaments of the fresco representing Saint Basil in the church of Saint
John Chrisostomos in Geraki depict swastikas while the symbol of the
double meander forming the swastikas can be seen in three different parts of
the Evanghelistria church in Geraki. S. Moutsopoulos-Dimitrokallis, Graki,
28, 9697, figs 57, 145147.
The half moon has been used as a symbol of ancient Byzantium (Byzantion)
since ancient times. It was abandoned by the ancient Megarians when they
participated to the Ionian revolution against the Persians, founding in the
Pontus the city of Mesemvria. After the battle of Platea in 480 BC, Byzantium was reconstructed and mainly repopulated by Lacedemonian colonists.
When in 339 BC the army of Philip II of Macedonia attacked the city at

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night, according to tradition, a half moon appeared among the clouds and lit
up the area in such a way that the barking of the dogs attracted the attention
of the defenders who repulsed the Macedonians. On that occasion the
Lacedemonians dedicated a statue to the Goddess Ecates and chose the half
moon as a symbol of the city. In 196 AD, Septimius Severus destroyed
Byzantium but he reconstructed it, keeping the ancient symbols of the city.
S. Pitselas, , 67.
95. R. Ghirsman, Arte Persiana, Parti e Sassanidi, (Milano, 1962), figs. 242247;
the half-moon surmounts the Kings crown.
96. S. K. Farrokh, Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224642, (Oxford, 2005), 23,
56, Pl. F1.
97. History of Cyril, 1815, s. Pitselas, , 67 and related bibliography.
98. In 1243 AD: Georgii Acropolitae, Annales, (ed.) I. Bekker, (Bonn, 1836),
41; s. also G. Ostrogorsky, Storia dellImpero Bizantino, (Torino, 1968),
401; Le Beau, Storia del Basso Impero da Costantino il Grande alla presa
di Constantinopoli fatta da Maometto II,( Livorno, 1837), 13, 654656;
Pitselas, , 67.
99. D. Nicolle, Medieval Warfare Source Book, Volume 2: Christian Europe
and its Neighbours, (London, 1996) (2), 241.
100. K. Miyatev, The Murals of Boyana, (Sofia, 1961), 54.
101. The use of the word The City, to indicate Constantinople, follows the
customary usage of the Romans when referring to their capital cities through
all their history; the ancient Romans used to refer to Rome as Urbs, while
the Romans of Byzantium referred to Constantinople as Polis; i.e. the city
per excellence; it is well known that Istanbol/Istanbul derives from the
accusative s , i.e. to the city.
102. Pitselas, , 68.
103. . ., , ( 1978), 117, 155,
166.
104. G. K. , , (, 1922),
360, 376.
105. Nicolle, Arms and Armour of the Crusading Era, 10501350, 2, (London,
1999) (2), 506, 523.
106. Nicolle, Medieval Warfare, 51.
107. Nicolle, Arms and Armour, 518.
108. Pachymeris I, 188, 813; Directorium ad faciendum passagium transmarinum
7, 7.
109. Sabbatini, E., I costumi del Marco Polo, (Torino, 1983), 32; Viollet Le
Duc, Encyclopdie mdievale, (Tours, 1999), 465.
110. Nicolle, Knight of Outremer, 53, pl. E n. 18.
111. Nicolle, Knight of Outremer, pl. C, E, 5758.
112. A very interesting gold and enamel pendent, preserved in the British Museum,
and dated to the thirteenth century AD, has an inscription around a halffigure of Saint George in armour and with a drawn sword which says:

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, The wearer prays that you will be his fiery
defender in the battles so showing that this pendent was once hanging
around the neck of a man engaged in military operations, most probably a
commander; s. D. Buckton, Byzantium, Treasures of Byzantine Art and
culture, (London, 1994), p. 185 Cat. 200; Various, , 178181,
cat. 201.
113. For some samples of such amulets and icons of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries, s. Various, , cat. 182183.

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