The ''bandon'' ( el, βάνδον) was the basic military unit and administrative territorial entity of the middle

Byzantine Empire 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 ...

. Its name, like the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and ("ensign,

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Als ...

"), had a Germanic origin. It derived from the Gothic , which is proof of foreign influence in the army at the time this type of unit evolved.

Origin

The term was used already in the 6th century, mentioned by

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...

, as a term for a battle standard, and soon came to be applied to the unit bearing such a standard itself. From the reign of Nikephoros I (802–811) it was the name for a subdistrict of the Byzantine .

Organization

In the Byzantine army of the 8th–11th centuries, the formed the basic unit, with five to seven forming a , the major subdivision of a , a combined military-civilian province. Each was commanded by a ("count"), with infantry 200–400 strong and cavalry 50–100 strong. It is considered that the in the (9th century) previously in the (6th century) was alternatively written as or . Infantry were formed by sixteen , each with sixteen man, commanded by an officer (file leader), which was assisted by (leader of ten), (leader of five), (leader of four), and (file closer). Each four formed an (winglet), and around three-quarters of the men were spearmen and one-quarter were archers. At the time the ''Strategikon'' was written, the cavalry were subdivided into three , each commanded by a with a senior second-in-command . By the reign of

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 ...

(886–912), the disappeared and the was divided into six (probably commanded by ), and each pair was still commanded by a or . Each of six had fifty men, organized in five of ten men each. All four officers (, , , ) were lancers.

Late empire

At the beginning of the 10th century the infantry unit consisted of 256 men (16x16), and cavalry unit of 300 men (6x50), but the manuals indicate that the unit strength in fact varied between 200 and 400 men. The work '' Praecepta Militaria'' by

Nikephoros II 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 ...

(963–969) indicates that the cavalry was only 50 strong. Unlike other middle Byzantine administrative and military terms, the survived well into the late Byzantine period, and remained the basic territorial unit of the Empire of Trebizond until its fall.

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Origin

Organization

Late empire

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Further reading