International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Efstratia Synkellou
University of Ioannina, School of Philosophy,
Department of History and Archaeology, Ioannina, Greece; 
[e-mail]
War Violence Episodes in Late Byzantium: Some Remarks on Byzantine Warfare
Man’s history has unfortunately been full of wars and violent incidents. War produces violence 
and is therefore a genuine social phenomenon with psychological, ideological, ethical and even 
ethnological parameters. In medieval times, war violence had been an issue for discussion for the 
Christian states of both East and West, but it was only in the 14
th
century when several western 
states such as Venice decided to impose measures to reduce violence. In the eastern Mediterranean, 
the Byzantine state, adhering to the principle of “ius gentium”, attempted to confront the various 
aspects of warfare (e.g. acquisition, captivity, rehabilitation, immunity, etc.). Nonetheless brutality 
against prisoners of war or even civilians was a measure used to break the enemy’s morale and 
appears to have been a common and acceptable practice. War violence, apart from its military or 
strategic background, belongs to a wider social, ethical and ideological context. It is the product 
of war ethics, religious beliefs and ideological models, financial and political objectives, the social 
structure of the troops, and war technology.
This paper examines these parameters. Several cases of wars (e.g. the Byzantine-Ottoman 
wars) or specific episodes from wars in written sources will be presented to help define the complex 
aspects of war violence. In addition, the late Byzantine period will be assessed in respect of the use 
and attitude towards violence as these developed from the standard-period Byzantine ethics, and 
attitudes and practices on war violence. Exploring war violence leads to a better understanding 
of the common points and the differences between different peoples as determined by culture, 
ideology and ethics.

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