Innholdsfortegnelse for AW XVIII.5 i Ancient Warfare Magazine

It’s interesting how the things you learn early when you start researching anything can embed themselves firmly in your memory. For me, that is certainly the case for the Roman army of the second century AD. If you learn in university that the great wars of expansion end after Trajan –– and then of the Five Good Emperors before jumping to the Third Century Crisis –– it’s easy to mentally write off the second century as militarily uninteresting. Yet I’ve certainly had plenty of opportunity to update that idea in the meantime. We’ll skip Gladiator, but its background setting was, of course, historically just about as peaceful as portrayed in the movie (ie. not at all). We also had an excellent article in the Centuria Special (2010) which explained how…

Archaeologists working in western Turkey have uncovered the well-preserved 2300-year-old walls of an important Hellenistic period military installation. In 2025, researchers at the Aşağıseyit Höyük site, in the Çal district of Denizli, focused on two areas. Excavation director Associate Professor Erim Konakçı explained: “One was the Hellenistic-period wall structures, which we determined were built around 280 BC.” This was a period interrupted by conflicts, when Antiochus I (r. 281–261 BC) and his successor Antiochus II Theos (r. 261–246 BC) faced challenges in Anatolia, such as from the Celtic Galatians. The stone construction and elevated placement of the Hellenistic structure at Aşağıseyit Höyük were part of a regional defence strategy. Dr Konakçı noted that the fort was well-positioned. Overlooking a river valley and linking western Anatolia to the central plateau, the…

The Assyrians may have been the first to put their mounted soldiers in scale armour, but true heavy cavalry first developed around the Aral Sea, where aristocratic nomadic horsemen used increasingly more metal, wood, or leather plates to protect themselves and their horses. Western military cultures became acquainted with this style of warfare between the third century BC and the first century AD. The Greeks first encountered such heavily armoured enemies during Alexander the Great’s campaigns in Central Asia; by the end of the third century BC, one of Alexander’s successor empires, the Seleucids, managed to incorporate heavy cavalry into its army. The Romans were confronted with heavy cavalry when they came up against the Seleucids, Parthians, and, later, Sasanians. These encounters encouraged them to develop their own heavy cavalry.…

The second century began with Trajan’s two campaigns into Dacia, one in 101–102 and another in 105–106. Despite difficult fighting, Rome emerged victorious, adding Dacia to the empire, expanding the empire to its greatest extent. Trajan next turned his attentions against the Parthians, an enemy which already had a long history of wars with Rome. Despite sacking the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon and occupying much Parthian territory, Trajan’s Parthian War (114–117) is one of the least documented of all Imperial wars. Although the reigns of both Hadrian and Antoninus Pius are associated with peace, war was ever present. Hadrian had to put down a Jewish revolt that had begun under Trajan, known as the Kitos War (116–118), and deal with another, the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–135); he also lost Trajan’s…

Valerius Maximianus soon received his first legionary command, becoming the legate of Legio I Adiutrix, stationed at the time in Brigetio, Pannonia (modern Szőny, Hungary). A short while later he became legate of Legio II Adiutrix at Aquincum (modern Budapest, Hungary). The inscription from Laugaricio was dedicated by Valerius Maximianus and his men during this command, when part of the legion was in its winter campaign headquarters more than 175 km north of the base. Several other legionary commands followed. He became the legate of Legio V Macedonica at Potaissa in Pannonia (modern Turda, Romania), then Legio I Italica at Novae, Lower Moesia (near Svishtov, Bulgaria), and finally Legio XIII Gemina at Apulum in Dacia (modern Alba Iulia, Romania). He remained in the active combat zone of the Marcomannic Wars…

The second half of the second century was a period of rapid change in Roman legionary equipment. Generally, the main elements of legionary armour were a direct development of earlier models and apparently aimed at improving the individual soldier’s defence. Later helmets of the Niedermörmter type became more enveloping (soon to be replaced by the even more protective Niederbieber types), while the so-called lorica segmentata of the Newstead type, made of wider metal strips and fastened with hooks, was probably more rigid than its predecessors. On the other hand, legionaries’ offensive equipment underwent drastic changes. As can be seen on monuments such as the Column of Marcus Aurelius and the Arch of Septimius Severus, Roman legionaries were now mostly equipped with oval shields and spears. This is also the period…

Marcus Cornelius Fronto’s letters to Lucius Verus shed some light on the campaign, as do passages from the various works of Lucian of Samosata, who was with Verus’ entourage in the east, especially in his False Prophet Alexander and How to Write History. Inscriptions also record the careers of several participants in the campaigns, but perhaps the most important source are the surviving fragments of the Parthian Monument, probably erected in Ephesus to celebrate Verus’ victory in 165. Rediscovered by Austrian archaeologists and excavated between 1897 and 1901, the remains are now housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. In Ephesus, the monument was located in front of the famous Library of Celsus. The Parthian War Although the war was successfully and relatively quickly concluded, Lucius Verus has received little…

In his Gallic War, Caesar recounts his first experience fighting British chariots. As his troops first attempted to land, the Britons “sent forward their cavalry and charioteers, a class of warriors of whom it is their practice to make great use in their battles” (4.24). Yet, despite this strong resistance, Caesar’s troops were able to take the beach, drive back the Britons, and set up a camp on the coast (4.25–26). From there, Caesar opened negotiations with the British chieftains; they, in turn, recognized how few Caesar’s troops were, however. After four days, one of Caesar’s two legions had been sent to forage, but the enemy had hidden in woods nearby and suddenly attacked while Caesar’s men were occupied with reaping corn and had laid aside their weapons. They were…

Incised text on a quartzite funerary stele provides the earliest evidence of an auxiliary soldier possessing Roman citizenship who saw active service in Hispania Taraconnenis. The unique stone slab, which was found reused as construction material in a wine cellar in Fuente Encalada (Zamora), Spain, has been dated to the first century AD. Scholars have partially reconstructed the fragmentary text; the first line identifies the name of the deceased as “C(aius) Iulius […]mnus”. The tria nomina indicates he was a Roman citizen. The second and third lines address him as eq(ues) / Al(ae) Aug(ustae) (“cavalryman of the Ala Augusta”). There were several units in the Roman Army designated Civium Romanorum; the abbreviation ‘CR’ in a unit’s official title indicated citizenship had been awarded to its members for extraordinary service or…

Called “a bold, important and original book”, Gavin Kelly’s book (Cambridge University Press, 2008) is an examination of our most important source for the second half of the fourth century AD. As a veteran himself (Ammianus served as a protector domesticus under Constantius II and was an important eyewitness to the campaigns of Julian), his is the most important military history of the era. Kelly argues that the literary qualities of Ammianus have been overlooked and neglected. He examines these, showing Ammianus to be a subtle and manipulative writer full of allusions to both classical literature and earlier history. These combine to add complexity to Ammianus’ text, one that is often ignored as his work is usually only considered for the history it contains. Indeed, the literary ambitions of historians…

In antiquity, two terms were used for heavily armoured cavalry: catafractes and clibanarius. The word catafractes originally comes from Greek, meaning “to cover, to conceal”. It was first applied to armoured riders and later came to clearly refer to units in which both the rider and the horse were fully armoured. Research is still divided on the question of what the difference was between the two names. It is most likely that in the Roman army, the two terms were synonyms for fully armoured cavalry. This is supported by Ammianus Marcellinus, who, in the mid-fourth century AD, used the phrase “catafract cavalry, whom they call clibanarii”, suggesting that the two terms were interchangeable. Since Ammianus himself served as an officer in the protectores domestici, he was well-acquainted with the army…

To preserve the hard-won dominions of the Roman people, Augustus (r. 27 BC–AD 14) counselled his successor to keep “the empire within its present frontiers” (Tacitus, Annals 1.11). Tacitus explains, “The ocean and remote rivers were the boundaries of the empire — the legions, provinces, fleets, all things were linked together” (Annals 1.9). Tiberius (r. AD 14–37) heeded the advice; the deployment of the 25 legions at bases in strategically important locations at the time of his accession became permanent. The men who followed him in turn often ignored Augustus’ counsel. Yet that counsel proved provident, because even in the mid-second century AD, “[The Romans] surround the empire with great armies and they garrison the whole stretch of land and sea like a single stronghold” (Appian, Foreign Wars, Preface 7).…

Just like the senatorial cursus honorum career path, typically those offices which a senator’s career must take (military tribuneship, quaestor, praetor, consul), so did the ‘typical’ equestrian career. To be considered for a political career, equestrian candidates, would usually be promoted to command an auxiliary cohort (as praefectus cohortis). They could then be selected as one of the five tribunis angusticlavius in a legion, or go on to more senior auxiliary commands (such as command of a cavalry ala as prefect or as tribune of a double strength cohors milliaria. The pinnacle of the equestrian career was then either to be appointed as one of the two prefects of the Praetorian Guard or as the governor of Egypt –– always an equestrian appointment. Others would go on to be the…

Barely larger than a fingernail, these embossed armour scales reveal how Roman soldiers used even the smallest details to declare who they were: members of Legio X Gemina. The site of Mušov-Burgstall lies in southern Moravia, just north of the Roman frontier. During the Marcomannic Wars (AD 166-180), it served as a key Roman foothold in the territory of the so-called Barbaricum. Archaeological surveys and excavations have uncovered an extraordinary range of military artefacts, including spearheads, belt fittings, helmet fragments, and hundreds of small bronze armour scales. Together, these finds show that this was no temporary camp but a substantial Roman base, most likely occupied by Legio X Gemina Pia Fidelis, the “Faithful and Loyal” legion. Among the most recent discoveries are three scales unlike any others. Found by volunteers…

Music and song are one such part of battle noise that has received particular focus in recent years due to the increasing interest in exploring more fragmentary written sources which contain a variety of events that detail how music was used to trick and rally soldiers in battle. However, there are still parts of this broad topic that deserve more attention, and one such ‘practice’ is today’s topic of focus: the paean. The origin of the Paean Paean is an ancient word, originally the name given to the Mycenaean god of healing. In the period between the transition from Mycenaean to Archaic Greek culture, Apollo and his son Asclepius took on the role of the healing god, yet Paean did not disappear completely. Homer, writing sometime between the eight and…

SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS AND THE ROMAN ARMY By Michael Sage Pen & Sword Press, 2020 ISBN: 978-1526702418 Sage focuses here on the military career of Septimius Severus, the governor who swept into Rome in 193. A muchneglected subject in second century warfare, Severus transformed the Roman army ushering in wide ranging reforms — raising three legions, increasing pay and allowing legionaries to marry. He also went on new campaigns of conquest in Caledonia and Parthia. THE ROMAN IMPERIAL ARMY OF THE FIRST AND SECOND CENTURIES A.D. (3RD EDITION) By Graham Webster University of Oklahoma Press, 1998 ISBN: 978-0806130002 A ‘classic’ published in 1979, Webster explores all aspects of military forces throughout the Roman Empire: Europe, North Africa, and the Near and Middle East. Describing army composition, frontier systems, camps and forts,…

A miniature scale model prow and ram from a warship may once have adorned the doorpost of a room in a luxurious urban villa in ancient Salzburg, Austria. The object was discovered in 2024. It lay beneath layers of collapsed walls and rubble, which preserved the artefact. The villa located in the heart of Iuvavum (Roman Salzburg), is dated to the second–third century AD. Conservators revealed the object to be a detailed replica of a warship’s prow, complete with the ram, the railing along the prow, and decorative floral motifs. Restorers suggest that the 1.5kg bronze piece would have been mounted on a wall or door, possibly with an ornamental disc. It would have served a symbolic rather than functional purpose. Petronius describes the moment when the guests reach “the…

Though the fulcum (or Greek foulkon) appears in the sixth-century Strategikon for the first time, evidence suggests it had existed since the fourth century. The Strategikon describes two different forms. One is a compact formation of infantry that is designed to advance toward the enemy. Under cover of the shields and lances of the front ranks, formation advances into contact while the rear ranks shoot bows, hurl plumbatae and javelins. The second version is designed to withstand charging cavalry. Once the latter approach to within bowshot, the first three ranks close up, overlap their shields and thrust out their spears with their other ends lodged firmly in the ground, the fourth ranks gives support with their lances held overarm. This would make for a very solid defensive formation, difficult to…

Maximianus enjoyed an exceptional career over decades of service in the Roman army, commanding numerous auxiliary units and legions, winning military decorations on multiple occasions, coming to the specific attention of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Yet his career is preserved only in a small number of inscriptions. Without the survival of these texts, the details of his extraordinary career would have been lost. The inscriptions The earliest inscription mentioning Valerius Maximianus comes from Laugaricio (modern Trenčín, Slovakia), dedicated while he was in command of Legio II Adiutrix (CIL 3.13439). The legion was onlu based at Laugaricio between AD 171 and 173, using it as their winter base during the Marcomannic Wars of Marcus Aurelius. The text itself is a religious dedication made to the “victory of the emperors”…

The first of these five emperors was Helvius Pertinax, a former successful military commander under Marcus Aurelius, but his reign was brutally cut short by the dissatisfied Praetorian Guard. The Praetorians then auctioned the imperial title to the highest bidder, with the wealthy senator Didius Julianus winning. His appointment was not unchallenged, however. In Britain, Clodius Albinus, a member of a family of Italic origin and born in Hadrumetum (now Susa, Tunisia) emerged as another candidate. In the east, with the support of Egypt and many of the provinces of Asia Minor and the Near East, the governor of Syria, Pescennius Niger, also a man of Italic origin, proclaimed himself emperor. Finally, the last contender for the throne was the commander of Pannonia: Septimius Severus, from a Libyphoenician family of…

These portraits, painted in a technique now known as encaustic, were first brought to widespread academic attention in the late nineteenth century principally by the British archaeologist William Flinders Petrie. Because of their richness some were at first believed to represent members of the Royal Ptolemaic dynasty. Included were some male figures with studded belts and swords. It is now believed these portraits represent soldiers. Nevertheless, in keeping with the initial belief that the portraits showed individuals of high status, the soldiers are usually believed to be officers because of their brightly coloured cloaks. Colour is often seen as a sign of rank and privilege due to its expense. Thus, being too costly for ordinary soldiers, colour was reserved instead for generals’ cloaks. Evidence from Egypt reminds us that this…

Taking the auspices before the assembled mass of troops within camp, Camillus vowed first to apportion Pythian Apollo a tenth of the spoils of victory in recompense for his DIvine inspiration. Secondly, he beseeched Iuno Regina to abandon her current dwelling and patronage in the city of Veii in return for accepting a new temple and the accompanying establishment of sacred rites within the city of Rome. This ritualised summoning of a foreign deity by Camillus, known as evocatio, was the first recorded instance in Roman history. But it would not be the only time a Roman general endeavoured to deprive an enemy of divine protection by formally offering to transfer that deity to a new home and establish cult worship in Rome. The capture of Veii was ultimately achieved…

Legionaries are famously depicted on Trajan’s Column, the Column of Marcus Aurelius and the Arch of Septimius Severus. These three monuments record campaigns encompassing the second century AD. For a very long time, these monuments dominated and solidified the stereotypical image of what a legionary looked like. And yet, even the monumental sculpture has always proven variety and brought up issues. The Adamklisi Monument, a contemporary of Trajan’s Column, shows a greater variety in armour than on Trajan’s Column, the legionaries carry larger and far more practicable shields, and they wear manica to protect their right arm. The armour on Marcus’ column and Severus’ arch is more varied, and so are the shields. Archaeology has, of course, added a lot more information. The reality is, the appearance of the second…