Plutarch's Lives Vol. IV
by Plutarch, John Dryden Agesilaus, and A H Clough
When a band of Norman adventurers arrived in southern Italy to fight in the Lombard insurrections against the Byzantine empire in the early 1000s, few would have predicted that within a few generations, by force of arms, some of these men and other later arrivals would seize control of Apulia, Campania, Calabria and Sicily. How did they make such extraordinary gains and then consolidate their power? Paul Brown, in this thoroughly researched and absorbing study, seeks to answer these questions an...
The earliest battle in history which can be reconstructed in detail, Qadesh pitted the two great warriors of the age against each other, Muwatallish of Hatti and the great warrior-Pharaoh Rameses II. With the Hittites gaining the initial advantage, all seemed lost until Rameses himself led his personal followers into the fray. However, in spite of the appearance of Egyptian reinforcements, the bravery of the pharaoh and the tactically superior showing of the Egyptian chariotry, the dislocation o...
As Alexander the Great sits with his troops poised to attack, his guides are murdered. Can he uncover the spies in time?The House of Death is the first mystery in the magnificent Ancient Greece series featuring Alexander the Great and his physician Telamon, by master historian Paul Doherty. Perfect for fans of Gary Corby and Margaret Doody.'Paul Doherty has created a vivid, credible picture of life in the Persian and Macedonian courts on the eve of Alexander's conquests' - The Times It is 334 BC...
The Landmark Xenophon's Anabasis
by Shane Brennan and Robert B Strassler
The Landmark Xenophon’s Anabasis is the definitive edition of the ancient classic—also known as The March of the Ten Thousand or The March Up-Country—which chronicles one of the greatest true-life adventures ever recorded. As Xenophon’s narrative opens, the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger is marshaling an army to usurp the throne from his brother Artaxerxes the King. When Cyrus is killed in battle, ten thousand Greek soldiers he had hired find themselves stranded deep in enemy territory, su...
How can we attempt to understand the experience of those involved in ancient battles, sieges and campaigns? What was the visual impact of seeing the massed ranks of the enemy approaching or the sky darkened with their arrows? How did it feel to be trapped in the press of bodies as phalanxes clashed shield to shield? What of the taste of dust on the march or the smell of split blood and entrails? What of the rumble of approaching cavalry, the clash of iron weapons and the screams of the dying? Th...
The outcome of a brutal war, which took place 1,885 years ago, continues to reverberate in the Near East today. It is a tale largely unknown outside Israel, and yet it helps explain why the region continues to be engulfed by strife. "As a historian I learned about the Bar Kokhba War, but the explanations for why and how it happened seemed confused," said historian and author Lindsay Powell. "As with King Arthur, fact and myth have become muddled. To establish the truth, I travelled across three...
Praise for the author's A Brief Guide to the Greek Myths: 'Eminently sane, highly informative'PAUL CARTLEDGE, BBC History magazineIn 2022 it will be 2,500 years since the final defeat of the invasion of Greece by the Persian King Xerxes. This astonishing clash between East and West still has resonances in modern history, and has left us with tales of heroic resistance in the face of seemingly hopeless odds. Kershaw makes use of recent archaeological and geological discoveries in this thrilling a...
The Greco-Persian Wars (499-449 BCE) convulsed Greece, Asia Minor and the Near East for half a century. Through a series of bloody invasions and pitched battles, the mighty Persian Empire pitted itself against the smaller armies of the Greeks, strengthened through strategic alliances. This epic conflict also brought together two different styles of warfare: the Greek hoplite phalanx and the combined spear and projectile weapon-armed Persian infantry. Analysing the battles of Marathon, Thermop...
Cannae is rightly regarded as one of the greatest battles of military history. Hannibal's stratagem has become a model of the perfectly fought battle and is studied in detail at military academies around the world. At Cannae the Romans confronted Hannibal with an army of 80,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry. Hannibal faced them with 40,000 foot and 10,000 horse. The engagement that followed was a masterpiece of battlefield control. By the end of the conflict the Romans had lost 47,500 infantry and...
Napoleon's Commentaries on the Wars of Julius Caesar
by R A Maguire
Originally published in 1894, this book presents a detailed study of ships from the Mediterranean area during the period 1000 BC to 1000 AD. Evidence is drawn from written sources, including inscriptions and literature, and material sources, such as the ruins of the docks at Athens and small surviving pieces of the ships themselves. The text provides detailed information on the structural elements of ships and includes an appendix section on different types of ship. Illustrative figures are also...
This concise guide actually covers not just Pictish fortifications, but all those in use in early medieval Scotland, including those of Strathclyde and Rheged and of the Dal Riata. Konstam introduces the reader to the principal types of fort, including the re-use of earlier defences, before offering more in-depth surveys of Dundurn and Dunadd. As well as architecture and construction he looks at the use of the forts in war and peace, to control the landscape and act as royal strong points.
Finally, a detailed, precise, modern work on medieval dress of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (1320-1480). Taking cues from the works of Viollet-le-Duc and Adrien Harmand, the first part is devoted to jewels and accessories, the second to male dress, and the third to female dress. Rich, color photographs with multiple reenactors allow a true understanding of medieval costume. A work of reference.
Many books have been written on the Second Punic War and Hannibal in particular but few give much space to his campaigns in the years from 213 - 203 BC'. Most studies concentrate on Hannibal's series of stunning victories in the early stages of the war, culminating at Cannae in 216 BC, then refocus on the activities of his nemesis ,Scipio Africanus, in Spain until the two meet in the final showdown at Zama. But this has led to the neglect of some of the Carthaginian genius' most remarkable camp...
The period of history in which Stilicho lived was one of the most turbulent in European history. The Western Empire was finally giving way under pressure from external threats, especially from Germanic tribes crossing the Rhine and Danube, as well as from seemingly ever-present internal revolts and rebellions. Ian Hughes explains how a Vandal (actually Stilicho had a Vandal father and Roman mother) came to be given almost total control of the Western Empire and describes his attempts to save bo...
For over a thousand years, from the time of the Roman Empire to the classic period of castle-building in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, fortified sites played a key role in European warfare. This highly illustrated history gives a fascinating insight into their design and development and into the centuries of violence and conflict they were part of. The study traces the evolution of fortifications starting with those of the Romans and their successors. Included are the defences erected t...
Besides the unusually rich illustrations (over 190 colour images: illustrations, artifacts, maps, monuments), this book offers a fresh view on the Dacian-Roman wars, trying to eliminate as much as possible from the ideological nationalist ballast that came to burden the Romanian view of history. Oltean gathered and adapted most archaeological findings and historical studies, old and new, for a wider public of history lovers. He avoided too much speculation on events that remain unclear for histo...
This is the only fully illustrated military life of the Emperor Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus (253-268). Considered the most blatantly military man of all of the soldier emperors of the third century, Gallienus is the emperor in Harry Sidebottom's bestselling Warrior of Rome novels. Gallienus faced more simultaneous usurpations and foreign invasions than any other emperor, but somehow he managed to survive. Dr. Ilkka Syvanne explains how this was possible. It was largely thanks to the unt...
Late Roman Cavalryman AD 236–565 (Warrior S., v. 15) (Osprey military histories)
by Simon MacDowall
The twilight of the Roman Empire saw a revolution in the way war was waged. The drilled infantryman, who had been the mainstay of Mediterranean armies since the days of the Greek hoplite, was gradually replaced by the mounted warrior. This change did not take place overnight, and in the 3rd and 4th centuries the role of the cavalryman was primarily to support the infantry. However, by the time of the 6th century, the situation had been completely reversed. Late Roman Cavalryman gives a full acco...
Justin Swanton examines the principal battle-winning formations of the Ancient world, determining their composition, function and efficacy. An introductory chapter looks at the fundamental components of the principal battle formations of heavy and light infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots, showing how they bolstered the individual's soldier's willingness to fight. The rest of the book focuses on massed infantry that reigned supreme in this era: the heavily armoured Greek hoplite phalanx t...