Ancient Warfare Podcast

Curt wonders why did Alexander the Great not look westwards, starting with Rome during his conquests? There are a lot of 'what if's' here for Murray to deal with.

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Samuel points out that Xenophon makes reference to the Sciritai as part of the Spartan army foray into Boeotia during the mid-370s). And the sources are a bit patchy.

He asks do we know/can we infer anything about the Sciritai? How did they fit into Spartan society as a whole? What roles did they perform within the Spartan army (on and off the battlefield)? How were they armed?

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Mark, one of our patrons, wonders if Murray sees a place for AI in helping to translate ancient manuscripts. Could AI step up to help with this and help sort and categorise through keywords, names, etc.

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Listener Andy Shaw wonders why the sarissa 'seems to fall out of use between the two periods even though protecting infantry from cavalry remains a consistent problem across ancient and medieval warfare'?

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Murray gives this thought on this question sent in, 'is the supposed decline in the quality of Hellenistic cavalry true or is that exaggeration with Hellenistic cavalry remaining elite well into the conquest of said Hellenistic kingdoms by the Romans?'

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When did the phalanx become the fully-developed formation we imagine? In this issue of Ancient Warfare, we explore the various changes and developments in the seventh through fifth centuries BC that eventually led to the emergence of the 'Classical' Greek hoplite.

The Ancient Warfare team discuss issue XVI.2 of the magazine, The coming of the Hoplite: Shields, spears and shining bronze.

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Murray ponders why Macedonian casualty figures were low and how enemy casualty figures might have been calculated. Did someone go around counting all the dead Persian bodies, or did Macedonian soldiers get to estimate how many Persians they had killed?

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Following his last question from Murray a few weeks ago, Andy asks, 'the question I've always wondered is why it seems to fall out of use between the two periods even though protecting infantry from cavalry remains a consistent problem across ancient and medieval warfare'?

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"Alexander's Companion cavalry seemed to be the premier cavalry of its age, and was instrumental in the battles against the Persian empire. Why is it then, under the Successor Kingdoms' Generals, that they faired so poorly when confronting the inferior Roman cavalry? Was it due to the lack of Alexander himself, poor training, or just the professionalism of the Roman Legion?"

Murray gives us his thoughts...

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Imperium Romanum is a YouTube channel dedicated to bringing history to life, with documentaries looking at everything Ancient Rome; from the army and military equipment to politics, religion, culture, lifestyle and much more.

In this episode, Jasper, Murray and Marc are joined by Marc from Imperium Romanum to talk about what they do.

If you want to enter the competition for a copy of Myke Cole's The Bronze Lie, you need to email [email protected] with you 25 words on what you enjoy about the magazine.

The competition closes on 28 February 2023.

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