Innholdsfortegnelse for AW XV.1 i Ancient Warfare Magazine

EDITORIAL - Then and now Big battles, with hoplites, phalangites or legionaries many ranks deep and hundreds of files wide, that’s what we think of when imagining an ancient battlefield. If you’re so inclined, you might favor a siege too, preferably with spectacular war machines. If you play a computer game such as Total War, or perhaps a tabletop wargame, that’s what they often look like too. That is hardly a surprise. Whoever first turns to warfare in the ancient world is probably confronted first with the Big Decisive Battles (include favorite list here, specific examples very debatable, of course). This is probably the result of those Prussian military giants who dominated ancient military history into the twentieth century, ably assisted by our ancient sources who focus on the hoplite…

The story is told by Thucydides in book 3, chapter 91 and on. Demosthenes, son of Alcisthenes, had been elected as a strategos of Athens for 426. He led a force of 30 triremes around the Peloponnese, sharing command with Procles, son of Theodorus. Even though this is his first appearance, it seems clear that Demosthenes was the senior commander. Some chapters later, Thucydides relates that this force ambushed a garrison at Ellomenus in Leucadia and then moved against Leucas itself. There, the Athenian forces were joined by almost the entire levy of Acarnania. Some men from Zacynthus and Cephallenia and fifteen ships from Corcyra were also present. Demosthenes had some Messenians with him too, although they are not mentioned at this point. The Acarnanians wanted Demosthenes to besiege Leucas,…

The Battle of Camarina is a relatively well-kept secret; the narrative of the battle is not found in Polybius or Livy (it was in his lost book 17, but Livy’s summary survives). Instead, we must search lesser known and more widespread sources to find the details. What emerges is a battle that should be much better known. The First Punic War, 264-241 BC In the middle of the third century BC, Carthage and Rome contested for dominance of the rich lands and waters of the Mediterranean Sea and its shores. Having come to the aid of discharged Campanian mercenaries, the Mamertines, the conflict soon spiralled into a war over the possession of Sicily (Polybius 1.13). There were inconclusive battles and skirmishes between 264 and 262 BC as the Romans built…

A great army arrived at Atrans (Trojane) on the threshold of Italia in the spring of AD 238. As it moved slowly down from the high ground towards Emona (Ljubljana), it switched from marching column to an extended battle formation. A vanguard of Germans screened the army. They were fearless warriors and, as barbarians, quite expendable. The army was led by Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus. Ambitious and competent, he was also physically impressive and charismatic, and he led by example. He was the first emperor to fight in battle and the first soldier emperor. Maximinus was determined to extend the boundaries of the empire. But in AD 238, the matter of a rebellious Italia had to be dealt with. Maximinus was impetuous in combat, but caution ruled when he could…

The US Department of Defense defenition qualifies special operations as those “characterized by one or more of the following: time sensitive, clandestine, low visibility, conducted with and/or through indigenous forces, requiring regional expertise, and/or a high degree of risk” (DOD Dictionary 2018). The Macedonian army conducted an unconventional siege that provides a remarkable example of just such an operation. This siege occurred at a mountaintop fortress known as the Sogdian Rock, also known as the Rock of Ariamazes, after the commander of the fortress. The histories of Quintus Curtius Rufus and Arrian are two of the principal ancient sources for this siege. They differ slightly on the exact details and scholars continue to debate whether it occurred in 328 or 327 BC, but the basic narrative is generally consistent between…

There are a handful of well-known engagements taking place at night in late antiquity. At the Battle of Adrianople (AD 378), fighting between the Gothic and Roman forces continued into the night, resulting in chaos and many hundreds, if not thousands, of extra bodies littering the plain. The arrival of darkness meant that very few soldiers on either side knew who they were striking at, and in turn, caused panic and unrelenting combat. Conducting forays or merely moving outside of your designated encampment on the eve of battle could also be disastrous. At the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in AD 451, there were several instances of confusion due to the arrival of nightfall. In the prelude to the main battle, a skirmish broke out between Roman/Gothic forces and the…

Horse-archers appear in the Assyrian army in the ninth century BC. Reliefs of Ashur-nasirpal (883-859 BC) show these riders being deployed as both long-range archers and shock troops to trample the enemy. Immortalized for the ‘parting’ (or Parthian) shot, Parthia’s mounted archers twisted backwards to shoot an arrow at the enemy as their horse trotted away. Similar tropes of impressive mounted archers abound through Scythia – the famed mounted horsemen whom the Greeks believed were at one with their horses. They are attested to have invented some of the earliest saddles, as well as bows that attached to the riders’ hips. They would later be recruited by Alexander the Great. Heavyweight horse archers appear in Byzantine and Turkish tradition. One also cannot ignore the later twelfth-century use of mounted archers…

Livy relates that the Romans were wary that, with Philip out of the way and Macedonian power broken, the Aetolians would be held the masters of Greece (Livy 33.11.9). Nabis maintained an iron grip on the Spartan citizenry through terror and the employment of great numbers of mercenaries. Initially he sided with Rome during the First Macedonian War (214-205 BC), but he made an ephemeral alliance with Macedon, just long enough to seize Argos, before rejoining the Roman cause. The Achaeans were initially allies of Macedon, but their falling out culminated in the defeat of Philip’s general Androsthenes in battle at Corinth. Faced with the rapacious Aetolians, a fickle Nabis, and possible invasion by the Seleucids, Rome was swayed by the Achaeans to attack Sparta in 195 BC. The Roman…

The siege of the Rock of Chorienes was almost as dramatic as that of the Sogdian (Rock. The Macedonians laboured day and night to construct a causeway across the deep ravine that surrounded the Rock of Chorienes. Arrian provides a detailed description, even including the organization of the work crews. First, the Macedonians built wooden ladders so that they could descend into the otherwise inaccessible ravine. Next, they drove wooden supports into both sides of the ravine and then built a wicker framework on top of these supports. Finally, they packed earth fill on top of the wicker structure to complete the causeway. Wooden screens were constructed on top to protect from enemy missiles. Alexander then brought his artillery within range of the fortress. This move, in conjunction with the…

Late Roman Infantryman vs Gothic Warrior By Murray Dahm ISBN: 978-1472845283 Osprey Publishing (2020) - £13.99 www.ospreypublishing.com Late Roman Infantryman vs. Gothic Warrior is the newest release by Osprey, written by Murray Dahm and illustrated by Giuseppe Rava. Dahm, the assistant editor of this magazine, has sufficient qualifications to tackle the topic of Roman and East Germanic warriors in the Gothic War of AD 376–382. He does so with marked success. Dahm opens with a succinct introduction to the Gothic crossing of 376 and the origins of the Gothic revolt, and then quickly moves on to looking at the focus of the book: comparing and contrasting the late fourth century Roman infantryman with the contemporary Germanic warrior. The section on the organization of the late Roman Army is simplified but…

THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR By Donald Kagan Viking Penguin, 2003 ISBN: 978-0142004371 Kagan’s magisterial four-volume history of the Peloponnesian War (1969–1 987) is here distilled into a single easily digested volume. The scholarship is sound and up to date and the analysis is all you could want. Kagan remains the go-to scholar on the Peloponnesian War. A COMPANION TO THE PUNIC WARS Edited by Dexter Hoyos Wiley-Blackwell, 2015 ISBN: 978-1405176002 Hoyos brings together and leads a range of authors in a new analysis of the Punic Wars from 264 to 146 BC. These papers explore various aspects of the conflicts from their origins to questions of manpower and strategy and the aftermath. A brilliant starting point, and, in many places, an endpoint as well. EXPLORATIO: MILITARY & POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE…