The menaulion or menavlion (Greek: μεναύλιον), also menaulon or menavlon (μέναυλον) was a heavy spear with a length of 2.7 to 3.6 m (8 ft 10 in to 11 ft 10 in)[1] with a thick shaft, used by the Byzantine infantry as early as the 10th century AD, against enemy heavy cavalry.
[2] To give it increased strength, whole oak or cornel saplings were preferably used.
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,[4] although the Sylloge Tacticorum has the menaulatoi forming well before it, a tactic strongly condemned by Nikephoros Phokas.
[7] In his work De Ceremoniis, Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus orders great numbers of menaulia to be produced.