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

Earliest known saddle may have been ridden by a woman

Field ovens confirm Paderborn marching camp

Roman centurion's phalera found at Vindolanda

3000-year-old sword found in immaculate condition

Kalkriese armour leads to rethink of earliest Roman lorica design

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HANNIBAL'S ITALIAN CAMPAIGN FABIAN FALADES • Assessing realities in the world of ancient warfare is a fraught exercise due to poor preservation of physical evidence and a shortage of surviving accounts dating to anywhere near the events they purport to describe, as well as potential bias in those still extant. This has led to poorly supported ideas and demonstrable falsehoods entering modern texts that grow ever more influential as current trends deemphasize classical studies.

Weapons of the Punic Wars

Livy and polybius on Hannibal's battle of Cannae

VINDOLANDA TABLET 893 A CENTURION'S ANGER • The wood-leaf tablets – letters and lists – found at the fort of Vindolanda provide an almost unparalleled insight into military life. Many cover mundane aspects of military life, but some provide insights into the darker side as well as the difficulties of enforcing good behaviour among soldiers. One such document is a letter written to the commanding officer at Vindolanda, which mentions a centurion named Decuminus who appears to have had problematic anger issues.

RE-EXAMINING THE BATTLE OF AMPHIPOLIS BRIDGES, HILLS, AND GATES • Amphipolis, an Athenian colony on the Strymon River, was a strategically important location that provided access to the goldmines and forests of Thrace and Macedonia. Thucydides’ recounting of the clash between the Spartan general Brasidas and the Athenian general Cleon at the Battle of Amphipolis (422 BC) is unusual among ancient accounts of battle for its detailed description of troop movements and topography. Historians have been arguing about the battle ever since.

Thucydides' insight

THE MILITARY CAREER OF THUTMOSE III A GENIUS FROM THE SHADOWS • Even though he reigned for 54 years, Thutmose III spent most of the first 22 years of his reign (from the tender age of two) as co-ruler with his stepmother and aunt, Hatshepsut, the daughter of Thutmose I and wife of her half-brother, Thutmose II. Iset, one of Thutmose II’s other wives, was Thutmose III’s mother. Under Hatshepsut and then during his independent reign, Thutmose III established his reputation as one of the greatest military geniuses of Egyptian history.

THE TEXTS THAT MAKE A ROYAL REPUTATION THE LITERATURE OF WAR • From monumental inscriptions on temple walls to stelae erected at the far edges of the Egyptian empire, a remarkable range of historical texts exists from the reign of Thutmose III. Despite the differences between them, these texts have survived because they demonstrated Thutmose III’s loyalty to Amun, the deity who granted him his great victories.

THUTMOSE III'S BATTLE AT MEGIDDO THE FIRST BATTLE IN...