Innholdsfortegnelse for AW XVIII.1 i Ancient Warfare Magazine

I’m going to be showing my own age here, but the computer games Civilization 1 and 2 were quite ‘present’ (read: “when was I supposed to have that paper ready??”) when I was in college. If that sounds even remotely familiar, you’ll know what I mean by a tech tree. If you don’t, picture a family tree where the basic invention is the stem and new technology follows upon each preceding invention. Even if you’ve never played such a game, that kind of framework is probably very recognizable, perhaps more in military history than anywhere else. Stone club is made obsolete by copper axe, which is succeeded by the bronze sword, and iron spear. It is so tempting to automatically assume that the next new thing is superior to what…

Yet the campaign in the Indus Valley was different. There are many possible reasons, but what is certain is that after the victory over Poros the Macedonian army was less gregarious, less keen to rush into the unknown, which, together with the infamous Indian monsoon, worked against morale. We have a first-hand account of all of this through the eyewitness account of Ptolemy, as reported by Arrian. Crossing the Acesines Flush with victory, and buoyed by a seemingly-powerful new ally in Poros, Alexander roused his weary men to conquer the peoples across the Hydaspes (Jhelum) River. Initially, the weather proved the real enemy. Crossing the rain-swollen Acesines (Chenab) River offered a major challenge. Much of the army would float over on inflated skins while the rest would board the boats…

Agesilaus II of Sparta was not your ‘usual’ Spartan leader, however; he certainly did not fit the stereotype. A commander who defied military convention, he was willing to innovate and use his troops, especially his hoplites, aggressively and imaginatively. Born lame, the first surprising aspect of his eventful life was that he was allowed to survive, and furthermore, was permitted to pass through the Spartan agoge. What was even more surprising was Sparta’s acceptance of his ascension to the kingship despite his obvious lameness. He was to prove an innovative and flexible commander who was able to plan and implement a wide range of tactical innovations against a significant variety of enemies including Persians, Greeks, Illyrians, Thracians, and Egyptians. Agesilaus in the sources We have several different accounts for Agesilaus’…

From the conquest of Britannia in AD 43 we have, at times, surprisingly limited knowledge of the governors of the province; some are just names and there are large gaps where we know nothing. Aulus Plautius, who led the invasion, became the first governor. He was replaced by Publius Ostorious Scapula, who continued campaigning against the Brigantes, Silures and Ordovices but died in office. Scapula was replaced by Aulus Didius Gallus, who is criticized for merely holding what was already conquered (Tacitus Agricola 14). He inherited a tricky situation of rival claimants to several tribes and possibly a new emperor (Nero) who was uninterested in the province (Suetonius Nero 18). He was replaced by Quintus Veranius in 57 who reignited offensive operations – he boasted he could have conquered the…

A troop of a gladiators may have been brought to Britain during, or in the years immediately following, the Roman invasion of Britain. This new interpretation may explain why a high-quality Roman gladiator helmet was discovered in a field in England two millennia later. The helmet was found by a farmer ploughing his land near Hawkedon in Essex in 1965. Though damaged and missing its visor, the bowl was complete and its brow-and neck-guards were still in place. It is the only confirmed piece of gladiatorial armour from Roman Britain. New metallurgical analysis of the helmet carried out by scientist Dr Peter Bray of the University of Reading reveals it was likely made in Italy in the first century AD. The helmet is made of an unusually high-quality bronze. The…

While cavalry and light troops, relatively overlooked elements of earlier Greek armies, were the main subject of innovation in the fourth century, hoplites, the mainstay of Greek armies, also saw some changes. The hoplite body was augmented by the establishment of units of epilektoi (‘picked troops’). Picked hoplites had been fielded at least since the Persian Wars, but they had usually been formed and disbanded as the situation demanded. During the Peloponnesian War, the Argives pioneered the idea of a standing unit of hoplites, trained at public expense. Several states adopted this concept in the fourth century – most famously Thebes, whose Sacred Band formed the core of its armies until the unit’s annihilation at the hands of the Macedonians at Chaeronea (338 BC). Picked units provided states with a…

Here is half of a Spartan regiment (Greek: mora) of heavy-armed infantry, the always awe-inspiring hoplites, being massacred by mercenary light-armed men led by the Athenian Iphicrates. Apart from short notices in Diodorus (14.91.2) and Nepos (Iphicrates 2.1), only Xenophon provides a comprehensive story in his invaluable History of Greece (Hellenica, 4.5.7-18; further Hell.). Although he did not participate in the battle itself, he was not far from the site of the Spartans' defeat, at the camp of King Agesilaus in a settlement called Peiraeum (modern Perachora). Xenophon heard the account of the defeat from an eyewitness who came from the battlefield and recounted the course of this unusual massacre. Xenophon describes it with the highly emotional term pathos – ‘misfortune’, or ‘suffering’, probably also because the loss of so…

Based on Plutarch’s life of the legendary Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus (16.1-2), Spartan male babies were examined by tribal elders and, if judged “well-built and sturdy”, the child was assigned one of the lots of land set aside for male citizens. If the baby was “ill-born and deformed,” however, it was taken to the cave of the Kaiadas on Mount Taygetus (sometimes described as a cliff or chasm). Agesilaus was clearly not exposed, nor was he born as the Eurypontid heir (that was his elder half-brother Agis II) so should not have received special treatment. Agesilaus was not expected to succeed his half-brother, until the parentage of Agis’ only son, Leotychides, was disputed and he was excluded from the succession. In fact, also according to Plutarch (Agesilaus 2.2), Agesilaus bore his…

This new strategic reality precipitated a redeployment of Roman military forces, with troops being moved from southern England to the North and to Wales. This repositioning saw Legio II Adiutrix move from Lindum Colonia (modern Lincoln) to begin construction of a new legionary fortress at the site of modern Chester repositioning precipitated ved legionary fortress at the site of modern Chester sometime between AD 74–79. Two main factors led to the selection of Chester as the site for the legion’s new base: the first was a political consideration related to the tribal boundaries in this area of Britannia, and the other was the physical geography of Chester and its immediate surroundings. Deva Victrix would come to sit on land held by the Cornovii, whose tribal polity was centred around Viroconium…

The Spong Hill cemetery, located near North Elmham, Norfolk, is one of the largest pagan cemeteries from early Anglo-Saxon Britain to be excavated. Ploughing had revealed fragments of cremation urns since the eighteenth century, with subsequent sporadic excavations revealing exciting finds, but threats from continued ploughing meant the entire site was excavated between 1972 and 1984. The Spong Hill Man was found in a rabbit burrow in 1979. The cemetery, which was likely the main cemetery for the surrounding area, was used from ca. AD 400–420, just before the first Germanic ‘invasion’, to AD 600. It contains around 2500 hundred burials in total, including more than 2000 cremations. There are a small number of inhumation burials – late-Roman Christians’ preferred burial practice – in the cemetery, which date to the…

Found in Anzio, ancient Antium, a coastal settlement just over 50 km south of Rome, the tombstone provides a touching memorial to Publius Sulpicius Peregrinus, a cavalryman in the Imperial army who served in the field of scouting and military intelligence for nine years, before dying aged 28. While not an overelaborate stone, it is still a physically substantial memorial, featuring a relatively long inscription, and a relief image of the deceased cavalryman and his horse. Based on the style and language of the stone, it has been dated to the late first or early second century AD. The life of Peregrinus The inscription on Peregrinus’ tombstone reveals that he was from Mediolanum (Milan), and that he was a Roman citizen, despite his cognomen literally meaning ‘stranger’ or ‘foreigner’. He…

THE CORINTHIAN WAR, 395-387 BC: THE TWILIGHT OF SPARTA’S EMPIRE By Jeffrey Smith Pen & Sword, 2024 ISBN: 978-1399072199 Under Agesilaus II, it looked as if Sparta would embark on a wider empire, her limitations were soon exposed. An unlikely alliance united against Sparta in a war that, despite a Spartan victory, had devastating ramifications. The Corinthian War was a fascinating entanglement of clashing empires, complex diplomatic alliances and betrayals, and political fissures. IPHICRATES, PELTASTS AND LECHAEUM Edited by Nick Sekunda and Bogdan Burliga Akanthina, 2014 ISBN: 978-8375311679 In a series of articles by various contributors, this work explores many of the topics covered in this issue. These include articles on the battle of Lechaeum, on the Spartan mora, on Iphicrates, and three articles on peltasts and their equipment. In…

MORE ONLINE Watch a video about these findings: https://bit.ly/3CKq6DM Archaeologists working at the mausoleum of China’s first emperor have uncovered a terracotta warrior believed to represent a senior military commander. It marks the first of its kind since excavations began in 1994. The figure was found broken into fragments and has been carefully conserved and reassembled. Zhu Sihong, head of the excavation, has suggested the figure was likely the highest-ranking officer in the unit. The statue is distinguished by an ornate headdress and a cuirass partly of lamellar armor. It was found with traces of its original painted colours. Alongside the commander, the figures of two high-ranking officers and five regular soldiers were found. Only ten senior officer figures have been unearthed from the warriors discovered to date. Since formal…

There are fewer images more evocative of ancient warfare than the Greek hoplite. Named after their military equipment (hoplon), hoplites formed the backbone of Greek citizen militias in the Archaic and Classical eras (ca. 750–323 BC). Their longevity on the battlefield has been ascribed to their panoply, purchased by the hoplites themselves and often adorned with elaborate decorations. The best-known decorative element was the shield blazon, frequently featuring images of animals or mythical monsters, or the symbol or first letter of the warrior’s polis (e.g. Heracles’ club for Thebans; Λ for Lacedaemonians). It is less commonly known that many shields were also decorated on their obverse side, with small images placed on bands attached inside the shield. Found mostly in the Peloponnese and dating to the Archaic era, decorated shield-bands…

By the early fourth century, notably in the Corinthian War (395–387/6 BC), the city-states of Greece had begun assembling their own citizen corps of peltasts, many of which were equipped on the Thracian model, but were not Thracian themselves. Xenophon adds to the historians’ confusion in the Anabasis, sometimes referring to Thracians as an ethnic term, but sometimes also using it as shorthand for ‘skirmishers’, despite the army of Cyrus having a force of Thracian mercenary cavalry as well. Elsewhere, Xenophon refers to “the soldiers” as a distinct force separate from “the hoplites”. This frustrating lack of clarity quite likely represents also a lack of clarity in the fourth century, as terminology scrambled to keep up with practice. Peltasts were gaining in popularity however. Equipped with the iconic shield and…

Two legions occupied Deva for the entirety of its career as a legionary fortress: Legio II Adiutrix and Legio XX Valeria Victrix. II Adiutrix was founded in March 70 as several constitution diplomas show (CIL 16.10, CIL 16.11, AE 2002 1733) and was immediately dispatched to participate in ending Julius Civilis’ revolt (Tacitus Histories 4.68, AW XV.2). From there it was despatched to Britain. Under Sextus Julius Frontinus it founded Deva in the mid-70s. It continued that work under the next governor, Gnaeus Julius Agricola. In ca. AD 88, II Adiutrix was moved to the Danube frontier by Domitian; at Deva, its place was taken by XX Valeria Victrix. That legion was one of the foundation legions of Augustus, probably founded after 31 BC although the origins of its epithet…

Our comfortable modern lives have largely rendered inclement weather little more than an inconvenience. The resources dedicated to predicting and tracking weather patterns around the world and mitigating their effects are enormous. These resources are readily available to the general public with little effort and limited cost. Satellites, weather balloons, radar, and hole host of other instruments gather data on temperature, air pressure, wind speed, humidity, and more with ve ease and at comparatively low cost. All of this data is fed directly to meteorologists to interpret and pass on to the rest of us at regular intervals. These efforts have radi-hanged our relationship with the weather. Despite all of these resources, the weather still has the capacity to surprise us, and sometimes with deadly consequences. Thankfully, such surprises are…

Roman Army Units in the Western Provinces (3) By Raffaele D’Amato ISBN: 978-1472862686 Osprey (2024) - £12.99 www.ospreypublishing.com This is the third volume in D’Amato’s Men-at-Arms ‘series’ looking at the Roman Army units in the western provinces (following on from MAA 506 and 527) and in conjunction with the paired volumes of units in the eastern provinces of which only two volumes have appeared (MAA 511 and 547). This volume explores the fourth and fifth centuries. With typically fine illustrations by Raffaele Ruggeri, this is the volume where the evidence of the Notitia Dignitatum can come into its own. Often, however, the Notitia is used to suggest how earlier deployments of troops may have looked too – as D’Amato does here, to deduct units’ placements from the Diocletianic tetrarchy (293-305)…

In the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), it seems that the conduct of, and thinking about, Greek warfare underwent a seismic shift in the first decades of the fourth century BC: 400-350. Not only were there experiments with line depth and the lengthening of the spear (and other, similar experiments) but we also find innovations such as in drawing up the battle line in echelon (such as at the battles of Leuctra in 371 and Second Mantinea in 362) and in the maximising of light troops (such as at the battle of Lechaeum in 390). Other innovations such as the introduction of the cardaces in the east (Persian troops armed like hoplites) occurred along with other innovations explored in this issue. It is also in this period that…