Editing Maurice (emperor) (section)

===Assessments===
In ancient sources, Maurice is seen as an able emperor and commander-in-chief, though the description of him by Theophylact may exaggerate these traits. He possessed insight, public spirit, and courage.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} He was successful in military efforts against the Persians, Avars and Slavs, and in diplomacy with Khosrow II. His administrative reforms were the basis for the later introduction of [[Theme (Byzantine district)|themes]] as military districts.{{sfn|Ostrogorsky|1956|p=74}}

Maurice is traditionally named as author of the military treatise ''[[Strategikon of Maurice|Strategikon]]''. Some historians now believe the ''Strategikon'' is the work of his brother or another general in his court, however.{{sfn|Ostrogorsky|1956|p=24}}<ref>{{cite web|last=McCotter|first=Stephen|title='The Nation which Forgets its Defenders will Itself be Forgotten': Emperor Maurice and the Persians|website=Queen's University of Belfast|year=2003|access-date=26 January 2012|publisher=deremilitari.org|url=http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/mccotter2.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120022142/http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/mccotter2.htm|archive-date=20 November 2008}}</ref>

Historian [[Charles Previté-Orton|C. W. Previté-Orton]] believes his greatest weakness was his inability to judge how unpopular his decisions were.{{efn|He writes, "his fault was too much faith in his own excellent judgment without regard to the disagreement and unpopularity which he provoked by decisions in themselves right and wise. He was a better judge of policy than of men."{{sfn|Previté-Orton|1952|p=203}}}} According to [[Anthony Kaldellis]], his failure to keep the public opinion on his side cost him his life, which was a turning point in the fortunes of the empire.{{sfn|Kaldellis|2023|p=338}} The war against Persia which it caused weakened both empires, enabling the Slavs to permanently settle the Balkans and paving the way for the [[Early Muslim conquests|Arab-Muslim expansion]].

His court still used [[Latin]] alongside [[Greek language|Greek]], as did the army and administration.{{sfn|Davis|1990|p=260}}{{sfn|Jenkins|1987|p=24}} Historian [[A. H. M. Jones]] characterises the death of Maurice as the end of the era of [[Classical Antiquity]], as the turmoil that shattered the empire over the next four decades permanently and thoroughly changed society and politics.{{sfn|Norwich|1988|pp=278–279}}{{Better source needed|reason=citation is Norwich, not Jones.|date=January 2025}}