2021/01/02 by Lucas McMahon · 2 citations
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · Engineering · #Byzantine Studies and History #Archaeology and Historical Studies #Eurasian Exchange Networks #Byzantine architecture #Mediterranean climate #Mediterranean sea #History #Ancient history #Period (music) #Work (physics) #Structural basin #Archaeology #Geography #Engineering #Geology #Art
paper · doi:10.1080/09518967.2021.1900171
published in Mediterranean Historical Review 36(1), 63-94 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2021/01/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
The Byzantine invasion of Crete in AD 960 provides a good opportunity to re-examine questions about the relative ease of supplying pre-modern armies by water in the Mediterranean basin. A combination of documentary, historical, and archaeological evidence suggests that the logistics behind supply by sea is more difficult than previously supposed. The army of Nikephoros Phokas besieged Chandax from July 960 to March 961 and had trouble supplying themselves with resources from the island. This paper creates a simple logistical model to get a sense of what the expedition required in terms of victuals and examines how they reached the army. The model suggests that previous work done on military supply in the classical period cannot be applied wholesale to the medieval Mediterranean.