Epilogue

In this short discussion Tom Palaima explores the literary impact of classical war, warriors, and authors into the modern world, while L. Tritle traces more historical traditions.

Roman Warfare with Sasanian Persia

This chapter explains the warfare between the Roman Empire and Sasanian Persia, specifically presenting an historical review of Roman–Persian warfare. The Roman Empire presented many new military challenges, one of the most serious and certainly the most consistent of which was that introduced by Sasanian Persia to the east. The Sasanian regime was able to pose a more serious military threat to the Roman Empire compared with its predecessor. Sasanian siege capability led to increased Roman investment in the fortification of cities and towns on and near the frontier. A recent re-examination of the evidence has prompted a revised interpretation involving Persian tunnellers deliberately collapsing their tunnel on top of Roman pursuers after a grisly underground fight in the dark.

Greeks and Achaemenid Persians

This chapter addresses the battle against Achaemenid Persians. Shortly before the fateful battle of Cunaxa, Cyrus the Younger told his Greek officers why they fought and how their lives would improve if they should defeat the army of his brother, Artaxerxes II. Cyrus framed his speech entirely in terms of the Greek/Barbarian dichotomy. The chapter also shows how key aspects of the Greek/Barbarian dichotomy developed. The poetry from Homer until the Persian Wars contains only hints of the Greek/Barbarian stereotypes. In the Persae, Aeschylus presents the victorious Greeks as free men, collectively fighting in disciplined well-organized fashion, their numbers and resources comparatively modest. To many Greeks, Persia was the enemy against whom it was in the best interests of all Greeks to set aside internal differences and unite.

Horses for War

This chapter examines the breeding and sustaining of warhorses. Horses refer to power in military and economic fields, and were sacrificed to the Sun before battle. Xenophon described the ideal warhorse. It was important for warhorses to have a good temperament. Some horses went willingly and repeatedly into battle. In war, horses would encounter camels and elephants, which were often employed in the armies of the east. Army animals could have lameness, injury, endemic diseases, and various common ailments. Puncture wounds were the most severe injuries in these animals. Tack gave the rider control over his horse and consisted firstly of bitting, secondly of saddlery. Seat security over horse could be achieved through a hard treed saddle with retentive front and rear horns. It is observed that some cavalry were armored, both men and horses.

Finding the Enemy

This chapter analyzes tactical intelligence, following a division by posture: offensive and mobile, and defensive or localized. There was an increase in the use of vanguards among the Greeks after the fourth century BC and among the Romans in the first. Cavalry widely used in this role. The role of reconnaissance in border security is then evaluated. It is noted that the speculatores who accompanied the legions left the field for the office sometime in the first century AD. Greek military intelligence never became professionalized, and did not ponder the sophistication of the prototypical organizations fielded by the tyrants of Cyprus and Sicily in the fourth century. Professionalism and unit identification in intelligence came neither to the poleis nor the kingdoms of Classical or Hellenistic Greece, and came finally to the Romans at least a century after they had pervaded the legions.

Arming Greeks for Battle

This chapter explores the Greek armored infantrymen and the weapons they carried. The hoplite shield is called Argive. The Boeotian is a shield that appears on seventh- and sixth-century BC vase paintings and on Boeotian coins. Xenophon's ideal helmet was a hat-like helmet. Many vase paintings indicate that the corslets represented in them were built by cutting them from a sheet. Armoring of the limbs was restricted to the use of greaves and ankle guards. The principal weapon of soldiers for centuries has been the thrusting spear. There should be a metal reinforcement in the butt end of the thrusting spear and its head weight varies from ca 0.12 to 0.95 kg. Victory on the battlefield had necessitated effective weapons and armor. The depth of a formation could impose psychological pressure on opponents, while shield blazons presented terrifying, apotropaic warnings.

Keeping Military Discipline

This chapter offers a brief history of military discipline in ancient armies, and also investigates how and to what degree societies inflicted discipline on their soldiers, and how, in various ways, soldiers imposed discipline on themselves. Then, it addresses the evolution of military discipline from Greece until eventually something similar to a modern system developed in the early Roman Empire. The death of Alexander had precipitated almost fifty years of continuous warfare that ultimately resulted in the development of the Hellenistic monarchies. The Roman army represented something completely new in ancient Mediterranean warfare. It is observed that the Principate represented a major step in the evolution of ancient military discipline.

Warfare and Environment in the Ancient World

This chapter deals with ancient warfare and the environment. Hunting was often been considered as a form of warfare, and art frequently portrayed humans in battle with animals. Armed conflict had its direct influences on the environment. Along with damage to settled agriculture, warfare had affected other lands such as pastures, brush lands, and forests. It is noted that birds, pigs, bears, rodents, snakes, bees, wasps, scorpions, beetles, assassin bugs, and jellyfish have been employed as weaponized animals in ancient warfare, which, in the Mediterranean area and Near East, had vital environmental properties. The direct effects of battle have been shown by ancient historians, but just as important were the influences of the military-oriented organization of societies on the natural environment and resources.

Roman Rituals of War

This chapter demonstrates the continuity and change in, and problematic sources about, Roman rituals, which were linked to the incidence of war and peace. The augurium salutis and the closing of the shrine of Janus Geminus are the two rituals that could only be conducted in time of peace. The burning of enemy arms after a victory was a Roman combat ritual. Another, much rarer, ritual of military return came into renewed prominence under Augustus, namely the dedication of spolia opima, a tradition that was subsequently used to serve the purposes of the Augustan regime. The fetials' rituals were concerned with the preliminaries of war, the solemnization of treaties, and the surrender of Roman offenders. The ritual activities of the fetials addressed the issue of communal responsibility.