Justinian’s warfare as role model for Byzantine warfare?

Special attitudes of the Byzantines to war and warfare are also stressed by John Haldon in his seminal book on warfare and the state in Byzantium from the late sixth to the twelfth century. Luttwak argues that the Byzantines accepted the fact that they no longer possessed the resources for the type of warfare and strategy their Roman predecessors could afford. This chapter discusses the theorem of a clearly discernible Justinianic pattern in Byzantine warfare by exploring to what extent the extant military literature compiled by later generations of Byzantines shows any influence of the way. Crucial for this kind of ‘lean warfare’ were highly mobile cavalry units capable of fighting both in close combat and on distance. Justinianic warfare is famously characterised by highly mobile and versatile cavalry units consisting of mounted archers, who occasionally are called hippotoxotai by our sources.