Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World

Armchair conquerors will delight in this encyclopedic and lavishly illustrated compendium of military lore. The authors, academic historians, cover the development of warfare in the Mediterranean world, from its beginnings in Sumeria and Egypt, to the rise of the Greek hoplite phalanx, to Alexander's inauguration of the age of the military genius, to the Roman legion's revolutionary combination of discipline, organization and tactical flexibility. The book is divided thematically into five chapters on infantry, mounted warfare, command and control, siege warfare and naval warfare. There are some drawbacks to this approach; the narratives of some individual battles, for example, are inconveniently broken up between different chapters. But for the most part the book lucidly organizes a huge amount of information that illuminates ancient warfare from many perspectives, from the grand strategy of generals to the minutiae of spear lengths and sword-fighting drills; particularly good are the sections on ancient artillery and the complexities of the centuries-long process of integrating horses into warfare. The excellent, multi-faceted illustrations include reproductions of ancient bas-reliefs, photos of rusty old weapons, diagrams of military units and battlefields and slightly cheesy but instructive full color paintings of battlefield encounters.