Written by
Stephen Turnbull on March 18, 2008
Through the art and science of heraldry, the armies of different ages and different regions around the world have been able to distinguish friend from foe in the confusion of battle. The practices employed have ranged from ...
What would Claudius's legions have eaten and drunk on campaign and in their barracks? According to Simon Macdowall in Warrior 9: Late Roman Infantryman 236–565 AD, the daily ration of a legionary in Egypt was ...
Written by
Ian MacPherson McCulloch on January 01, 2002
Though the Roman army was the first to practice organised military medicine on a large scale, the need to care for the wounded had existed since tribes and city-states had first taken up arms and made war upon one another.
Written by
Nicholas Sekunda on January 01, 2002
The diet of the ancient greek soldier was rather different than his modern counterpart.
Written by
Martin Marix Evans on September 03, 2001
Tales of buried treasure on what the villagers believed was the site of the Battle of Toothole led to so much unauthorised digging on Cuttle Mill Bank in the 1930s that, according to ...
Written by
David Nicolle on September 01, 2001
From the 8th century to the 16th mamluks formed the core of most Muslim armies. The Arabic word meant a soldier originally bought as a slave, educated and trained and finally released as a full-time professional. Mamluk tactics, organisation ...
Written by
on July 01, 2001
Augustus had gradually pushed Rome’s eastern European frontier to the Danube. But a frontier consisting of the Rhine and the Danube made a very long and devious line, including a right angle along their upper courses. An Elbe-Danube line would ...
Written by
Stephen Wisdom on May 01, 2001
In 1996 a team of archaeologists digging outside the walls of a Roman cemetery in London’s Southwark discovered the cremated remains of a woman in her twenties. Her grave goods included a meal for the journey to ...
Written by
Nicholas Sekunda on January 01, 2001
Above all else, the Greek hoplite was a spearman protected by his bronze-covered shield, fighting in a 'phalanx' of spearmen formed up in a line so many ranks deep. When asked why Lakedaimonian hoplites who lost their ...
Written by
Nicholas Sekunda on July 01, 2000
The helmet, heavy spear and shield were the equipment that defined the Greek hoplite warrior. Contemporary vase paintings clearly show the many different images that were painted onto shields. Were these mainly decorative ...