The History Of Leo The Deacon - UMD

The History of Leo the DeaconByzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth CenturyIntroduction, translation, and annotations byAlice-Mary Talbot and Denis F. Sullivan

Dumbarton Oaks StudiesXLITHE HISTORY OFLEO THE DEACON

THE HISTORYOF LEO THE DEACONByzantine Military Expansionin the Tenth CenturyIntroduction, translation, and annotationsby Alice-Mary Talbot and Denis F. Sullivanwith the assistance of George T. Dennis and Stamatina McGrathDumbarton Oaks Research Library and CollectionWashington, D.C.

2005 Dumbarton OaksTrustees for Harvard UniversityWashington, D.C.Printed in the United States of AmericaLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataLeo, the Deacon, b. ca. 950.[ History. English]The History of Leo the Deacon : Byzantine military expansion in the tenthcentury / introduction, translation, and annotations by Alice-Mary Talbotand Denis F. Sullivan ; with the assistance of George T. Dennis andStamatina McGrath.p. cm.History translated into English from the original Greek; critical matterin English.Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 0-88402-306-01. Byzantine Empire—History, Military—527-1081. I. Talbot, Alice-MaryMaffry. II. Sullivan, Denis. III.Title.DF543.L46 20052005003088

ContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsviiχIntroductionA The Byzantine Empire in the Tenth Century: Outline ofMilitary and Political EventsΒ The Byzantine Military in the Tenth CenturyC Biography of Leo the DeaconD Leo as a "Historian"Ε Manuscript Tradition of the HistoryF EditionsG Translations14911505152Note to the Reader53The History of Leo the DeaconBook IBook IIBook IIIBook IVBookVBook VIBook VIIBook VIIIBook IXBook X,557087104126143162175187202GenealogiesPartial Genealogy of the Macedonian DynastyPartial Genealogy of the Phokas Family223224Maps1 Byzantine Empire in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries2 Constantinople in the Tenth Century3 Eastern Anatolia and Syro-Palestine225226227

4 Bulgaria in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries5 The Battle of DorystolonBibliographyIndexesIndex of Proper NamesGeneral IndexIndex of Notable Greek WordsIndex Locorum[vi]228229231243255260262

Preface and AcknowledgmentsThe History of Leo the Deacon presented here in annotated translationis one of the most important sources for the transitional years of theMacedonian dynasty. It covers the reigns of Nikephoros Phokas andJohn Tzimiskes, a period in which the future Macedonian emperors,Basil II and Constantine VIII, were in their minority, and the empirewas ruled by highly successful military officers who had usurped theimperium.The appearance of this translation has been long delayed, and a fewwords of explanation are in order. In 1970—1971, Dr. NicholasPanagiotakes spent a year as a fellow at Dumbarton Oaks working on acritical edition of the Greek text of Leo. For his doctoral dissertation atthe University of Athens he had prepared the prolegomena to this edition, consisting of a biographical essay and a discussion of the manuscripts and previous editions. The dissertation was published in 1965 inthe Έπετηρις της Εταιρείας Βυζαντινών Σπουδών, vol. 34, under thetitle Λέων ό Διάκονος, and also appeared as a separate volume (Athens,1965). In the fall of 1970 Dr. Panagiotakes invited me to prepare anEnglish translation to accompany his Greek text. When I agreed to doso, he sent me a photocopy of his handwritten new Greek text, complete with critical apparatus and fontes et paralleles. I finished a first draftthat same academic year, most of which Panagiotakes was able to reviewbefore his return to Greece. Subsequently he discovered that de Gruyter,with which he had a contract to publish his text in the Series Berolinensisof the Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae, was unwilling to includean English translation, and he therefore released me to publish the translation on its own. Since my translation was, however, based onPanagiotakes' new edition, with different paragraphing from the Bonnedition of Hase, and with a number of different readings and punctuation, I decided to wait for Panagiotakes' Greek text to appear beforepublishing my translation. Alas, this never came to pass, since Panagiotakes'interests turned away from Byzantium in the 1970s, and he devoted therest of his career to research on the post-Byzantine history and literatureof his beloved homeland of Crete. After his untimely death in 1997,Prof. Athanasios Markopoulos undertook responsibility for completing

Preface and Acknowledgementsthe posthumous publication of the Greek text of Leo, and it is my fervent hope that this critical edition will soon see the light of day.About five years ago, at the urging of some of my colleagues atDumbarton Oaks and in the Washington area, in particular ProfessorGeorge Dennis of The Catholic University of America, I decided tomake Leo's History the focus of our weekly Byzantine Greek readinggroup at Dumbarton Oaks. Over a period of eighteen months we readthe text and took turns making oral translations into English.This exercise gave me the opportunity to review my translation, and to discussproblem passages with colleagues. To speed up preparation of the finalpublication, four of us agreed to share the work of annotation and writing the introduction.The initial division of labor was as follows: StamatinaMcGrath drafted the preliminary version of notes to Books I and III,Denis Sullivan Books II and IV, George Dennis Books VI and VII, andmyself Books VIII—X. The annotation of Book V was a joint effort.Thereafter Denis Sullivan meticulously reviewed the entire translationand all the notes, and made so many additions, corrections, and suggestions for improvement throughout that he must be considered a coauthor of the translation and all the notes; he is also the principal author ofthe Introduction. I undertook the final editorial coordination of ourcontributions. I should also like to acknowledge the active engagementin this project of Alexander Alexakis, an original member of the team,who had to withdraw during the final phase of preparation, but was aninvaluable collaborator in the earlier stages, especially in matters of translation and emendations to the Greek text. Let me add a note of gratitude to the two anonymous readers who carefully reviewed the initialdraft of the manuscript and made valuable suggestions for correctionsand improvement.Because of uncertainty about the eventual date of publication of thenew Greek edition, I have decided to revert to the Bonn text as the basisfor the translation, using Hase's paragraphing. Where, however, I felt thatPanagiotakes' edition offered a better reading (based either on a moreaccurate transcription from the manuscripts, an emendation, or a conjecture), I have adopted it and so indicated in a footnote. In a few casesI have suggested readings different from those of Hase and Panagiotakes.I should also acknowledge my extraordinary debt to the efforts ofPanagiotakes to identify fontes et paralleles, a task undertaken well beforethe advent of the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, which has been so beneficialfor Greek philologists. The online version of the TLG has enabled our[ viii ]

Preface and Acknowledgementsteam to identify numerous citations that Panagiotakes did not find, andwe have also rejected a number of his fontes as being too far removedfrom the text of Leo. Nonetheless his labors have greatly eased our work,and we stand in awe and admiration of his deep knowledge of Greekliterature.Last but not least, I would like to express our appreciation to LeslieMacCoull, who served as copy editor, and to the staff of the DumbartonOaks Publications Office, especially Joel Kalvesmaki, for their care inpreparing the manuscript for publication and shepherding it throughthe press.Alice-Mary TalbotDumbarton Oaks, May 2004[ix]

AbbreviationsABAnalecta BollandianaAgath.Agathias, Historiarum libri quinque, ed. R. Keydell (Berlin, 1967)[references cited by page and line number]Ahrweiler, MerH. Ahrweiler, Byzance et la mer (Paris, 1966)Ahrweiler, StructuresH. Ahrweiler, Etudes sur les structures administratives et sociales de Byzance(London, 1971)AIPHOSAnnuaire de I'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientates et SlavesAnna Komriene, AlexiadAnne Comnene,Alexiade, ed. B. Leib and P. Gautier, 3 vols. (Paris, 1937—76)Beck, KircheH. G. Beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich(Munich, 1959)Belke, GalatienK. Belke, Galatien und Lykaonien, TIB 4 (Vienna, 1984)Belke and Mersich, Phrygien und PisidienK. Belke and N. Mersich, Phrygien und Pisidien, TIB 7 (Vienna, 1990)Berger, UntersuchungenA. Berger, Untersuchungen zu den Patria Konstantinupoleos (Bonn, 1988)BMGSByzantine and Modern Greek StudiesBrokkaar, "Basil Lacapenus"W. G. Brokkaar, "Basil Lacapenus. Byzantium in the 10th Century," inStudia Byzantina et Neohellenica Neerlandica, ed. W. F. Bakker et al. (Leiden,1972), 199-234BS1ByzantinoslavicaBury, Adm. SystemJ. B. Bury, The Imperial Administrative System in the Ninth Century (London,1911; repr. New York, n.d.)ByzFByzantinische Forschungen

AbbreviationsBZByzantinische ZeitschriftCAGCommentaria in Aristotelem GraecaCameron, AgathiasA. Cameron, Agathias (Oxford, 1970)Cameron, ProcopiusA. Cameron, Procopius (Berkeley, 1985)Canard, "Expeditions mesopotamiennes"M. Canard, "La date des expeditions mesopotamiennes de JeanTzimisces," AIPHOS 10 (1950): 99-108Canard, H'amdanidesM. Canard, Histoire de la Dynastie des H'amdanides de Jazira et de Syrie(Alger, 1951)CFHBCorpus Fontium Historiae ByzantinaeCheynet, "Les Phocas"J.-C. Cheynet, "Les Phocas," in Dagron, Le traite, 289—315Cheynet, PouvoirJ.-C. Cheynet, Pouvoir et contestations a Byzance (963—12t0) (Paris, 1990)Christides, CreteV. Christides, The Conquest of Crete by the Arabs (ca. 824), a Turning Pointin the Struggle between Byzantium and Islam (Athens, 1984)CPGE. L. Leutsch and F.G. Schneidewin, eds., Corpus ParoemiographorumGraecorum, 2 vols. (Gottingen, 1839—51; repr. Hildesheim, 1958)Dagron, Le traiteG. Dagron and H. Mihaescu, Le traite sur la guerilla (De velitatione) deVempereur Nicephore Phocas (963—969) (Paris, 1986)De cer.De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae, ed. J. J. Reiske, 2 vols. (Bonn, 1829—30)Dennis, "Byz. in Battle"G. Dennis, "The Byzantines in Battle," in To εμπόλεμο Βυζάντιο, 9—12 ai.[Byzantium at War 9th-12th c.], ed. K.Tsiknakes (Athens, 1997), 165-78Dennis, "Helepolis"G. Dennis, "Byzantine Heavy Artillery: The Helepolis," GRBS 39 (1998):99-115Dennis, TreatisesG. Dennis, Three Byzantine Military Treatises, CFHB 25 (Washington, D.C.,1985; repr. 2000)DictSpirDictionnaire de spiritualite[xi]