οί βίκτορες και σθλαβησιάνοι
History
The Viktores (βικτÏŒρες) was a late Roman auxilium palatinum infantry regiment created in the 4th century C.E. and first attested in the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus, who mentions their presence in 367 C.E. alongside the Iovii Seniores, Batavi Seniores, and Heruli Seniores. This was likely their western counterpart, the Victores Seniores in the Italian army. In the pars orientis section of the Notitia Dignitatum, a late Roman registrar of offices, dignitaries, and military units that can be dated to before 428 C.E. for the West and from 444 to 446 C.E. for the East, they are listed under the command of the first magister militum praesentalis and were likely stationed on the Thracian side of the Bosporus straits. The unit disappears from the sources until 949 C.E., when "οá¼´ τουρμάρχαι τῶν βικτÏŒρων" ("the tourmarkh of the Viktores") appears among a list of officials and military units sent to the disastrous expeditions to Syria and Crete in 911 C.E. and 949 C.E., and the more successful expedition to Italy in 935 C.E. The source records that approximately 150 soldiers and officers partook in the expedition, while the tourmarkhes (τουρμάρχης) of the Viktores was left behind due to his being ill and the rest of the soldiers paid an "adoration" to exempt themselves from campaigning. Therefore, the unit presumably lasted well after 949 C.E. The gaps in the unit's history can be filled in by its evident brigading with a second auxilium palatinum unit, the θεοδοσιακοί (Theodosiakoi) of the same manuscript. Whether this unit originated as the Felices Theodosiani, Felices Theodosiani Isauri, or was even a new unit created under Theodosius II or Maurice is impossible to say, as it is clear from the Viktores listing under the Θρá¾³κήσιον θÎμα (Thraikesion Thema) that the units were moved between commands over the intervening centuries. What is known is that a numerus Felicum Theodosiacus is listed in Rome in 592 A.D. and again in Ravenna around 600 A.D., suggesting the Victores were present in Italy at that time as well, even if they are not directly attested. The Theodosiaci were then moved to Sicily at some point in the 600s, and they were likely withdrawn to Anatolia before the usurpation of Euphemius in 826. A similar pattern must have occurred with the Victores. By the early 10th century, they are one of the primary components of the Thraikesion Thema, garrisoned in a φÏŒσσατον (fossaton, "camp") probably somewhere relatively near modern Honaz.
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The cavalry arm accompanying our Viktores is the σθλαβησιάνοι (Sthlabesianoi), a unit from the Ὀψικίον θÎμα (Opsikion Thema) which also participated in the expedition of 949 C.E. Like the Viktores the Sthlabesianoi also originated as a late Roman cavalry unit called the Equites stablesiani, which was corrupted in the transliteration to medieval Greek. Unfortunately, which unit of stablesiani it correlates to is unknown, as none are listed under either of the two magister militum praesentalis commands that became parts of the obsequium, and no shield pattern is given for any stablesiani unit. On the other hand, more information about the unit's organization is known; the sthalbesianoi numbered 220 men and were divided into three βάνδα (banda) of 73 men, each led by a κεφαλη (kephale, possibly a κÏŒμης, comes) in the De Ceremoniis. Evidence from the Sylloge Taktikon of Emperor Romanos I or II and the Praecepta Militaria of Nikeforos Fokas suggests this was around the standard, with most cavalry regiments ideally being subdivided into 50 to 150-man units.
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Our organization recreates recreates the first κεντάρχια (kentarkhia, "century") of the Viktores. We plan to expand into a representation of the sthlabesianoi at a future date, if the animal, equipment, and opportunity to provide a horsemanship demonstration arises. Our organization falls under the umbrella of the US Byzantine reenactment organization στρατεία (strateia).
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