Readers of Ancient Warfare will surely be interested to read this careful review of Raffaele D'Amato and Graham Sumner's recent book The Arms and Armour of the Imperial Roman Soldier: From Marius to Commodus, 112 BC-AD 192. London 2009, at the Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
If you're a regular listener to 'a certain general gaming podcast' The D6 Generation, you'll have noticed that though they discuss mostly non-historical games, they are not averse to history. Craig Gallant especially has expressed his love for Romans on more than one occasion.
I follow the Meeples and Miniatures podcast, part of which is a regular discussion between the host, Neil Shuck, and Henry Hyde, editor of Battlegames magazine. In their latest discussion, (View from the Veranda 3), they were discussing sources of inspiration for (prospective) wargamers. Consider my surprise when their talk suddenly came upon Ancient Warfare as a font of wonderfulness!
Slightly over a year ago Nik Gaukroger wrote a review of the first four issues of Ancient Warfare in Slingshot, the publication of the Society of Ancients. Mark Watson, the current editor and webmaster, very kindly posted that review on the Society's website.
Claughton's Herodotus and the Persian Wars provides a lively new
translation of selections from the Histories, most of which come from
the major battle narratives. The notes are often helpful in giving
cross-references within Herodotus (and sometimes to other authors) and
in explaining common Greek customs and beliefs. The numerous color
illustrations and maps are valuable and laudable additions. However,
the lack of variety in the selections, the omission of an introduction,
the restricted bibliography, and the failure to address much modern
scholarship will limit the usefulness of this text.
For those with a taste for military history, Gareth Sampson's study of the clash of Rome and Parthia at the battle of Carrhae will be a welcome addition to the corpus of modern scholarship. Yet Sampson aims to offer more than a merely engaging and lucid reconstruction of the battle itself -- a reconstruction, incidentally, that he brings off to great effect. He seeks to explore and articulate the significance of Carrhae in the broader context of the history of Rome, Parthia, and their relations. Hence a primary argument is that the expansion of the Roman and Parthian empires made conflict between Rome and Parthia inevitable. Their fateful confrontation materialized with Crassus's invasion of the Parthian empire, which resulted in an engagement at Carrhae that would inaugurate a dominant tradition of Romano-Parthian war. In this aim, Sampson also meets with success, providing a sustained, coherent analysis of the growth of and interactions between these empires before, during, and after the battle of Carrhae. Such coherence, however, can also be a liability. Perhaps too often Sampson tends to skip quickly over details indicative less of an inevitability of conflict than of a potentially more progressive streak in Romano-Parthian relations. In addition, it must be pointed out that, in this reading, Sampson strikes notes already struck many times before in previous scholarship. To say that Rome and Parthia were destined to clash is less than innovatory. Even so, Sampson's book fulfills its promise to provide the specialist and non-specialist with a thoughtful, clear account of the battle of Carrhae and its significance for our understanding of the relationship between Rome and Parthia, and it does so while achieving a remarkably good balance in the discussion of the Roman and Parthian perspectives.
