Ancient Warfare II.1, Feb/Mar 2008

Theme: Light Infantry.
Introduction: Jasper Oorthuys, 'introduction to the theme'.

The Source: Nick Barley, 'Thucydides on Lightly Armed Troops'
Hollywood has made famous the saying of the Spartan Dieneces at the battle of Thermopylae: "…if the Medes hide the sun with their arrows, we will fight in the shade." Indeed, Dieneces’ saying leads the reader to adopt a ‘Spartan attitude’ towards the effectiveness of lightly armed troops, namely, that regardless of number, they somehow do not really ‘count’.

Theme: Sidney Dean, Peltast Light Infantry'. Illustrated by Andrew Brozyna.

The peltast light infantry played a significant role in Greek warfare from the 5th through the 3rd Century BC. Lightly armed and mobile, peltasts had two main functions: cover the vulnerable flanks and rear of their own side’s hoplite phalanx; and harass the enemy’s main formation. As their weapons and tactics improved, peltasts assumed an increasingly prominent role within the Greek and Macedonian armies.

Theme: Paul Elliot, 'Humble and deadly. The ancient slinger'. Illustrated by Johnny Shumate
The glamour of the archer, of the legionary swordsman, or of the spear-carrying hoplite is lost on the slinger. Humble, ubiquitous and unsung, he is usually relegated to a footnote in Thucydides or Caesar's Gallic Wars. Slingers are often viewed as little more than an untrained peasant levy, unarmoured and often unarmed. How useful can these simple weapons have been? What impact did these men have on ancient warfare, if any?

Theme: Stephen English, 'Macedonian 'heavy' infantry'. Illustrated by Andrew Brozyna.
The men that comprised the Macedonian heavy infantry are almost exclusively referred to collectively as 'the phalanx' by both ancient and modern authors. The adoption of this term is partly due to convenience, and partly due to a lack of understanding by of some as to the tactical role of the heavy infantry. In this article it will be shown that the use of the term 'phalanx' is misleading, and that the Macedonian pezhetairoi, as they should be more accurately called, were not heavy infantry at all, but instead were essentially light infantry.

Theme: Ross Cowan, 'Lanciarii. Elite Legionary Light Troops?'. Illustrated by Graham Sumner.
Early in the third century AD the rank or title of lanciarius, that is a soldier who fought with the lancia, was granted to certain soldiers of legio II Parthica. By the end of the century, most, if not all, legions had a contingent of lanciarii, some of whom were probably mounted. Another unit (numerus) of lanciarii, including a cavalry element, was attached to the emperor’s retinue. But what exactly were lanciarii and how did they fight?

Features

The battle: Chris Martin, 'The battle of Dara, 530 AD'. Illustrated by Igor Dzis.
A battle was fought in June/July AD 530 between the Romans and the Sassanian Persians near Dara in the south east of modern Turkey. This was an important region in the sixth century and three contemporary historical sources recorded the battle. This article analyses these whilst bearing the terrain in mind. The sources are Zachariah and Malalas, who offer secondary accounts of the battle, and Procopius, General Belisarius’ adviser, who provides us with an eyewitness account.

Special: Christian Koepfer, 'Weapon and Status Symbol? The scutum in the early Roman Empire'

The scutum seems to have been a formidable weapon. However, during the reign of Augustus the Roman scutum, which had served basically unchanged in the Roman Army for centuries, suddenly became subject to a series of drastic changes...

Be a general: Murray Dahm, 'Read your Homer!' Illustrated by Andrew Brozyna.
At virtually all periods during the ancient world the first words on the lips of anyone offering advice on how you should go about learning a particular skill was ‘read your Homer.’ We will briefly examine how widespread this love of Homer as a general’s manual was and sample some of this Homeric advice, then we shall put it to the test.