AW XV.2

Ancient Warfare Magazine

Warfare in the age of myth and heroes

Ancient Warfare Magazine1 min read
Ancient Warfare Magazine
Editor-in-chief: Jasper Oorthuys Assistant editor: Murray Dahm News editor: Lindsay Powell Proofreader: Naomi Munts Image research: Lauren van Zoonen Design & Media: Christianne C. Beall Contributors: Jo Ball, George Bounegru, Duncan B Campbell, Isob
Ancient Warfare Magazine7 min read
Preliminaries
Two new sections of the Roman military frontier have been inscribed on the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The addition of the sections in northern Europe marks another success fo
Ancient Warfare Magazine3 min read
Buried In A Brother’s Arms
The Sacred Band was probably established around the time of the Theban overthrow of Spartan dominance in 378 BC which had been in place since 382. As we have seen (see AW XIV.2), the Sacred Band built on a long tradition of picked units of 300 Theban
Ancient Warfare Magazine6 min readWars & Military
Tales Of The Axe
Does Virgil’s imaginary battle between mythical heroes reflect anything of the reality of axe combat in Iron Age Italy or in the Roman Empire? The general Latin term for an axe was securis, but Camilla’s weapon was no ordinary axe. It was double-blad
Ancient Warfare Magazine1 min read
Editorial
It sort of feels like this issue has been fifteen years in the making. Not only do we have the same style of helmet on the cover as issue I.1, Ancient Warfare magazine had its first offices in Nijmegen — the heart of the Batavian homeland. Moreover,
Ancient Warfare Magazine9 min read
The Batavian Revolt
The Batavians are first mentioned by Caesar (Gallic War 4.10), who placed their territory on an island 100 miles long (Pliny NH 4.101) between the Rhine and the Meuse, hence the name insula Batavorum (“Island of the Batavians”). Tacitus provides the
Ancient Warfare Magazine9 min readGender Studies
Shameful Behaviour
There are many possible reasons for this general lack of interest in the subject. Two of the main rationales behind scholars’ indifference are based on problematical assumptions made about the practice. Firstly, historians frequently refuse to elabor
Ancient Warfare Magazine3 min read
Tacitus’ Stereotypes
Published in ca. AD 98, Tacitus’ Germania introduces themes that are also relevant for his account of the Batavian Revolt, which we will discuss below. In it, he describes the land and customs of the people beyond the Danube and Rhine. It is a highly
Ancient Warfare Magazine10 min read
No Barrier To Battle
The Batavians, like other warriors from the lands east of the Rhine, had no problem crossing water (Tacitus Histories 2.17.2). When a unit of gladiators advanced in small boats to occupy an island in the middle of the river, the Germans swam towards
Ancient Warfare Magazine9 min read
After The Revolt
After the Batavian Revolt, written sources transit from meta-history, written from afar by the elites for the elites, to the ego history reflected by epigraphic sources (some of them narrating episodes truly spectacular, such as the soldier Soranus c
Ancient Warfare Magazine9 min read
Mopping Up
At the end of AD 69, things were going well for Civilis. He remained undefeated and the revolt had spread; the Treveri and Lingones had joined his rebellion. In Italy, however, Vespasian had defeated Vitellius and his principal supporter, Gaius Licin
Ancient Warfare Magazine9 min read
Less Danger, More Profit
Along tradition of modern scholarship has presented Greek warfare as practically synonymous with pitched battle on open ground. We are told that the Greeks were bad at sieges, combined-arms warfare, and irregular operations, but set-piece battles wer
Ancient Warfare Magazine4 min read
The Privileges Of Rank
The letter was written in February AD 108 and was sent from Bostra in Arabia, where Apollinarius was stationed with the Legio III Cyrenaica, to his mother Tasoucharion in Alexandria (Egypt). He had enlisted around AD 103/104, while III Cyrenaica was
Ancient Warfare Magazine6 min read
The Armorum Custos
In 1901, French archaeologists were busy investigating the area of the principia in the middle of the legionary fortress at Lambaesis (Tazoult-Lambèse in Algeria). Much of the south-western quadrant of the fortress had been built over, right up to th
Ancient Warfare Magazine6 min read
Army Of The Roman Emperors
By Thomas Fischer; translated by Mike C. Bishop ISBN: 978-1612008103 Casemate Publishers (2019) – £45.00 www.casematepublishers.com The reader of English has many choices when it comes to the Roman army. There are highly academic tomes dealing with s
Ancient Warfare Magazine3 min read
ANCIENT WARFARE readings
By Ronald Syme Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958 ISBN: 978-0198143277 Syme’s two-volume Tacitus is still the go-to account for any investigation into the historian and his works. The Batavian Revolt is no exception. Syme’s every page contains insights an

More Issues From Ancient Warfare Magazine

Skip carousel

carousel previous carousel next