No matter how well organized it was, the Byzantine army could not have defended imperial territory and ensured the safety of its inhabitants without proper military equipment. The Byzantines thus took great interest in improving old weapons and inventing new ones, in a continuous effort to defend themselves against their enemies and prevail over them.

The weapons each soldier possessed depended on the military unit to which he belonged. There were special state workshops for the manufacture of arms, the armamenta; individuals were strictly forbidden from bearing arms or dealing in them. However, each soldier was responsible for his own weapons when state finances were poor or if the troops were mercenaries.

Byzantine weapons can be divided into defensive and offensive ones. First of all among defensive equipment came armour, consisting of an iron helmet (kassidion or korys), which protected the head; an iron breastplate and vest of chain mail or scale armour (lorikion) that protected the soldier’s trunk; and special protectors for the arms (cheiropsella or manikellia) and legs (podopsella or chalkotoubla), made of metal, leather or wood. Because armour was in general very expensive and many soldiers could not afford it, they had to find simpler solutions. Alternatives included cloth helmets (kamelaukia) and garments made of leather or resilient cloth (kabbadia) in place of a breastplate. Sometimes the garments underneath the breastplate were made ​​of silk, as its dense weave protected against arrows.

Defensive equipment was completed by shields of various shapes and sizes, with images and colours denoting the bearer’s unit.

Offensive weapons were divided into those for close combat (anchemacha), for hand-to-hand fighting, and long-distance ones (ekebola) for striking the enemy from far off. Close combat weapons include the sword (spathion), the Byzantines’ principal offensive weapon, which hung from a belt (louri) and was kept in a special sheath (thekare). Spears (kontaria) were among the most important weapons at the disposal of infantry units. The mace (bardoukion) was used by the heavily armed cavalry, and was made of an iron rod or solid piece of wood studded with iron nails. Axes (pelekeis) had one or two edges; single-edged ones were known as tzikouria. Warriors carried axes in holders tied around their waist.

Bows (doxaria) were the most important long-distance weapon. They were made of wood, horn or bone and sinew, with a string made of animal sinew, intestines (catgut) or even plant fibres. Bows were up to 125 cm in length and had curled ends. Arrows (sagites) were 70 cm long, made of thin wood or reed tipped with metal, glass, bone or wood, and would often be set alight before firing in battles and sieges. Bundles of 30 to 60 arrows would be stored in quivers hanging on the back of infantrymen or on cavalrymen’s belts. There was also a smaller sized bow known as the solenarion, which fired small arrows called myies (literally “mice” or “flies”). One particularly deadly weapon was the tzangra, a short, very powerful bow, which fired arrows smaller and thicker than normal to penetrate enemy armour.

Another important category of weapons were those used against the walls (teichomachika) in castle sieges. Apart from ladders and wooden bridges, besiegers had engines including the battering ram, for demolishing vulnerable sections in the fortifications such as the gates.

This was made of a long beam of hardwood, with a solid piece of metal shaped like a ram’s head at one end. The ram hung freely from a chain attached to a frame, and was directed against the target as it swung. The frame had wheels so that troops could move it. The catapult (petrobolon) was a weapon that hurled large stones to create breaches in the walls.

Among the most famous siege engines were the so-called “city-takers” (elepoleis), wheeled wooden towers tall enough to reach the top of the walls. Standing on the highest platform, soldiers could fight the defenders on the wall at about the same height. The towers often carried long-distance machines as well as a ram at a lower level. One further siege engine on wheels was the tortoise (chelone), which protected attackers under a roof. Soldiers used them to approach the walls, damage their masonry or dig tunnels underneath them.

The Byzantine navy also had weapons similar to those used by the infantry. Light galleys (dromones and chelandia) were equipped with wooden towers, from which soldiers could fire projectiles against enemy ships, as well as mechanisms for propelling siphons, the clay or metal canisters containing Greek fire. During battle troops also hurled hand siphons, small clay or metal containers of liquid fire used like modern grenades. Added to these were crossbows (toxoballistres) firing the small arrows called myies. Finally, shields and skins soaked in water were placed around the sides of ships, to protect them and those fighting on them from enemy incendiary materials, so as to prevent fire from spreading.