Ancient Warfare Magazine

Ancient Warfare is a unique publication focused exclusively on soldiers, battles, and tactics, all before 600 AD. Starting with ancient Egypt and Persia and continuing to the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Ancient Warfare examines the military history of cultures throughout Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia and Africa. Ancient Greece and Rome receive the most frequent coverage, due both to the wealth of contemporary sources and the modern fascination with these two great civilizations. Subject-matter ranges from the familiar to the more obscure: while Alexander the Great, the Persian Wars and Caesar’s Gallic campaigns all receive regular coverage, Ancient Warfare also looks at some of the less common parts of ancient military history, from chariots as battle taxis to PTSD in antiquity.

Ancient Warfare Magazine

PRELIMINARIES NEWS ITEMS BY LINDSAY POWELL

Arms and armour from the Mougins Museum auctioned off

Philip II of Macedon's palace re-opens

Human and animal skin identified in Scythian leather objects

First biological proof of Sarmatians in Britain

HQ of Misenum fleet located?

World's earliest fortified strongholds discovered

HAVE YOU READ?

Roman swords in the Cotswolds

A HIDDEN TREASURE FROM DENMARK THE HJORTSPRING FINDS • A long time ago, ca. 400 BC, something extraordinary happened on the Danish island of Als. People sank a 20-paddled war boat and the equipment of 60–80 warriors in a bog. Nobody in the North had done anything like this for hundreds of years, and nobody would do it again until hundreds of years later. What was going on?

THE WHIMSICAL OWL HOPLITE OINOCHOE MARATHON REMEMBERED? • One of the symbols most firmly associated with Athens was the goddess Athena’s owl – her constant companion and symbol of knowledge and wisdom. It is, therefore, unsurprising to find the owl of Athena depicted in Attic art. One drinking vessel, however, stands apart. It is an Attic redfigure Anthesteria oinochoe (lit.“wine pourer”, wine jug) now in the Louvre (CA 2192), showing an owl as a hoplite, complete with aspsis shield and dory spear. It is delightful and whimsical, that is certain. But there may be much more going on with this owl-hoplite.

RECONSTRUCTING A MUSCLE CUIRASS, PART 1 NEW COPY OLD DESIGN • The bronze muscled cuirass. A marvel of metalworking, a milestone of artistic sophistication, and an icon of ancient Greek armour, it embodied its wearer’s status – and quite possibly saved his life. One of the finest surviving examples is on permanent display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1992.180.3). Working with the guidance of worldrenowned master medieval armorer Jeff Wasson, I set out to make an accurate replica of it.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE • To the Greeks and Romans, the world was a scary place. The further you went from the centres of civilization, the more the world would change. Mountain ranges would lie in your way, dark forests threatened, the waves would crash against the shores, and moreor-less humanoid, wild barbarians lurked everywhere.

LOOTING DURING THE WAR AGAINST PERSEUS IDLE HANDS… • Rome’s short war with Perseus is perhaps best known for its enormous profits. They were so huge that it was possible to exempt Roman citizens from paying tributum, property tax. Livy estimates the value of the booty as more than 30,000,000 denari. The booty also contained high-class art. Unsurprisingly, the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus celebrated a triumph, and the praetor Gnaeus Octavius celebrated a naval triumph, both over Macedon and king Perseus.

Plundering the enemy camp

THE CALEDONIAN USE OF GUERILLA WARFARE SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS IN SCOTLAND • Guerrilla warfare features irregular troops fighting in fast-moving, small-scale actions against orthodox military and policing forces, either...