Ancient Warfare Podcast

Murray answers this question from one of our patrons, Mythic Lore; 'What is known / reasonably theorised about the formations and tactics used during the late bronze age (Mycenaeans, Hittites, Luwians - Trojan War, etc)?'

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Joshua, one of our patrons asks, what was day-to-day life like for the legions when they were not on campaign or actively involved in a war? Jasper tells us all about it.

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Natasha asks, is there any pre-biblical examples of religious wars (if only justified by religions)? Or is "holy war" solely endorsed by a strong monotheistic religion?

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'The second half of the third century AD saw Rome's military leadership embroiled in a deadly power struggle. Meanwhile, on the empire's frontiers, trouble was brewing...'

The Ancient Warfare team discuss issue XIV.5 of Ancient Warfare magazine.

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Murray tackles this question from Juan; It seems that Phillip/Alexander's army was almost invincible but afterwards "Macedonian" style armies seem to be a lot more hit and miss (vs. Romans, Indians, Parthians, Celts etc.). Was this because Philip/Alexander's troops were uniquely competent/trained or were the commanders after Alexander just not as good? I'm mostly thinking about the pike phalanx but if there's any information on the light infantry or cavalry troops I'd love to learn!

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Jasper answers this question from Dag, what's the latest vote on Caesar? A ruthless man who butchered and enslaved women and children for his personal benefit or a saviour in terms of combating and changing a corrupt oligarchy?

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Murray on his own this week, he takes a question from patron 'Celtic Ace' who asks how did the phalanx come about?

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The battle of Cannae was a catastrophic defeat for the Romans, but where did these legionaries come from? Jasper tells us where.

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In this episode, Jasper and Murray are joined by Dr Nicolas Wiater and Dr Alice König who lead the Visualising War project at St Andrews University.

"War is a topic of perennial importance to people from all sectors of all societies, and battle narratives play a major role – in many different forms – in shaping and mediating responses to war. Think of Homer's Iliad, the histories of Livy, the Bayeux Tapestry, Shakespeare's history plays, Tolstoy's War and Peace, Picasso's Guernica, Shostakovich's Stalingrad Symphony and Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now – to name just a few. At first glance these representations of battle are all strikingly different. Whether we are conscious of it or not, however, they have long been interacting with each other – in different ways, and to different extents – in artists', authors', viewers' and listeners' minds, adjusting the ways in which war is visualised and canonising broader ideas about (e.g.) gender, leadership, 'success' and sacrifice'.

The aim of the project is to foreground these interactions and explore their impacts. In a nutshell, we ask: how do battles narratives from different media, communities and historical periods both shape and differentiate themselves from each other? How do their interactions reflect and shape broader attitudes to war? And how do the attitudes and ideologies which they generate influence the ways in which people think, feel and behave in their day-to-day lives?"

If cavalry attacked a Macedonian phalanx how did it react? Did the phalanx have a tactic to hold them off? Murray explains..

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