Ancient Warfare I.3

Theme: Protect thyself. Shields, helmets and armor.
Introduction: Jasper Oorthuys, 'introduction to the theme'.

the Source: Michael Charles, 'Vegetius and Late Roman infantry armor'
Vegetius' Epitoma, addressed to an unnamed emperor, was composed at some time after AD 383 and before 450, when Flavius Eutropius corrected a copy in Constantinople. This work represents an attempt to reinvigorate Rome’s martial prowess. Using sources largely from the Late Republic and Early Empire, Vegetius advocates the return of the citizen-soldier or legionary. These disciplined troops would fill his revivified antiqua legio and prove far more effective (and less costly) than “foreign mercenaries” (Epitoma, 1.28.10).

Theme: Ross Cowan, 'Sturdy casques of bronze'
In 2005 Tobias Capwell, then Curator of Arms and Armour at Glasgow Museums, invited the author to examine a number of ancient bronze helmets in the store of the Burrell Collection. These rarely seen helmets tell us much about the development and manufacture of armour, as well as symbolism and ritual in the Ancient World. (More photos of one of these helmets on Ross' Flickr page)

Theme: Christian Koepfer, 'A History of European Shields – Part 1'
The shield was the Ancient soldier´s most important device of protection, much more important than body armour. In fact, one could go as far as calling the soldiers of antiquity “shield-fighters”. Different shield forms could even identify different warriors or peoples, like the pelta did for the Amazons. Due to the shield´s size, its shape and its handling the shield has a special role in the investigation of ancient warfare, allowing the historian to find out more about the way in which people fought and used their other weapons.

Theme: Paul Bardunias, 'The Aspis: Surviving Hoplite Battle'. Illustrated by Johnny Shumate
Agiselaos II of Sparta stood victorious on the battlefield of Koronea in 394 B.C. when he learned that the Thebans had defeated his allies and were looting his baggage train.  Showing more bravery than tactical sense, he formed his phalanx directly across the Theban line of retreat rather than taking them in the rear as they passed.  Sources do not reveal how many ranks of hoplites faced each other in this struggle, but the Spartans likely formed in 12, while the Thebans may have formed as they had at Delium, in 25 ranks, for a similar breakthrough attempt.  The Spartan force, “…crashed against the Thebans front to front: and setting shields against shields they pushed, fought, killed, and were killed.” (Xenophon, Hellenica 4.3.19).

Features

The warrior: Michael Park, 'The Silver Shields - Philip's and Alexander's Hypaspists'. Illustrated by Johnny Shumate.
In the late summer of 318 BCE, in the sputtering embers of the first bloody war of the ‘Successors’ (Diadochoi) of Alexander The Great, Eumenes of Cardia sheltered somewhere on the Anatolian plateau in the heart of Cappadocia with some 2,500 ‘friends’ and allies. Eumenes had, within the last year, been defeated in the field by Antigonus Monaphthalmus, a former general and satrap of Alexander with the glint of empire in his one eye...

The battle: Jens Wucherpfenning, 'The battle of Strasbourg AD 357.' Illustrated by Igor Dzis.
On a hot day in late August 357, the Caesar Julian set out with an army of 13,000 men to intercept a confederation of Alamanni warbands who have been crossing the river Rhine for three days. While crossing a hill near the town Argentoratum (modern Strasbourg) after a march of 30 kilometres, the Romans observe the Alamanni forming their bands into a battle line. The Roman soldiers and generals are eager for a fight. But the battle almost starts as a catastrophe. Julian’s battle plan had been betrayed.

The Campaign: David Hall, 'Boudica's Bloody Revolt'. Illustrated by Graham Sumner.
London boasts a famous statue of Boudica in her chariot.  There she stands; spear in hand, outraged daughters on either side, much as Tacitus describes her in the more reliable of our two sources for her revolt from Rome in 60AD. Dio, our other source, seeks to thrill his largely male readership with vivid description of the red-haired rebel. Much is made of the claim that her revolt was so serious that the Romans almost withdrew from Britain. This article is offered as a corrective.  Placing the problem of revolt on a conceptual level, it seeks to arrive at a more realistic assessment.

Be a general: Murray Dahm, 'Surviving a siege'. Illustrated by Andrew Brozyna.
The treatise How to Survive Under Siege by Aeneas Tacticus, is among the earliest treatises to survive from the genre of didactic military literature. Its author was regarded as the pre-eminent authority on military science since he wrote many more works, none of which survive. The surviving treatise (although incomplete) covers nearly everything that a city need do in order to survive a siege by an enemy. Who was he and what does he advise? After a brief introduction we will summarise Aeneas’ work and then see if we can’t put some of his advice to the test and protect ‘our’ city.