The ''menaulion'' or ''menavlion'' ( el, μεναύλιον), also ''menaulon'' or ''menavlon'' (μέναυλον) was a heavy

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

with a length of 2.7 to 3.6 metres with a thick shaft, used by the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

infantry as early as the 10th century AD, against enemy

heavy cavalry Heavy cavalry was a class of cavalry intended to deliver a battlefield charge and also to act as a Military reserve, tactical reserve; they are also often termed ''shock cavalry''. Although their equipment differed greatly depending on the re ...

. To give it increased strength, whole oak or cornel saplings were preferably used. These were then tipped with a long blade of ca. 45–50 cm. Its use is attested by emperor

Nikephoros Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless included brilliant military exploits whi ...

in his treatise '' Praecepta Militaria'', and by

Nikephoros Ouranos Nikephoros Ouranos ( el, Νικηφόρος Οὐρανός; fl. c. 980 – c. 1010), Latinized as Nicephorus Uranus, was a high-ranking Byzantine official and general during the reign of Emperor Basil II (r. 976–1025). One of the emperor's clo ...

and

Leo VI the Wise Leo VI, called the Wise ( gr, Λέων ὁ Σοφός, Léōn ho Sophós, 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well r ...

in their '' Taktika''. It is also described in the 10th-century treatise known as the ''

Sylloge Tacticorum ''Sylloge Tacticorum'' is thought to have been written in the middle of the tenth century, and is a work on the making of order and organization of military forces (i.e. Military tactics, tactics), and ways to outwit and overcome opponents in the f ...

''. The men who were carrying the ''menaulia'' (''menaulatoi'', sing. ''menaulatos'') were deployed behind the battle line and were only ordered to advance in front before the enemy cavalry charge. They seem to have arrayed in a thin line directly in front of the first rank of the battle line, although the ''Sylloge Tacticorum'' has the ''menaulatoi'' forming well before it, a tactic strongly condemned by Nikephoros Phokas. Another proposed deployment was obliquely on the flanks of a friendly infantry formation, along with javelineers, in an attempt to directly attack the flanks of the advancing enemy. They also deployed in the intervals between the heavy infantry formations of the Byzantine line along with light infantry to guard against enemy exploitation attempts. Within the encampment, they were positioned at the exits. In his work '' De Ceremoniis'', Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus orders great numbers of ''menaulia'' to be produced.Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, ''De Ceremoniis Aulae Byzantinae'', II.44 It has been proposed that the ''vinavlon'' mentioned in the 6th century AD by

John Malalas John Malalas ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Malálas''; – 578) was a Byzantine chronicler from Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey). Life Malalas was of Syrian descent, and he was a native speaker of Syriac who learned how to write in Greek later in ...

in the sixth book of his '' Chronographia'' is an archaic form of the same weapon, although in Malalas' text it is carried by cavalrymen.

References

External links

Graeme Walker (November 1998). "Byzantine Infantry Formations". Varangian Voice no. 49.
Byzantine military equipment Medieval polearms Spears {{Polearm-stub